Church in Kisumu…SA-WEET! For a little over two hours I was worshipping with almost 200 Kenyans in a very beautiful and humbling service. It is very hard to explain this experience but in a way I felt like I was in a good ol’ Southern Baptist church, which made me feel right at home ; ) Life Celebration Center (the name of the church) is just a big green tent…they refer to it as the “Tent Church.” It was very hot and a lotta bit sweaty, but I cannot wait until next Sunday.
Like I mentioned in my first blog, I met the children for the first time on Sunday. After church I walked back to the compound with Julie and the children. Some warmed up more quickly than others but many wanted to know who I was and where I came from. They were pleased that I came from the same “Nebraska” as Julie…they love her so much! Julie showed me around a little before we ate lunch. Hmmm, I am not sure how I feel about the food yet. For those who know me well, you know that I can be sort of picky sometimes unless it contains sugar, which in that case, I will eat anything…wooops! For lunch we had Ugali. Ugali is a staple food in Kenya. It is basically corn flour mixed with boiling . It doesn’t really have a taste and the consistency of it could sort of be compared to that of really thick grits. With the Ugali, we had cooked sukuma (which is what we know as kale…same family as spinach). When you eat this dish, you do not use any silverware. Instead you take the Ugali, squish it in your hand, and make a scoop out of it to sort of “spoon” the spinach up and then you eat it all. Haha, it’s fun, but different.
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| This is ugali (the white stuff) and a little something different than I described above of what they eat with it. This stuff was DELICIOUS! not feelin' that way about the sukuma and ugali...I am sure it'll grow on me! |
On the last Sunday of the month, they celebrate the kids’ birthdays that had past during that month. After one day of being in Africa, I really have been having a sweet tooth. Molly Mathews, a friend of mine who traveled to Tanzania for three months and who helped me a tremendous amount before I left, warned me that she didn’t eat much for sweets at all and sometimes craved sugar. Hearing that almost made me change my mind about coming…(not really, but, it was a knife to the heart sort of thing). Thank GOODNESS that Kenya is different than Tanzania! We had cake and ice cream last night and it was awesome. Of course, the cake was homemade by Julie and the girls of R.O.C.K. and it definitely beat your standard Betty Crocker mix. There was only one girl who had a birthday during April so she was the star of the show. All of the kids got up and said something to Lornah. It was so precious to hear them thanking God for her and wishing her many more years and even someday blowing out 101 candles. At the end of this celebration, they warmly welcomed me into their R.O.C.K. family. So so so excited to be a part of this family! These kids are seriously incredible!
Oh, and I forgot to mention what was for supper…we had Chapati (pronounced cha-potty). This is basically a really thick fried tortilla. We ate it with just plain red beans. I definitely liked it better than the Ugali…can’t wait to find out what else I will be eating here.
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