March - 2016

My First Sunday in Chepkero Parish

My First Sunday in Chepkero Parish

My first Sunday in Chepkero Parish and I have had the most scary experience of my life! We had an 8am service of Morning Prayer in English in the church next to the Vicarage. After that, we met the children of Sunday school briefly -- they meet in an airless room with no windows. There were loads of them! All fascinated by and slightly apprehensive of the mzungu. For most if not all of them this is the first time they have seen a white person up close. They want to feel my

Greeting People

Greeting people is very important in Kenya, and you can't pass someone you know in the street without stopping to greet them and talk with them for a bit. Greeting men (if you are a woman) seems fairly straightforward. It is usually a simple handshake. The man might use both hands or put his left hand on his elbow, as he shakes your hand. Occasionally, as well as shaking your hand, they will do a thumb hook thing, before shaking your hand again. Greeting women is more complic

Commitment to Church

In general, people seem willing to give lots of time to the church. The first two weeks I was here, the carpenter was doing some work inside St Christopher's. The caretaker of the church came round every day, just to see if she could clean the church. And again, not a word of complaint about the number of times she came and found she couldn't do anything, because the carpenter was busy making a mess. Young people are willing to give up most of their Saturday to plan activitie

Flax

Flax

In Flax, a lot of people have farms or smallholdings or shops. However, there is some other employment, too, mainly provided by Fluorspar. This company quarries fluoride in the Kerio Valley (part of the Rift Valley). Lorries bring the fluoride up from the valley to a plant in Flax from where it is then transported to other places. Just outside Flax, a former government minister is building a tea factory. Sometimes he can be seen flying in in his helicopter to inspect the work

The first 3 weeks in Kenya

It is now three weeks since I arrived in Flax and life seems to be taking on some kind of routine. The first two weeks here were quite tough, really. My 24 or so hours in Limuru weren't too bad, because I had met Prof. Esther Mombo a few times before, so there was at least one familiar face there. Also, I stayed in the guesthouse at St Paul's University, which meant that I had my own space there. And I had the comforts that I was used to: fridge, flush toilet, shower. How dif

Settling in

The people here are clearly getting used to me, too. In Eldoret, I am still a novelty and people will call out 'mzungu' (white person) when they see me, but here in Flax only the children do that now. The adults have got used to seeing a white person walking around their village. On Sunday, someone mentioned in a speech that white people haven't really been seen in these parts since the colonials left, some 50 years ago. Apparently, there are still some white families around,

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