A Word on Kenyan Culture

Traveling to a foreign land, one never knows what to expect. But whatever I expected, there are certainly some things about Kenyan culture I do not quite understand. I got my first glimpse of this on the second day, when, in the truck with the Venerable Canon Zach Masake, the Canon through in some Beyonce on the radio. Driving through an African forest with a Venerable Canon listening to angry cursing Americans is, to date, one of the most surreal experiences of my whole life.

Second, my Kenyan friends watch a lot of tv. Mostly American shows, including such greats as Walker Texas Ranger and Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. But the most beloved shows are (get this) WWF wrestling among the men, and The Bold and the Beautiful among the women. So needless to say, I'm spending many an evening cheering for Sting and wondering whether Rick and Amber will ever get together in the end.

I have also discovered a third way to get around the Bungoma area: on the back of a motorcycle. Needless to say, this is awesome, and I plan on taking full advantage in the days to come. I have also discovered that if you show up at a man's house on said motorcycle, you may be given, if you are lucky, a live chicken as a sign of hospitality and generosity. If you receive said chicken, you may be in the position of having to carry the live chicken around with you for the rest of the day, including on the back of the motorcycle and in the crowded bus which gets you back home.

Needless to say, I'm having a great time, and the research is going well. The people here are great, and have been so good to me.

Keep praying for my research, it is starting to get fun, and I am hoping to keep the momentum I've generated. Also, please pray for both Brandon and I, as we have just received news that our good friend Ben, who has been in a coma for some time, has been taken of life support and is in hospice care. It is hard to imagine him going home, and us being thousands of miles away. Thanks for all of you who have prayed and encouraged me already.

Peace,
rhodes

A Bit About Bungoma

So, for the next twelve weeks, my home is in Bungoma. I'm living with the Reverend Kistos, the pastor of the local Anglican church, and his family. They are pretty dang awesome, which is great, and they have some nieces and nephews living with them now who are cool too. Bungoma is the biggest town in the area, although it gets pretty rural pretty fast, at least by our standards.

Many of you may be wondering how I get around this place. There are three methods of transport here in Bungoma: the tooktooks, the matatus, and the boda bodas. The tooktooks are like motorized cars that have three wheels like tricycles, and their name comes from the noise the make as they go along. The matatus are like buses, but buses that you can hail down any time you see them. Finally, my favorite and most frequent method, the boda bodas. These are just bikes that you hop on the back of, and ride along. It can be pretty terrifying because what with the tooktooks, matatus, crazy Kenyans driving their own cars, and swarms of other boda bodas, death seems like a constant option. So far so good.

It rains every day here around four, and everything sort of shuts down. The temperature is great, although the sun is markedly more intense (we passed over the equator on the way here).

Anyway, keep praying for me and my research. Right now, there are lots of things up in the air, and I just am hoping that they come together quickly. I'm going to visit the Russells in the neighboring village tomorrow, so that ought to be fun too.

Peace,
Michael

Touchdown in Western Kenya

Well, after some 72 hrs, four airplanes, a sleepless night in the Nairobi airport, and a long and bumpy ride in a Toyota, Brandon, Lily, and I arrived in Kakamega Kenya for the beginning of our internship. I’m not really sure what I expected Western Kenya to be like, but I’ve been consistently amazed by what I’ve encountered in my first few days here. The Kakamega area is one of the more densely populated places on the planet, and as you drive around there are people walking or biking everywhere. The countryside is covered by an endless series of small farms, so even when you are out of the towns there are people all along the roads. The roads are just as bad as everyone you’ve ever talked to who has been to Africa told you they were, and the drivers are absolutely just as crazy. As we drove along today, we would pass little crowds of small kids who would yell “how are you, how are you?” at the truck, or in some cases, just start screaming happily and waving.

Zach Masake, the head of WRCCS, took us to church this morning. Although the service was spoken in English, most of the songs were not. But the singing was beautiful (think Lady Black Mombasa but about Jesus), and it is always a joy to be reminded of the bigness of Christ’s church. This afternoon we went to Kakamega Forest, which is like one of those rainforest deals you read about in Encyclopedia Britannica, with eight trillion types of trees, six million types of birds, and seven varieties of monkeys (four of which we saw). As you can imagine, I was pretty giddy about the monkeys.

Yesterday I met my field supervisor, the staff of WRCCS, and my host family. As you might imagine, that made for a heck of a day. Everyone is great; my host family has been so gracious to me already, and my field supervisor, Patrick, seems like he will be both helpful and fun to work with. Today I saw the first of the groups that I will be researching, and I think I will dive in in full tomorrow. Please pray for the work that I'm doing; I am confident that I will learn a great deal on this trip, but I would also like to contribute something helpful to WRCCS before the end.

Grace and peace,
Michael

Just Before Take Off

Well, school is finally done, exams are finally over, and in a few short days I'll be hopping a plane across the great pond and beginning my 13 week trip to Kenya. As you might expect, the details are mostly still up in the air, but I'm excited and ready to get started. I've designed this blog so that any of you who care to hear about my trip can follow what's happening as it happens, and so you can even leave me a little note now and again if you like. So pray for me, and I'll look forward to hearing from ya'll real soon.

Peace,
Michael