Meet...Obeyle and his sheep

 



Slaughter at sunset

Obeyle is one of the night guards at Nick and Lynne's. I first got to know him in September last year when I lived in their compound. He and the other workers were the first local people I met and my first informal language teachers, patiently repeating phrases and greetings. I've moved house but Obeyle still works his alternate fortnights nights at Nick and Lynne's. He lives near to our house and I often see him passing by. He is a very gentle man and as is customary, always stops to greet us. One of his sons, Joseph, is in Form 4 at Tirrim Secondary and Christina teaches one of his daughters, Christine, in Standard 7.

A few weeks ago he was keen to get some additional income and persuaded us to buy one of his sheep. We waited until a weekend and invited some of the secondary teachers round to help us eat it.

Obeyle arrived with the sheep, which was pretty big, and slaughtered it outside. Killing doesn't take too long, but it takes some time and skill to skin and cut it up. Whilst I might be able to manage chicken and rabbits, the sheep requires an expert!

Preparing the food was a communal affair. Just like in the UK, it was the men who roasted the meat outside over a fire; teacher Abednego and our guard Eysimbasele were in charge of this. Misha made chapattis with Mary (see below), Sarah made ugali (we learned that this requires a lot of strength to stir the pot) and I made stew with the meat that wasn't roasted. Oh my, there was so much food!

 

We had fun cooking and eating together with our guests, listening to an interesting mix of music and playing some traditional African games.

I'm glad I brought....

1) Perfume. This was a last minute purchase at Heathrow. I had a small amount of an old bottle left and hadn't thought to buy another one. I'm glad I brought it as it is nice to smell good. And I couldn't find this one in the perfume shop in Nairobi.

2) My flask. This way I can take my own sugar-free tea or coffee to school.

3) A hoodie. For most of the time it has been hot here. But when I arrived in Nairobi last August it was cooler than where I had come from in the south of France. And at the moment it is positively chilly in the mornings, especially with the wind. I am sure it is warmer in the UK! 

Meet...Ruth and Joy

Ruth and Joy with Teacher Sarah

Ruth and Joy Choi are our Korean neighbours. Over the last six months they have spent a few hours each week at our house doing school. Their mum, Jisun, teaches them at home and is grateful of help. The girls also enjoy a change of classroom and teacher. In the picture above, Sarah had been teaching English.

One day I read with Ruth about celebrations in different countries (in a Geography lesson) and we decided to try and make a papier mache piñata. We researched how to make paste from flour and water and ripped up scrap paper. It turned out that neither Ruth nor Joy really liked getting messy so it actually ended up being me who covered balloons first with Vaseline and then with layers of paper dipped in our homemade paste. I had fun! The climate in Korr is great for making papier mache as the layers dry so quickly in the hot dry conditions; no need for the airing cupboard and no danger of the flour paste going mouldy!

Ruth and Joy's parents, Inho and Jisun, work with Korean Food for the Hungry International and run a child sponsorship scheme in Korr that supports over 400 children through their primary and secondary education. They run a Saturday youth club programme and Jisun has set up a choir.

They have invited us round for wonderful Korean cooking and also lead our singing when we meet on Sunday evenings.

Amongst other things, Inho also preaches to local people about Jesus being the only way to God and heaven. He shares his personal story, having grown up in a traditional Korean family where ancestor worship was widely practiced. He and his mother were thrown out of the family home when they came to know Jesus and refused to participate in the traditional practices. Later the rest of his family came to follow Jesus, but his story resonates with all of us, including the local Rendille people, for whom being Christians will result in changed lives and possible rejection.

In the last six months Inho and Jisun have hosted two teams from Korea. The first was a church group who visited Korr villages to tell people about Jesus using music, drama and the Rendille-translated Jesus video. The second team last month consisted of doctors and dentists from Korea who ran clinics in Korr and the villages.

Inho, Jisun, Ruth, Joy and their older brother David (who attends boarding school at RVA in Kenya), are now in South Korea for the RVA school holidays. For the first part of their visit they are joined by two Korr church pastors, one of the Bible translators and one of Inho's workers whose tickets have been paid for by a Korean church in order to develop links between churches in Korr and Korea.

Meet...the Holmertz family

PJ Holmertz is the AIM short-term missions coordinator for Kenya and Tanzania. Based in Nairobi, PJ and his wife Emily make practical arrangements, welcome, host and orientate short termers like me. Their aim is helping short-term placements have a long term impact, on the local church, on long term missionaries and in the short termers themselves as they get to know Jesus more and make him known.

Aiden, PJ, Emily and Sarah

For us in remote northern Kenya, PJ is the guy we email when we have difficulties and questions or 'need' more nutella or some new films. His USB stick has flown up here several times loaded with new things to watch, our favourite being all three series of Downton Abbey! Seriously though, I have been tremendously blessed by the hospitality, support and love this family have given to me, especially when I first arrived and on breaks in Nairobi.

 

Originally from the USA, the Holmertz family have been in Kenya for two  years. But this week they head back to the US for a five month home assignment so I won't see them again before I leave. You can join with me praying for them that they enjoy their time back home, have safe travels, get to see everyone, and that they are able to recharge spiritually and physically before returning to Nairobi in 2014.

 

Safari njema!

 

 

How to ...skin a rabbit

‘Skin-a-rabbit’ was a phrase that our parents said when we were small as they as they pulled our t-shirts or vests off over our heads to undress us. I have taken saying the same thing to small people in my charge. But never really thought where the phrase came from and what it had to do with undressing!

In my last week at LCHS before coming to Kenya (ie this time last year) I was given two rabbits by a Year 7 student. Dead ones that his uncle had shot. He’d remembered a conversation from months before and brought them as an end of year gift. A gift like no other and certainly one that I remember!

After keeping them in the office fridge for the day I took them home for the pot. I’d cooked and eaten rabbit before, but always from the butcher. It was a bit strange to be skinning and chopping up wild rabbits in my back yard only a metre or so from the pet rabbit in his hutch next door and I think Fluffy suspected something was up judging from his thumping. I discovered that it is not very difficult to skin a rabbit. Once the fur is cut around the hind legs I was able to peel it off and over the head! This is clearly where the childhood phrase ‘skin a rabbit’ came from.

There are lots of rabbits around Korr but interestingly local people don’t eat them despite there being a shortage of food and much poverty and hunger. I discovered, however, that kids catch rabbits for fun, sometimes to feed their dogs. When students were squabbling over a shortage of mugs a few weeks ago I took empty jam jars and offered them as payment for freshly caught rabbits. A small team of Form 4 boys rose to the challenge, excited at the opportunity to leave the school site and do something a bit different. They had some fun chasing and competing to be the one to throw the fatal stone. Then they proudly delivered them to our house in time for dinner.

Under the disapproving watch of Eysimbasele our night guard (who later turned down a bowl of rabbit stew in favour of plain rice) Misha and I skinned, gutted and jointed the rabbits on the back porch. Misha also removed the eyes for a Biology practical the following week. Sadly the meat was tough as I didn’t let it cook for long enough. But it was no chewier than the chickens we killed, plucked and cooked the following week for 4^th July celebrations.

Eating real, fresh meat is no easy task! Normally we eat meals that use canned meat/fish or dried beans brought from supermarkets downcountry. I look forward to being able to pop to Tesco for ready-to-cook chicken, minced beef or bacon. But I might still try and secure a supplier of Lincolnshire rabbit!

Meet...the TSS girls

Girls are in the minority at Tirrim Secondary School; there are 88 boys and only 14 girls. Last year there were even fewer girls, but now but there are six girls in the new Form 1 which has boosted numbers slightly and raised the profile of the girls in school.

The girls have worked hard to get here. For example, they have to do well in primary school exams to get a place in secondary school, which is not compulsory. Even at Tirrim they have to pay a small registration fee and buy uniform so there is a financial cost. And they have to work against traditional culture which doesn't value the education of women very highly especially when many girls marry early or are out looking after animals. 

Things are slowly changing, and the female students at Tirrim, many of whom are the first in their family to ever go to school, have expectations of training and education beyond secondary level. We have some feisty young ladies who know their minds and don't mind sharing their ideas! They are all especially keen to get good jobs in order to support their siblings and parents.

Here are some of the girls who came round to our house for chai after church one Sunday.




Camping in skirts

Lots of people ask what life in Korr is like. This post is for them.

So I wake, I shower, I get dressed, I have breakfast, I walk to school, I teach some lessons, I walk home, I cook tea, I email/read/watch a DVD, I go to bed!! Similar to back home.

What's different? I heard it recently described as 'camping in skirts'. Many aspects are like camping...always having a torch handy, dirty feet, walking outside to the toilet, bugs, camp food, limited electricity and water...but accordance with local customs we wear skirts. Here are a few more details (in no particular order).

• The choo (toilet) is outside the back door. It doesn't flush (it's a long drop latrine). The shower is next door and fed by water from a borehole. We are careful not to waste water and don't leave the shower running for long. It is not heated so morning showers are cold, although by evening water the tank has been in the hot sun for hours and so water can be quite warm.  
• We don't have a fridge and you can only buy certain foods in the dukas (small shops) in town so we eat a lot of dried and tinned food. We have a counter-top double burner hob with a gas bottle, and a safari oven that goes on top of the hob. We bake our own bread and getting meat like chicken is different (I killed and plucked a chicken last week for the first time).

• Ngurunit, a local lady, comes twice a week to do some cleaning and do laundry (we don't have a washing machine).
• I share a house which is new for me but it is going really well. We see God's hand in how he has selected us to live and work together. Their arrival in January was a real encouragement to me. I share a room with Misha. We used to sleep under mosquito nets but there are fewer bugs at the moment.
• Sunrise and sunset are at the same time every day (around 7am/pm) and the transition from light to dark is really quick. At the moment I am missing the long days! There are no street lights and it is really dark so we have to take torches if we are going to stay out, to light our way and also highlight snakes/scorpions/spiders/hyenas. But the night skies are amazing with loads of bright twinkling stars and when the moon is full you can manage without a torch.
• We get free lunch and chai at school, brought to us by someone from the kitchen. Lunch is either rice and beans or maize and beans with occasional vegetables. Not very exciting or particularly tasty but filling.
• The school day starts at 6am for students who have an hour of independent study before school. Staff prayer  meeting is at 7am. Most students are boarders. There are ten lessons, 40 minutes long. Most classes are over by 4pm after which there are sports or clubs on a Wednesday. There are lessons on Saturday mornings.
• The walk to school often takes longer than it should because it is customary to greet everyone you pass and stop to talk to people you know. Children call out 'mzungu' and come over to shake hands, ask for sweets and practise their English.
• It is hot all the year. Even though June, July and August is the cooler time of year it is still around 30 degrees much of the time. We must be careful to keep drinking water and include extra salt in food to avoid dehydration.
• The windows of our house don't have glass or curtains, just safety bars and shutters. We don't shut the shutters as we welcome the light and movement of air but recently it has been very windy at night and I have been making full use of a blanket as well as a sheet.

 

 

The Korr Four...plus a few more

Christina, Sarah, Misha and me gained the name 'The Korr Four'. However, this name has been a bit off recently as we have been joined in Korr by other volunteers from America. First came Dave, who was here in May and June working with building projects. He stayed in a Rendille guesthouse in Korr but spent time at our house. Then we also have (another) Sarah and Alyssa working in a Tirrim Infant School until the start of August. Here are a few pictures.

Sarah One, Misha, Alyssa, Dave, me, Christina, Sarah Two

Just the gals, with the view from our front porch

Wedding in Naagan

Daniel, a primary school teacher, got married yesterday. As I didn't have normal school a few of us got a lift out to Naagan, his bride Deborah’s village, to see the first part of the celebrations.

 

Traditional village weddings begin early in the morning so we arrived before sunrise. Villagers were not up yet and all was quiet save for a few remaining goats and donkeys (most of the goats  and all of the camels have been taken far away to find land for grazing). We wore our new dresses but were rather cold.

 

We got to watch the sunrise as I sipped coffee from my trusty flask.

 

 

As the sun came up, people began to emerge from their homes. These children were intrigued to find a bunch of white people so far out from Korr town. 

 

Below is the home of the mother of the bride. Deborah was waiting inside, as the bride normally stays inside for most of the celebrations.

 

Milking goats for the morning cuppa whilst waiting for the groom to arrive

 

 

Eventually we heard the chanting and singing of the men as they approached, dressed in their finest warrior outfits and painted in red ochre. They brought with them two sheep; one was taken into the mother-in-law’s min and the other was taken to be slaughtered as a symbol of the marriage agreement. The mother-in-law went over to the best man and groom and took their shoes. They are supposed to go bare foot for four days!

 

 

 

The second sheep was slaughtered and special pieces of fat were presented to the bride’s family inside the min. Daniel, the groom, wears the white sheet and John, one of my colleagues, wears the blue.

 

 

Meanwhile the women arrive in all their finery with the jangle of bells.

 

Here are the happy modern couple…apparently it is unusual for the bride to come out at this stage. Daniel and Deborah are on the left.
 

 

We then left, but the rest of the day and night would be taken up with eating sheep, dancing and singing. The happy couple will build a new house next to the bride’s mother. Traditionally newlyweds live there until the birth of their first child and then move to the husband’s clan village. However, things are different for educated Rendille and many traditional customs are not adhered to strictly. I think Daniel and Deborah will move to Korr there where Daniel already has a house as they work in or near town.