Ultimate Choo Makeover
June 4, 2006
Like returning to
Guy: Do you want to buy this box of chicken heads?
Me: What do you do with a
box of chicken heads?
Guy: I do not know but they are very good.
My sister and brother in law had taken JT and I out to dinner and I had
eaten a steak so tender I could just say `Divide’ and it would slice
itself and then melt in my mouth. I ate a steak in Kijabe that was so tough it
was almost a wrestling match.
But the real Kenyan moment was when I went to the restroom in
Kenyan toilet paper is a bit lower on the food chain; it might be charitably
described as having a rougher texture. Once you get use to it, it is fine, but
to make an abrupt adjustment from silk to coarser materials can be a bit abrasive. And, sad to say, that is when I knew
I was truly back in
Matthew had his eighth grade formal this week, and he had a wonderful
time. You aren’t allowed to ask a girl, but you can ask her to sit at
your table. I’m not sure I quite understand the distinction, which is
probably why I never went to law school, but a very pretty young lady was quite
happy to be at his table. This young lady would, over the course of several
weeks, be happy to see him and annoyed to see him, sometimes in the same day. He
asked me if it was always this confusing to go out with girls, and I was able
to tell him that of course it was, which did not comfort him.
(Matthew (number 3) and some buddies at the formal.)
We have gone through myriad of adventures whenever we try to do our
food program. Police pull us over, demanding some of the grain for themselves.
We got stuck in mud and had to move hundreds of bags off the truck, push the
truck, and reload the same said bags. It never goes right.
This time it was the money. When I started doing this, no one had a
checking account, and so I had to pay in cash. Margaret, a short large woman
who has won bids several times, would stuff the money in a place that good
missionaries can’t easily find a way to describe. I finally put the
provision that if you won the bid, you had to be able to take a check.
There was a problem; the bean crop had failed, and the prices were
almost triple what they were last term. It was a big check that we gave to her.
And the bank wouldn’t cash it. They said it was too big, and told
us that no Kenyan woman could have that much money. I called them and explained
that there really was that much money in the account(which I assumed they knew
because it was at their bank) and that we had made the check out to Margaret.
They refused to take the check; we had to get another check, and after
11 days, they finally cashed the check (charging her one thousand shillings for
the privilege)
Somehow, we got it all to the schools, and we are again grateful for
what you have done. I was at a school last week and the children were dancing
as the bags were unloaded. One of the most alarming and frightening sights
during the drought was students chewing on their sweaters; I haven’t seen
a sign of that since the rains have returned.
RVA has their first student going to
RVA has outreach days when we try to do things for the community around
us. One of the projects was to paint the inside of all the outhouses (or choos)
on the campus. It hadn’t been done in years, if it had ever been done.
They were quite nasty.
There were several surprises regarding the day. Having lived with
junior high boys for three years, I was mostly immune to horrific odors, so I
managed quite well. Katie was an amazing painter. She has told us that she
wants to be a house painter when she grows up, and now we understand. She was
good, and determined, which we all tended to be because even with my natural
immunity, it was pretty rank in there.
The biggest surprise was who signed up. It was mostly high school
girls, and the ones that showed up were ones you would think of as the popular
cute girls. If you ever despair over today’s youth, the best antidote is
to come here and watch cute kids wade into a project like that without a
complaint.
(Katie and Catherine)
I asked one of them why she had signed up and she said `I just wanted
to do something nice for them.’
I carried that word with me for a whole week, and then yesterday we
went to New Life, the orphanage where we met Ben and Kate, for their annual
open house. It was a wonderful day, and that night, there was a skating party
for the 1st-6th graders, and Ben and Kate got to skate
for the first time. I was holding their hands as they skated and the song
`What a wonderful world’ came on. It was a beautiful night and they were
having such a good time that I was tempted to end this by saying `Yes, it is a
wonderful world.’
However, Ben then said `Dad, I would like a baby brother.’ And I
told him he could have a baby brother the moment he got a new daddy, because
this old daddy was NEVER going to have another child.
It sort of spoiled the mood for a moment. But it was a lovely evening
just the same. And NO, just to make sure everyone is absolutely clear.
Your pal
Steve
PS. There is a nice lady, Diane Peters, who has made a cd and is
donating the proceeds to our feeding project. Her website is surrenderedmusicco.com
to find out more; it is really beautiful music.
Steve and Nancy Peifer
Stateside Address: AIM
Home Number: 011-254-20-3246-458
Office Number: 011-254-20-3246-170
Steve's Cell: 011-254-0734-124292
Website: http://peifer.kijabe.org/index.html?intro.html&1
Foundation: http://www.solutionbeaconfoundation.org/programs.htm