Shelvis cooking a traditional Swahili meal
Nancy and I cherished our first week in Kenya, and we experienced more of Kenya than we could have imagined! We have been exposed to new foods (roasted goat and a food called “Ugali” that is like grits but you eat it with your hands), new driving styles (Kenyans don’t really use blinkers and signs, they just go), new languages (we are slowly picking up Swahili phrases and words) and new people (they have treated us incredibly well).
the fish looked at us
Since we arrived we have stayed with our ministry coordinator, Reverend Phyllis Byrd-Ochillo, who is a well respected figure in this community. Not only is she an ordained Presbyterian minister, but she is also the Presbyterian contact person for the US Embassy in Kenya. She has worked for years in East Africa with churches, ecumenical organizations, non-profit organizations and Nobel Peace Prize winners.
Rev. Phyllis Byrd-Ochillo YAV Coordinator
She has done a wonderful job of connecting all eight members of our ministry team in Kenya. She partnered each person with a “host family” to teach us about the culture and to be a source of support for us while we are living in Kenya.
Nancy and I stayed with our host grandmother, Beth Ngiogm, for a few days last week. We call her “Sho-Sho B” which means “Grandma B.” She is one of the most kind hearted individuals that I have ever met, and she is a figure that I think is worthy of a CNN story. She is part of the Kenyatta family. The Kenyatta family is roughly equivalent to the King Family in the US or the Mandela Family in South Africa.
Shelvis, "Sho-Sho B", Nancy
Her uncle, Jomo Kenyatta, was the first president of Kenya after the country gained independence from the British in 1963. He was elected president after being released from imprisonment for his resistance to British imperialism. Just about everything in Nairobi is named after him, and there is a national holiday in his honor on October 20th.
Intelligent, Energetic Students
Sho-sho B started an insurance company in 1982 in a one room office, and now the company has 32 branches in Kenya. She was also a school teacher for many years, and she took us to a school that she started ten years ago. The school has grown from 60 students to well over 300. They are beautifully energetic children that I know will help change the world.
Posted on October 20th, 2008 by Shelvis
Filed under: Uncategorized