June 27, 2005
They finished!
And here they are, my mom and sister at the finish line of Grandma's Marathon. I'm very impressed.
Today is our last day in Kenya. We will soon be heading to Uganda to work on a building project with the OPC. I will hopefully get to help in either the clinic in Karimoja or Mbale working with AIDS and other terminally ill patients. Hope I will be able to blog again, but i'm not sure.
June 22, 2005
Congrats
Well, I guess this is just a BIG congrats (honestly...i just couldn't figure out how to shrink the image (andy? josiah?).
As tim and i reside in the homeland of many marathon gold metalists, my mom and sister ran a marathon this last Saturday in Duluth, MN (26 mi., 385 yds). I hope that it went well and hope to hear more about it soon.
It was for me and tim, a weekend with the Maasai. We lived in their Mynatas (huts filled with smoke from cooking inside), played with their children (seen in the picture), and even met the moran (warrier boys between the age of circumcision and marriage). Hopefully pictures will be easier to put up and you can see more soon.
June 14, 2005
Karimoja
Jim Knox sent around his pictures. This is one of me and tim making our way back to the house from the clinic after a rain storm.
June 10, 2005
marriage reality
Today I had a sobering conversation with two women I work with ('A' and 'L'). These two have been quite a blessing to me this trip. As I spend hours of boredom waiting to check their English versions of every part of the study we also converse and learn about one another. After three weeks here in Africa I am now understanding more of whom they are and what they have gone through, a sobering reality I am not used to.
Today we discussed the estate of African marriages. There is far too much to report about this conversation, but through the sobering stories of how african men, especially this tribe, are polygamous and have many girl friends it became evident that even 'A', a well educated women, dealt with the same burden. Although well 'preserved' as the only wife in her family, she still dealt often with the fact that her husband had many girlfriends. She is even raising the child of one of his affairs, 10 years now. His unexpected death last year sent ideas swarming through my head....i hadn't even thought about her being positive. When I asked if he and she were tested it was evident that she also had not thought about it, for fear rather than ignorance. Here in Africa it seems to be a hopeless reality, especially for married women. Her response to my question was that she would wait until she gets sick and then she would be tested.
As I venture on this summer’s vacation/work experience with my husband and best friend, I regret, though thankfully, that I can't even fathom the feelings that they contend with in their marriages. It seems that although adultery is prevalent in america, it's far from the reality of infidelity that hovers over this country with impenetrable gloom.
This weekend we are going to 'L's home to see her father and his four wives while next week it is dinner at 'A's home with her children and her late husband's girlfriend's child.