Those Kendalls

Next time you see Paul Kendall be sure to say “habari” instead of “hello.” Paul is obsessed with learning Swahili and it’s a riot to follow him around the Rift Valley Academy campus trying it out and learning as he goes. And of course everything and everyone he encounters is ‘muzuri’ … good. The Kenyans love our Ashevillians.

And we’ve loved winding down our month in Africa with some time with the Kendall family—well, half of them. Paul is managing the household well (with a little biscuit making from Bernice) in Christie’s absence, along with Mary and Rich(ardson). They have been terrific hosts, showing us the RVA campus, introducing us to parents and friends, building fires, taking us on walks for real African food, feeding us in the school cafeteria —and all the while reminding us of home.  It’s nice to have coffee from a Dripolator mug.

The school campus sits perched above the Rift Valley. It’s cool and breezy up here at 7,000 feet (no heating or air conditioning in the homes) but down in the valley it’s nearly desert. There are tent cities of displaced people from the election violence a few years ago living down there—from the campus you can see them gleaming white against the brown landscape—and Paul has already begun ministering there. Last week his Sunday School class trucked drums of water and other supplies down to them, and he’s busy thinking up better ways to help.

Meanwhile, Mary and Rich seem to have settled into RVA life happily, with new friends, activities, and sports. We loved having them as our African guides for a few days...and it took the edge off harder places like Joytown and Kijabe Hospital.

We've now been back in Nairobi two days and leave in just an hour for the airport, first to Amsterdam and then on to Atlanta...and home. With more stories to tell.