We had an interesting day today seeing and doing things different from what you usually think about Africa. We went snorkeling and chasing dolphins off the beautiful Africa coast! It started with a drive along the southeastern coast south to the little coastal village of Simone where we took a small dhow boat out to the beautiful island of Wassini.
We took along Joseph, the young African returned missionary who has occasionally served as our taxi driver here in Mombasa. Of course, we paid his way, because he could not afford such a thing and, frankly, his unique experience there was an opportunity of a lifetime for him.
In fact, a sad fact we learned quickly here is that people from all over the world come to Africa to see the animals and the rest of this fantastic country, but few Africans themselves have ever gone to the reserves themselves or other wonderful tourist places because they can't afford them because they can hardly afford their daily food for their families.
It was fun to watch Joseph's pure joy throughout the day. He's one of those great young men who very likely sacrificed the hope of college and other material things here forever to serve his mission. But, he's the very first to quickly say it was worth it and he would do it again in a heartbeat. He also strongly tells how the mission greatly broadened him in many ways and strengthened him spiritually.
Now, he's looking for his eternal companion, which is tough here because there are so few members of the Church.
Simone is famous for it's slave cave where the Arabs herded the hinterland slaves into before loading them on ships to use or sell elsewhere. It's a huge old lava cave which begins a short distance inland and goes outward to the beach and water. There are also old slave holding buildings in the old town and stands where slaves were held, bartered, and sold like cattle. The Arabs were the worst doing this, whereas the Portuguese discoverers originally came for discovery and the Brits to hunt, colonize, and missionary work. The Arabs and Indians also began the ivory trade which almost decimated the elephant and rhinos.
The Indian Ocean is wonderfully warm, although these particular beaches are not as clean as the Caribbean Island beaches we are accustomed to. Some of the coral was unusual, especially a beautiful large purple type that looked somewhat like cauliflower. But, the fish were much less than the Caribbean. However, we did see an octopus, a sting ray, and a moray tiger eel.
Especially exciting was chasing pods of dolphins, which were plentiful and unafraid of the boats. The dhow is a unique African vessel which is the main fishing boat here. On this poor island, fishing is practically the only food. However, the drive down the coast was green and beautiful with gardens, small farms, and coconut groves everywhere. It was a prime example of how rainfall and water greatly changes everything for these people, making their life better than those in the higher lands where drought brings a very tough life and even starvation for many. At least the poorer people here have fishing and gardens.
We walked through a unique dry land choral garden...acres and acres of huge coral heads, many several stories high, all inland in a huge forest of coral heads. It could have been a setting for some science fiction movie...almost spooky. Toward the sea from it was acres of mangrove trees with their protruding “knees” coming up from their roots to get oxygen. Twice every 24 hours the tide would come in flooding it all, and then go out again. Seeing the mangroves reminded me of how our Caribbean yacht club moves the yachts into the mangroves to protect them from hurricanes.
We visited a little school in Wisome.It was about the size 
of our bedroom at home...no desks, dirt floor, few books, no water...of course, no windows or door, as usual, but it at least did have a roof made from old corrugated tin and partly by a rusty old car hood. It was packed with around 20 little 5-6 year olds and their smiling teacher who led them in a Swahili thank-you song for us after we had given them candy, pencils, and notebooks. How beautiful they were! They were all dressed in little blue and white school uniforms, which their parents must have somehow acquired the money to pay for.
The government finally made it a law that children should go at least to elementary school and the people, especially the mothers have enthusiastically responded to that challenge. They see education as their way to progress and even require children at school to learn and speak English. The Church branches do the same. It's kind of sad in a way, but the fact is that speaking English brings them closer to the world and progress.
We had our most African lunch of all at the best restaurant in town...different kinds of fish barbecued heads and all; sea grass salad; coconut dishes; maize meal; etc On the way we passed the best little hotel and looked inside. You would probably not have wanted to stay there, but they took great pride in it's “luxurious” amenities to it's guests.
Driving back was again an adventure as we arrived in the dark. Along the way, we passed through the usual herds of goats on the roads and even a camel herd. Cattle was being driven out in fields and people were cooking their dinners, many over campfire like stoves outside their little homes. Laundry was hanging on lines everywhere or being dried laying in a field.
Again, we passed several Muslim mosques, some quite beautiful with their round roofs and stretching towers. We've gotten used to the loudspeakers in the city regularly calling out the people for prayers. Some of the voices are quite beautiful and we've even got used to recognize several of them. On the closing evening of Ramadan there were huge celebrations everywhere. They were dressed in their finery, although it was sad that the more conservative women had to hide their beautiful dresses and jewelry under their black burkas. However, some of the burkas allowed fine silver and gold applications to the sleeves and hems and tops. Celebration music was playing everywhere. We wished we could have joined the parties!
Must close for now.
Love you all,
Dick and Lawana
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