Mwambalazi and more

I doubt every week will be as packed as this one was (but then, I’m hoping it is). I’ll try to keep up.

We’ve had some more people moving in and out of our house, which makes it feel a lot like a halfway house. Three Coast Coconut boys have been passing through, and soon we’ll get one more intern from DC and one from Miami. Another girl is out here who works for CHOICE Humanitarian (she does grassroots technology, which she has dubbed as “grassnology”). All staying at our place. After the dust settles, there will be six of us. It’ll be tight, but I think we can do it.

I’m sharing a room for the first time since college, but I really like the girl I’m rooming with (the grassnologist). Her name is Bekah, she’s a free spirit from a small town in Utah (population 300) and she’s had such an interesting life. We seem to enjoy very similar things. She’s been out here for two months already, so she knows the area and said she’d show me around. I have a great time talking with her and she's willing to go running with me. It is a blessing to have her in the house.

That reminds me – I haven’t yet shown you what my house is like! Here it is:

Home sweet home.

Kenya’s Independence Day was on June 1, which meant we all got a 3-day weekend. We took advantage and headed south. We got to visit Coast Coconut Farms and see the process of making coconut oil.

It was interesting! They husk the coconut…

Crack it open and shred all the meat out…

Then you dry out the meat and press out all the oil.  I promised mom I'd bring some home to her, but apparently it solidifies at 78 degrees Farenheit.  That's not a problem, is it?

They even use the old shells to make charcoal. How many of you knew that coconut shell charcoal was a valuable commodity? (This is Luis Pope, one of the founders of Yehu. I can’t say enough good things about him. He is such a generous man, beloved by many people in the Mombasa area. He’s taken over 20 trips to Kenya over the last 10 years.)


We also visited Mwambalazi, Yehu’s first branch (there are now six). My first trip into the bush. It was enlightening! I got to see women everywhere wearing the traditional attire you’d expect to see in the African bush, and it was also quite common to see them carrying packages of all shapes and sizes on their head.  I didn’t actually get a pic of that yet. But give me some time, I’ll get it.  They're beautiful.  Kenyans are beautiful!

Some more sights from the bush…this is Mwambalazi's well. They use this water for drinking, cooking, and bathing.

This is the gathering place for the Mwambalazi branch meetings, and this guy is the groundskeeper.  He was sweeping the dirt to keep things neat and tidy.

We visited one family and got to meet the three wives and all of their darling children.

They weren’t afraid of us, for the most part…probably because of all the Yehu people who come to the village.

I just kept taking pictures of the kids and showing them. It was a big hit!

Imagine this, all you parents/aunts/uncles out there – kids here don’t even know what to do when a camera is pointed at them. Smiling at the camera is not a process they’ve been conditioned to do, so they just stare at the strange silver box you point at them. I am very proud of this picture. I think it’s my favorite so far. What do you see in these beautiful little brown eyes?

I’ve noticed a little trend – kids out here aren’t used to seeing white people, and I think it scares them a little. Kind of like this little guy…

I saw this phenomenon play out at church – most of the kids just looked at us in fear.  It’s a good thing I’m so determined to get on their good side.

Luis Pope is building a home outside of Mombasa because he is planning to spend a greater amount of time here once he retires. We stopped by the construction site and enjoyed his backyard…Diani Beach.  My first chance to dip my toes in the Indian Ocean.

We made a few friends while we were there.


We also visited Shimoni and Washimi Island.



In Shimoni we found the Slave Caves, where people were kept prisoner before they were carted off to the markets of Zanzibar.

It was a sombering visit.  The caves had such a thick, dark sense of foreboding and gloominess.  You could see the places in the wall where people had been chained up.

To add to the mood, when we went deeper into the cave we found that it was also heavily inhabited by bats.  Can you imagine what it must have been like, and that people actually did this to other people?  It's such a scar on the history of man.  


Church on Sunday was at the Changamwa branch. Wonderful people. And I just love how the church is always the same, wherever you go – the lessons, the doctrine, the Spirit…it’s my comfort blanket out here. But I just have to mention one comment that was made. We were talking about teaching children the value of hard work, and someone said, “Yeah, nowadays kids don’t even know how to carry water on their head!” Love it.

I went running this morning with Bekah, to see how close we live to the beach. It was glorious. We got there just in time to see the sun come up over the ocean. A-MAY-ZA-ZING. The beach here is so beautiful. The sand is white and very fine, the ocean is a beautiful turquoise blue, and there were clouds in just the right place in the sky to make for a deliciously captivating sunrise that I couldn't take my eyes off of.  Maybe next time I'll bring my camera.

After that, we turned around and booked it home, to beat the heat that most definitely would accompany the rising of the sun. What a great way to start the work week.