Snippets from Kenya

Our walk home from school gave me a wonderful snippet of the African culture. Not only would people smile and wave as we walked by, they would stop and introduce themselves, even if they didn’t stay around to chat. Some people went out of their way to come greet us. They would also greet Frieda and Judy like long lost relatives. In fact, I never know how well people know each other here because they are so happy to see each other whether they are mere acquaintances or best friends. Judy’s sister and her husband drove by, stopped, and got out of their car to come meet us and chat. Later, when they drove by again they invited us to get in and gave us a ride home. (I got to sit inside the cab of the truck this time.)

There must be a balance somewhere between building relationships and making people feel valued, and staying on a schedule and accomplishing things. Here, people work hard and get things done, but not at the expense of interacting with others. Which means that sometimes the work doesn’t get done when expected. In the States, people are efficient and get their work done and then some, but they don’t take time for relationships like they do here. Both have their merits and we could each learn from the other. I confess, when I look at the poverty in this country I think much could be done to improve themselves (government, people, businesses, etc.) by being a bit more work oriented and efficient like the States. However, the States could use more of the soul the Kenyans have. Where is the happy medium?

We stopped at the butcher before getting home. I kept thinking of how appalled my vegetarian friends would have been. The meat just hangs in the unrefrigerated window. A hand saw just like Andy has in his shop is used to cut the meat off the haunch. The meat is put on an old scale and then shoved into a plastic bag. No gloves are used. And if a piece of meat falls onto the dusty and dirty counter it is just picked up and shoved back into the bag. I comforted myself with the knowledge that they cook their meat to death here, presumably killing anything that may have started growing before it got to the stove.

Jill