Wow- unbeknownst to us, at 5:30 this morning we found out we would spend two nights in a row here at St. Joseph's Church-Nairobi- so while the other men sit in the dining room talking and watching B. Obama on Al-Jazeera TV ( George is fascinated by that) Frank I I will blog a bit more.... We should be able to check in again on Wednesday- so send us notes - we love to hear from all of you...
Today we went North in Kenya - to Chera- near Mt. Kenya. It's the school that Fr. Kurian built up from a one room school to a full 10 grades. He saw people there that remembered him, and walked right into a monthly meeting of the women of the church - as Frank said he looked like the Rooster that returned to the hen house ! The women flocked around him and clucked over him...cute!
The area around Chera is the most beautiful I have seen- it's mountainous- and each hillside has a tea or coffee farm on it -George says he could retire there! I said...hmmm not yet!
Delmonte has a gigantic pineappleplantation here and there are so many fresah fruits here - besides the EVER present bananas we have fresh mangoes, papaya, pineapples, avacados and more. We have eaten unusual fish, goat, chicken, chicken, chicken, all kinds of vegetables with freash shaved coconut in it and chicken!
The people of Kenya do not seem as openly friendly as in Tanzania, and the school kids in Chera looked at us three as if they were ssin ghosts! But once we let them shake our hands- at recess time- they warmed right up. A big thank you to all of the St. Joe's families that have donated money and school supplies for this trip. You cannot imagine how excited each group of kids gets when they learn they are getting a new "impira" - (ball) or see tears in the eyes of teacher that gets pencils and crayons for next year. Like home, school is almost out for the "holiday" here.
I have pictures of the classes - the principal of a 265 pupil school sitting at his desk - a simple table, with four stacks of books on his table. That's it...all he has in his office. ANd the kids are so well behaved.
Anyway, home looks better each day, and we are about ready to stop traveling and get back to the "real"world. We will go back up near Mt. Kilamanjaro tomorrow, then down to Morogoro for the last two nights. Then to the insane city of Dar Es Salaam to the airport and HOME Saturday AM.
We'll sign on at least once more before then- so drop a note>
Asante Sana- Bert
PS - Frank & George say " Hi MOM - send money!
Gary call Gramma and let her know what we are up to! Love you kids!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
This is Squishy on Muppy's id. Big storm last night, tornado sirens and all.. power out in Howell, school canceled today...still no power, George, call someone please!! Thanks for the blogs! it is so good to hear from you. Can't wait to hear everything and see you all. You are in our prayers and thoughts daily. I tried to post many before but am blog challenged. I hope you got a pic of that small pool of water. Glad the kids and teachers are being blessed and Love you all much. We may need to schedule a massage soon. Grateful for all our blessings especially the ones in Africa. Like a squirrell that runs very quickly, Squish
Frank, I am looking forward to your return! I love you too. Love and prayers. Elaine
Ello Mum it's Gary, glad to hear every thing is good. I just got accepted for a auditoin for the DSO Youth Jazz band for saterday at 12:45 so we wont be home when you get here.
latter
Ello Mum it's Gary, glad to hear every thing is good. I just got accepted for a auditoin for the DSO Youth Jazz band for saterday at 12:45 so we wont be home when you get here.
latter
Thanks for the updates - it's no surprise that you spent more time at the church of St. Joseph - the patron of black holes. Everything is good here. Went to my sister Laurie's and got caught in a tornado (or so it seemed - close enough). Everyone was okay in the end. Joey got his cast off today - but he's now in an immobilizing brace for a couple of weeks ..still on crutches. We'll do the castaway cafe thing in July - I'll alert Steven! Gary will give a talk at the all school mass tomorrow for the eagle scout project. Fr. Bill assured me that he will be given ample time to give instruction, encouragement, and thanks to those who have followed his lead in implementing recycling. Like Eileen said, big power outages, but things are coming along. The school is back up as of 7:00 pm today (Monday). Pray for Jerry Schmidt - his wife suffered a stroke, and is being moved to Medilodge. Everyone else seems to be doing pretty well - your Catholic moms say 'hi' and can't wait to hear of your journey. We haven't yet set up God's kitchen in your basement, but I'm quite certain that Marybeth can make sunflowers out of spiderwebs. Tell Fr. Kurian that I have been on time for work every day - he'll believe that...and tell Frank that I am full of it - he'll believe that! Don't even bring back stories of the strange fish that you have eaten, but goat? You ate goat? Fr. Bill and Brian had sushi today and I about lost it. When you get back we are going to feast on Jet's pizza and not talk about bananas or chicken, okay? Anyhow, I talked with Gary and Anne tonight, and as Gary said he is auditioning for the DSO! Too cool!! Anne will talk with your in-laws to work it all out with Steven, and the pick up and all, but how cool is that?? Well, be safe, and be assured that you are in our daily, hourly prayers - you have much to teach us when you return, obi wan. I miss you so much, but I'm so happy that you have had the adventure of a lifetime! God be with you all. I love you. And give my love to Fr. Kurian, George and Frank! Michelle
By the way, what the heck does Asante Sana mean? I was talking to Eileen today and doing the Lion King thing "Asante Sana Squashed Banana" ......Hakuna Matata my Rafiki!
What the heck! Forget about the bulletin, I am going to say something. I finally went to see your blogspot "in person". I heard most of it from Michelle. I did copy your blogs so I can share it with my husband. I miss you. yes, Frank and George and especially Fr. K, too. You know about our resident-groundhog or woodchuck. Well, I had the privilege of witnessing his actions one morning when I was going to the sacristy through the rosary garden. I heard some noise and right in front of me and on TOP of the weeping something or another TREE, was this THING and he just had dinner, I think and when he heard me, he rushed down the tree trunk (A lot smaller than he is) and down under the gazebo. It was a HUGE animal. I have never seen anything that big compared to squirrels or rabbits in my backyard. So, your birds nest is probably gone by now and the leaves of the tree are also eaten off. Only the ones that are really hanging remain. Now, they are talking about getting rid of it. So,the saga of the huge animal continues......
Fr. Kurian, get enough rest on the plane and think about the article you are going to write as soon as you set foot in Howell. I have been filling your space with all kinds of articles and I'd rather have your article to read. Michelle, the redactor wanted you to read her interpolation....I don't know where to put the word "codify"...but you know what we are talking about.
Deacon Frank, no one seem to read my little daily calendar. People would walk in and ask "what's going on today" literally. I can't wait for you to walk in on Monday to find out what is going on in this part of the world.
George, were your ears ringing this past couple of days? Abe and I were talking about you and "where are you when we need you". We have power where we live, the church had power yesterday but Fr. Bill's house, grandma Tippy and the school (called off yesterday) did not.
I can't wait to see you all on Sunday or Monday. Get all the rest you can. Take care and God bless you especially on your trip back.
Love you, yes, love you to all of you.
"mom" to you, Bert....and Oh..Lita to the Padre.
well, as you can see, everyone is having trouble with their own ID's ...so it seems as though I am completely monopolizing the 'comment' portion of this blog - but for those who haven't read through ...shellimuppetdoodlehead is really me, michelle, but has been used by Eileen, Lita, and Mary Beth as well as myself. I admit, I have written plenty, but I will not take the blame for each and every blog!! Hey Bertie - your oldest did a great job at mass today. He had a last minute change in plans regarding his talk, which was supposed to happen before the school mass. Fr. Bill decided that he would make Gary a part of his homily as he spoke on 'we are the light of the world, and salt of the earth'. In Fr. Bill fashion, (love ya fr bill), Gary was informed about 3 minutes prior to the beginning of mass. But, homily time came, and Gary did great!! He's obviously inherited the gift of 'make it up as you go along' from his mother. I was proud of him. Today was the last day of school for the st joe's kids. Now it's officially summer. This Friday is the sacred day when Jim and Cheryl tie the knot! Keep them in your prayers. Let me know if y'all have any messages for them. It'll be a beautiful mass no doubt. Such a cool thing when we have a catholic celebration that involves practicing catholics! You are probably experiencing that now - the majority of people who really want to be at mass. Did you have an interpreter at any of the celebrations that you were at? (Fr. Kurian?). How is that all working out - the language barrier? By the way, did his (Fr. K's) finger ever heal?? I had a dream that he came back after having his finger amputated and I was ready to kill him, because he didn't listen to us! Kind of like your God's kitchen - sunflower/spider web dream! Spuinder-flo-weber dream? Anyhow I will see you soon!! I can't wait! Love you! Me
Well, tell George that he could not have chosen a better time to be away from sparking wires. As of this morning 145,000 households are still without power after the storm three days ago that Michelle referred to. It seems many of the 145K are asking for George by name.
Much love......
Post a Comment