Today is catch-up day so I'll try to answer some of your questions.
We can remember only one day that it hasn't rained since we've been here. Most days it rains about 3PM, but some days it rains several times...usually these are downpours. Day before yesterday it rained so hard and blew so hard, it was something else. The branch president of Kitale, who (as with everyone we've visited with one exception) lives in a mud house. He came to Temple Prep class and said he and his family sat in their home during the bad rain and wondered literally if their house was going to melt away. They could see the mud run down the walls onto the mud floor. How would that be? I just can't imagine.
We think the delivery of the new baby went well. We need to visit there today. We have one newborn kit leftover from a former Humanitarian effort. We want to deliver it to them. We don't know if the returning elder got home.
We have not had Malaria, but Malaria and AIDS are ubiquitous as Kevin would say. The mission provides us with Malaria pills to be taken every day. We are religious about it. The members tell us the mosquitoes go away in the light, and only come out in the dark.
The R.S. Pres is 59 and her husband is 68 in the branch we visited yesterday, Misikhu. They are wonderful, humble people. They run what is called a "hotel" here. It is a very small, dark little...what we would call a cafe...only it is really too small to be what we would call a cafe...it is about 4 booths...it was too dark to see down inside...more like a bear den or a very dark, narrow cave...dirt walls and floor where food is served to the public on wooden planks with benches. They both teach seminary, run the cafe, and have taken on their neighbor's 4 children. The neighbor's husband died of AIDS some time ago, as did one of their children. The neighbor wife is very, very ill at this time with AIDS and has gone to live with her father, so these sweet people have taken on the four remaining children--teenagers. The R.S. Pres' husband was the former branch president. They are the kindest, most humble people. He has been very ill with asthma and Malaria. Death is a constant here.
Our truck has been doing well lately. I fear greatly the time when the tires puncture…not from stickers…although we do go deep into the jungle…but from the constant abuse they get on the potholed roads.
We don’t go out after dark very often. We just had a rash of calls there for awhile. It was very unusual. The members call us out because they have no other alternatives when they have emergencies…Very few have bikes and even fewer have motorcycles. We know of only one branch president who has a motorcycle..maybe 2 in our four branches.
So, the only way they can get somewhere is to walk. Public transport is to catch a bike and be pumped somewhere. The bike drivers have a seat on the back fender, and there is a metal bar about 12 inches long that is welded under the seat that the passenger holds onto. The bikes and motors refuse to take passengers when it has rained because it is so dangerous to slide in the mud.
We have Salvation Army members who wear all white clothing who serve the villages. They wear white headgear and white dresses or pants. The Quaker religion is very strong here, and their leaders –men and women—also wear all white.
We have Community Helpers who wear only a certain white headgear. They receive a bike as “payment” and work for the government teaching hygiene, dispensing water tablets, and deworming medicine. They also teach AIDS prevention.
We have the African Israel Church. They wear very colorful long clothing, and I can’t find anyone who can tell me what they believe.
We see men wearing caftan-like flowing gowns in many different colors.
The traditional dress here for women is a bandana headcovering—often with wings extending to the side, and a modest, long dress covered with a piece of fabric—probably 1 ½ yard wide which is wrapped and tied at the waist. The women almost always wear a cape or shawl and have another length of fabric to carry their babies on their backs. It is just amazing to us that those babies don’t fall out. It looks like their little bottoms wouldn’t give enough depth to hold them in, but they do. Their little head bob as they sleep placidly through just about anything.
The landlord warned us to be very careful if we have a plumber come to the house because “he will cheat you! You must stand by him all the time he is in your home or he will break something while he is there, so that you must call him back to service it.” We can’t tell if the landlord is just paranoid, or if that is true. We are amazed how cynical people are about honesty of others here. We hope it is not true.
Neal asked the Branch President if he had electricity in his home. He looked wistfully and said, “It will take years for that to happen. We must trust in God. He will provide” and then he smiled. They are so patient.
We are teaching 2 Missionary Preparation lessons, 2 Temple Preparation Lessons, and a seminary class, a week. We just started a conducting and piano class once every 2 weeks, plus we are doing a lot of visiting. We also teach about 28 Seminary and Institute teachers once a month. So, the work is picking up. Today is our catch up and prepare lesson day. We also teach classes every week extemporaneously on Sundays. Every single week we visit, we are asked to teach because they are not prepared or are so overworked, they are swamped. We also are visiting one branch each Saturday to attend their seminary/institute classes. So, that pretty much describes what we do.
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