More Cross-Cultural than Ostrich Fajitas

January 21, 2004

Whenever I sang ANYTHING to my little sister, she would yell `I know! You’re singing the Theme from Rocky!’

I was kicked out of the choir in Manhattan, Kansas because I could make a whole row go flat, and I was kicked out as the director was making his weekly plea for more male voices.

When I was briefly on the worship team in Texas, I was told that I could sing whenever the whole band was blaring. Otherwise, I should just PRETEND to sing.

This is all to say that I don’t know WHY they choose ME to lead the karaoke event on Friday. Someone actually gave a missionary a karaoke machine, and they hauled it out here. I’m not sure that anyone had done it here before, but on Friday evenings, they have Variety night, and they try to plan all sorts of different things for the kids to do.

At 8pm, there was a huge group of kids in the room. I never did karaoke in the states, but I began the evening with an inspiring version of `All My Exes Live in Texas’ which was a BIG hit with the bride.. After they got use to it, I’m sure they sang as badly and with as much enthusiasm as anyone in the states.

With a couple of exceptions.

I’m in the front of the room, changing discs, and I look up: Kenyans, Koreans, Brits, Canadians, and all the rest singing along to the chorus of American Pie. It was the most multi-cultural experience I’ve ever had, unless you count the time I ate ostrich fajitas.

The best part was three kids singing `Stand by Me’. The first kid sang the first verse in Portuguese, the second kid sang the second verse in Korean, and the third kid sang the third verse in French. Probably not what you would hear in the states, but it was so cool.

I was going down to the valley on Thursday to visit a school, and the guy I was supposed to meet didn’t show up, and the school I did go to didn’t have the food ready to go, and I was frustrated, and started driving back to campus. The road I took is fairly new; not paved, and very hilly and scary in the rain. About half way up, I stopped to give a ride to two older women who were making the long hard climb to the hospital.

As they got in, it started to rain really hard. I was going uphill, and it was really slippery, and they both started to make noises that sounded like they were afraid. I was scared too.

ME: If you all know how to pray, this would be a good time to start.

THEM: GOD!!! HELP!!!

He did, and we got to the hospital, and I drove away thinking `That’s why I was supposed to go down to the school today.’

It was such a great feeling.

(Matthew with a lady in the area)

(Ben being Ben!)

There is a couple here who have to leave because his father is sick and they need to go home and take care of him. They have a dorm, and it is filled with sixth grade girls, so it is not an easy assignment.

And RVA is a place that no matter what you do, you can never get it done, because we are all stretched pretty thin. It’s hard to fill a position like that.

Enter Ben and Jeannie. They are a pretty unique couple. They met at Harvard as undergraduates, married, and have started many companies. They have done very very well. They have four children, and they help run the business office, and are very active in reaching out to the community.

And they volunteered to take on the dorm.

It doesn’t sound glamorous, and it isn’t, but so many ministries couldn’t function if there weren’t dorm parents. Most people don’t come to Africa to sit in a dorm. When you see people who have given up so much take on another job, it makes you re-look at how you do everything.

You would never know they went to Harvard and built the many companies they had. They don’t talk much about themselves. Ben spends much of his day insulting me, but they are so self effacing you would never suspect their background.

Someday, someone will probably write a book about them. They will talk about their education, and the companies they created, and their great success.

But if they don’t mention the dorm, they will miss the heart of the story.

Your pal

Steve

Steve and Nancy Peifer

Kenya Address: PO Box 80 Kijabe Kenya 00220

Stateside Address: PO Box 178 Pearl River, NY 10965

Phone: 011-254-20-32046-252

peifer@kijabe.net