This is the Place!

Kenyans are amazing people.  Everywhere we looked, it seemed like life was hard.  From the very noticeable poverty many live in everyday, to the fact that many of them are small and undernourished, they live in a place that is difficult to negotiate. We in America have very little understanding of what it must be like to live in a place with so little infrastructure. The road from Kisumu to the village was churned up by the construction of a new airport, and we probably suffered bruises from the ride.  No signs on any of the dirt tracks made navigation interesting and dirt filled our sinuses as we drove.  Just the journey out to the village was an overwhelming sensory experience.

Driving in Kenya, even on the best roads, can take some getting used to.  As one member of the group put it: "here in Kenya they give you a seat-belt to create the illusion that you have control of something while on the road!"

But Kenyans are amazing in their capacity to love and overwhelm you with their welcome and extension of friendship.  They are shy and soft-spoken, many of the children clearly did not know what to think of their foreign visitors...but their welcome was so...Kabisa..to use a favorite word we learned today .... complete.  From the happy waves as we passed by in our van to the personalized song and dance of welcome we were greeted with....the day was remarkable because of the expression of love we felt from them. They hugged us, fed us, sang to us all day long and sat with us to get to know us.  Many who knew us from previous visits were clearly so so happy to see us again.

We spent the morning first in Sunday school with the children, who came out in a line singing a personalized welcome song.  Then we went to church with the adults.  We had a large lunch (I'm sure that distressed chicken noise out the back during morning tea was lunch being slaughtered!) followed by a lovely afternoon just sitting in the compound and visiting.  Many people came and went through the afternoon and it was pleasant sitting in the shade of a large cashew tree, with a light breeze cooling us down.