What I'll Miss About Kenya...

Kenya has once again become my home.  For those of you who didn't know, I attended boarding school here in Kenya for all of high school.  I left in 2005 and returned last September for a program through my graduate school, Nazarene Theological Seminary, called 365m.  365m sends students all over the world for practicul intercultural experience and to continue taking classes online through our school.  I've been based at Africa Nazarene University and have loved (or come to love) every second of it.  Here are some of the top things I'll miss:

1. The people.  They are amongst the kindest I’ve met anywhere.  I'll miss walking down to the tuk tuk corner hand in hand with Lucy's kids.  
2. Their hospitality.  The very first weekend I was here some new friends invited me to spend the weekend at their house.  They and others have cooked elaborate meals for me, over which I’ve learned much.  Other times I've been in the middle of town with thousands of people around me when some kind soul comes up and offers to take me where I need to go, and have even paid my bus fares along the way.
3. Church.  The church I’ve been attending is the local Nazarene church on campus.  We’re very diverse with a huge group of students from many countries in Africa.  We also have probably the largest kids group on the East Africa Field for the Nazarene Church.  Our church is vibrant and does some incredible things for the community.  Just today I paused and listened whilst everyone around me sang his or her praises to God.  I got the chills and a couple of tears in my eyes.  Gonna miss Sunday’s here.  
4. The students on campus and their diversity.  Our students come from multiple countries, ethnicities, and tribes.  They speak hundreds of languages (combined).  I have learned so much from our dialogues during and outside of class. 
5. My co-workers in the religion department, especially my office mate Rev. Gift Mtukwa.  He (and the others) has become a great friend.  I’ve learned much about God and how he works in the world. 
6. Incredibly cheap and handy public transport.  Some kind of transport will take you almost anywhere you need to go.  People with cars hate matatus, but for those of us inside them, it’s nice to have them skirt around traffic illegallyJ
7. Wildlife/nature.  I live right next to Nairobi National Park.  97% of the nights I’ve been here I’ve heard hyenas.  I’ve occasionally heard the distant sound of lions.  I’ve also encountered several snakes.  A lengthy Rock Python slithered right between my legs whilst I was mid-stride.  Countless birds chirp starting about 3:30 in the morning till late.  The park provides great scenery for many a run along its borders. 
8. Slow pace of life.  At times I have hated this, but I think the majority of the time I’ve enjoyed it.  You never really have to worry about being late, as it’s not that big of a deal.  You rock up when you can in Kenya.  It’s gonna take some adjusting getting use to a more scheduled life in the States.
9. The food.   The Kenyan staple foods are great.  My favorite is probably chapati.  It’s a flour based bread type of food half way between a tortilla and a crepe in texture.  Kenyan’s used it to pick up other foods like stew and the like.  I’ll also miss the price of food.  Kenyan food from local joints is especially cheap.  There’s a place across the street where I can eat to my heart’s content for just under two bucks.  Non-Kenyan food is also quite cheap.  A relatively classy meal here is way cheaper than the US.
10. The rains.  I’ve written about this elsewhere, but the rains in Kenya and Africa have what seems to me to be a greater significance than I’ve noticed in the other places I’ve lived.  In the US, the places I’ve lived have received moisture all year through rain in the summer and snow in the winter.  Here, there are two seasons: the dry season and the rainy season.  The moment the rainy season begins, life comes back to creation.  Things turn green again, bugs come, animals regain their lost kgs from the dry season, the mud returns, etc.  

There are other things I'll miss as well.  Maybe I'll write a part II with these sometime.  

"It looked and felt like 'hell on earth'"

Some of us runners running through the desert.

My good friend Robert Congdon described the area around Lake Magadi, Kenya this way during a conversation with him last week as I prepared to travel down to Oloika, in Southern Kenya, for a half-marathon.  My friend Matt Hall, a fellow volunteer here at ANU, and I decided we'd like to give this race a shot a couple of months ago when seeing it online.  We purchased the race + tented camp option for the Saturday and Sunday.  Included in our journey were transport down and lunch, dinner and breakfast.  Those of you who know the African scene will recognize the phrase tented camp.  Lately that has come to mean a relatively luxurious way to spend a night at a game park or the like.  Thinking of this phrase, I thought something similar.  I was quite excited for the weekend.  Oloika is down close to the Shompole Wildlife Conservancy, a posh game park and lodge near by.  I figured we'd be staying in something similar.  I did some research on the area last week and discovered some pretty interesting facts.  We'd be running part of our race through the salt flats on Lake Magadi, which is the world's largest producer of soda.  Flamingos flock to the lake to snack on whatever flamingos snack on.  Natural hot springs feed the lake with 40 degree Celsius water.  From what I was discovering and from what Robert told me, I was beginning to second-guess my hypothesis about the tented camp.  

Saturday came along and Matt and I ventured to our designated meeting place where we'd hitch a ride down with the race organizers and others who had bought the package.  We had a multicultural van.  People from seven nations hopped into the safari van and headed down to Oloika just on the southern tip of Lake Magadi.  As we made the trip, we dropped roughly 4,000 feet in elevation from the elevation here on campus.  The scenery was actually rustically beautiful.  It was a chance to see vegetation you don't normally see around Nairobi.  As we travelled we passed through little Maasai town after little Maasai town.  Each of them looking like a scene straight out of the movie The First Grader, which I highly recommend by the way.  

Finally we turn a corner out of the mountains to see a glimpse of the soda factory.  We scurried along the road a little further until we happened upon the town.  This is a public highway mind you, yet to get in and through the town you have to go through a security stop.  We passed over the railway line, which must surely ferry the soda from Magadi to Nairobi where it is sold or distributed.  Magadi is a fascinatingly strange town.  There is no real vegetation to speak of, save for some acacia trees.  The ground is basically covered in the natural for the area, gravel.  There are a series of apartment buildings painted a clay color that must house the factory workers.  There is a public pool in the town, which would have felt very nice.  There are also these signs scattered through the town for 'assembly points'.  I'm not sure when they would assemble there?  A true mystery.  

We pulled into the local sports/country club.  The race organizers had sent down a couple of ladies to have lunch prepared for us there.  The shade of the thatch roof umbrella-shaped roofs provided an escape from the heat.  At the sports club they had a basketball court and volleyball/tennis court outside.  These were made of gravel, so I'm not entirely sure how effectively you could play any of the aforementioned sports.  Inside the club they did have a nice badminton court.  We had a delicious meal of rice, chicken, beans, cabbage, and chapattis. Definitely good food for pre race day.  

We were then off to Oloika.  On the way out of Magadi we passed the Magadi Golf Course.  Any avid golf fan, or simply anyone who has seen a golf course before would laugh at this place.  It too seems to be made of the indigenous gravel/dirt.  Frames of wood designated the t-boxes.  I never once spotted any greens, or anything green for that matter.  I had a good chuckle at this place.  We made it through town and rounded the southern edge of the lake.  Around a corner we saw hundreds of the flamingoes feeding.  That was quite the sight.  There are several such flamingo havens in the area, but I believe that was the first time I've seen them in their natural habitat.  We got out to take some pictures.  The dudes went and felt the salt/soda material.  It matched its name in texture.  

Back in the van and off we were to Oloika.  We soon began to drive over salt flats and across the edge of the lakebed.  Reminded me of what people say of the Salt Flats in Utah.  We began to see chalk shaped into numbers on the lakebed.  We guessed correctly these were markings for the race the next day.  We drove up a series of small hills to a plateau.  We'd arrived at Oloika.  We pulled into a complex for the Oloika guest lodge.  There was a lone, small house that was the guesthouse.  We got out and asked where we were supposed to be.  Across the way was the 'tented camp'.  It was a campsite.  We all gazed at each other with that look of, what have we gotten ourselves into.  On the journey down we could feel it getting hotter and hotter.  My guess was that it was at least 100 degrees.  We were given the royal tour of the tented camp, and we all settled into our tents.  This place was by no means similar to the memories of my tented camp experience on the shores of the Shire River in Malawi.  In fact it was just about as opposite as you could get.  This wasn't really that much of a damper; it was just adjusting to the fact that this is where we were staying.  

Matt and I went and registered.  We were given our race numbers.  They were probably the highest numbers either of us has ever had.  Matt had 34 and I had 35.  Our friends who were running the 10k had numbers 1 and 2.  We unpacked out things into our tents, which were at least 15 degrees warmer than outside, and then gathered under the shade of a thatched roof structure.  We stayed here in shock with our fellow travelers for a little while.  Matt and I then went and explored Oloika.  It didn't take much time to explore it.  Metal houses, churches, and businesses were strewn about.  We practiced our best Maasai and Swahili with the townsfolk.  All of them are Maasai or have Maasai heritage.  Most of the people were in their traditional garb.  We explored until the kiddies runs.  There was a 5km race and a 1km or so race for them.  A Kenyan kid won the 5km race.  In the smaller race, there were some very young kids!  One of the girls looked about 3.  Cute stuff!  Matt and I cheered them on with a group of kids from the town.  They were inquisitive as usual.  Some spoke broken English and a few had learned to be almost fluent from their school in Magadi.  We talked about various things with them.  We asked what their favorite classes were, etc.  Some kids said math, which Matt enjoyed (having a doctorate in the subject) and others said CRE (Christian Religious Education), which I enjoyed.  The one kid was incredibly knowledgeable about the Bible because of this, and we quizzed each other on various Biblical things.  I asked him if he knew what sport his t-shirt was from (it was a Cubs shirt) and he said it’s from the sport where they throw a ball to one another.  I also asked him where all the dads were as I'd only seen a few in the whole town.  He said they are shepherds, which I figured and had told Matt previously.  We then said goodbye and it was time for dinner. 

Dinner was pretty similar to lunch, but very tasty.  As it began to grow dark, more and more campers arrived. After dinner I called it a night, for I knew we'd have an early start with the 7 o'clock race start time. Unfortunately, the temps hadn't cooled down all that much, if at all.  The sweat was still dripping off of me even in my briefs.  It was very windy outside, so I tried to figure out how to open the windows in my tent.  They were covered with a thick netting to keep bugs out, which hadn't arrived yet.  I therefore just opened up the tent door.  When the winds died down, I heard the faint wine of mosquitoes grow closer and closer.  Attracted to the scent of my body, hundreds gathered around my tent.  I managed to get the tent door close with only a few entering my tent.  They were enough to give me about a dozen bites.  I tossed and turned in my sweatiness till about 1am when I finally dozed off.  I woke up a couple of times during the night to use the choo (Swahili for bathroom/toilet).  Thankfully, they actually had toilets installed in outhouse looking buildings.  They just had no seats.  During one such usage, I lost my left contact.  I was thankful for the spares in my backpack.  

Morning came, and I was thankful for the rest.  I downed some water first thing to give it a chance to get a decent way through my system before race time.  

Matt and I went to breakfast and had a couple of bananas.  Then, we all began to gather for the race.  We all found it quite comical to watch a man approach the start shirtless (he was the only one) and puffing away on a cigarette.  Surely he didn't need one last puff right before the start?  The race director showed us a hand drawn map of the route.  It looked relatively simple to follow.  There would also be marshals stationed through the race directing us and giving us water bottles.  We started in a flash.  Mr. Smoker/Shirtless man was out to a fast start with a pretty speedy lady.  Matt and I were in the following pack.  There were several parts to the route that weren't on the map.  The main three things were three u-turns which threw us all for a loop.  We began by running off the plateau of Oloika down to the left.  U-turn number one was there.  We came back to town and then went straight from where we had started.  Matt and I were in the following pack for most of the race.  Even though this place was so hot and desolate, there was a real beauty to it.  The course took us pass small settlements outside of town.  Maasai kids and adults alike greeted us as we went.  At around km 8 or 9 we made our way down to the salt flats.  We spent a good amount of time running on them.  Another thing that wasn't on the map was that there was no bridge across a river area.  Instead we had to run through it.  After the salt flats/lake bed, we got to the final hilly section.  This is where most of us really faced the music.  In the conditions, those hills seemed like killers.  After about 20 minutes in this section a saw a man waiting for his wife.  He offered the hope that the end was near.  It was.  Right over the next bend was Oloika.  I crossed the line in 1hr 52 mins and in 7th place.  I feel like were it not for the conditions, I could have faced the hills stronger and finished around 1hr 38 mins.  I'd kept a pretty good pace with a Frenchmen a few hundred meters ahead up until that point.  

After the race, everyone was in search of soda or maji (water) baridi (cold).  There wasn't a single fridge in Oloika.  Matt and I found some relatively less than warm sodas.  I'd also brought down some Gatorade/energy type drinks, which were warm, but replenishing to Matt and I.  For the weekend, I'd also brought down 4 litres of my own water, and consumed another litre and a half of water from the race organizers.  My backpack was way lighter on the journey back.  The journey back was good.  I'd suggested to the driver we stop off at the Magadi Sports Club again to get some soda baridi, since all of us wazungus were craving a cold beverage. That was a pleasant refresher.

Matt and I will surely never forget the experience of this race.  In many ways it looked like Arizona.  The drive felt like driving down into Death Valley.  It was great to get out of Nairobi and experience some of the Maasai culture.  This was the 4th annual Shompole Marathon.  A few of the people had done it last year.  If I was still living in Kenya this time next year, I'm not sure whether I'd return.  Though, I probably would in order to try and conquer those last few hills better than this year.  I'd probably do some training up on the Ngong Hills to prepare better like my Maasai friend Jack I'd seen up there in November.  It was a journey, and an unforgettable experience.  It would have been nice if someone came into my tent and said April Fools as I was preparing to sleep in my sweat, sadly no one appeared.  

A Journey to the Ends of the Earth

This past summer I got an email from a pastor in Vancouver, B.C. wanting to connect about Africa, while he was in the KC area. He would be heading to Kenya this fall and wanted to touch base on my experiences in Africa. The crazy thing was I had met him around 15 years ago when he and the evangelism professor at my now seminary came up to Omaha, NE where my parents were pastoring for a weekend. It was great to meet him and dialogue about Africa, theology, etc. A few months ago he asked if I’d like to join them on their trip to the towns of Narok and Naroosura. I definitely wanted to do this. It would be a great opportunity to see how God is working outside of the Nairobi area here in Kenya and to see some parts of Kenya I’ve never seen before.

This past Thursday, it was time to depart with the team for the two towns. Off we (Pastor Grant, his son, a man from their church who has been working with their project, the NCM coordinator for the field, and the driver/project lead when the team isn’t there) went. The drive to Narok was beautiful! The first part of it was all too familiar. The journey takes one up one of the main highways North of Nairobi, then splits off to the northwest. That drive is one that I have taken before and is incredibly awe-inspiring. You begin by climbing up around 2,000 feet in elevation out of Nairobi. Then when you exit to the northwest, you descend into the Rift Valley. Along the route are numerous mahindi choma (roasted maize) sellers. I am mahindi choma’s biggest fan, and so I had to suggest we stop and get some. All of us in the van were now fully loaded with this lovely snack (all for a mere 20 cents each). Then it was back to the views. I saw those views for around 33 months during my stay at Rift Valley Academy, just a stones throw from where we were.

This view includes the valley floor below, two volcanos rising from that floor, as well as the sides of the valley towering above you. The road to Narok slowly rises back out of the beautiful valley to the city. There was one time on our journey when I remember thinking, “this is sure a long hill.” Right after I thought that, the thermostat on the minibus we were traveling in, blew. Hot water began gushing from the bottom of the bus. We stopped almost at the crest of the hill. People came running down from the top of the hill to help out. Our driver talked to them in Swahili and asked them to bring a mechanic down. After about 25 minutes we were back to a new normal. The solution? Just take the thermostat out and keep going. It basically worked! We just had to make sure the minibus had enough water for the rest of the trip.

We made it into Narok safely and arrived at our hotel. On the way there, Bessie, the NCM coordinator, had called a man to tell him to meet us there. She referred to him as the chief. We would meet him there and then head out to the area where his home is to check out the new church which had been built on land he had donated. It took me a while to register who this man was. We picked him up as well as one of the Africa East Field Media crew and headed out to the location. It was about 30 minutes from town. I suddenly began to register that this was the actual chief of the area. You wouldn’t have guessed it by his appearance or demeanor. He was’t concerned with his status and didn’t want us to be either. The church property he took us to was huge! It was out in the midst of pastoral lands. Cows were being herded on either side of the church. It was in a beautiful spot, and had so much space.

After checking out the church we came back to the hotel for the night. I rested for a while before heading down to dinner with my roommate Charles, who was the driver, to meet the rest of the team. Dinner was tasty. After playing farkle with Grant, it was time for bed. Charles and I talked long into the night about culture. It was such an intriguing conversation, I didn’t want it to end, but was starting to fall asleep. As I rolled over to close my eyes, Charles told me, “I hope you don’t mind that I sleep with the TV on.” “Oh no, not at all!” I replied. Wondering exactly what sleeping with the TV on meant. It literally was blaring for the duration of the night. I woke up during the night to hear many intriguing things coming from its’ interior. In the morning I woke up to Christian taebo, things like, “okay now, left foot up, back straight, now kick, and kick, and kick,” greeted my ears for about an hour.

It was time for a big breakfast before heading out to Naroosura. All of the day before Bessie and Charles kept on telling us to wait for the wildlife tomorrow whenever we saw a measly impala on the side of the road. I didn’t really know whether to believe them or not, but I would soon believe their words from the previous day when the sights around me helped out my lack of faith. We went back to the same turn off for the chief’s plot of land he had given for the church. But then, we slowly realized that Bessie and Charles weren’t lying about another thing they said the day before: the road for today. The road is a worn down dusty road through thousands of acres of Maasai land. In many places it had been washed out, so you’d simply follow a new path to get back to the good section of road. It was a bumpy and harrowing experience. A couple of times I seriously thought we would tip over and remember once saying vocally, “Oh Lord help us!”

As we passed through a series of thickets, we were soon out in an open area. When I think of the Lion King, I think of this area. It’s a vast, wide open savannah filled with wildlife. Wildebeest, impala, zebra, ostrich, dik dik, eland, kori bustards, and other animals are scattered about for miles on end. This area is semi-close to the Maasai Mara game reserve. Yet here, the animals are not restricted by park boundaries. Truly an eden! Slowly we began to see more and more Maasai homes and their inhabitants scattered about. Maasai houses are made of mud on all sides, including the roof. This is different to your typical mud hut which has a thatched roof on top. The Maasai have great respect for cattle, and so juxtaposed to the wildlife were these domesticated animals grazing as well. It took about 3 and a half hours to go around 80 kms. Then we began to see more modern houses rising from the countryside. A town had to be close. Bessie had called the local chief to tell him we were near. We went straight to his office and picked him up. He looked much more official and had a nice army looking hat on with a baton carried in one hand. He climbed aboard the minibus and off we went.

Our destination was further than I had realized it would be. We drove through the countryside to a series of hills. We began to ascend those hills and saw various Maasai folks farming or working around their homes. As we climbed, the road got worse and worse. Finally we reached the settlement. School buildings partially funded by this team and also by the Church of the Nazarene as a whole began to rise from the Kenyan countryside. Hundreds of students fluttered about as we arrived. I spoke with some of them in my very broken Swahili, telling them my name, where I was from, that I liked their school, and asking them who they were and where they were from.

After a short time of checking things out and the initial greetings, we went on a short hike down into a ravine to check out a water project which had been started with help from the church in Vancouver and NCM (Nazarene Compassionate Ministries). It was nice to have a chance to walk around in this beautiful area. The water which feeds the stream comes from a natural spring up in the hills, making the water very clean. The goal of the water project is to divert the water into a water catchment area and then pump it back to the school. This would provide irrigation to the land and allow them to start growing their own food in the area. This would help to cement a true partnership as the local people take ownership of the land and farm it for their own good and purposes. On the hike back from the ravine, I chatted with the headmaster of the school. He was from the area, and a local Maasai as well. In desiring to know more about their culture I asked him, “what are your staple foods?” He replied, “it used to be milk and blood.” “That’s all? Really?” I asked. “Yes, that’s all. But now we have begun to eat other vegetables and the like because of the influence of others.” I was amazed by that conversation, and again just so thankful to be interacting with this group of God’s creation which still lives quite similarly to how they have for hundreds if not thousands of years.

Back at the school we chatted with the locals and saw where a new Nazarene church would be built. You could tell that God was working amongst this people group and helping to bring about education and agriculture to their lives. It’s not like that will be their savior, but such things would provide help in the case of things like severe drought. There would be something that could help them outside of their sustainable lifestyle. I’m wrestling with what it means to help others and if they need it, and that seems a logical helping point for this group of people.

Towards the end of our stay in this settlement, the team had a time of gift giving to the school. They had packed many school supplies back in Vancouver to bring to them; things like pencils, markers, erasers, crayons, soccer balls, etc. It was a joyous occasion to see the people accepting the supplies. Many of the students, parents, and tribe elders gathered together into one of the classrooms. The Maasai women sang a song of thanks and gratitude to God for the gifts.

As is typical in many African cultures, the people had prepared some food for us. This is not just a meal, but it’s an act of gracious hospitality. People use their resources to give of what they have in order to express their hospitality to others. I honestly don’t know if there are many things that compare to such an act. It’s a time where everyone says, we are humanity, together, sharing with one another. It is essential to accept such acts of hospitality. I’m thankful for parents who emphasized that to me during my growing up years. Rejection of food is rejection of the people and who they are.

After the food we said our goodbyes. In the Maasai tribe, people, especially the ladies, will take off some of their jewelry and give it to you. Pastor Grant and his son were given a necklace and a bracelet respectively. I had never seen this done before, and it really made an impact on me. Once again reaffirming my love of African hospitality.

We were soon off to a pastors house to drop off some items and then on to another pastors house for more food. Not gonna lie, I love Kenyan food. I think I ate far too much in those days of our journey. It was neat to be able to fellowship inside of this pastor’s home. It was my first time in a Maasai house. The food and fellowship was great and after a short time we were off. We needed to get back to Narok before dark as the road to there is so horrible. As we left, a Maasai woman gave me a necklace. A moving experience, as I stated before. We then braced for the ride back. We saw beautiful sights as the sun set over the African plains. Wildebeest and their fellow animals dashed around. I’ll never forget those sights.

Back in Narok we were bushed. We ate dinner and hit the hay. Saturday we made the journey back to Nairobi. Mt. Longonot, one of the dormant volcanos previously mentioned, looked a lot more formidable from this side of the valley. We chatted, laughed, ate more Mahindi Choma, and finished off our trip.

I’m so thankful to Domenic, Pastor Grant, Graiden, Bessie, and Charles for allowing me to tag along on this journey. I’ve been given a deeper respect for the Maasai people, and most of all for the God who is working amongst them and who created them.