Urban Lions

Great article about lions in Nairobi.  I can picture the district of town this is in.  We have been there many times.  And I love all the safari pop-top vans that come out of nowhere to watch the wildlife.  Click here to read the article:

Missing Kenya #1: Close Community

We have been flattered and surprised by people's anticipation of our list, particularly the #1 item. I hope this doesn't come as anticlimactic, given that this one is not specific to Kenyan culture, but it is most certainly true.

We have a 2-year old and a 5-month old. In the vast majority of situations, doing any evening social activity therefore requires hiring a baby-sitter, making significant arrangements, and watching your watch closely as the evening goes on to get back on time.

Here is goes something like this:

1. A knock at the door from fellow McCropder who lives next door or downstairs. "Hey, want to play some cards after the kids go down?"
2. Kids go to sleep around 7:30pm
3. Go to aforementioned apartment and laugh a lot with friends, or commisserate over some recent experience, taking 45-second breaks every once in a while to run up and make sure kids are still asleep.
4. Go home when you want to.
(Note: no baby-sitter is making money)

We recognize that this is a rare blessing for this stage in our life. We also recognize the numerous times of spontaneously sharing a meal, and the huge help our friends have been while we try to juggle raising two little kids and working odd hours.

We are going home to see tons of friends and family that we have missed dearly, and we are awfully excited about it. But, there will be something different from what we have experienced here. I'm sure we'll miss it, and we'll be looking forward to sharing one big apartment building in the French Alps and later in Burundi.

OK, that completes our list. Stay tuned for our Top Ten Things We Look Forward to About the USA.

Missing Kenya #2: Wildlife

Yesterday we drove back to Tenwek after a World Harvest Mission retreat to the coast (which was lovely, by the way, maybe more stories later). We were driving across the Rift Valley floor, which we've probably done 50 times, and we saw two ostriches (do we need to clarify that they are wild?). We've never seen ostriches there before, but low and behold.

There is a decent amount of unpleasantness about driving in Kenya, but there are also a few upsides, the biggest being the animal life. Every 3rd grader can tell you that there are a bunch of big animals in our neck of the woods, and they're right. There are a few general categories of this goodness, and we will miss them all.

1. The Straight-Up Safaris:

When you set aside a few days and drive a couple hours away, you can see some of the world's best wildlife. This is a great time, that we've enjoyed on several occasions and blogged about previously. There are definitely the most dramatic sites here.

2. The Home Life, especially the birds:

Anywhere you go in East Africa, the birds are tremendous, and though we never really paid attention to birds before, we've become decently well-versed in various sorts while living here. Even at Tenwek, there are a number of nice ones, including the black and white casqued hornbill, which was photographed above from our front porch. This bird is about 2.5 feet tall.

3. Other people's local wildlife

Anywhere you go, even if it's not to a "safari" location, it's always fun to guess what type of wildlife might reside there. It adds a new little dimension to any trip. Above, we were eating at a local restaurant 1 hour away, and the rooftops were invaded by little vervet monkeys.

4. Driving in the Rift Valley:

This gets a category of it's own. Our most common road trip is to Nairobi, and this takes us straight through the floor of the Rift Valley, just north of Masai Mara Game Reserve. There are 4 main animals seen there: baboons, zebra, Thompson's gazelles, and giraffes. However, as mentioned, we saw ostrich there yesterday and have also seen Grant's gazelles. If you veer off the road a bit, as we did to visit our friends, you might see warthogs, wildebeests and more. The picture above was a few months ago, driving down to said friends. As you can tell, the road isn't great, so a rest stop to watch the giraffes is doubly welcome.

Missing Kenya #3: House Helpers

It's funny, but as I reflect on our list of top 10 "Missing Kenya" items, I'm realizing how many of them were strange, uncomfortable, or undesired when we first arrived. The subject of today's post, house helpers, was actually one of the most stressful elements of my first weeks in Kenya. I was uncomfortable hiring local women to work in my house--I didn't want to seem uppity by hiring servants! What would I have them do? Would I have to reprimand or dictate? How much should I pay them? Health insurance/housing stipends? I had never employed anyone before, and didn't know how to act as a "boss." Maybe I could get by without house help.

Two ladies showed up to work on the first day and I was embarrassed. I needed TWO people to help me while I was at work? But all the other missionary ladies assured me this was normal, and acceptable, and I was providing income into the local economy, to women who deserved it. And even though the rate I was paying them seemed absurdly low (really? $2.50/day?) it was much higher than they could earn elsewhere in the area, doing almost anything.

So, that was the beginning. Ruth cooked and cleaned, Rose watched Maggie and did some cleaning. Despite some early on kitchen mishaps (I can't eat a particular fried rice recipe anymore without remembering what Eric termed the "pepper rice" due to a tsp/tbsp mix-up) it actually didn't take long before I was wondering what I'd do without these 2 sweet ladies. Not only was my bed made on a regular basis (the first time in my life that's ever happened) but the dishes got washed, laundry hung to dry and folded, water filtered, milk boiled, vegetables soaked in bleach and cut up, bathroom washed, floors swept and mopped, rugs beat out... And most importantly, someone reliable was watching Maggie (and now Ben) while I worked 3 days a week.

My misunderstanding at the beginning was common, I think. It's not that I need servants. It's that there are so many more things to do in the day here than need doing in the US. We are going home to a land of dishwashers, washers and dryers, drinkable tap water, pasteurized milk, vacuum cleaners, paved sidewalks (less dirt in the house), and prepared foods available at the grocery store, 10 minutes away. I don't have plans to hire someone to do housework for me the in States, although certainly if Eric and I were both working we'd need day care or a nanny, and a nice lady to come and clean the house once in awhile would be nice. :) Ruth and Rose have been a great help, and we will miss them, and wish them well.

Missing Kenya #4: Door to Door Produce

Sometimes I miss being able to run out to the grocery store for that one thing I forgot...something essential to the dinner I had planned 3 wks ago and now need to readjust my plans (no more meal planning will have a prominent feature in our next series of posts, things we are looking forward to about the US). But then I remember some fun grocery conveniences that we have here at Tenwek that I will miss. Namely, food arriving at our door.

Every day, the Faders' househelper Edna brings us 2L of fresh milk to the door. As in, it was probably in the cow 2-3 hours earlier. This is whole, unpasteurized milk that we can skim cream off of and needs to be boiled for 15-20min before we can drink it. The price is about 75 cents for 2L. I have never wished I could run out to the grocery just for milk, and I'm sure in days to come as I'm making a grocery run for another gallon of milk, I'll remember these times fondly.

Also, every Tuesday Joseph the egg man comes to our door. He actually runs a local orphanage, Umoja, and the kids there have chickens as an extra income generating project. I can get as many or as few eggs as I want, and no need for a "dozen" denomination. We usually get about 20. The eggs run about $1.40 for a dozen, and it is supporting a good cause. 20 eggs, you say? Every week? Well, yes, we do eat a lot of eggs here...especially since we do all our own baking and cereal is so expensive. I have no intention of checking my cholesterol.

And finally, it's not just eggs and milk, but a variety of produce that shows up. Every week someone is coming by selling spinach, tomatos, carrots, cabbage, pineapples, etc. We can buy, or not, but it's fun to peruse the options!

In the US, the nutrition/food trend and advice seems to be "know where your food comes from." Well, here in Kenya we know EXACTLY where most of our food comes from. In fact, we've met our food. At least, we've met "our" cow and "our" chickens. It's been fun to see. And despite the fact that we have had more empty margarine and sunflower oil containers than I care to dwell on (we can't possibly have consumed all that oil, right?) I like to think that we've eaten healthier here than we would have back home.

Missing Kenya #5: Kenyan Cell Phone Plans

Eric and I often look back (fondly? or not...) on our first full day in Kenya. We spent something like 8 hours shopping for food, appliances, housewares, and phones, totally jet-lagged, unsure of the exchange rate, overwhelmed at the money we were spending. Eric and our friend Steve Manchester spent something like 2 hours at the cell phone counter (OK, maybe not that long) at the grocery store while I stared at the spice aisle unsure of what to buy. I remember thinking, as Eric handed me my new cell phone, boy I just miss Verizon. It was so known and familiar, and I had a nice phone with an Indiana Jones theme song ring. BUT little did I know how wrong I was to miss Verizon.

Let me say this: Kenyan cell phone plans are AWESOME. We spent $20 apiece on phones, which are basic but do feature flashlights, calculators, timers, and calendars. Then every plan (basically) is pre-paid. We buy a credit card looking thing for $12 or so and with current calling rates of 4cents/min to the US, and 4cents/min anywhere in Kenya, with no roaming charges, that money lasts us MONTHS. Texts are about 1 1/2 cents apiece. PLUS you only pay for outgoing calls, and incoming calls and texts are free. We figure that for both of our phones, we spend less than $10/mo. I went online several months ago to price out verizon's plans and the cheapest options will run us $70/mo for 2 phones (which we need to buy ourselves). Yikes!

Cell phones have revolutionized the Developing World. And I don't think that's an overstatement. I remember going to Cambodia in 2002 and seeing a guy talking on his cell phone riding a rickshaw with kids running around drinking beverages out of plastic bags with straws thinking, what a bizarre contrast. But consider the cost of running thousands of miles of phone lines vs the cost of putting up a few cell towers. With these Kenyan calling plans, everyone can own a cellphone, whereas a land line could cost hundreds of dollars and be subject to fallen branches and slow repairs. My househelpers, who make about $50/mo, own cell phones. They have no electricity in their homes...so they charge up their phones here.

Who knows. We will probably come home to the US after 2 yrs and stare at the new smart phones (I did have to have my cousin explain to me what that was) like hicks from the sticks. But hopefully we can jump back in smoothly. When we get those monthly bills, though, we will look back at Kenya oh so fondly.

Missing Kenya #6: Equatorial Weather

This picture was taken in Nairobi, the day after we arrived in Kenya in December 2009. As you can see, the weather for that day was mild enough for t-shirts, but comfortable for long-sleeves for Maggie and long pants for everyone. In short, idyllic weather.

Pretty much everyday between then and now has been roughly the same. We do have seasons. There are the "long rains" and the "short rains". But I can't even remember when they are, because around Tenwek Hospital, the difference between the rains and "not the rains" are usual pretty unremarkable, with the exception of one dry spell earlier this year, which ended the night Ben was born, prompting the locals to want us to name him "Kiprop", which means "boy born during the rains".

We are at about 0.5 degrees south of the equator and about 6500 ft altitude. This means a few things:

1. The difference between sunset at the summer vs winter solstice is less than 30 minutes. In fact, I've never noticed any difference at all.

2. It never gets cold. I mean, Kenyans wear parkas at night, and maybe if I slept outside like many of them functionally do, I would sympathize more, but a sweater has always been the max need for me.

3. It never gets hot. This is surprising for most people, but shorts are culturally awkward here and this doesn't matter at all, from a comfort standpoint. It gets hot on the coast, but not at this altitude and not in Nairobi.

4. The temperature difference between a sunny lunch time and a rainy afternoon (the normal trend) is greater than any particular annual variation in climate.

5. We don't have a heater. We don't have AC. No big deal.

Overall, this is nice. There are some drawbacks, which largely come in various feelings of monotony. However, people consider this weather to be ideal for reasons which we can really relate to.

Missing Kenya #7: Walking to Work

We can get to the hospital in about 3-4 minutes, uphill all the way there, downhill all the way back. This has several implications:

1. Home Call: In residency, I was allowed to take home call to Chelsea Hospital. If I had to go in, I would field a phone call, get in my car and drive 35 minutes of highway to the little hospital, then arrive to do whatever work. Usually it was a larger amount of work, but here I can go up to the hospital, receive a newborn baby, ensure they're OK, and be back home before my precious ice cream melts (Though we would keep it in the freezer just in case. I mean, you never know how long it will take for sure, and ice cream is precious).

2. No Hospital Parking. Parking of UM was ridiculous. Parking at St. Joe's for Rachel still meant a longer walk to the hospital than we currently have from our home. Plus, it's free.

3. Little Driving in General. This is nice particularly given the nature of driving here. When your job and all your friends are within walking distances, and there is nothing else within short driving distance (schools, stores, church, etc.), you almost never have to drive. We leave the walking distance of our home maybe twice a month. This can lead to a bit of cabin fever, but usually it's nice, and a little bit of African travel will easily cure this sensation.

4. Close Medical Care. We can walk to all of Maggie and Ben's doctor visits in less than 5 minutes. We walked home with Ben when he was two hours old. But sometimes that's just too far, so we just go downstairs to talk to Alyssa, or next door to show John a red eye.

We're not expecting anything like this in the US, in fact we'll probably be in the car often. And though US roads sound awfully nice right about now, I'm sure there will be times when we miss never needing to get into the car.

Missing Kenya #8: Chai Time

Kenya has a British heritage that persists in various ways. They are also (behind India and Sri Lanka) the world's 3rd largest tea-growing nation. The result of this is that they are devout tea drinkers, any time being good, but mid-morning being necessary. I guess the Brits would refer to "tea time", whereas Kenyans have "chai time", using the Kiswahili word for tea, which is pretty fitting since "tea" may not really conjure up the image of what you get in "chai".

Kenyan chai is about 1/3 milk, boiled with 2/3 water, with lots of sugar added, and then just enough black tea leaves to turn the chai slightly brown, as seen in the cup above. It can be served straight or "masala", which is quite yummy with spices that make it taste more like what Americans think of as "chai tea", and it can be served "tangawizi", which is also very yummy and adds ginger or even fresh rosemary for extra flavour.

The hospital provides chai for all its employees, and there is a whole institution built up around it. The chai will come in "flasks", which Americans would call big, plastic thermoses. The chai will be "taken", instead of drunk. It will come at approximately 10:30, but a little later on Mondays and Fridays, when the kitchen staff attend devotions that usually run into that time. Chai is often accompanied by "mendazi", which are fried, doughnut like pastries that Americans always comment could really use a jelly filling, but are actually quite nice once you get used to them. You can take an "American cup" of chai, which is about 80% filled, or you can take a "Kenyan cup", which will near 100% filled, and will probably spill and burn your hand as you lift it to your mouth. There is no minimum age for a child to start taking chai. I mean, no minimum age.

On the OB, medical, and paediatric services where we spend our days, chai time is often a moment for our team of doctors to catch their breath, discuss necessary matters, and do some brief teaching about a medical topic. Just as American attendings often show up with bagels for early rounds, we often feel the need to supply our team with mendazi or chapati (which do not come free from the hospital). It does certainly confound daily tasks, when everyone stops what they are doing halfway between arrival and lunch, but we maintain that it is also a great way to break up the day and force ourselves to get a much needed moment of rest and companionship.

Enjoying a cup on Paeds ward.

Flasks of chair, and a mendazi at the bottom left.

Note the juxtaposition of bling and faith on the two flasks.

Missing Kenya #9: Sodas in Glass Bottles

I remember as a kid thinking that drinking out of glass bottles was way cooler than cans or plastic bottles. Even now I enjoy it, maybe because it has become so rare in the US. But here in Kenya, it's actually much easier to find sodas in glass bottles than in any other form. Once a month or so we head up to the dukas (shops) and trade in our old glass bottles for some new ones (full of soda, of course). They are about 30 cents apiece. One never knows what varieties will be in stock at the dukas, either, making every experience unique.

Perhaps even more fun than drinking from the bottles (which, by the way, Kenyans find quite strange...they prefer to use a straw or pour the soda into a glass instead of swigging right from the ol' bottle) are the flavors that have been available to us here. There are the standard flavors of Coke, Sprite, and orange Fanta, all available in the States. But our favorites are, instead, Krest Bitter Lemon, like Squirt but not as sweet, Stoney Tangawizi, the most intense ginger ale you'll ever try (brings tears to my eyes and an overwhelming urge to sneeze with every sip), and Black Currant Fanta. That one is hard to describe, maybe sort of like a Dr. Pepper but more fruity. There are also Pineapple and Citrus varieties of Fanta as well, which are fun for a try, at least.

When we come home, I'm sure it will be great to be able to drink things like Root Beer and Cherry Coke again, but we sure will miss the Kenyan flavors (most of which, sadly, are not available in Burundi). One thing we will be looking forward to, though, is the great American tradition of free refills!

Missing Kenya #10: Cheap Flowers

We have mentioned before on our blog that Kenya's #1 export is flowers. This may seem strange, but less so when you've lived in this continual growing climate. The prior context for mentioning this fact was that Kenya lost millions every day that air traffic to Europe was closed during the Icelandic ash storm last year.

And so, almost everywhere you go in Nairobi, people are selling flowers. When you consider the price of sending them to Europe, you can probably imagine that they are pretty cheap here. The lilies you see below cost 200 shillings, or about $2.40. They are beautiful and last for quite a while, so we've gotten in the habit of picking up a bunch when we are in town.

Roses are even cheaper. They don't even sell them a dozen at a time. You have to get two dozen, which costs 150 shillings, or about $1.75. We were just hearing of a high-school missionary kid asking a girl to a dance by sending her a bouquet of 6 dozen roses. Of course, she was impressed, but he would have spent more by taking her out to McD's, and buying an extra value meal. Not that it wasn't debonair. It was. Really.

In the US, we'd pick up some flowers occasionally at Trader Joe's, even when the only special event was the beginning of spring, which was in fact, a special event. But we've gotten to enjoy them more here, and we'll miss it.

Missing Kenya

T minus 12 weeks until we move back to the US for a year. Altogether, it is something we are looking forward to, feeling that the timing is good. We are excited to see family, and now that we have our sights set on Burundi, we are excited to be moving towards that goal.

But it has been a good time here, and there are many things we'll miss. As well as many things we'll look forward to in the US. And the top of both of those lists are the friends and family that belong to either place. But we don't need to blog about that in order for you to know it. So, we'll be planning, between now and our departure, our Top 10 Things to Miss About Living in Kenya, after the fashion of our prior Ann Arbor List.