A simple blessing for beautiful people

I am spoiled here at Word of Life. I live right on the beach. I eat good food. I have comfortable surroundings. Everyone around me speaks english. I never lack anything. My friends here are so modern in their thinking, fashion, language, actions, etc. I sometimes forget that the majority of Kenya isn't like this. I am nestled in a little pocket of comfort and luxury. However, my heart longs for the village. As much as I love what I do, my deepest desire is to be in small villages living amongst the poorest of the poor. 

Yesterday, we drove only about 30 minutes deep into a village called Dima.  The team wanted to bless some needy families and see how people live in rural Kenya. We have connections with the local pastor there so he was able to direct us to a few places. My heart was in awe as we  hiked the dirt paths through the rolling hills filled with palm trees. We passed many children playing in the dirt with big smiles on their faces. We met with women carrying baskets on their heads and men working in the fields. We didn't see any shops or electricity wires only cows and chickens. These are people who have nothing. I mean nothing. They sleep on the floor. They eat whatever they grow. They don't wear shoes. They wear the same clothing that is dirty and torn everyday. There is no running water anywhere to be found. They don't have jobs or a source of income. I walked around wondering how they actually survive. 

This was the first woman we came to bless. She is a widow with 9 children and 9 grandchildren. Her fingers had been eaten away by jiggers so they were short and stubby. As we arrived, she had a jovial smile across her face. She had placed a few wooden chairs and logs out so that we could have a seat. 

This was the second woman we visited. She is a Christian but her husband isn't. She was praising God for the small gifts we were able to give her. To each family we gave unga (corn flour), cooking oil, milk, and sugar. 

Inside this house was a sick grandmother. She has been sick for quite some time now and it is doubtful that she has had any medical attention. When we arrived at this house, one of the ladies pulled me aside and explained to me that her mother was mgonjwa sana (very sick). She asked us to pray so we had a few of the team members enter the house to lay hands on her. I just can't imagine living in a dark, hot, stuffy, dirt house unable to move, eat, get up. 

We saw so many kids in the village and I couldn't help by wonder why they weren't in school on a tuesday afternoon. Maybe it was because they couldn't afford the uniform. They could barely afford shoes or a second set of clothing so a uniform would have been a stretch for them. That was just my assumption. 

God uses everyone. We were encouraging the teens on the team that they didn't need to be preachers or pastors to share God's love. God uses anyone. Every family we visited, we got one of them to pray. Here, Sarah is praying for a family in her own sweet words. 

Our last stop was the local primary school. All I kept thinking was, "What would my dad think if he was here?" It is a public school so it is free for everyone except students still need to buy their own school supplies and uniforms. They have 350 students and only 5 teachers! One teacher has 60 students in his class. Out of those 60 students, only 10 of them have exercise books to do their school work in. They get very little funding from the government so the school suffers greatly. We were their guests so they gathered for an assembly under the mango tree as we presented them with over 100 exercise books, stationary, clothing and a few bibles. We also gave all the kids a lollipop. 

As much as we came to be a blessing for these people, they ended up being a huge blessing for us. I am so thankful for everything God has given me. It is only by God's grace that I was born in Canada and not in Dima. Or maybe we are missing something? Maybe it's a blessing to be the small, seemingly insignificant, poor of the world. Often the happiest people I have met are people like these ones who live in Dima. The most faithful people I have ever met are those who live day to day without knowing what they are going to eat tomorrow. I don't know. I don't understand everything. But I do know that we have a wonderful, loving, caring, mighty God who cares for every single human that lives. Amen.

Reunited and it feels so good....

This weekend was extra special cause some of my best friends from my bible school in Nairobi came down to attend the seminar. I haven't seen most of them since the end of May so it was an absolute DELIGHT to have them around this weekend.

They left Nairobi at 3am so when I met them for lunch at 2pm, they were half asleep.

PETER! We are still best of friends. I adore this young man. Since the end of bible school, he has started to run bible clubs and a few schools. He has also been accepted to go to Bible School in the UK on a full scholarship!!! I am beyond proud of him.

This was by far the most beautiful moment of my weekend. The guys from Nairobi had played football on our pitch that is right on the ocean. Afterwards, they decided to go for a dip in the water as the moon was shining high in the sky. The tide was low so they could walk far out (and many of them can't swim so there was no danger of them drowning in water that was only a few inches deep.) I listened from the shore as they giggled and splashed in the water. They were so happy. It warmed my heart. 

I missed laughing with Robert. He always knew how to make everyone laugh. He did the best impressions of people. He also will be going to the UK for bible school next year!

Thank you God for bringing my wonderful friends to Mombasa this weekend! 

Crazy Wonderful Weekend

I am officially pooped. This weekend has been the busiest weekend I have had since I arrived here in Kenya. Friday night we had a youth meeting in town. Saturday we had a youth ministry seminar all day and in the evening was our monthly girls sleepover. We were up at 5:30am Sunday morning to be at a girl's school in town by 8am, then to a church service at 11am, and then finally to perform at a christian concert that went all afternoon. I prayed hard for a supernatural energy this whole weekend and God sure delivered. 

Dave Huizing came with a team of 9 teenagers plus his wife to come and be with us for two weeks. He was the main speaker at our youth ministry seminar as he is a missionary in the US with Word of Life. 

We were excited to see over 60 people attend our seminar. We had youth pastors, college students, Christian Union leaders, and even high school students come from all around the area. 

This is my beautiful friend Ruth. She was working at Word of Life just before I arrived. Now that I have gotten to know her, I wish she was still working with us. Luckily, we get to see her as she still comes for our monthly sleepovers.

 More girls. I tell you, they can talk talk talk and never get tired. They are like the energizer bunny; they just keep going and going and going. They are truly lovely. 

We had the privilege of having the girls from the team join us. Shauna has an amazing voice and sang to us sweet praises to our King. Kate Huizing encouraged us to take our thoughts captive to Christ and not think anything else that is contrary to God's Word. 

Finally, the concert had over 1000 people attend it. Our courageous teen team did one of their very powerful skits for us. Although the power went out in the middle of it, they did a fantastic job. 

All in all, it was a fantastic weekend despite the crazy schedule. The best part is that we saw over 25 people accept Christ! After all, that is what it is all about!

I need to stop wearing my green t-shirt

I have a nice green t-shirt that I must stop wearing. I wore it on friday and I got too much attention. It is not a provocative t-shirt. It is not low-cut or a belly shirt. It's not super tight nor does it have any design or words on it. But the fact is that it's green and right now in Kenya, green is a significant colour.

Green is the official colour of the "YES" campaign.

Kenya's history is in the making right now. They have written a new constitution that is going to be voted on next week (August 4th is the big day). It has been no end of controversy. I guess rewriting your constitution is a pretty big deal but it has created so much drama and conflict that we are all praying for the results of the referendum next week.

I was talking to some of my friends about the post election violence in 07/08 and they never thought it would have the outcome that it did. It was a matter of minutes and the whole country was in chaos. We are not anticipating the same reaction to the referendum but you never know. All we can do is pray pray pray.

In short, majority of the christians are NO for the constitution because of the legalization of abortion. But the rest of the country is YES for the constitution. Most of my christian friends will be voting NO and are very boldly shouting their opinion.

So on friday when I happened to wear  my green shirt and the friend I was with also happened to wear a green shirt, we got a lot of attention. It didn't help that there was a YES campaign rally happening right in town that everyone was attending....wearing their green shirts.

I have decided to put my shirt away until after the referendum. I don't really want to be associated with one side or the other. First of all, I don't even get to vote since I am not a citizen of this country. Secondly, I really would be torn as to which side to be on especially concerning the abortion issue. Now, I am definitely against abortion. In no way do I think it is ok but I have grown up in a country where it is legal and it never seemed like that big of a deal. I explained this to a friend a mine and he said, " yes, but Nikole, this is Kenya. If kenyans suddenly are allowed to abort, they will all start aborting regardless of their morals. This is what kenyans are like." So I am torn.

One thing I do know is that, laws and constitutions do not change people's heart. We can't rely on laws to keep us from sinning. We must have hearts that are turned to Christ and He will change them Himself.

Snippets of my week

My GO GO GO has yet to STOP as I had anticipated. The past few days have been draining. It started on Tuesday evening when we didn't get back to the compound till 3am after picking up our visitors from the airport in town. Of course their plane was delayed and their luggage didn't arrive with them. Then we missed the last ferry so had to wait an hour for the next one. By the time we got them all settled in, it was 3am. Each day since then has been exhausting hosting them, planning for this crazy upcoming weekend, and just being available for anything that needs to be done. But I have stopped to take a few pictures of the places I've been and the people I have seen this last week.

On Sunday, Tsuma (one of my co-workers) and I went to a local high school to minister to them for their sunday church service. Tsuma spoke and I sang one (blacklightprophet) song to them. The picture above is of the feet of the worship team. They have no fancy instruments and are dressed in school uniform. All they had to lead worship was their hands for clapping and their voices for singing. 

Tsuma gave a message and we had a few students come to Christ! 

The rain paused for about 2 hours which was just enough time for a football game. I was invited to go watch two churches play against each other. It was fun, although I sort of lost interest after the first few minutes. I didn't even know the score at the end of the game. However, I was touched as at the end of the game, the two teams came together, put their arms around each other and bowed in a word of prayer. Then, as if on queue, the rain began to pour down again.

This is my love wall. The other night, I was missing my peeps back home. I had a small photo album of pictures I had taken before I left. I decided to pull them up and stick them on my wall so I can look at my wonderful friends and family back home. Tears strolled down my face as I went through each photo. I miss you good people. 

I have wonderful news!! My visa was to expire a week ago and typically this type of visa is not able to be renewed. Plus my work permit has yet to be processed. So I was in a sticky situation. I was told that I may have to leave the country within a few days and come back once my work permit comes through. It sort of excited me as I would have had an excuse to go visit my good friends in South Africa but it would have disrupted all my plans here and been an extra expense. However, my boss just happens to be good friends with the Chief Immigration Officer here in Mombasa. He set up a meeting with him and we went to explain our situation. The Officer was very compassionate and stamped my passport granting me permission to stay! It was a huge relief and such an answered prayer. Thank you all for praying!

So it's been a busy week full of awesome things. This upcoming week will be even busier so pray for energy and joy as I go about my days!!!

Go Go Go...Stop

I am sitting in my office staring at my computer wondering what to do. My lifestyle is sort of a GO GO GO....STOP type lifestyle. There are days where I am busy from 7:30am till 9:30pm. Then there are days that I wake up and have nothing to do. Today is one of those. Yesterday, was a busy day planning for our upcoming events and visiting a school in the afternoon. Today, no plans. Slept in a little, chatted to some friends on facebook, talked with some of my co-workers while drinking a cup of coffee. I have decided to catch up on emails, write a blog entry, and perhaps go swimming in the afternoon.

I really hate being idle. I try to keep myself busy. Idleness has forced a lot of kenyans to become 'vidiots' aka video idiots. Some Kenyans can sit and watch movies all day long and feel like they have accomplished something. A friend of mine admitted that he is addicted to watching movies. You see, here in Kenya, movies are cheap and in abundance. But it's all illegal. They are all copyrighted. The quality is terrible but you can buy a DVD with 6 movies on it for less than $2. And some of these movies haven't even come out in theatres yet. I try to avoid those as much as possible and I don't dare put one of those DVD's in my computer. I don't know how my precious computer would react to such a thing.

I guess I should enjoy this day as I know that come Sunday, the GO GO GO starts again for the next few weeks. I think I need more friends.

Creepy Crawler

Walking to my room this morning, I saw this gigantic, black stick that seemed to be moving. Millipedes are common here. I see them almost daily but I have never seen one this big. I wouldn't want to find this in my room or, worse, on my bed!

A good friend comes to visit

I have been to Kenya 4 times now and the only person from home who has come to see me is my daddy. It's strange when I go home and tell everyone about my life and adventures in Kenya and no one understands or can relate to what I am talking about. But now I have a friend who I can reminisce about all things Kenyan when I get back to Canada. My dearest friend, Daphne, came to visit me this weekend in Mombasa. Daphne and I met when I went to school in Vancouver for a couple years. Since then, she has become one of my best friends and a big encourager to me. So it was an absolute delight to be with her this weekend and to hang out with a good ol' Canadian friend. 

Silly me forgot that I live right on the beautiful Indian ocean. I never go swimming or to the beach but Daphne encouraged me this weekend and I think I might have to make it a habit. We had loads of fun bobbing up and down in the waves.

Beach feet. I always wear flip flops as there are tons of sea urchins and other pokey, stingy things that live in the waters. 

Daphne and her friend making discoveries in the water. This is the beach in front of Word of Life. It's not the best to swim on so we go further down in front of some of the resorts. 

Eating yummy coastal food. It was a nice treat for Daphne who has been eating overly greasy village food for the last month. 

We also watched the World Cup finals together at a local joint. The place was packed with people from all over the world. Yay Spain! I am glad it's over. Now our lives won't revolve around the game schedule. 

We had a wonderful time together. I thank God for such a good friend and a wonderful visit. He knows just what I need right when I need it.

Farewell Germans

I meet a lot of foreigners here in Kenya. Many people come and go, come and go. We spent time together, eat meals together, talk, do fun things, and in the end become good friends. But at some point, we must part ways back to our homes. It's the sad part about living here in Kenya. Half of my facebook friends are people who I have created a relationship here in Kenya and haven't seen since. Last night was another farewell to two loveable German boys who have been in Kenya since September. The great thing about people is the farewell party! It's an excuse for making pizza! 

Jonathan loves our cooking. I think he was starting to get fed up with the kenyan food. He was looking forward to getting back to his beloved Nutella in Germany.

Mr. Joshua is always making noise. He's a rowdy character.

Genrich has almost convinced me to cheer for Germany in the World Cup. I am still leaning towards Spain though. The big night is tonight when the two will battle it out on the field. 

We drove them into town, had our last cup of chai together and then dropped them at the bus stop. So long, farewell our dear German brothers. 

Roasted Maize

This is a common site here in Kenya. Roasted Maize. It's just corn (not that yummy, soft, yellow, sweet corn we have back home) that is roasted over a charcoal fire. It's everywhere. And its super cheap. The most expensive you will pay for a large cob is less than 25 cents. I can eat a whole one and make it a meal. In Mombasa, they will even put lime and masala on it to give it a little sumin' sumin'.

So I was sitting in the van and decided to take a pic of one of my favourite snacks. One thing I love about Africa is the street food. I know they advise us not to eat it because chances of getting sick are high but thanks be to God, I have never been sick from street food. You can get anything on the streets. I used to walk around just buying food and by the time I got home, I would be full and wouldn't need to cook supper. I will miss street food when I get back to Canada.

Fort Jesus

There's a lot of history in Mombasa. It was a port that people first came to and there were slaves and Indians and Arabs and ships and spices and stuff. I am not so great with the whole history thing. I don't care so much. Never did care so much about history. Doesn't interest me at all. It's probably the reason I have never gone to Fort Jesus. It's a very popular tourist spot in Mombasa. It's this big castle like structure right on the water. Like I said, it involves slaves and ships and the Portuguese and other stuff. What I love most about it is that it is located right on the ocean. It's cool and breezy. And in the evenings, young boys come and play football on the small, dirt pitch in the back. On friday, I had some time to kill and a couple friends from Norway who wanted to see the city so we spent some time enjoying Fort Jesus from outside the walls. 

This is me and Solveij with Fort Jesus behind us. Right behind us is the football pitch that comes alive in the evenings. 

To one side, you can see Nyali, a rich, high-end part of town.

And to the other side you get to see the great Indian Ocean. If you look hard, you can see a ship coming into Mombasa. It's fun to watch the big ships come into the port. I always wonder if there are any pirates on them. Haha. Most of the ships that are attacked by Som@li pir@tes come into Mombasa. Rarely are there actually pirates on it.

WAA

Tis the season of rallies. We are invited to about 5 rallies every weekend. We decided to be apart of yet another rally on Sunday at WAA girls secondary school. We were in charge of the program, worship, sound and music, speakers, MC's and so on. It was a long, tiring but fun day. 

Remember Rahab? Yes, we are still best of friends. We work together here in Mombasa. We are no longer roommates, but now we are neighbours. It's nice to have a good friend around. 

Rallies are often a time for same sex schools to mingle with other schools of the opposite sex. We had this boy come to do a presentation and the girls went wild. They were up dancing and singing along screaming at this young gent. I was laughing. I don't understand what its like to be in a same sex school as I schooled with boys my whole life. I can imagine though. 

This is Mr. Joshua. He is on our ministry team. He preached to the students an amazing message from Hebrews 10.

Ok this wasn't the rally but I am trying to take at least one picture a day so I can remember my days. On weekends, I like to go into to town to stay with friends and we always enjoy a nice breakfast. Most days I eat bread and tea for breakfast so I like to treat myself to something different. This morning we had coffee, sausages, eggs, bananas, and mahambri (a local doughnut type food made with sweet coconut milk). Yummy yummy!

SLEEPOVER!

Every month, we host a girls sleepover in one of our cottages at the beach. It is a chance for us to have a fun night of lots of laughing, encouraging, eating, being silly, and listening to the Word of God. I attended my first sleepover last weekend. After an extremely exhausting day, it was a nice way to relax. Although girls being girls, we talked our way through the wee hours of the morning. 

My dearest Rahab was sharing with us on "the Beauty of Brokeness". It was such an encouraging word for so many of us who have gone through tough tough times in our lives. God is faithful. He gives us beauty for ashes.

FOOD! We are girls and like to eat! It was a bit different cuisine than a sleepover in Canada. It consisted of cabbage, mukimo (mashed potatoes with beans, corns, kale), and chicken liver stew. I was wondering where the Doritos and Hot Dogs were. 

This is Baby Chris. He was the only boy allowed to stay the night with the girls. His mom Mercy is such an amazing woman. She is single mother who struggles to take care of her baby but she is so FAITHFUL to God. She inspires me to no end. 

Just a few of the girls the morning after. Such beautiful women they are. I was so inspired by their stories and the lives they live. I was so thankful for the life God has given me. I am so thankful for my Heavenly Father. We are all daughters of the King! 

A poem for me

Nescafe is a mild sedative
but your smile is highly addictive

In you is strength to face the odds
from the product of your vocal cords

Killing I find them eyes
though not with a heart of ice

Only Him is right no need of might
He will protect you through the night

Loving you ought to be
don't sting like a bee

Everlasting your love will grow
and leave mankind in awe


My dear friend, Tsuma, wrote this poem for me for my birthday. He likes poetry and this was his gift for me. I have to admit, I don't quite understand all of it but it was written with care. It was very sweet. I will always keep it with me.

Danger Ahead!

It's sunday night and I am absolutely exhausted after a crazy yet super fun few days. Yesterday we held a youth rally here at Word of Life. We have been spending our days planning this event for the past 3 weeks. It was a great success. We had about 250 students from local high schools come and join us for the afternoon. It was a lot of laughing, singing, dancing, and of course, the Word of God.

Our theme was "DANGER AHEAD" from Hebrews 2:3. This was the back of the t-shirt that I had designed and made. It was simple but bold. 

Meet my team mate Jon Mwongi or as we like to call him, Senior. He is a talented dude especially when it comes to music and leading worship music. He has been at Word of Life for about 5 years now serving on the ministry team. He is  calm, cool and collected. It's very hard to get this guy angry or frustrated. I very much enjoy being on the team with him. 

I was absolutely delighted to see Shimba Hills high school walk through the door. A few weeks ago, me and my four other team mates went on an adventure trying to find this school. We happened to pick the wettest, rainiest day in Mombasa's history to do it. Shimba Hills is literally over many many hills. It took us about 2 hours just to find the school. Mud made the journey difficult. We had to get out and push the van up the hills when it got stuck. We were splattered with mud as the tires spun around furiously and the rain poured down on us. It turned out to be a 4 hour excursion just to get to this school. But our efforts paid off. God had a plan for us and for the Shimba Hills students. We had a couple of them accept Christ and dedicate their lives to following Him wholeheartedly! 

We were fortunate to have one of our friends, Christine Ndela, come and sing for the kids. She is a bit of a celebrity here in Kenya. She sings beautiful gospel music. So when she got up on the stage to sing, she had the entire crowd up on their feet dancing. Even some kids had made up a routine to one of her songs and decided to become her back-up dancers. The students loved it. 

The day was a big success. I enjoyed every part of it. And now I am enjoying every part of my bed where I think I will lay my head to rest early tonight. 

Actophlem to the rescue

It's been about 5 weeks since I started coughing. It started as a light cough caused by a small tickle in my throat and it had turned into a painful, raspy chest cough that I couldn't get to stop. I went to a good doctor several times. He gave me several medicines that eased the pain but never cured it. He did chest x-rays and blood tests. He gave me anti-biotics. But nothing worked. I tried cutting different foods out of my diet. People here blamed the cold weather (a freezing 25 degrees Celsius) for my chest problems and kept urging me to bundle up as if winter in Canada has come. Eventually, the bronchitis caused me to have sinus problems where I would wake up with a stuffed head and plugged ears everyday. I was getting tired of it. I would wake up every morning and ask God to heal me. Ok, sometimes I cried, literally, that God would get rid of it.

And He almost has.

I went to visit a lady on the compound who has struggled with bronchitis issues her whole life. She told me to take "Actophlem." It's a cough syrup that is cheap and that you can buy at almost any pharmacy. So last Sunday I decided to try it.

I have taken it for a week now and my cough has decreased at least 90%! I don't hack away when I am in the middle of a conversation with someone. I don't choke up my lungs. I don't hear this fog horn noise come out of my chest when I laugh. It's wonderful.

So today I am thanking everyone for their prayers. It's not completely gone but I am definitely on the road to recovery. Thank you Jesus for creating Actophlem!

Sad day for Kenya

There seems to be too many sad days in Kenya.

Sunday was another one.

Kenya has just rewritten their constitution. They have the proposed draft out  for the public and the voting will be at the beginning of August.

This constitution has been no end of controversy. It comes up in every conversation. Copies of the draft are found everywhere. People will spend hours debating the fine details of the proposed draft. There are a couple of issues that are causing great conflicts especially between the church and the government.

1) Abortion is becoming legal in Kenya. The constitution allows for abortion although it has to be approved by a doctor on certain terms and conditions.

2) This constitution gives way for a more Islamic influence in the country. It's a big issue as Kenya has been founded on Christian values. But Islam is growing and they are demanding their rights.

These two issues in particular are huge sources of controversy. It's a bit difficult for me. I have grown up in a country where abortion has always been legal and where religion is separate from the state always. I think many Kenyans believe that life will not move on if this constitution is voted in. It's life life will end as we know it.

So on sunday, a big "NO" rally was held at a local park in Nairobi. Thousands of people came out to show their support against the constitution. Church leaders lead the rally making speeches and prayers. The rally was closing and as the final prayer was being prayed, an explosion occurred.

People raced around not knowing what had happened but seeing smoke and hearing people yelling. The place turned into chaos. The last I heard, 6 people were counted dead and over 70 were injured.

I don't quite know what to think. It's sad. It's sad that such extreme action is being taken which is costing people their lives. Christ needs to capture our hearts. Christ is the solid rock on which we stand. Even if abortion becomes legal, a person rooted in Christ wouldn't even think about it. Even if Islam is growing and becoming powerful, Christ still dwells in our hearts and that can't change.

Pray for Kenya. Things only seem to be getting more tense as the days go by.

T'was the day of the World Cup

T'was the day of the World Cup 
and all through the nation 
not a creature was stirring 
as they were tuned into the local TV station 

World Cup fever has hit hard here in Kenya.

As we were walking through a community that is usually buzzing with activity, I noticed an unusual silence. The streets were empty. No ladies outside doing their hair. No shops were open. No kids playing in the dirt. Silence. It was like a ghost town. All you could hear was the commentator of the World Cup.

We were driving in a matatu and any time the vehicle slowed down, you could hear the latest game update on a TV station or radio playing somewhere in the streets. We passed bar after bar with huge crowds of people huddled around the TV screen. People's schedule's have changed. A local school has started classes earlier so they can be home to watch the game. Shops are closing early. Kids are now staying up until 11pm which is when the last game ends. Evenings are now dedicated solely to watching games.

TV sales have increased. People want their own TV to watch every game.

The other night, the power went out just as USA vs. England game was about to start. As it went out, you could hear the entire community go "aww!" Everyone started calling Kenya power immediately. The power was back within minutes.

I have lost many of my friends to the World Cup. If I want to see them, I have to watch the games as well. Or else I would never get to see them. On our compound, come 5pm, is dead. Everyone has retreated into their houses with their eyes glued to the TV screens.

People are humming the tune of K'naan's song 'Wavin Flag' non stop. Suddenly K'naan has become a household name here. Makes me proud of the Somali born Canadian. At least Canada is somewhat represented in the World Cup. Thanks K'naan!

I just can't imagine that this is going to last for a whole month. I don't see anything getting done around here. Things move slow enough as it is around here.

So I've decided to join into the madness. Slowly, I am catching the World Cup fever.

I have yet to pick a team though. Since Canada isn't the best with their feet and isn't represented at the World Cup, I have to choose another team. Kenya would be my next choice but, like Canada, they didn't quite make the cut. At first I thought Brazil as they are a favourite to win but the compassionate side of me wants to pick an underdog. The only thing with picking the underdog is that their journey may not last long so once they are out, I have to switch teams. I thought about supporting South Africa since they are the hosts and it would be oh-so exciting if they could do well and represent their country well. But after their game against Mexico the other day, I decided against it. Part of me really wants to support all the African teams to put Africa back on the map. But after I saw the thick, wavy hair and suave suit of the Argentinian coach, Maradona, I almost thought about being a fan of Argentina. USA would be a good choice since they are my neighbours in Canada but I think they have enough fans already. I think I will have to take the advice of my mother and chose a team based on the colour of their jerseys.

It's an exciting time. I am proud of South Africa. It's the first time the World Cup has been on African soil. It's a great time for Africa. You can sense people's pride here. Africa is finally being profiled in a positive way.

So it's a blessing, even if life has literally come to a halt to tune into the World Cup 2010.

Mud

Today we drove up and down and over many hills to get to a school that we wanted to invite to come to an event we are having in a few weeks. It just happened to be the coldest, wettest day of the year here in Mombasa. It was pouring with rain which made the dirt roads turn into mud. With the insane amount of rain, the roads became as slippery as ice. The vehicle we have is great for shuttling many people around but not so great when it comes to 4x4ing in the mud. We got stuck more times than I can count. We didn't have enough power to get up the steep, slippery hills so we fish tailed all the way up.  With only 5 of us in the car (and none of us being car experts or beefy muscle men), we struggled to get our van up and over the countless hills. We had to get out of the van, skate our way through the mud to the back of the vehicle and push as if we were women giving birth. The tires spun round and round spitting mud on our clothes. Once we got the car moving, we would run to catch up to the van. As soon as we all got into the van, we erupted into laughter at the sheer absurdity of what we were doing. It was a hoot! 

Delivery Van

This morning I went to the kitchen to go find some breakfast. Here at Word of Life, we have a chef who cooks us all our meals. Usually by 7:30am the tea is made and the bread, blueband (margarine) and jam is out for us to eat. So this morning I went down around 8:30 to have my breakfast when I got there, I realized that breakfast had yet to be prepared. I looked around for our chef and realized that he had taken the van and gone out early in the morning. I was thinking to myself, "Where would he have gone and not made us breakfast before he left?" So I puttered around the kitchen until the chef returned.

Once he returned, he started preparing the tea. He apologized for being late and proceeded to tell me about his morning.

"Yes, I got a call early this morning from Nyae (our maintenance man) saying that his wife was going into labour. So I had to take her to the hospital but once we reached the hospital there was no doctors or nurses that had arrived yet. Well, the baby didn't want to wait for the doctors to arrive and decided to come out in the van."

"You mean Mrs. Nyae gave birth in the van?"

"Yup, I was there holding the baby as he came out. I even cut the umbilical cord with a razor blade I had."

"You watched it?"

"Why yes, what if something wasn't right with the way the baby was coming out? I had to stand there like this (he crouched down as if he was receiving a football) in order to catch the baby's head."

"Wow, quite the morning."

"Yes. Sorry breakfast was late."