The Sniffles

I think I'm getting sick (she says with a somewhat stuffy nose). Brenton had a pretty bad cold the last 4 days he was here and proceeded to pass it on to his fellow colleagues at Choice Humanitarian. I thought I had sidestepped the illness until my throat started hurting last night. Today it's the sniffles. Not sure what tomorrow will be.

The weeks are beginning to fly by like days and the days like weeks. Brenton left on Tuesday so I now have the place to myself. Another intern is supposed to be coming in July and I'll be glad for the company again. Judy (from the branch) came over on Friday. We picked up some Indian food on the way and watched Ocean's Eleven on my itsy netbook. Not exactly a scintillating Friday night but we had fun.

This last Thursday was the monthly Branch Manager meeting at the head office. The six BMs come for a full day of what I assume to be reporting and coaching. Once a month the whole office goes crazy in preparation for the meeting and keeping it running throughout the day. BUT this is the day that I get milk in my hot chocolate and a plate of mahambri (scones). I'm not exactly sure why their meeting results in a round of mahambri for the whole office but I'm not complaining. The office assistant's son has been sick with maleria so they were short handed on an already busy day. As a result I got to help carry several thermoses of tea, collect empty glasses and later serve lunch. Did I mention that the meeting was on the third floor?? It was perfect, by the time I ran up and down the stairs all day I had worked off all the extra mahambri I had eaten.


On Friday everyone was quite excited for the World Cup. Since the anticipation was a bit distracting, I thought it was a good excuse to try to get Omar to organize the office where we work. I would make Juma help but 1. his desk is clean and 2. he wasn't in the office on Friday. So, I had Omar move all his papers from his desk and separate them into four piles: Do now, Do later, Trash and File. I think I have found my new calling in life, professional organizer. We ran out of time before he could get through his stacks but he threw away at least one ream's worth of old papers. He kept shaking his head at the amount of junk he had kept. I may not have done much on the project on Friday but I'd say it was still a successful day.

President Taylor, the mission president, came to church today for branch conference and to reorganize the branch presidency. The Changamwe branch was organized just 1 1/2 years ago. President Kenneth, who was just released, is an incredible leader. He has been a member for nearly 20 years. A few years ago his work transferred him to Mombasa when there were no other members and he was still single. He traveled to Nairobi every weekend for church (about a 6-7 hour drive each way). Because of his missionary work there are now three branches in the Mombasa area. His first counselor is the new branch president. During the sustainings there were a couple of people that raised their hand to oppose. It was a unique meeting and for most of the members it was the first time to attend a branch conference and/or have any of their leaders released. I'm constantly made aware of how much I take for granted back home. The branch is strong and I know they'll adjust.

So, there goes another week.

The Weekend

I didn't think I did that much this weekend but as I sit down to write this I realize a lot happened. First, my poor shoe started falling apart on Friday. I caught the toe on a rock and the sole started flapping. Since I walk almost 2 miles a day, I have wondered how long my shoes would last. Omar and Juma sent me down to the corner hut they call a shop and said to ask for the lady who fixes shoes. I did as they said but only got some confused expressions in return. When I took off my shoe and demonstrated the problem I got a much better response. A guy quickly grabbed it and pulled out this yellow sticky junk and started to swab it between the shoe and sole. After that dried then he pulled out the super glue. That's when I knew this was legit. 2 minutes and 20 shillings later (about $.25), I was back in business.

Friday night Brenton and I decided to go to a restaurant that serves authentic African food. Since I had already eaten the ever popular Pilau for lunch, I opted for some seafood. I ordered the large Tilapia fish. However, I forgot to mention that I only wanted the fillet. I was only somewhat surprised when my plate arrived with an entire fish on it. The saddest part wasn't that I now had to mess with the skin, bones, head and fins on this fish but that I didn't have my camera with me! However, I was quite impressed with my work in the end. It was so good that I'm pretty sure I'll be making a return visit, this time with my camera.

On Saturday we went to a school for the deaf to give them some pencils and erasers that Brenton had brought with him from home. Mama Rose arranged for us to meet up with her daughter, Rukiya, who would then take us to the school. Mama Rose later explained to me that her daughter had been using her own money to buy candy for the kids at the school. She had been doing it for awhile but they only found out about it recently. It just goes to show how amazing Mama Rose is when you hear of her daughter doing something like that. The kids were really cute and kept saying hi and thank you using sign (the only two things I understood, anyway). All of the primary schools having paintings on their walls with maps, the alphabet and numbers. Brenton stopped to take a picture of one of the maps and the kids all ran over to show their pencils. So cute!


I ran off to institute from there. We had 4 come again this week. I think we are going to combine institute and seminary. There is only one seminary student and they are all on the same level anyway. Maybe that's against the rules but we're going to try it. We're going to tackle Jacob 5 this week, at their request. Cross your fingers for me.

After Institute I went grocery shopping. Brenton and I have talked about trying some new fruits and/or vegetables that are here. Since he was leaving soon, I picked up a few that the produce guy suggested. Here's the array. I'll go clockwise from the top left. On the outside we have a pomelo, mango (just because they're good), paw paw, tree tomatoes and turpa. On the inside we have limes (to cover any gross tastes), green tangerine and golden passion fruit.


Here's what I decided: I love pamelo, mango was overripe, didn't like the paw paw (even with lime juice), tree tomatoes are weird tasting but look pretty, we never figured out how to prepare the turpa (it's a vegetable that should be cooked), love limes, tangerines were a bit tart and the passion fruit almost made me puke (the texture, not the taste- think I'll stick with the juice).

So, in other news...we have a cat.

Brenton is an animal lover and came across this stray kitty last week. It's back legs and right eye had been hurt. He not only brought her home and fed her but he also found a local vet and got some medicine for her eye. Nice of him since he has now gone and left me with the cat and the remaining prescription to put in her eye. He's found her another home so her new owners will be picking her up on Sunday (I hope). We named her Mombasa and she's actually grown on me a bit. She and I had a girls movie night last night :) This is what my social life has come to- watching movies with a cat!

June??

I can't believe how time is flying. Since going to Samburu nothing too exciting has happened. In fact, I'm struggling to remember what I've been doing. The project continues to have its ups and downs. I don't get to do much during the week since it gets dark so soon. Last weekend I went to the market. This place is amazing. It's street after street of shops with spices, used clothing, shoes, live poultry, scarves and fabrics. I walked and walked through all the little streets. I got pretty good at bargaining and splurged on a scarf and beaded sandals. I then found my way to Fort Jesus where there are more shops for the tourists. I exhausted the shops and myself so I headed home before Institute/Seminary.

Last Saturday I had 2 members come to Institute. Judy and Joseph are brother and sister and both quite amazing. We read 1 Nephi 8 and talked about Lehi's dream. It was new to both of them but they loved the entire discussion. We also talked about their conversion. Joseph (the younger brother) actually introduced Judy to the church before he was baptized. She then got baptized before he did. They are both incredibly strong and kept expressing how much the gospel has changed them. There has been some recruiting going on so I'm hoping more come tomorrow.

On Sunday I met more members of the Pope family. Their son, Eric, and son-in-law, Troy, are both in town with some of their kids. Their daughter Natalie flew in later that night. Louis invited me down to their new house after church. That turned into a three day visit. They had just moved in on Saturday and were still working out some of the bugs ie electricity and water. So, Monday we all helped unpack things and got the house mostly in order. The plumbing was all over the place which resulted in water all over the place. Electricity was still somewhat unstable when I left on Tuesday. BUT I have to say that they have a really beautiful house and a really beautiful location. It was fun just spending time with their family, they are a very inspiring group of people. Ned and Claralyn Hill also came to visit the family. Ned was rather excited to learn that I was starting my MBA at BYU in the fall. I loved talking with Claralyn about Yehu and other similar ventures as we tried to decide what really is the most effective way to help the most people.

I was pretty excited to be back in the office on Wednesday. I never knew how much I need routine in my life, kind of sad. Today I went to another branch that is located in Likoni which is south of Mombasa. I crossed the ferry on foot and have to say that the experience is always fascinating. As you wait for the ferry, they play advertisements and short safety videos. The first video showed what happens to those who stand on the ramp that moves up and down on either end. Apparently you will experience a horrible fall before you slip forever into the water. The next film was a bit ambiguous. It showed a lone person waiting for the ferry as a large man approached and then knocked the first man down. At first I thought the warning was to stay away from big scary people but then the large man was suddenly hit by a truck and run over. So, I guess the point is that there's always a bigger fish? The third and final film warned us to not sit on the rails. It showed a girl sitting on the rail (what NOT to do) when a rat showed up and jumped on her. This of course caused her to lose her grip and she fell back into the black water. Moral of the story? Take care of the rat problem. The whole experience was topped off on the way home when a man on a horse rode the ferry. There's just something so crazy and entertaining about that image that I will forever treasure.

Here's to you, matatu driver

I've decided that recognizing a good matatu driver is like trying to recognize varying accents in a foreign language. When you first hear a new language it all sounds the same but over time you can pick out accents. The longer I am here the easier it is for me to pick out a good driver. At first they all seem like lunatics behind a wheel but now I'm beginning to see the art in it. So, I've compiled my still growing list of what makes a matatu driver worth the 25 shillings I'm paying him.

1-Regularly uses the sidewalk as a second and/or third lane
2-Completely disregards any official or unofficial rules of a roundabout
3-Can navigate through traffic with ease while hanging outside the window shouting at the guy crazy enough to even consider cutting him off
4-Can navigate through traffic with ease while hanging outside the window shouting back at the guy who is angry that he just cut them off
5-Somehow knows just where to drive through a muddy lake of water that could easily swallow the entire bus
6-Will always win in a game of chicken. Flinching isn't even in their vocabulary. Whether a bicycle or a diesel truck, the other guy is moving over.
7-They carefully, yet quickly, evade any approaching police
8-Fabulous decorating skills. The best matatus will have impressive speakers, upholstered ceiling, fringe visors and inspiring (and sometimes not so inspiring) quotes throughout the van. My favorites today: "Don't give big gifts. Give little gifts with a big heart," "Learn 2 live without. U will not B disappointed," and "There is no lift to success. You got to take the stairs."
9-Selective hearing. They will let you off when they darn well please despite your incessant knocking. (Since there are few "official" stops, you knock on the side of the van when you want to get off. It works.)
10-Keen eyesight. They can spot a potential rider before I'd spot an elephant in my kitchen.

Part of me would like to devote one of these to the directors of the matatus since they have their own set of mad skills. However, they are the ones who collect the money and often rip me off so I don't really feel like giving them any credit.

Glass Bottom Boat

Here are some pics from the first week I arrived. This was the day we went out on a glass bottom boat with Andi, Aaron, Rob & Vicki Harbertson, Louis & Chriss Pope, Sam, Saphia and myself.

Andi & Me

Chriss & Louis

One of the guys on the boat would dive under and break open sea urchins which would attract the fish and in this case, an eel.

The pic below isn't from the glass bottom boat, as you probably guessed. It's just a random pic from Andi & Aaron's farewell party. This little girl sporting the glasses and purse was pretty awesome.

Life is a highway

Just hope your life doesn't turn onto the Nairobi Highway. This stretch of road is notoriously long, crowded and bumpy. I got to experience a mere 1 1/2 hour stretch of this highway a couple of weeks ago (May 21st, I think). I went with Omar to the Samburu Branch. It's just outside Mombasa on the way to Nairobi. We caught a 'mat' in Mombasa at 8am and were there by 9:30am. I can't say enough how pretty this country is. I loved the drive past small towns and especially through the rolling hills of green landscape and bright red roads.

I met with all the credit officers and clerks of the Samburu Branch which took up the entire morning. We took a break for lunch and went to a 'cafe' in town. After we ordered our food, the others got up to go wash their hands. I started walking with them but when I saw they were lined up to dip their hands in a bucket of water I did an about face to go find my hand sanitizer instead. Everyone (workers and patrons alike) washes their hands in this bucket of water. No soap. They dip in their hands and then just shake off the water. I have accepted a gross amount of dirt and filth since coming down here but I could not bring myself to join them.


I ate my lunch of Pilau (a rice dish) and managed to not think about who prepared it and how. There was a piece of meat on the bone which had clearly been broken instead of cut as there were jagged edges and shards of the bone in my meal. I generously offered my meat to Omar who was surprised and pleased with my offer.


The woman above came into the office while I was there. She had the cutest baby and I got to see both how they change their babies and how they tie them to their backs. Can I just say how glad I am for disposable diapers and strollers!

And the ants came marching in

Have I mentioned our ants? I had a mug of passion fruit juice the other day and after finishing it I set my empty mug on the table while I worked on my computer for a bit. Within 2 minutes an ant had discovered this sugary paradise. Within 3 minutes there were 10. Within 5 minutes there were countless ants swarming both the inside and outside of my mug. It grossed me out and captured my fascination all at the same time. I was tempted to start over and do some time lapse pictures. I couldn't bring myself to do it. But this is a regular occurrence. A drop of yogurt, a crust of bread, a piece of gum. If you leave it, they will come. Since I've been here, we've had lines of marching ants across our table, to our sink and, of course, all over our pantry. These little warriors have claimed many a bag of cereal and sugar in the history of this house. So, it's a routine of cleaning, sealing and 'Doom'ing (Doom may be the world's greatest bug spray I've ever seen) these little neighbors of ours.