Settling into the little Bible School campus was fairly smooth. Two other missionary families lived nearby and were helpful and kind. The house was stone and comfy. The only difficult factor was getting water to the house and heating it. The water source was uphill somewhere. Many times people would cut the pipes and water their cows. My husband would go up the hill until he found the break and repair it.
Then he would make a wood fire in the box outside the house and wait for it to heat the water. So having a hot shower was not always timely or certain.
Our 7-year-old, Kelly really put out an effort to make friends with the Kenyan children. She would help peel potatoes at mealtime with them or gather sticks for fires. We introduced the potato peeler to their moms. That went well. Then there were small differences in culture sometimes. Such as Kelly tripping on the road and scraping her knee badly which brought her tears. The group of children laughed! Then we gradually found out that laughing at hardships was their response to embarrassment. We found it true with the adults also. She also learned some of their language by playing with them. Grocery shopping was hard during those early years. Supplies were not always available at the same time. You rarely could get sugar and flour at the same time. It took extra planning.
New Friends for Kelly
Our house backed up to a forest. We had rabbits in a cage behind our house but a wild cat ate them. Then during the drought, there were events with the elephants. The drought caused the elephants to come out of the forest and eat the gardens of people in the area. They would also trample their houses. On several occasions, we would hear people moaning and crying. My husband would go and help the people. The game warden would come and kill the elephant!
Little did we know that our housing here in this place would only be a year. Very unusual experiences for that year.
