After two years…..

Well a blank page and over 2 years have passed since my last blog entry . . . . . 

 

Where shall I start?   In all honesty I didn’t realise anyone actually ever read this, it was only till I stopped. that I found out that some do…Thanks!

It’s shocking to me that I have let so much time go by without communicating.

What’s more shocking is that I can’t even put my finger on big events to update you with… I can’t tell of big achievements that have happened in the last two years and the impact that I have made here….

It feels like yesterday that I arrived… can it really be over two years? Yet, as I look back on my first few months, where there was so much to comment about, I realise I was like a tiny and vulnerable little girl not having a clue about how to get in the swing of living here.

I look back and remember how lonely I felt, how clueless I was and how new and uncertain everything seemed. At least I can see a change in me from then till now…. maybe that is what I have to show for my time here!

So maybe progress is this… I completely underestimated what an adjustment it would be living in a different culture, and now I finally feel I am on the brink of understanding it and all the subtle differences that separate it from the culture I know. Its not the obvious differences which throw one, it’s all the unsaid rules and traditions that one can, without meaning to, blatantly offend someone, or get offended by. For example, I am daily told how fat I am, always with gesticulations comparing to the backside of a hippo… “Thanks!” but these days I don’t get offended I just laugh it off, realising it is meant as a compliment.  In fact this culture has made me realise that I must not take life so seriously.

 

It is also so nice to finally be known. White people stick out like a sore thumb and it is impossible to go anywhere without being chased by little children and a chorus of “Musungu” (meaning white person…)“ how are you-how are - how are you?- I’m fine!” but at least now the Musungu part is replaced with my name!

So greeting all the faces from fruit sellers to bicycle taxi men is just part of my morning walk to work. Sometimes in "English", sometimes in "Swahili" or sometimes in another of the many tribal languages.  Walking to work is normally a happy time, the warm sun and the smiling faces of people who have now become friends. Now and again they will say “ this one she is not a Musungu, she is an African” and it’s nice after feeling 'the odd one out' for so long, to finally be accepted.

 

I am so grateful to a few individuals who looked out for me when I first came, there were a few significant people who made a massive impact,  because if it were not for them, I don’t know if I would even have managed. They may have just bought me a soda or called me on the phone or popped by at the house to see how I was, but their timing was perfect and their actions and obedience to being prompted by God made all the difference.

I am encouraged that we have this ability to impact one another’s lives just by being there and being around and acting instinctively. I hope that that is what I am doing here. I know many people have made a big difference to my life by just being themselves and ‘coincidently’ (although I would call it God ) being at the right place at the right time. I have learned that being eager to encourage someone, in whatever way that may mean, can have a long and lasting effect, one which you yourself may never be aware of or never see the fruit from, I take encouragement from this because I hope that during my time here, so far, I have at least done a bit of that.

The evenings lately have been warm and the sky has been so clear that one can see so many stars.. I love evening time when it is the dry season -  one can smell the smoke in the air of people cooking on their charcoal Jikos or hear the crickets and sometimes some random Kenyan music on a tv or radio playing in the distance. It is that similar feeling to camping that one notices everyone settling down for the night. There is a sense of community and simplicity.

There really are some magical moments where one is taken aback by the beauty of this place or its people. These are moments that if not documented they are gone… and my last two years have been full of them - things such as little encounters which encourage one's heart, or a beautiful sunset that takes away one's breath for a second…For example everyday two little girls, in their school uniforms, march into the shop on the way home from school, they come and offer me their little hands to shake. “How are you?” they both ask in succession. No amount of times this happens seems to dilute their enthusiasm, as if each time is the first time they have ever asked, or the excitement they feel when I reply … and then, delighted, off they go until the next day. Now this is typically Kenyan and could be something seen as a pointless interference in your busy work day, or it could be one of the perks of living here and is something that I personally look forward to.

 

I have learned, as a discipline, to stop and look up once in a while… to stop and pause, to appreciate the moment I am in, to see the stars,  to shake a tiny child’s hand… if I don’t, life will still go on, valuable work will still get done, but without such, I may just miss a big blessing.

 

Well, I am going to make a conscious effort to write more, maybe just for myself so I don’t forget many of the blessings of this country. In the next week, I will be updating this page a lot with snippets of what has happened in the last few years.

Stuff achieved, lessons learned, friends made and hopefully, if memory doesn't fail, a few moments captured too.