Chocolate, Soup Packets, and Pens

Christmas is approaching, and everyone is asking, "Can I send you something?" Well, yes, but I'll add a warning. Here, Kenya charges for delivery too. So when you send a package, I pay for it on my side, too. Please don't ask me why. The way they charge is as follows: they see the contents of the package and total up the current cost of the items here unless stated in dollars. From that, they charge me VAT tax, and a whole lot more. So there are a few measures to take. One, don't send something expensive. Two, find a way to not state the whole price of the package, ie sale price, garage sale price, etc. Three, if you send something in a padded envelope, then it prevents them from shopping and it also will get to me faster, probably not even needed to list the price value of the contents. Sending regular postal service is fine and safe. You don't need to use DHL.
That being cleared, some things I can use around here: some good chocolate, cream soup packets, mac and cheese packets, other processed things like that, good candy, kitchen knives (the cheap kind), any movies you don't want to watch (sorry, DVD only), socks, and pens, please. A 20 pack of Bic pens can go real far in the Maasai market. And if mailing isn't your thing, but you still want to give me a Christmas present, then you can also put money into my account and label it clearly "Personal Account."
It's October and I'm talking about Christmas. Enough of this.
Mt 1:23 'Behold, the Virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son and they shall call his name Immanuel,' which translated means "God with us."
Mo 1:23 'Tazama birika atachakua mimba, naye atamzaa mtoto wa kuime nao watamwita Imanueli,' maana yake "Mungu pamoja nasi."

Emmanuel

Emmanuel is one of my client's children she looks after. He is severely malnurished and often left alone for hours at a time while Rispa looks for work. For those who received an email about Emmanuel: Rispa and Emmanuel both came yesterday very late for the meeting, and also came this morning very early. Both times, things about Emmanuel were discussed, like how often she feeds him, why she leaves him alone, and what clinics he has been to. We will talk again about taking him to a cheaper, but still quality, hospital. She will need help with doctor fees, transport, and medicines, and we are willing to help where we can. She also will need help on following through with what she says. I want you to help by praying for her, Emmanuel, and my project on how much to help. It's not as simple as saying, "we will pay it." Dependency is something we don't want to encourage. Still, Emmanuel, as I was reminded, means "God with us." May I never forget that! Even though it may seem discouraging looking at that baby boy, God is with him.

Dave

You know that movie, "Dave?" It's the one where a guy, Dave, looks like the president and has to be the president for a while since the real president is in a coma and the bad guy wants to take office? Okay, so basically, there's this one part where Dave is in a room with the bad guy and some other guy, and the bad guy shakes Dave's hand. Then they leave the room, and just Dave remains. I was shocked!! Here in Kenya, if each person doesn't shake the other's hand, it's a huge insult and means that they are enemies. So me, having no enemies here, I shake everyone's hand, as is custom. If I'm walking with two people down the road, and we greet two people we know, each person must shake hands. Must. Count, that's six handshakes. And Dave didn't shake the other guy's hand. The craziest thing is that it actually bothered me. Which reminds me of two things: after (almost) four months, I'm very indocrinated into this culture, and when I return to my own culture, I'll have culture shock.
Dave didn't shake everyone's hand when coming out of the office, either. Tsk.

New Building Photos

Photos!!!

This is from Elephant Orphanage and Giraffe Sanctuary, as promised.

Giraffes, Thanksgiving, and Presidents

My, I've been meaning to post, and I will just have to do without pictures for the sake of actually giving an update.
Well, I've been having many big days here. Saturday, I was a tourist to the tee. I went to the giraffe sanctuary, elephant orphanage, and the Bomas of Kenya. I have a picture of me kissing a giraffe (it was amazing, Jason) and there's a hotel where the giraffes can peek their heads inside the doors and windows for a low price of $500 USD a night. We also hit the elephant orphanage, where we saw elephants three y.o. and below and a rhino that was roaming about. The Bomas of Kenya is a tourist area where you can check out the different tribal living of the tribes in Kenya, and had AMAZING tribal dancing, where I decided that Kikuyu is a beautiful language.
Monday, we had a big Thanksgiving dinner--for Canada. No turkey, but it was still a great holiday meal.
Today, all of Kenya has off for Moi Day. Moi was the second president of Kenya and declared a day for himself. The first president, Kenyatta, also announced his own day, which is the 20th this month. Sadly, it's on a Saturday.
I promise pictures, really, honestly. Just not now.