Trench Life

"Have you ever crawled out of your mosquito net at 4 in the morning to milk your breakfast, boiled water over a fire for your weekly bucket bath, and then mastered the native language in a few short weeks as the only means of communicating with the locals?  Well…neither have we.  Welcome to our trench; it’s not so deep.  Our team is richly blessed to have many of the amenities available back in the US, including a washing machine, microwave, and hot showers, as well as Kenyan family members that make us feel welcomed and comfortable at Tumaini, our home away from home." 

These are the beginning words of the blog post on my Kenyan team’s website: RockNakuru.weebly.com.  I have chosen these words to open my first post about Kenya because A) it gives a good description of life here in the Nakuru trenches, and B) it is a wonderful example of the creativity and absurdity of my fellow “ROCK Nakuru” team members. I will share more about them in the following paragraphs. 

The purpose of this post is to give the reader a basic knowledge of what my life is like here in Kenya. It will be rather straight forward with little critique or analysis. There will be no crazy, deep, philosophical questioning of human existence or anything like that- just the cold hard facts and realities of my living situation. Being a very visual person, I have attached some photos below to give a sense of what things look like around here. I see this type of post necessary to give those who are curious a small glimpse into what my day to day living looks like. So, here it goes…

These are the cottages in which our team lives. Yes, that is a real double rainbow; and yes, that jaw dropping beauty glows overhead two or three times per week during the rainy season.

Pictured above is my room.  Grandma Sue- I hope this picture calms your nerves. Your grandson is not sleeping in a hut, tent, on dirt floors, or under a tarp. As you can see, this missionary trench consists of hard wood floors, big windows (I am a sucker for natural lighting), a comfy bed, a hot shower with better water pressure than I had in college, and…oh yea, I have it all to myself. So if any of you guys out there are itching to serve overseas- I am looking for a roommate…seriously.

This is an example of the food we eat. Each meal consists of proteins, carbohydrates, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.  We have a stove, oven, microwave, blender, and coffee machine to help us concoct anything our just-out-of-college-and-there-is-no-more-meal-plan appetites can dream up. My lack of creativity in the food department is an excuse to incorporate peanut butter into at least two meals per day.  The American brands of buttery gold cost over ten dollars a jar here, so we stick to the two dollar (200 Kenyan Shillings) Kenyan brands…they get the job done. Mama Rich, one of our Kenyan mothers has also taught us how to make some staple Kenyan dishes such as cabbage and chapatti.

This is the 1.4 mile long road our team walks almost daily.  It is our connection to the rest of Nakuru.  It takes about thirty minutes to navigate the herding cattle, sheep, and sometimes muddy trenches before we arrive at our matatu pick-up/drop-off spot.

This is the inside of a matatu. It is the most popular form of transportation in Nakuru.  Please don’t let the number of seats fool you- this photographed van is at about half capacity.

This is the team. Allow me to introduce them from left to right:

           First up is Amy “Pat Dat Weave” Gray.  She graduated from UGA in 2009 with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences. She loves Jesus, honey, laughing, baking, stand-up comedy, and encouraging others.  Her administrative expertise keeps our team afloat.

Next up is Miss Laura Edwards Mong’are.  She enjoys skipping rope, honesty, Kenyan men between the ages of 18 and 55, God, and broccoli.  She graduated with me from Furman University in 2011 with a BS in Biology and concentration in Poverty Studies.

Third is Miss Lauren “It’s Goooood” Cook. Veggie and egg sandwiches coupled with season 1 of ABC’s television series “Lost” define her existence.  She graduated this past spring from Samford University with a degree in Family and Consumer Sciences.  She enjoys football (not the American kind), the Bible, holding Kenyan babies, and singing Adele at the top of her lungs.

Last but not least is Shelley “I make meals using borderline expired products” Martin.  She is a redhead; we don’t hold it against her. She is also a 2011 Furman alum with a degree in Sociology and concentration in Poverty Studies. She enjoys playing in the dirt (our small farm will be yielding fruits and veggies in December!), morning devotionals, vegetarianism, sarcasm, yoga, and making sure our team is actually productive.

This list of my teammate’s talents, hobbies, and interests is not by any means exhaustive.  As we have gotten to know one another over the past few weeks, it has been amazing to see the way in which God compiled a team that compliments one another so well.  It has been fun to observe how each team member has varying interests and abilities that serve our purpose here in Kenya.  I am excited to get to know each of them better and I cannot wait to see what God does in and through us in the upcoming months.