Jumbo elephant just along the road

Making paper beads,matatu driving, off to market, & beautiful mom & child

Stork on the roof of cpls apt Nairobi, checking LDS charities spring, women bringing in the firewood

Pictures in the Park (Mt. Elgon) March 24

Pictures in the Park (Mt. Elgon)

This is cute "Kevin" suffering from running infection

Our morning walks--Candleabra Tree-bush grain sack outhouse

Teaching with elders out in bush, children left alone,roof of home,

Sis K made her own oven, Bro K with his clay brick maker, a native house outside & in, plus an African "cache" for corn

Just a few random thoughts

March 4, 2011

Just a few random notes. We went to see Nancy O. yesterday with Brother Kw, a counselor in the Branch Presidency. Nancy just had a baby a couple of months ago. Her husband is up north. He buys fish up there, carts them down south where he sells them to vendors. So, she is alone with the baby, and her husband’s little 11 yr old sister. They have just moved to a different home. It is larger than the last, and is a cement row house with cubicles on both sides of a very narrow corridor strung with rope to make a clothesline that all can share. The doors to each cubicle (which face each other) are constructed of pieces of cloth hung over the openings.

Nancy has been in the District Hospital with pneumonia and malaria. She has been very ill and remains so. She asked Neal and Brother Kw to come and give her a blessing. She went to the hospital three days ago, but the only accommodation for her was to share a bed with 3 other adults—all with different illnesses—in a huge ward. This was such a terrible situation for her, that she finally chose after 2 days to return home to tough it out rather than to stay there and catch something else. There is no nursing care as we know it at the hospital. The patient must provide his own medication, injection, blood, food, and caregiver. The nurses are available only to administer the injections.

There are SO MANY funerals here. Hardly a week goes by that a branch doesn’t have a funeral either of a member or a close family relative to a member. Everyone who is remotely connected to the diseased must go to the funeral. This makes it really hard to try to plan for any meetings on Saturdays when the funerals are usually held. We didn’t understand why this is so strictly adhered to. One of our African missionaries explained that if you do not go to a funeral, some people suspect you had something to do with causing the death. It is also a very strict social more for them to attend. Funerals are huge and last several days.

Yesterday, we visited with the Elders and a Branch Missionary many families far out in the bush. In two of those families, the husband was SIGNIFICANTLY older than his wife. I asked our African guide to explain. He was really talking about his own situation as he talked. He is a branch elder and working toward going on a mission. He is 24 years old. He said he will choose a woman 5-10 years younger than him so that she can take care of him in his old age. He will not choose a peer because she would age with him and not be able to care for him. He also spoke of the grief and pain that comes from polygamous marriages. He was surprised to hear that the Church (although he is very active and attended a recent broadcast when this was discussed) discourages parents from sending their children to boarding schools, discourages dowries being paid, and discourages wife beating and child caning.

He said the tribes further south practice taking child brides. When a boy is circumcised (8-14 years old) he “chooses” his wife. This is a binding agreement. The girl has no say. He said they often also marry VERY young wives---a 47 year old man marrying a 17 year old girl, although it is illegal in some parts of Kenya. Some tribes do not circumcise. He said the Jalu tribe in Kisumu produces the most educated of Africans and the Africans with the best jobs, and they do not practice circumcision, but the Nandi tribe in Eldoret still practices female circumcision. His belief (said with great emphasis) is that “You are nothing! Nothing, if you are not circumcised. You are not a man!”