October Vacation!

We had a WONDERFUL month with Dr. Allan helping me at the hospital, a week-long vacation, and a visit from Kim's parents, brother Andrew, sister-in-law Elyssa, and new nephew Levi!

Here are some of the highlights from our time away from Kapsowar:

A fun new recipe - Giraffe Bread! (and washable markers on our serving plate)

On the train ("SGR") to Tsavo National Park

Dominic took lots of pictures of these blue-bodied, orange-headed lizards at the safari lodge near Tsavo

We took a guided nature walk around the safari lodge - past the hippo-hole, crocodile hang-out, and leopard den. At least, that's what the guide said! We only saw a monitor lizard. 

"Man Eaters" is named after the two mane-less lions who became infamous for attacking, killing, and consuming the men who were building the railway from Mombasa to Nairobi. One of Kris' favorite movies is "The Ghost and the Darkness," and we surprised him with a stay at the actual location where the events happened.

The railway station at Tsavo

I think these are called the switches, used to redirect the train tracks. This particular rail line is still in use, although these switches are no longer used.

We saw real elephants, and this one in our room!

After a few nights in Tsavo, we took the train on to Mombasa, where we stayed at a resort. We got up for a sunrise jog on the white-sand beach! (Well, Kris and Dominic jogged. I took pictures and had a cup of coffee.)

After two days at the resort - Dominic spent most of it in the pool! - we moved down the coast a few miles and then picked up Mom, Dad, Andrew, Elyssa and Levi at the airport. Our AirBNB was right on the beach. Here are Dad and Dominic going for a walk in the Indian Ocean, with matching outfits right down to their hats!

We chose this AirBNB for it's proximity to the beach and ALSO a private pool.

We took a day to check out Diani and go out for lunch. All of our other meals were prepared at the AirBNB by a chef that we were able to hire to cook for us. It made the vacation so much more relaxing to not have to think about shopping for food or preparing meals!!

Back in Kapsowar - Kim had to go back to work on Monday, but the family came to stay with us for almost a week. Mom and Elyssa came to the hospital to see the new blood bank refrigerator (that's to some generous donations from YOU) and Elyssa stayed for a c-section - and got a baby girl named after her!

Allan gave me one last day off to go to Kerio View in Iten for pictures, a view of the valley, and an early dinner. 

It's our favorite time of year to go to Kerio View, as every evening the clouds roll in and sometimes you get a great view of lightening across the valley.

We were thankful for all the help with preparing meals at home...

Andrew did a great job baking in what we call our "Easy Bake Oven" (no temperature control and no convection, minimal insulation and of course the challenges of high-altitude baking).

And now some pictures completely out of order and context from everyone else's cameras :)

Elephant across the river from our tent at Man Eaters

So fun to meet baby Levi!

Elephant on the SAME side of the river as our tent at Man Eaters. Don't worry, the guards carry sticks, sling shots, and flashlights at night.

Cousins!

Grandpa brought a kite for the beach

Mom got up at sunrise one morning

Dad won a multi-night, multi-city game of Phase 10

Saturated

We're approaching our 4-year anniversary in Kapsowar. This past month has felt like a lot of lateral motion. Others might describe the movement as "running around like a chicken with it's head cut off" but I think "lateral motion" sounds slightly more refined. Generally, it feels like I'm doing a lot, but not ever getting any completed. Maybe this is a natural feeling at four years - it's the longest Kris and I have lived anywhere in our married lives. Maybe it's the upcoming end of Dominic's school year. Maybe I'm just distracted by our upcoming vacation (thanks to Allan for coming back to Kapsowar to work while we get away for a break!). 

I wouldn't describe this feeling as burnout. It's more like being saturated - I'm at my maximum ability to do, care for, organize, teach, lead, report, plan or dream. Honestly, I'm not sure if that's a bad thing. It might just be an opportunity to recognize my limits, and to thank the MANY people in the MANY areas of my life who help me (and us) hold life together. 

- Kris, for taking on more homeschool duties this year, and always covering home and childcare responsibilities whenever I'm stuck at work.

- Gladys, for caring for all the details of our house and home: cooking, cleaning, food prep, laundry, and of course watching out for Dominic during the day.

- Our team-mates on station and at the hospital, who watch out for each others' kids, help with preparing for and hosting volunteers, lead Bible studies, feed each other and visitors, manage all kinds of details and finances, are experts in so many different areas, and are just all-around good friends.

- The midwives at the hospital, who work so hard to care for our patients and who have become trusted co-workers.

- The hospital administration, who do their best in sometimes VERY difficult circumstances to lead the hospital wisely and to provide great healthcare to those in need.

- The short-term volunteers who come to Kapsowar to provide much needed relief and supplies, as well as their prayers, encouragement, and emotional support.

- The organizations which back each short- and long-term worker here, many of whom have become good friends over the years.

- Of course, SO importantly, our family and friends who stand behind us, without whom we would never have gotten here and we would never have the courage to stay.

Next month: Pictures of vacation! Stay tuned!

(Still) Homeschooling

Today I'm getting ready to sit down with Dominic's homeschool curriculum, and plan/order next year's supplies. We use the Sonlight curriculum - not because we shopped around and found it to be the best fit for us, not because I talked to several other families who recommended the curriculum, but because when we first started homeschooling, on April 6, 2020, it was the curriculum our neighbors were using, and they generously agreed to loan me some books and worksheets. We didn't think that more than 3 years later, we'd still be doing this homeschooling thing!

Flashback: Dominic's first day of homeschool, a few weeks after Covid lockdown took effect in Kenya

Sonlight uses a "check box" type of curriculum - it tells you what to do when, and when you've done it, you check the box. That works really well for us as Dominic has a minimum of two teachers (Mom and Dad) plus whoever else we can get to help out on a given day or week. We just divide up the check boxes among the available number of teachers. It's also (I'm told) very literature based, which we like. Since he was very small, Dominic has loved listening to stories. We're so happy that in the past year he's started reading more independently!

Our schedule must inevitably be flexible, based on the nature of our lives in Kapsowar. Here's the goal:

6:45 - 8am: Dominic and Kim work on reading, spelling words, writing and grammar, as well as breakfast and getting ready for the day

8-9am: Psalms and Prayers with our community (except on Wednesdays)

9-10:30am: Dominic and Kris work on history, reading, Bible memory, and handwriting before Kris leaves for work

10:30-1pm: I'm not really sure what happens during this time! Sometimes Dominic goes to the theology school with Kris where he works on worksheets or sits in on classes. Other times I assume he plays with his friends or works on math at home.

2-3pm: Kim tries to come home to teach math and science

A recent science experiment demonstrating the effect of acid rain and salination of ground water caused by rising sea levels

3-5pm: While Kris does Swahili school online, Dominic finishes up whatever schoolwork is remaining, plus some math "games" on his iPad.

There are some obvious differences between homeschooling here in Kenya, and the type of education Dominic would likely be receiving in N America. Being one-on-one with his teachers means that he hasn't been exposed to things like classroom etiquette (raising his hand, working quietly, working with time restrictions). Because of the nature of where we live, he doesn't have an opportunity for organized extra-curricular activities or other "enriched" activities like art, music, computer skills, or gym class. And before you suggest it - we know, there's a lot of that stuff that we could probably find access to online. But Kris and I both work full time, and we don't have time to supervise any more than what we're already doing. A 7-11 hour time difference from N America (depending on the time of year and time zone) means that working with a N American tutor or school would be REALLY tricky, and would require Dominic to do school at the exact time when most of his friends (Kenyan and ex-pat) are out playing. 

Maybe we can count this as shop class - staining our new picnic table with Dad

But despite all of the challenges, this year I can honestly say that our experience has been much better than the previous years. I think that a major difference has been Dominic's improved reading, which gives him more independence from Kris and me. We've also decided to focus more on science this year, which he enjoys. And we know our rhythms - Mondays are always tough as we get back into groove. Wednesdays we get an extra hour of school in the morning, which means Dominic gets more playtime in the afternoon. On weeks when there is a math test, we do extra math every day so that we don't have hours of math worksheets to complete on Friday. And when the day DOESN'T go well, we talk about it and come up with a plan to make the next day (or week) better.

And finally, we schedule and ENJOY our weeks off! Last week Kris and Dominic went for a visit to Eldoret as they were both off school for the week, and I was busy with some extra work at the hospital. We're looking forward to "summer break" in less than two month!

Recycling 101

Recycling in North America is undeniably an industry. We appreciate that so much of the packaging and products we consume can be repurposed and recycled just by dumping them in a can by the side of the road. It is certainly easy - sometimes so easy that we forget that the first two of the three R's are REDUCE and REUSE. 

Not so in Kenya. Every product we buy at a "western" style store has packaging, every product that breaks or wears out has to be disposed of somehow. And at our station, we spend a lot of time talking about the best method of disposal. Recycling is not an industry in rural Kenya - it is an art. An art that we are trying to become better at, when REDUCE and REUSE fail us. 

A comment on reduce and reuse: one reason recycling has not yet hit rural Kenya in a big way is that reduce and reuse are the way of life here. For subsistence farmers, "packaging" is a non-issue. You don't package the eggs that your chicken lays before you consume them, so you don't have to worry about plastic vs cardboard egg containers. You don't wrap your vegetables in plastic wrap before you cook them for lunch. The amount of waste in their lifestyle is minimal, and for those storebought items that do produce waste (a jar of cooking oil, for example) there is almost always a way to repurpose them. Plastic cooking oil containers are reused over and over to deliver milk or kerosene, for example. 

Waste disposal is a problem everywhere, of course. Here, people have traditionally burned waste. However, not everything burns, and not everyone wants to burn. Trash pits attract animals, and the trash gets scattered around the environment, not to mention the fumes and toxins and greenhouse gases created. The alternative is a "dump" - which in our region is just literally a spot someone picked in the forest to dump trash. Again, lots of wildlife are attracted to this, and unfortunately people may also try to find treasures in the trash, which can put them at risk of injury digging through potentially dangerous refuse. At this point, there isn't a great third option, although we continue to discuss and desire another way.

What follows are the ways that we have been learning to reduce, reuse, and recycle:

Buying locally: Our eggs and milk come from our neighbors and therefore don't require any packaging

Making smart choices at the grocery store: Looking for packaging that can be reused or that can break down naturally, which is often a better choice than traditionally "recyclable" materials in N America like aluminum cans.

Socks and underpants wear out and can't be repaired and passed on as hand-me-downs:

So, they find a new life as filling for a new stuffed monkey:

Our pop gets purchased in glass bottles that are reused over and over. We bring the crate of "empties" to a shop in town, where we trade it in for a crate filled with full bottles of whatever kind we choose (our favorite flavors here are Krest Bitter Lemon - Kim, Stoney - Kris, and Fanta Blackcurrent - Dominic)

Even medicines get recycled here! When I was struggling with a post-viral cough, my neighbor kindly gave me here barely-used inhaler :) Our hospital doesn't take previously distrubuted or expired medications, and thankfully we no longer have to re-use needles or normal suction tubing. But we do routinely reuse (after soaking in bacteriocidal solution) several medical supplies including those little blue bulbs used to suction out a baby's nose and mouth after delivery (for any OB/Gyns out there: also Kiwi vacuums, amniohooks, suction tubing and curettes for D&C)

Saving up our recyclables: We have a spot in our house for broken electronics that we take or send back with visitors to the states. Disposing of those electronics at the right place means that those rare metals can get reused instead of burning up in a pit fire; we save certain plastic containers to bring to Nairobi where we know they'll be accepted at the grocery store chain where we purchased them; we pass along our glass bottles to a shop in Eldoret that makes them into drinking glasses and storage containers.

If I had to guess, these containers may have previously held soy sauce or olives

Have other great recycling ideas? We would love to hear them! Better yet, come to rural Kenya and help us learn to be better stewards of the beautiful environment here!

An excuse, by way of an anecdote

The past week has been a lot. A lot of joys, a lot more sorrows. Feeling like life is a tight-rope act, and some days we're just not up to the challenge.

So yesterday, as I was running around the house trying to get baking and meal prep done, clean the house, and clean myself before an afternoon party (a baby shower for our neighbor), I realized I had only 5 minutes to spare, and I still wanted to shower and needed to pee. "Well, I guess I'll just have to pee in the shower," I thought. And then I stopped and thought about that thought. I realized that wasn't a choice I had to make. I didn't move to rural Kenya, away from the craziness of life in North America (sorry, everyone) just to reestablish myself in a self-inflicted rat race over here. So I showered. Later, I peed. I was a few minutes late for the baby shower (venue: my house) which was fine, because everyone else was late, too. 

Today, "Write Blog Post" is on my to-do list. I have some pictures I want to share on my phone. Others are on my computer. The cable that connects the two is at my office, and I'm at home. So today, I'm going to do the best with what I have, upload a few pictures, and call it good. It's today's version of not peeing in the shower. I hope you find a way to not pee in your proverbial shower today, too. Happy Father's Day, Dad, and Happy Birthday, Mom! Sorry for using the word "pee" on the internet - you definitely raised me better than that. 💖

Dominic, the reader

Long weekend at Naivasha

Horse riding at Naivasha

These giraffes came to say hello every evening while we were eating dinner at our cabin

Kris and Dominic ran a 2K together!

Waking up in the night to watch our new cousin's baptism!

Visiting friends at Kijabe

I ordered a mint limeade - I wasn't expecting it to be phosphorescing!

Father's Day breakfast on our new picnic table

Gathering to celebrate a new baby