tragedy

this could be a bit of a depressing post, so i apologize in advance. more stories from the nakumatt fire have been coming in. apparently the security guards locked people inside the store during the fire b/c they thought people were stealing things. i guess they didn't realize how severe the fire would be and that everything would burn up anyone. consequently, probably many people died that shouldn't have. this account makes me want to vomit, and peter said b/c of this he'll never shop there again. it looks as though over 40 people died. there were all sorts of pictures captured of people jumping out the 2nd story windows, hanging off of the awning (sp?). crazy how this constant lack of trust issue creates so many problems in this society.

another tragedy occurred a few days ago. an oil tanker overturned, and people went to collect the spilled oil (ordinary citizens, poor ones, i'm guessing). then there was some sort of argument and someone let a match, and lots of people died. then another oil tanker overturned yesterday, and people were back out collecting the oil again, oblivious or ignoring the recent tragedy only a day before.

there have been other fires as well...emma, my friend from kibera, had her tailor shop burned down by thugs. i went to visit her there, and it's so eery looking...everything in the little tin building has been charred black, and the remnants of sewing machines are the only things left inside. it's quite amazing that it didn't affect the other stores directly next to it. the watchman put out the fire, and i have to wonder how he did not see someone come in and start it. elisha's sister's house in kibera was also burned down. and then there's the horrible incident with sara's baby. sara used to teach at sara junior for a few months. she had a baby in october. we went to visit her the saturday before i left for kogelo. the baby was beautiful, and we brought her baby clothes. she had been in the hospital for pneumonia 2 weeks before, but seemed to be doing fine. i found out a few days later that the baby died the following day. something was wrong with the way the umbilical cord was tied, and it affected her breathing (or so they say, but who knows around here). we were told that her stomach inflated like a balloon and then she stopped breathing. what really upsets me is that this baby had just been in the hospital, so if something was wrong, why didn't anyone catch it? it's b/c medical care is so absolutely bad here. this is such a tragic story. please pray for sara.

it's amazing how people do not know any of the basics about illnesses. like lauren has a bad cold, and milham went with her to the store to get some things to help her heal. milham told her not to get anything citris b/c the acid was bad for her stomach. he suggested milk!!! lauren had to explain that actually vitamin c is the best thing you can take. wow!

on a happy note, i passed this pharmacy in kogelo and it was called "Most High Drugstore". nice.

in other good news, i took yesterday to be a tourist here. we went to the giraffe center in nairobi. the giraffes there are tame, and we got to feed them. they eat right out of your hand. lauren and melissa let the giraffe "kiss" them by putting food in their mouths and having the giraffe lick/eat the food right from the mouth. one of the tourists there thought that popo was one of the guides working there and started asking him questions about the spots of these giraffes compared to the ones in masai mara. i laughed.

afterwards, melissa, popo, and i went to the kazuri bead factory. it's a fair trade company that makes ceramic jewelry and pottery. most of the over 300 people working there are single moms. it's such an awesome employment opportunity. i got to see the way all the kilns work and women glazing and sculpting the beads. they make 30,000 beads by hand everyday! we also passed by the karen blixen house, the woman from the Out of Africa story (meryl streep movie also from the 80's or 90's). it was good to take a break and enjoy the city. i'm so burned out right now and just tired. it's becoming difficult for me b/c kenyans have a lot of issues with confrontation. they just avoid it, which leads to talking behind people's backs, which is bad, and quite damaging to ministry. this is really frustrating lauren and i. i end up internalizing everything, which is also unhealthy. please pray for swahiba. there are a lot of good things that they are doing, but the disorganization makes things quite ineffective, and leads to people like me finding a lot of ways to serve on their own. i think if things are going to grow and become more effective around here that there need to be a lot of changes and push towards unity. also please pray for me as i get ready to come home. i'm excited to see all of you, but i know that reverse culture shock is going to be so difficult for me. i'm afraid of easily becoming depressed b/c of what i've seen here and wondering about what i've done to help as well as by the lack of not knowing what is next in my life.

by the way we had another house girl, mary leave. goodness we should keep a running tally or something.