Weekend Fun in Kenya

We had an interesting time at a funeral on Saturday… between 1,000 and 2,000 in attendance, and the service was held in a field outside of the main mud-hut home dwelling.  It went from dawn til dusk with lunch served for all:  ugali (a white, corn mush of sorts that’s the Kenyan favorite and staple) with greens, of course.  The deceased’s body was laid out for all to see and a hole had been dug beside it where he would be buried at the end of the day.  Many people had a lot to say, one after the other, loudly talking into the microphone in their tribal language of Kikuyu, which sounded strangely absurd after listening to Swahili for the past couple of weeks.  Fortunately, after driving an hour to get to the village where the funeral was held, we were only required to stay a few hours, long enough for the family to see us and make sure we were seen by everyone else there – pretty hard not to, as we were the only white faces in a sea of black ones! I was so grateful as I was squished tight in between two gals.  The elderly lady right beside me had brought along her colorful, torn umbrella.  She grinned a beautiful toothless smile at me and gibbered away in Swahili off and on while we sat together, but more importantly, we took turns holding the umbrella as the sun beat down on us.  I could tell from her going on and on that she was terribly worried that my lily-white skin was going to burn, but for me, I wasn’t so worried about the burning as I was dying from the heat.  I was so grateful for that tiny bit of circular shade.  So, after a lovely lunch while gazing at the dead body lying in state under the tree, and Roger sidling up to me to note he had gotten a new photo (of a toilet) for my collection, we were scooted out for the mad dash to get home to watch the USA vs. Ghana game World Cup Game. That was Saturday....and then came Sunday!  I thought we were going to a small house church gathering in one of the slum areas of Kitale.  Mmmm, well, not so much.  Eric, the church planter there, had decided to gather the network of house churches he had started there, or at least half of them, five, together.  When we had almost gotten there, Roger asked exactly what was planned for the morning.  Eric, then, let us know that he and his wife thought it would be a good idea for the women to go with me and the men to go with Roger.  I just about had a meltdown!  I had less than five minutes to get something together.  It had taken me most of the morning just to get showered and dressed and now I actually had to say something and facilitate a bunch of women with no notice…for TWO hours!  Well, needless to say, in my weakness, God is always strong, so I survived and God is good.  It was a great morning…and a great weekend!     Above is a photo of the group of women and also Eric and Maggie, the church planters.