Beloved,

The first few weeks back in Kenya always require a few adjustments and, it seems, no shortage of meetings.  The heat, admittedly, takes a little getting used to but is not interminable: The current dry season sends the mercury well into the 90’s but spares us the humidity typically present in the rainy months.  Still, such withering temperatures hone one’s innate predatory ability to track down large shade trees, invariably the coolest, breeziest locales throughout the mid-day…and the obvious choice for meetings, classes, church, and drinking tea.   Oddly enough, such shade offers an abundance of privacy for delicate conversations, unlike the crowded corridors of the Bishop’s office or the Mission House, where secrets reverberate through the heat soaked brick walls.

Outdoor meetings keep you on your toes, literally.  The sun, feeling right at home here on the equator, enjoys a sweeping arc across the sky, rendering shadows both agile and fleeting.  One can often judge the length, if not the intensity, of a given meeting by the number of times its participants get up to move their chairs back under the shade.   Sundials couldn’t do a better job of keeping time.

When not chasing such shadows,  the Usual Suspects (Peter Omaset, Job Ekuru, Grace Hornsby and I) are rushing around like crazed hyenas to pay off school fees for our sponsored students.   This process plays a bit like racing a train to the crossing; any hesitation and school principles start suspending students for non-payment of fees.  By-in-large, the principles of our local schools love us:  after all, we pay all fees in one lump sum at the start of the year.  But with students in twenty different schools, it takes us a few weeks to get to everybody, and we are compelled to ask for (and are typically granted) a bit of patience from our participating institutions while we get our ducks in row.   But invariably, we run into a snafu.  Usually, the principle, with whom we have an ‘understanding’, is called out of town for a conference, leaving a deputy or senior teacher in charge.  In hopes of establishing their bona-fides, these teachers then scour the campus for apparent ne’r-do-wells and chase home anyone not up to date with their fees.

Having fallen victim to this practice more than once, I was immediately suspicious of Nancy Ekisa’s presence in the lobby of the Diocesan Office last Friday.  Nancy is one of our sponsored tenth graders, and at 11 in the morning I expected her to be at school.  When asked if she had been ‘chased’ home, Nancy replied in her very soft-spoken English that indeed she had, but that instead of going home, she had decided to come find me, perhaps knowing this sort of thing sends me into orbit.  Fortunately, while I was busy plotting a  destructive revenge involving, among other things, driving the Land Rover over the front gate of the school, Peter and Job made a few hasty phone calls, pulling the principle out of her conference to set her deputy straight and re-admit Nancy on the spot.  That dang Land Rover wouldn’t start anyway.   In retrospect, whole episode gave me a chance to catch up with Nancy, who looked well and whose grades, I was happy to see, had come up from last year.  Photo attached;-)

Lots of other news, of which here are a few highlights: We are in the process of adding staff and looking for an administrative assistant who can run the office somewhere other than into the ground, which is where I seem to put it.  Interviews are underway and we should have another Usual Suspect in a week or so.  The new webpage will be up any minute, so have a look at it when you get a sec.  And, as you might have noticed, I’ve begun sending out these little missives via Elewana’s list-serve, tidings@elewana.org, which should smooth the process of getting them out of Kenya and onto your computer (you really can’t imagine the internet hurdles I’ve been through the past few years).   Let me know how it works, and don’t forget to alert your spam detectors.  As always, I love to hear what you’re up to, so don’t hesitate to write back.  You can either reply to this e-mail or send it to zachdrennen@elewana.org.   Either way, we both win;-)

Mad Love, Zach

I’m back teaching my class at the local Teacher’s Training College, training Kenya’s future elementary school teachers in the finer points of the English language.  I love these students, and we have a good time together.  Grace, with a degree in Physical Education and Therapy, has taken on the Phys. Ed. Portion of their curriculum, and while she remains a little skeptical at her own abilities to teach in such a situation, the students themselves have no such misgivings and flock around her to no end.

By the way, I hope everyone is getting used to the new Elewana list serve, tidings@elewana.org.