Growing Friendships

This morning we had our first Kikuyu lessons. Kikuyu is the largest tribe in Africa and some of us will be working in Kikuyu regions. We learned that the Kikuyu people call Mt. Kenya the "Mountain with the White Ostrich Feathers." Unfortunately, I don’t remember much else, as my brain was overloaded from Swahili the day before. All the languages being thrown at us is a bit overwhelming. When hanging around with Kenyans, you never know when they will switch into one language or another. As one Kenyan friend, Peter, pointed out to me: Kenyans know very many languages but aren’t quite proficient in any of them. That said, I’m gradually adjusting my ear to the Kenyan way of speaking English. The young people also speak an evolving language called shang that not even my host parents can understand.

In the afternoon I played basketball with a few young 20-something Kenyans from the large PCEA church in town, St. Andrews. The court was an old hoop with metal backboard and the remnants of a net in the pothole-ridden church parking lot. I say this only to acknowledge the fact I was not on the top of my game, although I had a great time playing the other guys: Andrew, Dan, Francis and Raphael. I am meeting a ton of youth already from the church, and they’re all close to my age and very friendly. As of yet I have not even made it to an official gathering or service, and I eagerly await for a chance to attend one. Until then, I pray these relationships will grow and develop during my year here.

Afterwards I took a matatu to a local market. I was actually hoping to go to my house just outside the city, but the van never quite made it there. As I was talking to one of the vendors, Katie and Brian (the married couple) walked by. Their light faces where quite easy to spot in the sea of darker faces. [Kenyans do not denote skin color in white and black but rather in tones of light and dark.] We had a good time just walking around enjoying the sights (but not so much the smells) of the Kenyan marketplace, before returning to the house.