Jan. 22, 2021 ~ Precarious Baggage
This would become an all too familiar sight as the years rolled by and I spent more time in Kenya, but on a sultry, sunny afternoon in 2006, what I saw was jarring. I was in Kisumu, a larger city near Lake Victoria in western Kenya. Amidst the rumble and jumble of cars, motorcycles, matatus […]
April 3, 2021 ~ Love’s Immensity
Walking through endless wheat fields in Spain 2014 “…unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit” (John 12:24). Jesus’ words from the Gospel of John served as the epigraph of Fyodor Dostoevsky’s exquisite novel, The Brothers Karamazov, and are inscribed on […]
Feb 14, 2021 ~ Then and Now….Part II
One of the reasons I love Kenya, January 2020 If you missed the first part of this blog, simply scroll down and read it. …..Obviously, since you are reading this, I survived the flight, even catching a few hours of sleep. I landed in Doha around 5:30 PM the next day (eleven hours ahead of […]
Feb 7, 2021 ~ Then and Now
Traveling is stressful and requires loads of patience. Any seasoned traveler will attest to this. Even the most detailed plans can go awry. Learning to accept that something will not go as expected, then adapting accordingly is the key to keeping one’s sanity. Maybe there are a few folks who actually like sitting in an […]
Dec. 18, 2020 ~ A Big Suitcase full of Gratitude
This guy makes hefting my suitcase up three flights of stairs look easy peasy. (He pretty much saved me, and with a smile!). Like this young man who graciously lightened my load in Nairobi last year, the generosity of so many of you have lightened the load of someone in need. Many thanks to […]
Nov. 29, 2020 ~ The Roundness of Things
Moon over my driveway Last night, the moon, full and pregnant with light, pierced the cold darkness. Her luminosity beckoned me to leave the warmth of my kitchen, bundle up and come outside to linger a bit to watch the slow-moving orb make her way across the inky sky. I heeded the call, (several times, […]
Aug. 31, 2014 ~ Storage Units, Backpacks and Slums
31 August 2014 Before embarking on the Camino de Santiago (a pilgrimage through Spain), I pounded the pavement, dirt roads, hiking trails and any other surface that might provide some sort of physical conditioning. One of my routes close to home, led me by a construction site. I watched as the ground was leveled, wooden […]
Aug. 16, 2014 ~ Stigmatized. Cast out.
Stigmatized Cast out Shunned Misunderstood Feared Worthless Shamed Such are the words used to describe what it felt like to be HIV+ in 2006. Little was known about HIV/AIDS, myths abounded and Kenya was infested with fear. People were afraid of being tested—for the stigma and shame of being HIV+ was great. […]
Aug. 12, 2014 ~ Visits in the slums of Nairobi
Visits in the slums of Nairobi. Deaconess Caren in the beautiful African dress is the icon of mercy. 10 August 2014 Kawangware (one of the slums of Nairobi) The Congo (a neighborhood of Kawangware) The smell assaults you before anything else. Not the usual smells belonging to Nairobi and her slums—the acrid smoke from indoor […]
Nov. 17, 2020 ~ Mercy in “the Congo”
My friend, Kenyan Deaconess Callen contacted me recently via whatsapp. She sent me a a photo of a woman, Virginia, we had visited together in the slums of Kawangware in August 2014 and again in 2019. Callen wrote “She is very weak. Let’s join hands praying for her.” Today, I resurrect and revise a 2014 […]