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Sad Day Today, August 17th, 2008 |
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August 17th, 2008
This day was much different than yesterday. Usually Sundays are a bit laid back after church and all. Africa church though it a very different experience than in the fast food, drive though mentality in the US. I am not complaining about the church in the US but I think we are too bound by the clock many times. Here in Kenya it is very different with many church meetings lasting the better part of 4 hours or more. By the time you are finished you are ready for some rest for sure. Anyway back to what I was going to say in the beginning. I got up and happened to find Lori on the web and we emailed back and forth for the better part of an hour which was very nice. I miss her dearly and am looking forward to catching up with her when we get back home. After Lori and I closed the conversation (which was at about 1:30AM her time, what a woman!!) I went down to get some tea and find out what was going on with everyone else in the house. As it turned out Martha Fouts (who had only been here about 4 days of a month long mission trip) had got the message that her dad was killed in a tractor accident. This was tragic!!! Her dad and her were very close and when I found out this news I asked here when we were leaving for the airport. She was thankful and hugged me hoping I would be able to help (like that was even an option). I had plans to go the other way tomorrow to Nakuru with a stopover in Rongo to seine some fish and get photo’s of their progress but this trumped my plans for sure. We decided that Allie, Leah and I would go to church and we would be on the last ferry to Kisumu this evening. When we returned from church we all started packing and getting the van loaded up. I also phoned Robinson about the plan changes and told him I would leave the seine at the ICIPE gate for him to pick up (which I did). We made it in time for the last ferry across the lake and was on our way to Kisumu. There was a music group on the ferry taking the opportunity to shoot some video of them singing with an interesting background as the ferry made it’s way across the lake. It was for sure an amateur situation and reminded me of some of the things I did when I was writing and performing contemporary christian music from the late 70’s through the 90’s. We made it to the other side just fine (which is obvious by me writing this blog) and made our way to Kisumu. It got dark on us and the road is very dangerous with people riding bicycles and walking in the pitch black with no reflective gear or lights of any kind or any lines painted on the roads. The oncoming traffic never heard of dimming their lights so the blinding headlights made things even worse. I finally had to get in the game with my high beams as well as some healthy fog lights on the van which illuminated the road quite nicely much to the shegrin of the oncoming traffic I am sure.
We made it to Kisumu with no fatalities and stopped off to have a bit to eat at a restaurant in Kisumu. We all had chicken pizza which was quite good, I must admit. After dinner Martha called some people she knew that may be able to put us up for the night. Dan and Patty Metzler (I hope I spelled that right) are a wonderful couple who have a heart for street boys in Kisumu. Dan is a Lutheran Pastor and had preached at two services already today but they were gracious to take us in for the night. Allie and Martha got the beds and I took the couch but not before visiting and getting to know them a bit.
They have a lot of moringa planted in their back yard and make good use of it to help the health of the street boys they have been working with. Moringa is a wonderful plant that has too many benefits to mention here but it has been working wonders with the boys boosting their immune systems as one of it’s benefits. We had moringa tea with a bit of lemongrass which was absolutely wonderful. We talked until we were ready for bed and Dan and Patty are definitely cut out of the same material as I am. They are true servants of God who have been working in a very hard field for a long time but still seem to keep their joy. They are an inspiration to me for sure. It was then time to bed down for the night as it will be an early morning to get Martha to the airport to catch a flight to Nairobi and then hopefully off to the states to be with her family.
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