Rhonda: On the first day in Maua, Jim and Sue told us some helpful
things about the culture in Kenya. They
told us that the children love to fist bump with everyone. Sure enough, children we encountered
everywhere would smile and hold out a fist in greeting. However, Debbie and I learned a variation of
the fist bump on our day to visit the Zoe Hope Companion Projects. We were visiting a young woman's seamstress
shop when a child-like woman, we later came to know as Lucy, approached us. She was babbling incoherently but every now
and then she would say "I love you".
As I held out a fist to her she beamed and bumped my fist and when I
lowered my fist she punched me in the boob!
Debbie didn't escape the "boob bumping" either. Lucy followed us around the market center and
never missed an opportunity to greet us again if we didn't get our arms up fast
enough to block her. Wc shared the
cultural update with Jim and Sue that evening :0)
Katie: During our work in Maua, many of us got the chance to "sling mud" with a man named Moses...while helping to build flats for doctor's and their families to live in. Moses was a joyful, spiritual man who loved to sing and tell bible stories. On the first day, he taught Rhonda, who then taught all of us a song that went like this: (to the tune of "Pop, Goes the Weasel") "Everytime I come in, the monkey's on the table, I take a stick and knock it down, through, through the window". We all thought it was a cute children's song, and nothing more until...
The second day on the safar, we all got up very early to go out before breakfast...after a couple of hours we returned to the lodge for breakfast. Keep in mind these lodges are right in the middle of the Masai Mara, no fences or gates to keep the animals out. So, we were driving back in and saw a troop of Velvet Monkeys had taken up residence at the Keekorok lodges for the day. We "oohed" and "ahhed", and learned not to go near them because their bite is well poisonous, then went on to breakfast. I was the first to return to the table, which was sort of a corner of the lodge restaurant, surrounded by glass pane shutter windows which were open, as it was a beautiful morning. I sat down, and could see the outside patio, where several folks were getting their cameras out to take pictures of one of the monkeys who was on the roof. Richard and Marion were headed over to the table at this time, and I said "hey, look one of the monkey's is on the roof out there". Then I looked, and I couldn't see it anymore...at which point said, "no! it's right there!) and pointed to the seat right next to me! I looked over and sure enough the monkey was in the chair, grabbed Debbie's open jelly, and jumped back out the window....I was of course already up and on the other side of the table. The monkey then jumped back in and took most of my breakfast back outside with him! I guess he liked potatoes with jam! By this point, Marion had shooed him out with his napkin and the waiters had come over to assist, they closed all the windows, only to realize that the monkey was definitely smart enough to push open a shutter window! The funniest part was, Richard and Marion were the only ones who saw it happen, and when I told the others, they thought I was just making it up, or referencing the monkey song! Luckily, Richard got some of it on video...to be posted soon....
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