MISSIONARY APARTMENT AND SAFARI 3rd of 27 Emails

Hi Everybody from Africa!

Our time here in Mombasa has been living in two different locations: Several weeks in Corwin & Peggy’s missionary apartment and one week in the Royal Reserve Safari Lodge on the Indian Ocean beach which we traded a timeshare week for. Both are special places which we will never forget.

The missionary apartment overlooks the beautiful Tudor ocean channel high above the water. Every morning there are beautiful sunrises and sunsets as we look across the channel to the mainland and beyond to the bush. Small fishing dugout canoes go back and forth and fishermen throw their nets out at low tide. Palm trees line the shoreline in this fairly well-to-do area, although it is only about a ½ mile from a large slum. That’s the way the entire island city is…a mix of nicer areas with poorer areas and slums and the bustling city in between. We drink only bottled water and use our water purifiers when bottled water is not available as we travel to the villages and in the bush.

The apartment is gated with a guard, so we feel relatively safe, although we definitely do not go out at night. We don’t risk buying any food from the small stands that line the streets, except for bananas. We would never buy meat from those stands which are swirling with flies. We shop at a nicer market, but still avoid many foods there, even disinfecting fruits and vegetables at home that we get there. The basic food in Kenya is a maize (corn) porridge. It makes us feel guilty when we think about the food we eat and waste at home in America. Compared to the regular elders’ apartments throughout the villages, this apartment is luxurious, complete with what we consider basics, but Kenyans consider luxuries only for the rich (washing machine, dryer, electricity, running water). Yet, there are beautiful homes along the beach here and very nice resorts.

Communications and finances is a major time-consuming issue as there are no land lines and we have to regularly go to ATM machines to get Kenya shillings. We weren’t surprised to have to pass armed guards at the bank after we had already done that in front of the market! Surprisingly, many of the people carry cell phones, which the gov’t subsidizes and saves us much time. This program would take 100 times longer without cell phones, because hardly anyone have cars, only a few have bicycles, and most travel miles and miles anywhere on foot, sometimes barefoot in the dusty red dirt. Few have computers, of course.

Driving is a major concern through the bustling, bee-hive like confusing traffic. It is a mixture of cars, mostly driven by rich Muslims and Indians, taxis, Tu Tu’s, a tricycle scooter motor cycle and matatu’s, which are communal vans with a driver and hustler leaning out the window trying to lure in passengers. The streets are narrow, usually with no sidewalks, and lined with small stands selling food and everything else you can imagine.

Many of the goods are just spread out on the ground. We have to be very careful to avoid an accident, because the white person is always in the wrong and usually whisked off to jail, where it usually takes a bribe to be turned loose for small fender benders. It can be prison for more serious accidents. We did not see another white person for the first week here.

Muslims are everywhere because Mombasa has the largest concentration of Muslims in Africa. They are the dominant religion, but we were pleased to find also a lot of Christians, mostly Pentecostal. The Muslim calls to prayer occur regularly throughout the day and we also have the unique opportunity to be here during the closing weeks of their 30 day Ramadan time. The women are in long black burkas, many with only their eyes showing and they usually walk several steps behind the men. Some wear beautifully colored scarves with the tips of matching dresses showing at the bottom. It’s fun to watch the people stare at us because they see so few whites.

We’ve stayed one week at the Royal Reserve Beach & Safari Resort, a beautiful resort along the Indian Ocean beach which we traded a timeshare week for.

It’s only ½ mile along the beach from the Israel resort which was bombed by terrorists in 2002, killing around 20, including some Americans. It really hurt tourism and the economy here for several years thereafter.

The resort is beautiful and luxurious with pools, 5 course dining, and entertainment.

Our room overlooks the beach with palm trees swaying in the winds and gorgeous sunsets. “Beach boys” walk the beach trying to get tourists to take a walk on the reef at low tide and go on day trips at lower prices than the resort. Corwin and Peggy stayed with us here several nights, which was nice for them to enjoy.

We weren’t able to enjoy a full week’s vacation time here like we usually do at a resort, because much of the time was working on the measles campaign, but the luxury was a nice break for them and us. A nice highlight was our inviting Khulda, the Mombasa Red Cross Director, and her fiance here for dinner one evening. She is a tall, stately, elegant lady, around 30 years old, who has been an enormous help to the program.

We were curious to meet her fiance and to see how they interacted because she is so intelligent, educated, and professional. We were pleased to find him quite modern as we quizzed him about marriage and women and are hopeful he will remain that way after they marry. We wish we could stay awhile, because she has observed our ways and asked some questions about the Church and our views on women, marriage, and family life.

We have great admiration for Corwin and Peggy’s mission and dedication, especially because their days are jam-packed with the work, leaving them and now us exhausted at the end of the day. Yet, their phone keeps ringing long into the night with emergencies and crisis-solving. It’s hard for them to be organized and plan and set priorities because so many of their contacts are backward, poor, uneducated. Yet, the thing that keeps them and us going is the great goodness of the people and the benefit our program is to them and their sweet little children.

Well, we’d better close for now. It’s time to go out to another measles clinic

We miss you all….and, send you our love from the dark continent,

Dad & Mom/Grandpa & Grandma/Dick & Lawana

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