Safari not!

Today we planned to go on Safari in the beautiful Rift Valley.  George says this is a good time to go because the animals will be moving around and visible.  I’ve been looking forward to this since the first time I came to Kenya. I am still looking forward to it because it’s 10am and we had to postpone the trip once again. Hopefully we’ll go tomorrow. 

The reason for the delay is that we have been having water problems since our first week here. It’s been working ok but not much pressure until Saturday when we got up in the morning and there was no running water at all. So for the last 5 days it has been on and off with Fred, George, Bob and the plumber in and out trying different solutions. It seemed yesterday we finally had it fixed with good water pressure. We went to town to get groceries for lunch and to the Safaricom store to fix Joy and Amy’s modem. Suddenly George gave abba the keys to the van and took off saying something vague about the water pump. So we waited for Amy to finish her business. A car pulled up behind us and blocked us in. About the same time the driver disappeared Amy walked out. No problem, this happens all the time. Abba went to find the driver of the car who had disappeared. He talked to the security guard who had no answers so we waited….. I thank God that I’m a midwife and have learned the valuable lesson of waitingJ Abba kept looking in nearby places but couldn’t find the man. Joy, Bob Miller, Amy and I waited in the van. After about 20 minutes we decided we might just as well have some ice cream while we wait. So Bob and Amy walked back to the store to get some. Now these ice cream bars are really good…chocolate covered vanilla ice cream on a stick … ummmm… They were only gone a minute or two when the dear driver showed up and apologetically moved his car. Abba got in the driver’s seat of our van and backed out. Now that may sound like a simple thing, backing a car out of a parking place, but it was not. With poor visibility Joy and I were trying to direct Abba – “Wait! There’s a pedestrian. Wait there’s a car, another pedestrian, a motorcycle, a bicycle, a pedestrian, more cars”. “Ok , Go NOW!” “What?” “Go NOW!” Whew! We made it. Now that we’re on the road abba noticed that Amy and Bob are gone. We told him to go back to Tusky’s (grocery store). As we turned the corner we saw them walking back towards the Safaricom. Joy and I yelled across the traffic of cars, motorcycles, bike and yes, of course, pedestrians, “Hey!! Hey!!” Everyone on the street turned and looked at us mzugus yelling out the window with a mzugu driver. Fortunately Amy and Bob looked too and crossed the street to board the van. We laughed and ate our expensive ice cream bars (295 shilllings each) while abba drove us home on the wrong side of the rode dodging cars, motorcycles, bicycles and, did I say PEDESTRIANS? When we got home there was no water again, Morelle was cooking dinner, so we got ready to go to a clan meeting.

The clan meeting was good. It was easy to find the little one room house because we heard the singing from a distance and were able to follow it to that house.This particular clan has been struggling with commitment to each other. Abba started by asking Joy, Amy, Bob and I to tell our story with God and why we were here in Africa. While they were speaking I was silently asking God what He would have me say to these precious ladies. I told them how God had brought me out of a horrible pit that I had dug for myself and that He had set my feet on a solid Rock, Himself, Jesus Christ. I told them that I am in Kenya to share the “abundant life” He has given and taught us to live.  Abba started by telling them that was exactly what he wanted to talk to them about, “abundant life”. Abundant life is not money, houses and cars but comes from giving to each other even the little we have, taking care of each other and living in each other’s hearts. He challenged them to take care of each other and to become the very best clan. That we would return and find them the most talked about clan because of their faithfulness to each other. They listened intently and agreed that they needed to do that. It amazes me that God has given us faces to express the life inside of us. When we entered that room the faces were sad and depressed. As we left they were full of light and life. The Word of the Lord had come through earthen vessels and filled their hearts and minds with His Love.

Back to the water story….. It wasn’t until breakfast this morning that we got the whole story. We really didn’t know what caused George to abandon us in town except that it had something to do with the water problem at home.  It seems while we were in town George got a frantic phone call from Beatty, the house girl, saying the plumber ran away and some men were there taking the water pump away. George went down to the agent and recovered our pump with a promise that it wouldn’t happen again. We have water again so I think I’ll close and go take a showerJ

Hopefully my next blog will be all about our Safari to the Rift Valley!


[I can't get pictures to upload so I'll have to try later.]