Pictures!

It took a while, but I've finally uploaded some pictures! They're not in
full resolution, and I've only uploaded a few, but you might get a better
idea about life in Kenya through these.

Check them out here!
http://picasaweb.google.com/doxadeo

I'll keep adding more photos later, hopefully.

Lenkijape Diaries: August 1 to 3

Here are some of the long awaited journal entries that I wrote while living in Lenkijape. I actually wrote them in a notebook with a pen. (Continuing from July 31)

Under the Candle Light
Tuesday, August 1. Lenkijape.

I finally got in touch with Eben. I called him when he was I Kenya coming from Tanzania. He was on his way to Kiluani, so they came soon after I called. As PuiMeng and I suspected, they thought I was already in Lenkijape, so they went there instead of Kiluani. It was my bad because I didn't communicate with them beforehand. Anyhow, they came to Kiluani with some missionary team from Korea. They didn't have time to take me to Kenkijape, so they took me and Pastor Stephen to Mile-Tisa, a little village on the main road that is closest to Lenkijape. From there we had to find a "taxi."

We had to go quite far from the main road. The barabara ("road" in Kiswahili) was very bumpy. Good thing we were on a big 4WD pickup truck. After we arrived, we had some chai with the pastor here (David Aluvisia), the chairman of the church and primary school (Jonathan Larmoi), the headmaster of the school (John Solonik), and one of the teachers (Shadrak Kaliti). Then I visited the school, talked with the headmaster, and helped pastor Aluvisia with recording grades. They had just finished the exams for the trimester, so they were adding up the scores and ranking the students. We took about an hour to do something I could have done in 8 minutes on Excel... 6 minutes entering data, 1 minute calculating and sorting, 1 minute formatting and printing. Instead, we used paper, pencil, calculator, and carbon paper. After that, I joined the students playing volleyball from a few minutes before they were dismissed for the day. They are closing the school on Thursday.

I got to talk with the pastor for a while. It seems like that's what I do most of the time nowadays, talk with pastors. Pastor David is a bit quiet and not so playful as pastor Stephen, even though he's only 2 years older than Pastor Stephen who is 33.

Pastor David's wife is gone home till Thursday, so there were a few girls from school cooking for us. We had some rice, chapati, cabbage and potato, and some goat meat (they just call it "meat" here). They were so much better than Isaiah's cooking... If Isaiah opened a restaurant in the US, he'll probably get a health inspection grade of "F," while the girls here (who are still in class 6 or 7 in primary school, but mostly at age of about 17) would get at least a "C."

After dinner, I talked with some of the boys who live at the compound. They asked me a lot of science questions to see if I knew them. One of them, Benson, is 21, and he is in class 7. He has 2 wives, 2 children, and 200 cattle. He used to be a moran (Masai soldier) like all the boy were traditionally. After getting married, he decided to get educated so that he could be a soldier. He also seemed quite interested in studying at BCEA. It's intriguing to see people like Benson who is already an adult going through primary school.

So here in Lenkijape, there is no electricity, so I'm writing this on paper under a candle light. I bought only 6 candles but too many matches. Judging by how fast the candles are melting (I'm using 3 right now since 1 is not bright enough), they not going to last more than a week. I must get more soon. I'm planning to go to Nairobi on Friday. PuiMeng is supposed to pick me up at Mile-Tisa at 7:30AM.

Next week, all the teachers are going to Masai mara for a safari tour for 3-4 days. The pastor had talked with them beforehand so that I could join them (he is also one of the teachers). So I'm really looking forward to that.

Tomorrow, we have "Morning Glory" (morning prayer) at 5am. Then I'll be going to a fellowship in the afternoon.

I guess I'll sleep now (11:20pm). I'm staying at one of the rooms in the church building next to the pastor's bedroom. Apparently some of the guys from the London team stayed here a few weeks ago.

Taking a “Shower” for the First Time
Wednesday, August 2.

The first three candles have already gone out. They were too short that I could not see the notebook, so I put the last three candles.

The day started out with morning prayer at 5am. Since there is no electricity, people just came in to the sanctuary and prayed out loud. Some people sang a few choruses in (I think it was) Kimasai. After an hour of prayer (although I was dozing off for the most part), we had a cup of tea and some chapati (leftovers from last night) for breakfast.

Three of the headmaster's children (Alex, Grace, and Samuel) stay with the pastor during the week because their home is in Mile-Tisa, which is too far for the children to travel everyday. I went to the school with the pastor well after the kids went. The school is right across the street from the church. Students were basically cleaning the school (or just playing) all day. I got to talk with one of the youngest teachers, Johnstone Keton (23), for a while, and learned a bit more about Maasai culture and Kenya.

At 3pm, Jacob Kila, Mark (brother to Rachel, one of the girls who cooked last night) and I walked over to a church member’s house for a fellowship. Kila and Mark are 17 and 16, respectively (I think), but are still in classes 8 and 7 because they started school late. In traditional Maasai homes, looking after cattle takes precedence over education, so they make their firstborns learn to take care of livestock while they send the younger ones to school. So both of the boys who were with me today have younger brothers who are already in secondary school. We walked for about 40 minutes and finally arrived at a boma. Usually the pastor leads the fellowship, but today he was busy, so Kila shared some words and Mark translated for me.

On the way back, we dropped by the place where people get water. It’s basically where the river ends and the water drains. The river is all dried up right now, but they say it was filled in April. People were digging the mud and scooping sandy water into reused plastic bottles. The bottles weren’t even those clear plastic bottles used for water. They were those opaque bottles used for cooking oil or engine oil. These people really know how to recycle. I can’t even imagine drinking that water, but apparently they wait for the sand/debris to settle and drink the top layer. I suppose it’s the same water we have in the tank outside of church right now. There’s no running water in Lenkijape, so people have to carry it.

During our journey to fellowship, I got to meet a moran for the first time. He’s actually a brother of Kila, so I got to take a picture with him. He was only a little kid. But boys can because a moran as soon as they are circumcised (usually around 13).

After the long trip, I decided to take a shower for the first time (I don’t know if you would call it shower though). I heard that the London Team, while they were staying here, didn’t shower even once because they had people carry water for them, and didn’t want to waste it. Since I’m staying here for a while, I figured I’d get used to their way of taking a bath. Now that I’ve taken it, I’m thinking there might have been more reasons than just the shortage of water that the London Team didn’t take a shower for a whole week.

Imagine you’re in a booth made of iron sheets and wood. It’s dimensions are about 4ft x 4ft x 7ft, about the size of a telephone booth, except a bit smaller. The floor is made of cement, and has one small hole for a drain. You carry in a big basin with some water, some soap, shampoo, and a shower scrub. There is a metal wire going across at your eye level, so you hang your towel and clothes. Just after you’ve taken off all your clothes, you realize you didn’t bring a clean pair of underwear. But you decide to proceed with the bath. You crouch down to the basin and start wetting your hair. Then you notice the smell from the toilet which is right behind the iron sheet. You figure that you could cover up the smell when you use the shampoo. Note that toilets here are just a hole in the ground surrounded by walls made of iron sheets. The waste goes down the hole and just sits in a deep pit down below, so the smell is quite interesting. You don’t have any scooper, so you use your soapy hands to scoop up some water to rinse your hair. The water in the basin is already whitish, but you figure it’s just some shampoo. There’s hardly any light in the booth. There are a few small holes that let light in from the outside, but the sun is already behind a hill, and it’s starting to get dark very quickly. You wash your face and soap up the body, but all you can see is a silhouette of yourself, and you can’t tell how much soap is still on you. You feel some grainy things on your arms, but since you can’t see them, you have no idea what they are. You just try to rinse them off with your hands. Then you start to rinse the rest of the body by scooping water with your hands, but without much success. So you dump the rest of the water in the basin on the top of your head as the last-ditch effort. Perhaps it was a success, but you don’t know because it’s too dark. Besides, by now you don’t really care. You just try to dry off as much as you can with the towel. Since you don’t have a clean pair of underwear, you just wrap the towel around your waist, put on a shirt, and walk back to your room hoping no one will see you.

So that was my experience taking a bath here for the first time.

Now I must sleep. I’m so tired...

Closing Ceremony and Wild Chicken
Thursday, August 3.

I really should be sleeping now but I’ll just briefly summarize what happened today.

The primary school closed today. The closing ceremony was super long. Everyone was ranked among their classes, and teachers and parents spoke about I-have-no-idea-what. They all spoke in Kimasai, so I couldn’t understand anything. Alex and Grace were both the top of their classes (5th and 3rd grades, respectively).

Afterwards, two of the girls who were cooking for us (Leah and Ruth), Kancholi, and Joshua taught me some Kimasai. Now I can count up to 10,000 in Kimasai. Well, I still need my notes though. Maasai people use a sign language for numbers (as well as words), which I though was quite interesting. It’s not just the deaf of the mute that learn the sign language, but basically everyone knows how to say a number in sign language.

Pastor bought a guinea fowl for dinner. I got to see it being slaughtered. It was the weirdest thing ever. When Pastor cut its neck, it didn’t seem to resist at all, but right after the head fell off, the body started to go berserk, and the head was still moving! The eyes were blinking and the beak was moving. The body kept twitching for at least another 2 minutes. Guinea fowls make me think of dinosaurs. They have a horn-like head, and their skin is blue. The meat was the toughest thing I’ve ever eaten in my life.

Nothing much happens around here. So slaughtering a bird is an event. Tomorrow, Pastor and I are going to Nairobi. We have to get picked up by PuiMeng at 7:30am at Mile-Tisa. So I must get up early and get ready.

Doxa in Kenya: Work of the Holy Spirit in Tanzania

Wednesday, September 6. Nairobi.

I feel like it's been quite a while since I wrote an entry, but my last
entry was only 5 days ago. I guess compared to the past 6 weeks, when I
wrote an entry almost every day (with pencil and paper), 5 days without
journaling seems like a long time.

Anyhow, let me talk a little more about Tanzania. Originally, I was going
back to Nairobi on Saturday, but I stayed in Tanzania for another day due to
last minute changes.

The opening ceremony was quite nice, even though none of the buildings were
complete. We have a church building, the main school building, dormitory,
cafeteria, and a guest house. Apparently the workers kept saying there's no
problem, but they were very slow. According to the contract, they were
supposed to have finished 3 weeks ago, so we could start working on interior
design. But I guess that's what happens with all construction. UCLA
construction hardly ever finish on schedule either. But then I think the
scale is quite different in Tanzania. The workers don't seem to feel any
pressure even when they are told that they need to hurry up. Not only they
are very slow, they don't really listen to directions. Pastor Lazarus drew a
model of the main gate for the college just like the one we have in Nairobi.
He showed it to the main fundi (general term for worker, repairer, etc.),
but the fundi didn't follow the order at all. Instead he made a really
crappy-looking gate that was even crooked. I think he was so ashamed of
himself that he didn't even come to the opening ceremony. He should have
been recognized for the work that he'd dome so far, at least. I guess he
knows what he has done (or what he didn't do and should have done).

We had a contract with another fundi earlier, but one day he decided to run
away with all the money. So we had to make a new contract with the current
fundi to build the school. Then a while ago the first fundi came back and
told us that he will sue us because we've hired a new fundi while we had a
contract with him. Quite ridiculous, isn't it? He was the one who broke the
contract and took all the money in the first place! But this is only
something that I heard from someone. So I don't know much about it. The best
thing to do is just let him sue us. In reality, he's not going to. He said
he'll sue us only because he hoped we'd feel threatened and just give him
some money. So I'm sure he's disappointed that we're not doing anything to
respond to his threat.

On Sunday, those who were remaining in Tanzania split up and went to several
churches to preach. I went to a church with Dr. Gary Johnson and Rev. Peter
Elibariki. The church was located on a hill, and literally, if the land was
not occupied by a building or a road, it was packed with banana trees and
coffee plants. The church building was not even complete but they've been
building it for at least 6 years. It's because they build it using money
from the offering, but people here really don't have much money. So they
save little by little and build bit by bit. I was actually quite impressed
by how they did it, because they've done so much with the little they have,
even though it took so long.

Before Dr. Johnson gave the sermon, I got to share a little bit of my
testimony. I told the congregation about how God brought me to Kenya and
helped me to cope with the life in Masai Land for 5 weeks. I encouraged them
to do everything for God's Glory (1 Cor. 10:31). Then Dr. Johnson preached
from Philemon. He talked about how Paul wrote a letter to Philemon telling
him to forgive Onesimus, and how Jesus intercedes for us. He asked the
congregation if anyone has not yet received Jesus as Lord and Savior. Nobody
raised their hands or anything, but something really cool happened. The
choir started singing after the sermon, and during the song, an old lady
came up to the front and told the pastor that she wanted to pray to receive
Christ. So Dr. Johnson went up to her and started talking to her. While he
was talking to her, two more ladies came up and did the same! From what I
understand, Dr. Johnson made sure they understood what they were doing, and
that they did not pray to receive Christ before. What's really amazing is
that these women have been going to church for at least 15 years, and have
never prayed the sinner's prayer! It was truly the working of the Holy
Spirit. I thank God that He lead me to stay one more day in Tanzania. I
should remember to preach the Gospel whenever I'm given the opportunity.

One of the reasons I haven't been writing as much is because I've been busy
with school. I've working in the office again. Today I started making an
inventory of the book with have for selling. It's not too bad, since I just
have to count how many of which books with have, but there's quite a number
of books. Although, I'm sure this is nothing compared to what I have to do
for the library (5000+ books).

I've also been teaching English to the first years. We have two English
classes: standard and advanced. The standard class is mainly for foreign
students (i.e. Out side Kenya). Some are from Congo where people speak
French, and some just don't know English at all. This one student pretends
to understand what I'm saying, but I'm pretty sure that he doesn't
understand a single word. I'm teaching them pronouns right now. I haven't
had a class with the advanced class yet (their first class in on Friday),
but at least they'll really understand what I'm saying. It's a bit hard to
teach when there's limited resource. I wish I had more (and faster) access
to the Internet...

I need to be diligent with the med school application. It's been on hold for
over a month because I was out in the wilderness. But I really need to focus
this time. It feels like time goes by so fast here. I'm here doing one
thing, then right after that I'm doing another thing somewhere else. I get
up really early (5:30am) for the morning prayer, and (try to) go to sleep
around 11:30pm. Ok, maybe I should write less journal and work on the app
more.