Well today is my first full day off since May 21.... so I’m pretty happy to have some down time. Pastor George and Mama Faith left at 5am to travel home to visit their other house and work in the garden. They gave me the option to go with them or stay here at dinner last night and I opted to stay home.
So what am I doing with my down time? Oh it’s loads of fun..... laundry, catching up on emails, submitting paperwork for the course component of this internship, filling out paperwork for my psychological evaluation for my ordination process, and a little yoga to keep me sane. So in lieu of an interesting blog post about my daily activities, keep scrolling to learn more about where I’m living. Now that I’ve been here almost a month, I figured y’all should get a tour of our compound. This is the manse. It was built and dedicated in 2015 by PCEA Sukari. It’s located less than a block from the church.
Here is Mama Faith’s shamba (garden). She grows maids, kale, peas, okra, potatoes, and various fruits. Every meal has at least one ingredient from the shamba if not more than that. On Saturday, everything we ate (down to the chicken from the backyard) was homegrown.
Here is the living room. It’s very common to have multiple couches to entertain guests and host prayer meetings. The little tables are used to hold your cup during tea time. Also, the carpet is essential. Kenyans have to take their shoes off at the front door because they get so muddy outside, but they are very sensitive about having cold feet so having a carpet to keep your guests’ feet off the tile floor is very important. Old ladies will scold you if you aren’t standing on the carpet.
This is the dining room. It’s also good for entertaining guests and we eat every meal here even though it’s just the three of us most days.
Here is Mama Faith’s kitchen aka where the magic happens. We spend a lot of time in here cooking and cleaning together.
Below is a picture of my bed. It’s not made because I never use the covers. It’s just too hot for that! I sleep under the bed net and sit under it pretty much every time I am in my room. I hav still been getting bug bites though. Yesterday’s noticed an itty bitty mosquito flew straight through they tiny holes in my net.... no wonder I’m getting bites at night! Don’t worry, I’m still taking my malaria pills religiously and I recently figured out that my essential oils work better than bug spray so that’s been helping a lot too.
Y’all, this bathroom is one of my favorite rooms in the house. It has an actual toilet (which is hard to come by around here) and the acoustics are phenomenal. My shower singing has never sounded so good!
It should be noted that this is one of the nicest houses in the entire neighborhood. The manse does not reflect what most homes look like around here, even though this is an affluent area. While at first I was very nervous about living with my supervisor, these accommodations have been a blessing. As weird as it sounds, I’m most thankful for my own toilet and working WiFi. ~ Nell in Nairobi