Kwaheri (Bye)

I said kwaheri to mom last night. We had a very fun day in Kibera at Alex's house. We taught mom to make chapati and even sent some home with her for the Indiana folks to try. i hope it actually tastes okay after that 33 hour plane ride. and we made skyline chili. All the little kids in this area of kibera sat waiting a few houses down for us to bring them chapati. we made about 50, so there were plenty to go around. Mom really got to see some of the interior of Kibera yesterday, complete with lots of trash, flys, and kids asking "how are you?" Once you get past all the filth though and inside a house, there are always warm faces and friends welcoming you in. Vincent, who lives with Popo, came over to help and was telling us all about last christmas how him, alex, and popo got a group of street kids together, taught them about Jesus, and then fixed them food. this story is amazing to me b/c here are these guys from kibera, who have nothing by american standards, and yet they take the little that they have and give it away. wow...what an excellent example of Christ they are. popo and julius arrived later in the afternoon to tell us about their time in the village. i helped popo buy all sorts of clothes and shoes to take to them and he kept talking about how grateful they were. he said these kids have never put on a new pair of shoes before this day. we laughed too b/c he brought the older girls lots of sanitary pads. okay, yes, i was the one to get those from the store and it was quite funny buying 12 packages of pads b/c no one buys anything in bulk here. everyone in the whole store was staring at me. popo wrapped them in a dark plastic bag to carry them so no one could see inside. but the girls were so grateful b/c they hardly exist in the villages and are too expensive if they do. and i have to give popo a lot of credit b/c it was his idea and i don't know any other guys that would willingly carry around so many feminine products :) popo's house is the opposite wall of alex's. so as we cooked we kept yelling at him through the mud walls things like "hey bring us some spoons." imagine if you lived so close to your neighbors that you heard everything through the walls.

i forgot to mention about the police incident the other day, that it really didn't matter if mom had a seat belt on or not. they would have found something to charge us/ bribe us for no matter what. so don't give my mom a hard time. allen got smart about the police on the way home. he made sure to follow really closely behind a small car in front of him. this makes it less likely for them to pull you over. but when you're a lone car, you're doomed for sure. i've become so paranoid about the theft thing that i've been wearing victor's money belt around my waist. by the time i put my money and phone in it i look like i'm pregnant. my other favorite trick is stuffing everything in my bra :) (a common mzungu trick, i've noticed) sorry if this is too much information, but i think this better helps you understand my level of paranoia. i'm hoping i get over this soon b/c that belt is starting to cut off circulation and leave marks around my stomach :)

good news...it's been a whole month since i've seen a doctor! praise God for that. mom had these wierd red marks on her leg that she was worried about (but they went away) and had to drink some unboiled water. but i kept saying, just make it home. you don't want to go to the doctor here!

popo and i had a nice long lunch talking about his trip to the village. sometimes i get so depressed hearing his stories...like one lady there is now a widow b/c her husband was a preacher and someone recently poisoned him and he died. now she has 8 kids to care for on her own.