Well, this past week flew by. I spent the first part of the week under the weather, and not much exciting happened. I lost 400 shillings to a pick pocket, and I slept a lot from Monday to Thursday, but I was feeling much better by Friday, when I went out to
Jason sponsors two girls to this school, so Ann and I went out to the mandatory parents meeting. It was pretty ridiculous. It started about one and a half hours late, and it went about half an hour longer than expected, so we ended up getting out of the meeting in about six to seven hours. It was mostly in English, but a lot of the necessary parts of the speeches (there were about ten) were in Kiswahili, so I was pretty clueless. We sat through the entire meeting just so we could spend about fifteen minutes with the girls. It was a long day, and the trip wasn't short either, but while observing the meeting, I learned a couple strange things about Kenyans.
First off Kenyans seem to enjoy it when their cell phones go off in the middle of a big speech. It honestly happened about thirty times. The principal’s phone even went off when a teacher was speaking. I think they had a "coolest ring-tone" contest. The next thing I discovered was they have no idea what proper English really is. One teacher got up and spoke for a while, in some fairly poor English, and then sat down. The Deputy Principal then stood up and addressed the crowd, telling them how apparent it was that that was the English teacher because her English was so good. I about died. Finally, you apparently don't need to know what you are talking about to be a "guest speaker." Some counselor lady came as a guest to this meeting, and she made some pretty ridiculous comments about the bible. She talked about how Cain was conceived immediately following the eating of the apple (if anyone can validate that, I would love to know), and she discussed the story of David and Bathsheba, but she forgot the names of Bathsheba, Uriah, and pretty much everyone except David. It was definitely an interesting day, and it greatly strengthened the presumption that all Kenyans are late.
Sadly, Saturday was pretty similar to Friday. This time, though, I went out with Jason to
We all went to church today, and the rest of the day has been spent hanging out and using the phones at the cyber cafe to call home. We will probably have more beans for dinner, and the rest of the day will be spent sleeping.
We are slowly closing in on the end of this trip. God has shown me so much about my self and my total reliance on Him. I can't wait to get home, but I am definitely enjoying every moment God gives me over here. I love and miss you all, and I will probably post fairly soon (note the probably and fairly, we'll see how much time I have). I'll catch you all on the flip side.
-Victor Rogers IV
Sunday, March 11, 2007
One Month Left
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Vic,
I see you are making lots of observations about Kenyans...good! Keep on asking questions though...Why do Kenyans leave their phones on all the time? If Africans are supposed to be very relationally oriented why would they interrupt a conversation (or speech) to answer a phone? What does that tell you about the hierarchy of their relationships? What does that tell you about how technology is affecting Africa as it quickly spreads? Why do people try and speak English even though their grammar sucks? Why don't they just speak Kiswahili all the time? Why can anyone talk about the Bible like they're an expert? Is it true that African Christianity is "an inch deep and a mile wide?" I'm glad God is teaching you a lot about yourself and your relationship with him, but what are you learning about yourself as an American? What positive things are you learning from the Kenyans? What does it mean to be a missionary? I know there are a lot of frustrating things going on now (it is verrry easy to get sick of redundant food), but when you get home you'll forget all about the trauma that is beans!! :-) What will you wish you had spent mroe time doing or trying to understand? Make those things your goals for this next month. Talk to as many Kenyans as you can! Enjoy those looong, bumpy rides and try and remember every single thing you see (Uganda is already starting to fade in my memory). Eat lots of fresh fruit and avocadoes....they'll be expensive when you get home!! I love you, honey! I can't wait to talk to you when you get home! Enjoy your last month!!! I'll be praying that you stay healthy!
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