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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SLIDE PRESENTATION 4th of 27 Emails

Jambo! (Hello in Swahili),

Lawana has spent the past 2 full days working on Corwin & Peggy’s slide presentation for the closing celebration parties of their measles campaign. It has been very time-consuming, because prior to that we’ve helped with the picture-taking throughout our days here working on the program with them. It’s been great fun, though, as the Kenyans love to have their pictures taken and then Lawana showing their pictures to them in our digital camera. Many of them in the bush have never seen anything like that and their cries of joy and expressions of happiness as they saw themselves brought tears to our eyes. We tried to get as many action shots as possible wherever we were. Take a look at all the photos and try to feel the heart-felt emotions, expressions, and feelings of these wonderful people!

Corwin and Peggy will use the presentation at celebration parties at the branches and other volunteer meetings to show them how the program was developed and rolled out in total and in all areas. A goat will be roasted for a feast in their eyes and in appreciation for their great volunteer service to the children who received the measles shots. It’s been amazing to begin hearing about hundreds and hundreds of vaccinations being given in locations all across Kenya. Lawana’s computer skills have been invaluable to this production, complete with African music, and wonderful photos. She did the same kind of production skills for our “Be Smart!” mission. Isn’t it amazing how missions not only benefit the recipients, like the investigators and like the measles shot recipients here in Africa, but also benefit the missionaries in many different ways? The adage continues that missions, or any kind of service for that matter, always leaves the giver more in debt to the Lord than all the service he was able to give.

The slide presentation will also be included in the Ogborn’s report to Salt Lake about their mission. Hundreds of photos were taken showing the original volunteer meetings at the Red Cross, organizing the volunteers with their red hats and shirts, training the children choir to sing the measles jingle and recording it at the recording studio, the shots being given in the slums and elsewhere, etc.

We wish we could send you now the measles jingle which the children were taught and sang so well, both in English and then in Swahili for the radio broadcasts and at the opening ceremonies in the slums before the shots were given there. We were so proud of the kids who came from the 3 local branches of the Church. They were so patient as it took several hours to record the jingle, but they loved going later to a fast food place for their choice of lunch. Many had never eaten at such a place or even been out of their own little village areas, so it was a real adventure for them to come to the big city and to then eat at a “restaurant” was beyond their wildest dreams. Remember, some of these kids were from not just the usual poor villages, but some were from the starving Chyulu area where the Red Cross is giving out bags of maize (corn) which is their only food for a long time. It has not rained there for over 3 years.

We must close for now as morning will come soon.

Love to you all,Dick and Lawana

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CARVER'S VILLAGE 5th of 27 Emails

Hi Everyone from Africa!

A very interesting experience today at “Carvers” Village here in Mombasa. It’s the African version of a factory and mass production. Of course, here in this 2^nd largest city in Kenya, there are real industries like cement-making companies. But, even production like brick making are not like in our country, Instead, the “bricks” are large chunks of earth (or, cow dung in the outlying villages) that are cooked in a kiln. Additionally, the building materials factories use there are trunks of small trees, palm branches, sticks, etc.

Anyway, back to “Carvers’ Village: The village is acres of small huts where men and women are carving various sculptures, mostly from wood, for sale to tourists. They do their work all day long in small huts and walking through them is like walking through pathways of a little dirty city. Many have nothing to sit on, but do their work kneeling or sitting in the dirt. If they are lucky they have a roof made from flattened cardboard boxes they’ve scavenged from somewhere to provide some shade from the blazing sun or keep out the rain that hasn’t come for over two years. Yet, it’s kind of organized like a production line, with one section of their “factory” doing the initial carving, another the sanding, another the polishing, another the painting, etc. I guess it’s not much different than the production line worker putting a bolt on over and over all day long, except that the working conditions are strikingly different and the pay is a very, very, very small fraction. In fact, they work here for less than a dollar a day, if that.

But, the amazing…and, very wonderful thing is that practically all of them are very happy! They greeted us with smiling faces and hearty “Jumbo!” It’s very evident they take great pride in their work and the fact that they have a job! What a noble people they are!!!! The sad thing is that their work is sold in front at the retail outlet, probably owned by some rich Arab or Indian, like so many businesses here are. We got around that, though, by Corwin & Peggy knowing some of them who were members of the local branch. So, we talked to them privately and bought from them privately after meeting with them secretly at the local branch. This picture is of the Primary President with Lawana and Peggy. By doing that, the actual worker got more for his hard work. You have to greatly admire and respect them…especially when we remember how we sometimes complained about our work at home and were not grateful for having a good job and working conditions.

Their work is beautifully done, especially the wood sculptures made from all kinds of exotic woods, like expensive ebony, rosewood, and teak. Unfortunately, the African forests are being rapidly depleted as more and more trees are being cut down for farmland, fuel, and wood export. Wood is also greatly used to burn in kilns to make charcoal. All along the highway you see men and women selling bags of charcoal to the passing trucks to pick up on dead head transport.

And, all along the bush and village dusty little roads you see people carrying the heavy bags of charcoal on their backs for miles to finally get to the highway. Then, they sit there all day and night, hoping for a truck to stop and buy it. We wonder if they get much for their hard work or if the truckers cheat them.

Anyway, whenever you see a beautiful, skilled carving or sculpture of an elephant or lion or giraffe, now you may have a little better understanding and appreciation of where it came from and what it took to produce it. We love those people working in their little huts with such great dedication and pride in their work.

We miss and love you all,

Dick and Lawana
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MEASLES UPDATE AND VIVID MEMORIES 6th of 27 Emails

Hi to our Friends & Family from Kenya!

The measles program is proceeding very well. Full page articles are running about it in the local newspapers as health is such a problem here and the program is a very big one. The Church's part is about a million dollars a year around the world just for the measles program, which is a nice contribution, but really only a fraction of what the Church does for the poor and needy regularly around the world. It's wonderful to see where our tithing and fast offerings go...for the wealthier LDS people, especially in America sending their offerings around the world to others less fortunate, many who are not members of the Church. Of course, many of our LDS Charities assistance is given, similar to this measles program, in coordination and partnership with other great organizations, like the Red Cross, UNICEF, the World Health Organizations, and, great people from other churches. It's truly wonderful to be a part of it. In the case of Kenya's measles program, the Red Cross people have told us it could never be done without the Church's financial help and the mobilizing work of missionaries here like Corwin and Peggy. We love to be a part of their work as they are careful to do the Church's role in a behinds the scenes way, very careful to give much credit to the Red Cross workers and the local volunteers, so that they can feel it was their work that made it successful long after we leave. It is fulfilling a great need, too, as just in today's local paper there was an article about over a dozen children who had broken out with measles who had never been vaccinated and are seriously ill.



It's wonderful to be driving around now and occasionally have people recognize our truck with it's measles banner or be walking on the street and have mothers come up to us and thank us for providing their babies and little children a measles "jab" in the arm. Communication, travel, and finances are such a problem and really slow us up. We can only withdraw around $250 dollars in shillings from the ATM at a time and then must go to another bank to get money to pay the volunteers, radio stations, etc.

And, of course, few have cars or even bikes, land phones, newspapers, TV's, electricity, running water, etc, so it's very hard to coordinate it all. How can we reach several million people just here in Mombasa alone, Kenya's 2nd largest city, much less the millions out in the villages and bush? It's discouraging sometimes, but we know it's working, because many branch presidents and village chiefs and the Red Cross are reporting hundreds and hundreds of children receiving the shots...so, we know the same is happening in the others areas Corwin and Peggy are responsible for...and, probably elsewhere in Kenya where other missionaries are working on the same program. Our local Church members are so proud to be a part of it. They've generously given their time even though most, especially in the villages are without jobs and should be trying to scrape out a living. Our little sacrifices here are pretty puny when you watch many of them use the volunteer money we give them to feed their families, rather than for travel to their assigned villages in the bush to knock on doors and tell their countrymen about the shots. Instead, they walk for 2-4 hours in the very early morning and very late evening to and from their contacting area, so they can use the "transport" money we give them to buy a little food for their family.

It is true Christian service in the best and most basic way by a people who have very little themselves, giving to many of those who have even less. At the end we'll have roasted goat celebrations and show them a video about the program, including pictures of themselves. They will be one of the greatest parties they will ever experience in their lives, but to us they will seem materially so little...maybe costing the equivalent of dinner at Sizzler for our family. Lawana has worked hard on the video and we already know how their reaction will be when they see themselves from how thrilled they are to just see their picture in our digital cameras of them that we have shown them all the way as we travel from town to town.



Corwin and Peggy, rather "Elder & Sister Ogborn," are absolutely perfect for this mission... with their great abilities and especially their great love for these African people.










I don't think many of us could do such a mission, living in such a poor country and working with such poor people, many in poverty. I can't adequately describe that really...you just need to experience it. But, maybe this will help:




Being very grateful for arriving safely without an accident somewhere after driving through the bustling traffic of cars, taxis, Tu Tuts, Matatus, bicycles, and mostly walkers in the clogged Mombasa streets.









Thankful for the locked gate and security guards outside your apartment and the Uzi-armed guards at the ATM's, markets, etc, but fearful when you leave their area.

Constantly hoping we won't get malaria, yellow fever, typhoid, AIDS, Polio, snake bites, etc. from the things we eat or even touch. Being afraid and embarrassed what to do when offered precious food in a member's hut of a home, yet not wanting to offend them for their generous offer.

Being so glad about our work in the slums, especially, but being ashamed about finally getting home and quickly taking a shower and washing our clothes with heavy bleach and disinfectant.


Even in our own apartment, better than 99% of the country, making sure the mosquito netting is back together after getting up in the night to go the bathroom. That's after you remove your slippers again because you dare not go barefoot, even in your own apartment, because of parasites that may have been tracked onto your own floor.

Being afraid of mugging and car-jacking, especially when you have come back late at night, which you try very hard not to do and mission rules tell you absolutely not to do.

Poverty everywhere...and, the despair, hidden disease, hopelessness, etc. that goes with it. Yet, all that is countered by the wondrous adventure of this place.





Like, Muslims everywhere, in their black and white and some with brightly colored attire. The beautiful, dark eyes and eyebrows of the women... mysterious and beautiful behind their burkas that cover everything else.

Children singing so beautifully the songs of Zion with their different tribal Swahili accents.

Women walking everywhere with big bundles somehow balanced on their heads, while also carrying 5 gallon jugs of water and a baby strapped to their backs.

Beautiful little black faces every where with their bright eyes and white teeth and smiles a mile wide. How in the world can they have such beautiful white teeth when they have so little to eat and have never been to a dentist?

Vivid colors of bright clothing against the red dust, greenery (in some places), blue sky, white clouds. I have never in my life seen such colors... and, I have been all over this world.

Kind, loving, gentle, genuine, people...many somehow being that way despite their poverty. What right do I have to be unhappy sometimes?

Gorgeous sunsets and sunrises, vast savannas, the beauty and the danger of the bush, tall mountains and deep valleys, beautiful waterfalls, sea shores, and jungles...Africa has it all. It is so vast.

It's wild animals, birds, and reptiles... more variety than anywhere on earth. Witnessing the "law of the jungle" in person where it is so common to see how the weaker is taken down and eaten by the stronger right before your eyes.




Being greeted with a smiling "Jumbo!", thanked with a joyful "Asantae Sanna!", returned with a welcome thanks to you of "Carabu," given a heartfelt goodbye with a "Missuri Safaris!" and being assured "Hakuna Makata!" ("no problem!")...all with various versions of their tribal Swahili accents.




The poverty of little huts in the bush, many who seldom see a car, standing outside and waving to us with smiling faces as we drive by.











Giving pieces of candy, pencils, a few shillings to one child and then wondering where in the world the 50 others came from out of nowhere very quickly with their hands out...and, you wondering if you have enough for all.




Little children walking the dusty red roads to and from school in their brightly colored school uniforms. Then, seeing them covered with your dust and wondering how in the world they can keep their clothes so clean...and, how their mothers can do it when they must wash them in dirty streams when water cannot be hauled in or found.



Feeling the joy at the end of an exhausting day, knowing lives of babies and little children are being saved by the work. And, going to sleep with that knowledge knowing that it was worth it that day to miss out on the sightseeing that we could have been doing.

How blessed we are to be here. But, it is going by so very fast. We will never forget it and are so grateful for the opportunity.

We love you all very much and miss you, too. May God bless you all.
Love,
Dick and Lawana

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WASSANI ISLAND 7th of 27 Emails

“Jambo!” (“Hello!”) from Africa!

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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