Rafiki

Rafiki means friend in Swahili (remember from The Lion King?!) I want to tell you about some of my friends here in Kenya. Over the past few weeks I've been spending more time getting to know my neighbors/co-workers and enjoying them so much. Usually as I'm walking home from work as I pass by their houses someone catches me and invites me in for tea... then that might turn into supper (which is served after 8pm!). 

Here is Lula. When I first moved here, Lula screamed when she saw me (scared of my white skin) and ran the other way. Lula is about the same age as my niece Dayzha who I just said goodbye to, so I was hoping that Lula could be my friend and fill the need to have "little people" in my life.

I told Lula's mom that we would someday be friends. My tactic was candy. I kept little m&m-like candies in my bag and would hand her one every time I saw her. Slowly by slowly Lula warmed up to me and now it warms my heart when she sees me and runs to me! She calls me "Ash-u-leigh, choc-o-late"!

Lula's mom Prisca is AH's receptionist. I enjoy time with Prisca both in the office and in her home. We had a girls night just the other night.

Richard and Eva (I took pictures for their wedding a few months ago) live in the other side of the duplex from Prisca. Richard is one of AH's drivers (the roads are so crazy here and not everyone knows how to drive because few people have cars, so we have trained drivers to drive the AH vehicle). Richard is really funny, so I've enjoyed him since I met him in May. I've spent lots of time with Eva recently while Richard was out in the villages on an evangelism tour a few weeks ago. She's becoming a good friend.

So, I am making friends. These are a few of them =)

Erin's going away

I'm officially the AfricaHope Kenya Team Leader! It's been a hectic few weeks, but I'm settling in. Erin (formerly in my position) has made it back to the US and is preparing for reporting to all her supporters plus working in NMSI's home office in Fort Myers. We kind of switched places!

Here is Erin with our "boss" Tim.

The AfricaHope staff threw a going away party for Erin and bought going away gifts for her. 

(I gave a speech! I found out I was speaking when I arrived that evening! They do lots of that around here). One of the gifts was this traditional Maasai dress complete with all the traditional jewelry. It was a very touching ceremony--Erin has been here with the team for 4 years so saying goodbye was hard.

 

Here is the entire AH gang, all the staff and missionaries.

Transition

I feel like I'm through the worst of it. It's been a pretty rough 3 weeks, but I feel like things are going to get better from here. I feel optimistic today. I'm officially the Team Leader for AfricaHope and today led a successful staff meeting and have my office almost set-up. The rains lately have brought green back to the grass and trees and the flowers are blooming. Things are looking up.

About 3 weeks ago when we got back from the Triennial conference, Erin and I jumped straight into transition and training--plus we were also preparing budgets and plans for AH's programs for next year and for our big annual meetings. 

I knew there were a few things weighing on me, but I still couldn't believe that I was stressed to the point of tears everyday. I remember in college learning about these "stress tests" from my psychology study and going over a version of one in my training to move overseas earlier this year. I went online and found a similar test just to see what the results were. Here are some of the things from the test:

-Change in living conditions, check (I just moved countries)

-Change in residence, check , (plus into a new apartment last week)

-Change in recreation, social, church activities, check check check

-Change in sleeping habits, eating habits, check check

-Change in number of family get-togethers, CHECK

Did I mention learning a new language? Changes in my job? Living cross-culturally?

So, the test said that if you scored over 300 you had a 90% chance of getting an illness. Uh-oh! My score was 364! The test made me relax a little, just knowing that there are a lot of things weighing pretty heavily on me right now. Culture stress is pretty strong around the 6 month mark, and that's right where I am.

God is good. He's sustaining me. He never changes and He's with me here in Kenya no matter what "transitions" come my way.