A day in the life of…..a Kenyan family

This weekend was probably one of the best I've had so far in Kenya- it's really given me the chance to see how Kenyan families live, and it's something that I don't think a tourist would be able to do easily.

From left to right: Kennedy (holding Dotty), Cecile, Judy, and Josephine holding Cos

I went with Judy and her family to church this morning. Judy was keen I went to the study work group, so I attended with her husband whilst she took her youngest children (aged just 5months (Cos), and 1yr 5months (Dotty)) to the creche. Feeling a little awkward, I listened to the discussions, about believing truthfully and spiritually. At the end, the group leader said; none of our sisters have said anything (there were only 2 “sisters” in the group, including myself) and he wanted one of us to end with a prayer....ahhhh! I hadn't expected that! Praying that the other “sister” would pray, as I had no idea what to say, luckily, for me (and everyone else there) my prayers were answered, and she said a few words...phew! Wow – all this praying seemed to pay off. The church service was about family life, held under a canvas outside. Dotty has a crazy amount of energy, and it was difficult to keep track of where she was! Josephine, the house-girl, came along too. Judy's brother, Henry, is over from Busia, staying with them at the the moment, as he is doing an undergraduate degree in social work.

Judy and Henry

He previously had a contract with AMPATH working to prevent HIV in commercial workers, prison workers and long distance truck drivers. He's passionate about his work, and it's great to see. He has the funding for the first year of his undergraduate course, but needs funding for the next couple of years. Judy had asked me previously if there was anyway I could find sponsorship for her brother. I'm struggling with these requests. I have no idea who to ask? Unless we can fund raise to get this money, but then you'd be forever fund raising. There must be other ways?!

After church, I went back to Judy's house in Kapsoya, which isn’t all that far away, but the roads are bad. We were lucky the rain stayed off. She cooked Githeri for lunch, which is a bean casserole. We also had cabbage stew and pumpkin, finished up with bananas. 

The girls played outside, whilst Cos slept, and I helped (or more like watched!) Judy make Chapati's. 

Dotty and her crazy amount of energy!

Judy making chapati's

They are growing sukuma wiki – it's amazingly tall. We had it fresh in the evening. I learnt about tribalism, and how prejudices exist against certain tribes, which can actually influence whether people are selected for jobs or not. Life is tough here, not only are they dealing with the corruption and poverty, but this just makes it even harder . We ate tilapia (stewed fish) from Lake Victoria, which was lovely and cooked soya meat.

We had a blessing, just like last night, and sang some hymns. Kennedy (Judy's husband ) drove me home with Cecile and Henry. Apparently, Cecile has since been asking that she wants “.. to be taken back to the house of the Mzungu!!”