Sabbatical Days 24 and 25

Sabbatical Day 24 (17 August)

Better night. Hydration definitely better. The hives aren’t so bad. Some clearing up and the rate of arrival of new ones is slower. Maybe I’m over the worst of that. Nose not so bad either.

First Session this morning and I’m the speaker: they call it a ‘Seminar’ but no seminar at Queen’s was ever like this. They start with singing, led by the 200 children themselves, and some of it sounds similar to what they sang on the LR.

 

One person, usually an older girl, will take the lead for one song, and another person for another. Someone else will beat a drum to keep time. It’s not to the same chromatic scale as we use in the west. It’s quite beautiful to listen to all these children’s voices. There are no instruments in Samburu culture apart from the drum and this, and the absence of PA and/or backing track is quite haunting.

 

Not as much movement (still more than at home where we play ‘statues’ when we sing) and no ‘Pentecostal’ elements. All either in Samburu or Ki-Swahili, I can’t differentiate. One of the leaders leads in prayer. Then it’s me. I have to be translated (those at school learn English but not all go to school and some present were pre-school) and talk about Peter the fisherman. I’m not sure whether these semi-nomadic pastoral children will know what a fish is, never mind a fisherman. I ask for a definition of a fish and am given ‘An animal that lives in water.’ That’ll do. Reading in the gospel where Peter is called to follow Jesus and become a fisher of men I establish that following is not just walking behind someone but is copying their actions (the game where you slap your knees twice and then clap or touch your nose or put your arm out etc and the children have to copy). I then teach the song ‘I will make you fishers of men’ which some of them already know. The rest pick it up quickly.

We then cover the story of the stilling of the storm. After reading it I get the girls to be the wind and the boys to be the waves, get them all to make as much noise possible and then on my signal to stop. The sudden silence is quite effective especially under the tin roof.  Establishing that none of us can command the wind and waves, and that this is evidence that Jesus is more than a man, he is the Son of God, we go on to get each child to draw on a piece of paper a samaki, that is a fish, with the word JESUS written within the outline. I encourage them to keep them and take them home, but at the end one child gives me his. Don’t know whether he thinks it has to be handed in or he’s given it to me as a gift. I notice that some of the leaders have canes. No-one gets beaten, but the cane does get wielded in a threatening manner and now and again children who are talking when they should be listening are tapped on the shoulder.

Some are moved to separate them from ‘mates’ and others have to stand at the back for a while. I finish off my sharing how Peter responded to the question ‘Who do you say that I am’ with the response ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God’ and establishing that Peter as a disciple had started by following Jesus but now he put his faith in Jesus in his heart as the Son of God. If we are to be disciples, Christians, then we truly are when we try to follow him (copy him by being loving, kind, true, obedient to God the Father, and not telling lies, hurting people, breaking our promises) and when we believe in our heart that he is the Son of God. I asked the children were they trying to follow Jesus. A good number answered yes. I asked if they believe in their heart that he is the Son of God. A good number answered yes. I told them that as disciples we can make mistakes, we can sin, but we are still Christians. Peter made a mistake when he denied Jesus three times but he was still a Christian and Jesus restored him. When we sin, if we repent, he will forgive us, for his love is very wonderful.

I then led in ‘Jesus’ love is very wonderful’ which again some knew, and those who didn’t joined in the actions.

That was the end of my bit. More singing led my one of the leaders, a prayer and finished for a break at 10.50.

I went to the guest house to write up the blog.

Stephen has made soda bread as part of our lunch and somehow with Jay this leads to him asking be to tell him the story of how the Republic of Ireland became independent. Hmmm. Where do you start?! He seemed very interested so I started in the 12^th century and took it from there. Must have taken the best part of an hour but he kept the interest up all the way through, asking some more questions about things since the 1920s, including about Bloody Sunday and other things to do with ‘the troubles.’ He knew virtually nothing of the history of Ireland before I started by impromptu ‘lecture’ – I hope I was able to give him a reasonably accurate account without my own biases colouring things too much.

I sat in on some of the children’s 3^rd session – the African person was speaking in English with a translation again. With three languages on the go – Samburu, Ki-Swahili and English there will be some who know all three but some who only know two and some only one (I fall into the latter category!). So generally some kind of translation is needed. The camps and presentations are organised and given by Africans – Stephen deliberately keeps out of that so that they gain experience and take responsibility. I think this is wise.

Stephen, by the way, will chat away in English, Ki-Swahili or Samburu, depending on who he is talking to. He can use all three in the one sentence. I note that words like crank-shaft, alternator, manifold, and other technical terms are invariably in English as the other languages have just adopted them rather than invent their own.

Jay leaves this afternoon, his vehicle having been fixed. It’s been good to get to know him. He might have stayed longer but his 1½ year-old son has a fever.

At the evening meal Kasoni tells me about her fasting. She fasts periodically for 3 or for 7 days at a go, during that time taking only tea (with milk and sugar). She finds that this helps remind her that the flesh and the spirit are battling each other and that it enables her to re-focus on the spiritual part of her life. It’s a salutary reminder to me that we forget this so much in the west and that the reality of a spiritual battle is missing from so much of our Christian lives. Is this why Christianity is so weak in the west?

Another 25 children or so have arrived from a Turkana region. The Samburu and Turkana often don’t get on – there is cattle rustling and sometimes violence. Often the Turkana will not want to get involved in anything in Tuum, so Stephen is encouraged by this development. Because of the extra children feeding will take a bit longer, so the Revival Meeting is a bit later. Before that we notice a bush fire about 3 miles from Tuum. It seems to cover a wide area. There is also lightning in that direction and some light rain here. The speaker at the revival meeting speaks in Ki-Swahili and is translated into Samburu. No English so I can’t follow except that I can work out it’s about David and Goliath (Stephen tells me later that it was about Internet Pornography – how wrong can you be?!! (But the Bible ref was definitely 1 Samuel 17)). He must be telling the story in a funny way because there is occasional gentle laughter from the children. There are no ‘visual aids’ or other things to keep attention, just speaking. There is a call for children to make commitments to Christ and about 6 come out to the front to do so. They are prayed for – this prayer is somewhat more fervent than the previous prayers and tending towards a more Pentecostal style, but not nearly so much as in Uganda.

We finish after 9.30pm. The children, some 4 years old, maybe even 3, have been on the go since 6am and have shown no sign of flagging, loss of interest, or childish tetchiness, and all on a diet that we would probably think inadequate.

After the meeting I notice that the fires are no longer visible. I hardly need the hurricane lamp to see my way to the guest house as there is a bright moon.

Jim

 

Sabbatical Day 25 (18 August)

6am: sound of drums. The children have started their morning devotions.

We have breakfast outdoors – the first time since I’ve been in Tuum. Stephen says it’s because it’s sunny, but as it’s always been sunny each morning I don’t quite follow the logic. Between the rough ground and a rickety chair I manage to topple off backwards from mine, much to the amusement of Stephen, Kasoni and Dan. Nothing damaged except my pride. (I was sitting at the table which is on the left, on the chair which is in the middle, on the side away from the house.)

Retire to guest house to write this blog and get ready for the Sunday Service at 10.30. Someone in the near distance is playing a CD of Silent Night sung by what sounds like Cliff Richard. Weird!

Service was a bit late starting at the children were still doing their first Session. Got going about 11. Each of the groups of children from the different areas did a ‘presentation’ which consisted of a couple of songs with dance. This took over an hour – recognised one of the songs, ‘We are marching in the light of God’ which had been taught by a group from NI. Then the local Tuum adult choir, did a piece followed by a younger and then older children’s choir. Then me. Spoke on John 6, feeding of the 5,000 again.

Then there was the offering, some notices and an end about 1.15.

Some more discussion of mission things with Stephen over lunch. Again Stephen’s opinions in Italics.

The RC’s who were here first gave people the impression that Christianity was about what you could get from the missionaries – food, housing, schools, money, and not about salvation in Christ, so an expectation was built up among many that you became a Christian to get these things rather than to trust Christ. It has been hard to counter this but there are some breakthroughs and in the Tuum area encouraging results. He questions some of the schemes which sponsor children – what are they being educated for? Also, if they get to 16 having been sponsored and not had to graft for their education, what will happen when they leave school? Those children who have come from families which have not had outside support are more likely to be in a position to apply themselves when they leave school. Then again, while out in the manyattas we had seen some bags of maize donated by World Food Aid. Stephen questions whether this is helpful. In all his time here he has never come across a case of anyone dying of hunger, and all that food donations do is encourage people not to work and a dependency mind-set. [Comment: This is not the same as emergency aid or disaster relief, because clearly without it in those cases people would die]) It’s as people take responsibility for their own development that progress is made.

I have a walk around to see the children amusing themselves before the evening meal. Football is universal! The cook-house is small, about 4 meters diameter and the fires that heat the cauldrons are fed from the outside.

 

Yes, it is that smoky inside.

 

A Fr Oliver Noonan has arrived. There is some discussion about a flight coming in on Tuesday with some of his personnel and this may mean that I fly down to Nairobi rather than go by road. It’s not certain though. As with other Irish RCs Stephen relates to him well.

Catch up with BBC World Service. Spurs begin the premier league campaign with a win! Yea! J Come on you Lilywhites!

Attend the evening Revival Meeting. The cane is used here. About 8 boys have been disruptive and put at the front behind the speaker. They continue to be disruptive and are each given a whack of the cane across the back of the legs. The other children giggle. Stephen says they expect to be beaten. Again no English so hard for me to tell but I don’t think they’re attentive. While last night some came forward for prayer no one comes forward tonight. The ‘call’ is not prolonged. They will either come forward or not. Stephen says that trying to squeeze everything into three days sometimes doesn’t work but there has been no choice with the school holidays. And it’s me who has to wrap it all up tomorrow!

Jim

Sabbatical Day 23 (16 August)

A Grand Day Out

OR…

How many children can you fit in a Land Rover?  (the one below, minus the mattresses)

Not a great night, Hives were worse yesterday so I decided to drink more water. Drank too much before going to bed so up about 5 times in the night – what goes in must come out! Sunburn on face peeling off – I’ll probably come home looking paler than when I left.

Cockroach for breakfast anyone? (The smaller one’s a beetle)

Today the Youth Camps start. The date only became certain in the last few days. This is because the school holiday dates are only approximate and the Principal will decide a day or two beforehand when they will be. There was hope that the schools would close at the end of last week (Friday 9^th) and that the Camps could start on Monday last (12^th). However, the schools were closed earlier this term for elections, and then there was a Teachers’ Strike (it was over pay, the didn’t get ANY) so the Principals carried on for a few days and the schools locally only closed yesterday.

Tuum Primary School

 This means the Junior Camp will have to be cut from 4 to 3 days. If you are asking But what about parents arranging family holidays and teachers arranging their own holidays? then you aren’t living on the same planet. Those kinds of holidays don’t exist for these people.  

Tuum Girls’ Secondary School has gone through a difficult time. It’s a Boarding School as are all the rural Secondary Schools. The previous Principal was ‘bad news’ and a lot of the girls were mistreated. There is a new Principal who is much better. However, there are only 40 girls at the school at the moment and 9 teachers. There should be a lot more girls. Only 6 in Form 1. The equivalent school in Baragoi has 67 in Form 1. This hasn’t been helped by the fact that the school there (RC controlled) offered free uniforms. Uniforms are about the only thing the girls have to pay for. The RC Church has been in this district for some time and has built up quite a power base and they don’t like seeing this challenged. This has caused problems for Stephen. Having said that, the Irish RCs have been very cooperative and helpful, even encouraging to Stephen. They try to build up the people whereas the Italian RCs want to build up institutions.

About 80 Juniors come to the Camps from Tuum and a fleet of Land Rovers from the Mission Station go out to collect up to 120 more.

I went with Stephen, leaving at 10am. We travelled for 3 HOURS without seeing any sign of human habitation – no villages, settlements, even houses.

Only one Primary School – never finished, and one Nursery School – finished but never used. On all that journey there was just a 100m stretch where there was a Mobile Signal through a gap in the mountains. Stephen and I both checked for emails. Then we came across a group of about 200 people and even more goats, the people having gathered together grass and formed it suitable for thatch, waiting for a lorry to transport it for sale.

These people are semi-nomadic and live in a manyatta, an enclosure of branches and thorns and with low ‘buildings’ made of branches and thatch, about 6m long, 3m wide, 1.5m high.

 

We were greeted by an old man that Stephen has known for some years. He is dressed in the usual Samburu costume but is quite wealthy, if you measure wealth in goats as they do. He has two sons, one of whom is a teacher, the other tends the goats with him. A daughter has gone off the rails. He has just married his third wife (the other two are still living and with him). Reason? Wife no 2 has only been able to have one child and he feels the need for more.

There are so many cultural issues here. Take Sanitary Towels. How do women who have never worn underwear deal with them? And where to they put them when soiled (seen to be ‘soiled’ not just physically but in a spiritual sense). There won’t be a bin collection round here any time soon (like the next decade or three). Pit latrines (basically a concrete disc about 1m across with a hole in it, and a pipe under that about 25cm (10”) diameter and 3 or 4m straight down are a big issue for people who previously never relieved themselves in the same location twice and a man will not relieve himself at the same location as his daughter. They are also afraid that the ground underneath will collapse and they will fall in. Patience, little by little, is on the only way to make progress.

By the way, the same cultural issues exist in the Secondary Schools. Some girls won’t use flush toilets for those cultural reasons. What do you do? What the previous Principal in told the girls to do is too disgusting to put here. We travel on a bit further to Seren where there is a Mission Station.

This consists of a secure metal building in which items are stored and a few people can sleep. There is also building of local construction, I think again for sleeping and a mud-walled toilet. Down below in the valley I can see wooden forms in the woods, which is where worship takes place and not far away is a Form 1-4 Primary School. Stephen would like to see a house built here and a permanent presence in the area, perhaps a vet. It would take someone prepared to commit to the Samburu for the long term. PCEA tends to put Pastors in places like this which is not the most appropriate type of personnel. We break for refreshment. Chai (the works, inc. milk and sugar) and chapat and oranges. The oranges grow in Tuum and the outside is in fact green. I share some energy bars.

We have brought C with us (she is a girl at Tuum Girls’ Secondary School and I don’t want to reveal her identity as once this is on the Internet it’s there forever.) She is the first girl from her community to go to Secondary School and she has managed (against the trend) to reach third form without getting pregnant. Stephen is hopeful she will be able to complete 4^th form in the same condition. Sadly she has already undergone Female Genital Mutilation which is another thing that is deeply culturally entrenched. There is also male circumcision (also I think around puberty) but that doesn’t have the same awful long-term consequences. Most of the girls at the Secondary School become pregnant, often to the male teachers who invite them to their homes. If this happens at home in the UK it’s headline news and a court case, but here it’s just part of life. You might ask why parents allow their daughters to go to school if that happens. Well, if they stay at home there is 100% certainty that they will get pregnant. C arrives in her school uniform – grey patterned skirt, white shirt, red tie, and is such a contrast to her little sister who comes to greet her in Samburu dress.

When we dropped C off I wondered about the contrast between some of the Western facilities at the School and conditions in her manyatta and how she copes with that.

Both the men and women wear skirts, although to very different styles, and the women wear a series of rings round their necks. These have no spiritual significance and are simply decorative.

Some are gifts from boyfriends so the more you have, perhaps the more popular you are.

Stephen says the guys in the photo above with head-dresses are trying to impress the girls. A few of the women are bare-breasted, although their breasts are fairly well covered by their neck rings. Stephen says that the rings used to be smaller so more was exposed and more of the women are covering up now with cloth anyway. He doesn’t challenge any of these cultural things (including polygamy) until people become Christians and then they usually find the Holy Spirit challenges them anyway. I notice a lot of little boys (3 and under) running about naked, but no little girls the same. Stephen says there are such girls, we just haven’t seen any today. Wherever we stop men and women come to the LR and greet us. They put their hands forward to shake and exchange a greeting. Some will chat with Stephen, indeed Stephen never passes a group of people without stopping and greeting. Some of the children get in on the handshake act too, an opportunity to touch a mazungo and find out what white skin feels like.

One of the places we stop has a borehole and pump operated by hand.

Stephen says this is better than solar power as the physical effort of pumping means that people value it more. Stephen has been asked at another manyatta to fill up some jerry cans with water which he does – or at least Samuel who is travelling with us does. Doing favours like this is very important. At another point he used the LR’s tyre inflator to pump up 2 footballs for them. Unfortunately the footballs wouldn’t hold the air.

A lot of the ‘road’ we are travelling now is elephant track and is in fact the smoothest to drive on – a reasonably firm sand.

 Back in Tuum the indoor thermometer says about 26° in the afternoon although Stephen says that outside, in the shade it is more likely 28°. Here he estimates it to be between 30 and 40, probably nearer 40. Thankfully it doesn’t feel that oppressive, humidity must be low.

We reached the furthest point and began to load the children. Word about the Camps starting was sent a few days ago but doesn’t seem to have got through (by human messenger – there is no other way). 3 children get in and a young lad (‘helper’). One older man admired my white beard and said I must be very old and very wise. I think he was half right but you may disagree about which half!

We’ve covered 62 miles and it’s 3.50pm.

We re-trace our route and the children are now ready for us at each manyatta. Some carry a plastic bag which may contain a change of clothes or a book, some food, even in some cases a Bible, others are only in the clothes they stand up in. Soon we are complete. Stephen, myself, Samuel, the young lad and how many children do you think? Take a guess. The answer is twenty-five! So, 23 kids in the back, one sitting behind the gear lever between Stephen and me, and one sitting on the passenger seat between my legs. No parental consent forms, no registration forms, no details about allergies or medication. How many PCI guidelines on transporting children does that break? Oh, and these numbers are not unusual. Sometimes some children have to sit on the roof!

As soon as we begin to move the children break into singing. One will sing a line and the others repeat, or sing a verse and the others the chorus.

They keep this up for a while but tire and stop. On the way back we can see it has been raining and the road is slippery. There is a flash of lightning in the distance which, considering previous experience, is ominous. But we don’t see any actual rain. Darkness falls at 7, the children pick up the singing again, and we are in Tuum by 8. A bucket-shower by the light of a hurricane lamp. As the grime from the journey washes off I feel it’s the best shower I’ve ever had in my life.

After another good veggie meal. Stephen assisted by Kasoni, does pretty well.

   

 I ring home on the satellite phone and speak to Lynda. 18 minutes 18 seconds – you have to log them all.

Although the journey was another boneshaker I began to feel better physically as the day went on. I think the water input (little and often) is at a better rate and the throat isn’t so sore. Still a runny nose. But enough about me – tell me about you!

Jim

Sabbatical Days 21 & 22

Sabbatical Day 21 (14 August)

Woke at 5.45. Up by torchlight, throw on some clothes, outside to the toilet and back in again for another hour’s sleep. Up again at 7 and over to Stephen’s house for breakfast. He makes very good yogurt. I notice that Kasoni, who while we were travelling was keeping her hair hidden, was now bare-headed. I ask Stephen about it. He says she kept it hidden on the journey just to keep the dust off it. It’s much finer than the usual African women’s hair. Kasoni is 24 and has not conformed to a lot of the local tribal customs. She is much more likely to take the initiative in doing things than most people in Tuum.

I have the opportunity to speak to Lynda by satellite phone – first communication since Sunday night. (11^th). 9.20 here, 7.20 at home. As BT used to say ‘It’s good to talk’ (for 9 minutes and 6 seconds precisely).

I have brought my Kindle with me, but the screen has frozen. Try doing a re-set with a needle but nothing doing. Anyone know how to fix a frozen Kindle?

Down to the church where I give the first talk – on Biblical Leadership as seen in Moses.

All have learned English at school (doesn’t mean all are fluent – think of the foreign language you learned at school) so there is no translation. This means the talks take less time. They appear to listen well. Some have Bibles and more take notes. As in Uganda some come and go as things proceed although none are answering their mobiles as there is no signal in Tuum. Afterwards I say to Stephen about the pastors in Uganda not being able to read out of the Bibles in their own language very well. He gives the opinion that this may be that they were never taught to read their own language. While they are fluent in it, they will have been taught to read in English with English books, so reading their own language out of a book will always be challenging to them. This makes sense.

We have a break for chai – tea, same word as in Uganda – and then have Session 2 – Nehemiah. Bigger turn out! J

Lunch is pancakes made by Kasoni. Delicious. Then talk 3 – Paul. Lower turn out! L

One of the men wants copies of the talks so I’ll transfer them later to Stephen’s computer. Time to sort out recent photographs.

After a nap it’s over to Stephen’s house for the evening meal. Stephen has a short-wave radio which gets BBC world service, so catch up with a few items of news. Another nice meal despite the warnings of Stephen’s wife, Angelina, who is currently in N Ireland.

Stephen is very chatty and isn’t short of an opinion or two (those who know him will be saying that’s an understatement!). I won’t go into our conversations in detail, but what follows in italics is what I glean are his thoughts (but filtered through my brain may not be what he actually said, so any reporting errors are mine!)

Leadership is not doing things for people or they never learn, it’s enabling them to do things for themselves, sometimes putting them into positions where they MUST do things for themselves. This means that sometimes they don’t and they suffer for it, but it’s the only way they learn and modify their behaviour. Mission agencies who do things for people, or who give them money, only encourage people to do nothing for themselves (if someone else does it why should I bother?) and in the case of money to expect handouts and not do any work. If people achieve things themselves, or earn they money they get, it’s much more positive. This means being firm about lending money but requiring it back, or not doing things for people that they can do themselves. A healthy young man who can work will get no handouts – but someone who has fallen on hard times through no fault of their own will be treated with compassion.

Meetings are interesting in that if there is a meeting and something goes wrong, the person who is NOT there will be blamed! Committees don’t work as Committee members are pressurised into favouring the groups they come from, or their families. The denomination’s central authorities are out of touch with local culture – trying to impose processions, robes and hymn-books on the Samburu is ridiculous. [I note that, although the local Presbyterian Church has been independent of the Church of Scotland for over 50 years, they appear to hold on to the trappings, including having ‘Kirk Sessions’. It might be questioned why we still do that in Ireland, although there is some justification in that in Ulster at any rate we retain something of Scottish culture, but in the middle of Africa???!]

Politically people use money to buy votes and then once in use their position to make money. One who came to stay a while ago handed out 10,000/- (about £80) to people when he arrived. One lady, who is an alcoholic, just used her share to get drunk. Seems that people give out money to persuade people to vote for them, and once elected expect people to pay money for them to do things for them. On the other hand there are good people in politics and if someone starts off with integrity and retains it, they could rise to the top in 20 years or so.

Regarding the railway, it still travels from Nairobi towards Eldoret through Gilgil, but the branch to Nyahururu has been closed for some time. Eggs used to be transported to Nairobi from Nyahururu by rail – which makes sense considering the state of the roads and the traffic jams in Nairobi. The government has recently introduced a Railway Levy to develop them. So the total tax on most goods is over 22% consisting of Excise Duty, VAT and Railway Levy.

Both my arms have been bitten a lot. But I’ve wondered if they really are bites as I’ve never felt ‘bitten’ and haven’t heard any buzzing insects at night. Stephen is of the opinion that they are hives brought on by the anti-malaria medication Doxycycline. The options are thole the hives and continue the medication or stop the medication, losing the hives, and risk malaria. As the hives aren’t too itchy I decide to thole them and continue the medication.

It’s dark and time for bed with the help of the hurricane lamp.

 

Jim

 

Sabbatical Day 22 (15 August)

Talk 4: Jesus as shepherd, farmer, disciple – attendance low at beginning but picked up once I started. Some seem to wait until you start and then come in. Teabreak and then Talk 5: Come, Follow, Wait, Go. Attendance further increases.

Afterwards I walk out of the compound to take some photographs. You can’t go anywhere but be mobbed by children who love seeing their photographs on the camera’s display.

Lunch is chapati – seem the same as yesterday’s pancakes but maybe that’s the same thing. Stephen’s fridge is acting up. It’s powered by kerosene, not electricity. The reason is that from 10am to 4pm there is enough solar power to run a few appliances at 240 volts (there is, for instance a washing machine that runs on this). It also charges some batteries which power some 12 volt lights after dark. But as the fridge has to run 24 hours a day it can’t use this, so is powered by kerosene instead. It’s a bad batch and keeps going out. The hurricane lamps are powered in the same way and the glass on mine gets black very quickly. Another thing is that phone communication is by Satellite which is expensive so calls are kept to the essentials. And while Stephen has access via Satellite for texts and for email that’s it. Nothing else, no web access.

After lunch sit in on organising meeting for the Youth Camps. Kasoni is in charge of this – I’m impressed how she handles the meeting. There are about 9 of us altogether and all but her are men. There will be two sections, a Junior under 9s and a Senior one 9-14a. The Senior one will be after I am gone. The children arrive tomorrow and the meetings will begin on Saturday. Each day the programme is:

9.30-11 session 1

11.30-1 session 2

2.30-4 session 3

4-6.30 games

7.30-9.30 revival meeting.

So not a lot happening then!

(Sunday is different – the church service is 10.30-1.)

It’s agreed that I will do Saturday session 1, preach at the Sunday service, and speak at the Monday evening revival meeting.

The theme of the camp is Discipleship and I spend the afternoon pulling something together for the Saturday morning on Peter.

The cost of the camp, by the way is 50/- for Juniors and 100/- for Seniors (38p and 77p approx.) This will be significant for some families but by fixing a charge will give the thing more value in everyone’s eyes.

A Canadian called Jay arrives for the evening meal. He is a Christian who worked in this general area for some time until his wife took ill with brucellosis. Back home he retained as a teacher and is back working as one on the other side of the mountain behind Tuum with Africa Inland Mission. He’s in Tuum to get his vehicle fixed and is accompanied by an African with an AK-47. I remark on this and Stephen says it’s not necessary as the watchman on the gate of the compound has a gun. I’m not sure whether to be assured or disturbed by this information. Jay is of Irish and Scottish descent – father Callaghan tracing back to Cork, mother Watt tracing back to he knows not where in Scotland. Pleasant fellow, and I continue to be impressed by the number of Christians who devote their lives in the service of Christ for the benefit of Africa, especially people like Jay who have to raise their own finance.

The garage in the compound in Tuum is always fixing something.

Another cultural observation. Samburu Honey (delicious!) is produced commercially in Tuum, put in jars, labelled and bar coded for the supermarkets in Nairobi. Sometimes, however, the jars have been found opened on the shelves. People have opened them and checked to see that the honey is not contaminated. Kenyans will buy Australian honey in preference to Kenyan honey because they trust that mazungo (white man) products will not have been tampered with, whereas they don’t trust their own products in this way.

Throat is sore tonight. Don’t know whether that’s due to giving the talks (no translation, so no pauses for me, and no PA, so have to raise voice) or taking a cold – I have a runny nose.

Jim