More Tidbits

Pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/MaiersInAfrica

Nov 25th, 2008 – Here are several more little items that make life interesting here. These are over the last couple of weeks. Pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/MaiersInAfrica


From the Sero Children’s home:
Mending clothes started with putting a button on 8 new dresses one of the nun’s had made for kid’s for the holidays. This turned into putting buttons on the school uniforms while the kids were still in them, and an occasion hole mended the same way. Soon the kids caught on to what we were doing and started bring their other clothing. We all joined into the act, from putting on a single button, to repairing whole seems and patching frayed rips.

During one of the kid’s recesses I was watching the various activities that were going on. My attention was drawn to a small group of girls that seem intent on hurtling a ball, with some ferocity, at a poor little girl. I was about to step in and put a stop to the mean play when the girl got hit. They all laughed and smiled and changed position, and began chucking the ball at a new victim. So I stood back and watched a little longer and soon realized it was a game that they thoroughly enjoyed. It was called Dance Ball, with the object being for the kid on either end of the game to try and throw the ball and tag the one in the middle whose objective was to ‘dance’ out of the way and not get hit. The kids all enjoyed it when I finally joined the fun, even more so than when the teacher in the skirt joined in, jumping, diving and throwing herself on the ground to avoid being hit. And the ball was made of a rolled up sock that was tied off tightly.

From Life at Mbita
Morgan got an uninvited visitor about our third day here at Mbita. One of the goats decided to take a look inside our home to see if there was anything tasty. As I followed it into the house, it headed right into Morgan’s room. I easily shooed it out. Morgan, of course was disappointed in missing the little fellow as she said she’d get to pet one finally as it would be trapped.

I was riding around Mbita with Father Charles as he was running errands on his day off. At one point he stopped, in what I thought was the middle of the street, and got out to tend to some business, leaving me to soak in my surroundings. Right outside the window was a mom with her 1 year old child, sitting at her feet. I spotted him through the table legs. The fascinating part was he was trying to cut a banana with a 12 inch kitchen knife. The mother didn’t seem to be the least bit concerned, probably because he was using the dull backside of the blade.

Bats are a common sight here. We usually see them as we sit for tea at night in our living room. The come swooshing through our front door and either head into my bedroom or the kitchen. We assume that they fly out the windows, but they could be disappearing into the ceiling. We are pretty sure we have some that hang out above our ceiling. We have noticed droppings on our coffee table every morning. After a couple days we wised up and began moving the table so the poop missed the table and hit the floor. Much less hassle to clean up that way. It’s also fun to dodge them in the bedroom when they fly in while you are changing clothes. They make a couple of random circles and disappear. They seem very good at avoiding running into you.

Nightly tea is common for us and a nice way to end the day. It’s also a chance to catch a little protein. Again, we have it in the dining room on our only table, a coffee table. It’s located right under the only light in the room, which is also where the bugs and flies congregate. Occasionally one looses it fold and more often then not land in cup of tea, usually Morgan’s it seems. This is so common an occurrence that Morgan just makes a sound of slight irritation, scoops it out and continues on.

There are 2 mommy dogs around with new born, eyes still shut puppies. This was a jackpot for Morgan as during our initial visit here, we only saw a mother with her month or two old pup. Of course Morgan instantly announced she was going to conquer the apprehension of the mother dogs, becoming both their friend and get to pet the puppies. It was less than a week before Morgan was most welcome inside the cages, petting the moms and handling their babes. One even rolls over when Morgan comes so she can have her tummy rubbed.

Morgan was not so friendly to the ants that invaded our kitchen. After attempts of just physically removing them it was obvious that something more permanent would need to be done as they kept returning each morning. Even Nick was irritated enough with them to ask if I had any toxic substances around that could be used. Morgan and Joyce located some DOOM spray and we were soon ant free.

We’ve had our first spotting of hippos, just below us off the water’s edge in Lake Victoria. There we’re three of them, but all we could see was the top of their heads and backs. Joyce is determined to see them closer and more of them. We hear that they come on to the land here at night. We also have been warned not to the water’s edge at night because of the hippos who are dangerous. I guess the Kenya government pays surviving family members a couple hundred thousand shillings if a loved one gets killed by a hippo. We have yet to find out if this goes for visiting mazungus as well. Hope to get some pictures soon.

Nick has been the only one brave enough to bath in the lake so far. Even the 3 ticks he picked up one time and the stories of the 8 inch long leeches don’t seem to faze him.

Nick has spent a number of his free hours doing home improvements. Armed with some basic tools I brought and a handy Leathermans Tool (which was the first casualty of some local light fingers during one of our cleaning projects) Nick has created some great enhancements to our humble home. The items include a replacement for the ant infested kitchen shelve that was thrown out, bedside stands for him and Morgan, a wind chime and hangers. He even inspired me to make my own set of wall mounted clothes pegs.

Got a headache, need to go find some aspirin,
Paul

Next day, headache is gone and not much to do.

We had another School Committee meeting today, it seemed productive, but 3 times to long, especially since it stated over an hour late. We have a plan to get a technician in to evaluate the working condition of the electrical machinery and what the cost of repairs might be.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving and we plan on traveling to Homa Bay to spend the day with Dr John. He’s planning on making something special for the big meal. Probably not turkey.

Anyway, here are a few more tidbits.

ICIPE has public internet access and it is the best we have found so far. Okay speed most of the time, but still a lot of things seem to take forever. It is also convenient as it is less than ½ mile away. Done side is it is a little more expensive, only has one shared computer and occasional power burps mess things up. I can however hook up my PC, which they even got a IT guy ti configure so it would work.

The ICIPE internet PC is in the library. I was perusing the current periodical section while waiting for Morgan. Thought I was in a doctor’s office for a sec seeing how current they were.

Kenya appears to have a marvelous system developed to get the most use out of their car tires. It is so good that the tires can run even when the cords are exposed and worn all the way through. Even with a 3+ inch slash in the sidewall the tires keep on turning. Their method – when you have a flat, put on the spare, get it repair and rotate the next tire to go flat. The one flat I experienced, it was neither the one with the cords showing nor the one with the sidewall gash.

Joyce has to switch malaria medication, the doxycycline (sp?) caused her skin to be too sensitive to the sun – rash on toes and hands and a few blisters. For now she is going to mefloquine.

On Sunday after the third mass of the day, 2 of which were in Dholuo, a language I know 3 words in, I got to ride in the back of a short bed pickup with 28 kids. They were small kids which helped a lot, but still I had to count multiple times to make sure I had it right. So with me and the guy standing on the back bumper, there were 30 of us. The father I was with, on the way to the services, stopped several times on the way to pick up parishioners, fill the bed with babes to adults. Wish I had a camera.

Signing off (battery is getting very low)
Paul