Local Zebras

Last weekend we decided to take our camera, put on hats and sunscreen, and walk up the dirt road leading into our campus. We were out about 2 hours. It was very hot and tiring BUT great fun seeing animals--mostly in the distance. This photo is of a small herd of zebras watching Phil approach with the camera.

Local Wildebeests

This is a small herd of wilde- beests not far off of the dirt road leading into the Athi River campus.

Faculty Flat & Avoiding an Explosion (Praise)

We thought you might like to see where we are living at the Athi River campus. It is the building in the center of the photo, with a red roof. There are 4 units in the building. We are located on the south side of campus with the football (our soccer) and rugby fields behind us.

Remember back when we said there was NO hot water in the flat? Well, some of the maintenance folks came and managed to get hot water running for the bathrooms. When they left, they said something about turning the hot water heater (a 20 gal tank) on an hour before we took a shower. Not wanting to get up early the next morning, we decided to leave it on when we went to bed. At about 3 a.m. Judy was awakened by a noise and realized the hot water tank was sounding like a big hot pot -- getting ready to boil. She woke Phil and they ran to turn on faucets to relieve pressure. Turns out the tank has no thermostat, safety valve, etc. We thank God we didn't blow up the flat! We are now obedient and turn it on very early in the morning.

Judy in the Kitchen & Visit to Boys' Home

This nice little kitchen in our faculty flat is quite sufficient. Even though there is no hot water in the kitchen, there is a hot pot for quickly boiling water. Not everything on the stove works, but it is OK for us. Note the large aluminum container on the right-hand side of the counter. This is our provided water filtering unit. It is great to have as we filter nearly all of our water.

This week Judy finished the draft for the Freedom for Girls pamphlet. This project is moving along nicely. We are up in Nairobi just now (Thursday) waiting for a pick up by a HEART vehicle.

This past Wednesday Judy went to a boys' home (Hidaya) along with Phyllis Masso, the director. It was quite an experience! It is out in the country and in addition to driving through herds of animals, we got stuck in the mud -- four-wheel-drive with mud flying got us out of there. The road was every bit as rough as Sani Pass (w/o the drop offs). We're thinking cars don't last very long here. Phyllis is an amazing woman!

The boys at this home were all once street children. It has been organized long enough that a couple of their boys have now graduated from college. Of course it isn't all a success story, but is an amazing ministry. They offered to have us stay for dinner. They were having spaghetti noodles covered with chopped boiled goat liver and vegetables. Unfortunately we didn't have time as Judy would have liked to at least tasted the dish.

Phil in Living Room and His Classes

The dining room, living room and kitchen of our flat are all one room; this is just fine for two people. Note the drawings above the sofa. These are pastel drawings done by a local artist. Judy found them lying in a closet and put them on the wall.

Phil is keeping busy grading homework and typing his notes for other faculty to see. The homework for the Electricity & Magetism class is quite hefty with 30 students. His Physical Science class has 50 students but doesn't have nearly as much homework.

Last weekend Phil came down with a cold. He spent much of Monday sleeping, but is OK now.

Nairobi

Let's start with a couple of answers to comments:

1) The tortoise was about 8 to 10 inches tall.

2) Many commented about Phil and the lion--we actually paid a small fee at the Lion Park for Phil to hold the lion. The caregiver was standing just outside of the photo, so there was no danger. It was a great pic!

We also want you to know that our Hotmail account isn't working properly. We haven't been able to read messages for 5 days.

We thought you might enjoy what we see as we are riding the bus in Nairobi. People walking everywhere in and among many vehicles. Rush hour will see traffic at a standstill in some areas.

Going to HEART for the First Time

On Thursday, Judy and Phil took the campus bus from Athi River to Daystar Nairobi campus. Upon arriving there we were met by a HEART driver and vehicle. It then took us another 1/2 hour until we arrived at the HEART compound. At some point, when we are brave enough, we will try to take public transportation which will take us at least twice as long. This photo logo is on the side of the HEART vehicle.

Further down in our postings you will see information about the Freedom for Girls project. Please know that this project involves 23,000 packages...........keep reading to make sense of this!

HEART Compound Grounds

First of all, let us tell you that it can take us as much as 12 minutes just to upload a photo like this....just thought you'd want to know!

On this photo Judy is standing on the beautiful grounds at HEART. This is a peaceful, quiet place for team members to come back to at the end of a day of volunteering at various locations around Nairobi. They come back here to be refreshed and revived after giving of themselves.

HEART Lodge

Phil is standing in front of the HEART Lodge which is part of the compound. This lodge has (8) very spacious suites that are used for the members of the teams who come from various countries to work on HEART projects. The team members are also served breakfast and dinner, which we enjoyed during our time there this week. It was the best food we have had since being here in Kenya. (But then you have to realize that Judy has been doing most of the cooking at home.) BUT, really, the food is good! We stayed in the lodge our first night; however, in the future we plan to stay with friends who live fairly close to HEART.

Freedom for Girls Project -- HEART

The first project that Judy is involved with is called Freedom for Girls. It was discovered that girls were missing classes as much as a week of the month because of their monthly cycle. Because of this they were testing well behind the boys and eventually dropping out of school with greater frequency. They then became more susceptible to early pregnancy, STDs, etc. This project is being funded in part by PRIME Bank of Kenya, Rotary Club, Lions Club, plus donations of panties from Hanes in the States, and donations from private individuals. HEART (the organization with which Judy and Phil are involved) is coordinating the effort. The two young women in this photo were part of a team of four (the day we took the photo) who were assembling these packages.

Judy's job is to quickly write for publication a pamphlet that will go along with the distribution of these packages. The pamphlet will be used by the teachers to explain the changes in a young woman's body, proper hygenic care, and issues such as abstinence, pregnancy, STDs including HIV-AIDS.

Freedom for Girls Packages

This is a stack of the assembled packages which are now ready for distribution; each package contains (6) sanitary towels and (2) pairs of panties. These packages will be taken to a public school in one of the slums of Nairobi. The packages will be given to the teacher of the class who will mark the name of each girl on a package. The packages will be kept at school and used at school. The reason the packages will not be sent home with the girls is because experience has shown that it is likely that someone in the home will sell the package and it will therefore not be of use to the girl.

Phil in E&M Class

Judy came over to Phil's Electricity & Magnetism class this morning and took this picture. There are 31 students on the class list and 26 came today.

Phil is also teaching Physical Science on Wednesdays. There are 52 on the list for that class.

E&M Students

Here you see three of Phil's students in the lab for his Electricity & Magnetism class. They are using an electronic breadboard to do an experiment on Ohm's Law. Phil was pleasantly surprised to find some good lab equipment here.

The students are very polite and friendly. It is a joy to work with them.

Tortoise

As we left our flat last Saturday (17 Jan), the security guard asked us if we wanted to see a tortoise. She took us a short distance to see this remarkable creature, about 1.5 feet long. Phil ran back to the flat to get the camera.

If you are wondering why we aren't posting more wild animal pictures, it's because they pop out often when we don't have the camera. We have seen monkeys several times here on the road in front of our flat, and have not yet been successful in getting any good pictures.

Local Market & High Altitude Cooking

Not far outside of the Daystar Athi River campus, there is a market area of six vegetable/ fruit stands run by local women. This is where Phil and Judy go to buy fresh fruit and vegetables in between doing larger amounts of shopping in Athi River proper. Not having a vehicle it appears that we may be doing quite a bit of shopping at this market. This is almost like Wegmans or Albertsons!!!

Judy was completely oblivious to the fact that one needs to make adjustments when cooking, especially when making baked goods, in a high altitude. One day she decided to surprise Phil with butterscotch brownies. About 15 minutes after placing the pan in the oven she looked in to see a rather mushroom-effect taking place. The mixture puffed up and then ran over into the bottom of the oven. What was left in the pan was all gooey. After that Judy read in the cookbook "because of the decrease in barometric pressure at high altitudes, the carbon dioxide gas expands more quickly and thus the greater leavening action." On her second attempt she used half of the amount of baking soda and powder, less sugar, and more flour AND baked one cookie at a time until the consistency was right. This is a completely different way of cooking. Guess this dog isn't too old to learn new tricks!

Seller of Vegetables & Praise #3

This beautiful lady is one of those who run stalls in the vegetable/ fruit market just outside of our campus.

Praise -- A couple of weeks before we left the States, Phil had a problem with a spot on his head that had become infected. He went to our doctor and the nurse practitioner lanced it and we treated it with an oral antibiotic. Monday (12 Jan) Phil realized that the spot felt a bit strange. Judy looked at it and realized it was once again getting infected. The next morning, while Phil was in class, Judy went to the campus clinic. There is a resident doctor (Dr. Elizabeth) who is there on a regular basis. Judy explained to her that she needed some type of topical antibiotic to sterilize the area so she could open the spot, and would then apply another antibiotic gel she had brought from the States. The doctor understood, gave her Betadine (has 10% iodine) and asked that if she wasn't successful to please have Phil come in. Now, we are a week later and the spot is almost completely cleared up. AND that was w/o having to go on an oral antibiotic this time.

There are MANY security guards all over campus 24/7. This man and woman are two of them. They are very friendly and helpful. Our housing building has only 4 units, but we also have our own guard 24/7. The other day we were working in the Science Dept office after hours and couldn't get the door open to leave. We were thankful that a security guard was close by and came to our rescue, so we didn't have to spend the night!

Last Friday we took a campus bus into Nairobi. The 25-mile trip in took about 2 hours. The roads leading into the city are very rough and the traffic congestion in Nairobi is much like Los Angeles. We were able to buy a cell phone and conduct some business on the Daystar Nairobi campus. We will be going into Nairobi probably once a week, but it is nice to come back to our country campus. No, we didn't take our camera in to Nairobi--we didn't want to look like tourists. Phil was very careful to not take out our map for consultation while in public. We rode the Nairobi public bus for a short distance. The fare was KSh20 (2-3 cents). One of these times we'll try out the matatus (private vans) when our courage is a bit higher.

Phil spent most of the day Saturday doing class preparations. Today, Sunday, we attended an Anglican church. It was in a corrugated tin building. There were about 50 in attendance--most of the congregation made up of folks living outside Daystar. Most of the time the service was conducted in both English and Kiswahili. Folks here are very friendly.

Praise Report #2 and Now in Kenya

When we were in the Tswana church in Thlbane, South Africa, there was a call for people to come forward for prayer. Many came, so they asked Judy to help pray with people. As Judy spoke with one man of about 40 years, she realized he had not yet asked Jesus to be his Lord and Saviour. Judy was privileged to lead him to the Lord.

With our vacation in SA now behind us, we are settling in and beginning our volunteer work in Kenya. This photo is of the entrance to the Athi River campus of Daystar University, about 40 km southeast of Nairobi. This area was recently redone and is not entirely reflective of the whole of the campus. Our flat (apartment) is quite spacious (complete with mosquito nets), but has a water problem – mainly there is no hot water. We are heating water for our bucket showers and washing dishes. Of course, we are also filtering our drinking water. We haven’t yet tried to wash clothes and will soon hire someone to do that. Ordinary things take longer here.

Students Return to Daystar

This photo shows students who returned to campus by bus, making their way to their dorms. The roads around campus and in the immediate area are all dirt. It is very dry and dusty here now, though there always seems to be a welcome breeze.

Science Building

The newest building on the campus is the Science Building where Phil is teaching his two classes. It was completed in 2006. Phil is teaching a sophomore-level physics course in Electricity & Magnetism with a 3-hour lecture on Tuesday mornings and a 2-hour lab on Tuesday afternoons. His other course is a general education course in Physical Science that meets for 2 hours on Wednesday mornings. This course is required of all Daystar undergraduate degree students and Phil is teaching one of 5 sections of the course. Phil is also helping with the planning and development of the newly-approved physics major that will be introduced in the fall of 2009.

When we mention seasons, we are thinking of the North American calendar. Here we are so close to the equator that the idea of summer, winter, etc. doesn’t make much sense. Here they have dry seasons and wet seasons, and right now we are in a dry season that will probably last until the end of February. Also, because we are so close to the equator, the sun rises at about 6:30 AM and sets at about 6:30 PM all year. It is not 6 to 6 because we are in the western part of the time zone. The time zone here is 8 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.

Burning the Underbrush to Ward Off Animals

This photo shows that over break much of the campus underbrush was burned. This is an effort to keep the wild animals off the campus – particularly the leopards which would come seeking the smaller animals which live there.

Last Sunday afternoon the head of the science department and his wife (Jon and Phyllis Masso) drove us around the surrounding area. They are Americans who have been here ten years and, unlike most of the faculty, have their own house and car. We were amazed to see small herds of giraffe, hartebeest, wildebeest, gazelle, impala, eland, and guinea fowl. It’s like living in a game reserve. A couple of weeks ago, our neighbors found a “baby” python in the breezeway of our flat. They said it was only 5 feet long. Yesterday, Phil saw his first snake (about 3 to 4 feet long) as he walked home from his office. They tell us there is an abundance of snakes – so Judy has her eyes wide open!

The Local Café

This photo is of a café across the road from the entrance to Daystar. We haven’t yet eaten anywhere but our flat (except for dinner after church last Sunday in the Massos’ home). On Monday, Phil was at the office so Judy went into Athi River with 4 other people who have a rental car for a few days. They took her to the area where people sell fruits and vegetables from their lean-to structures. We now have a good selection of things to eat. Of course, all had to be soaked for 20 minutes in dish detergent water mixed with bleach, then thoroughly scrubbed and rinsed, before we could peel and eat.

The side roads are all dirt, BUT the public roads are half and half. Half pavement and half potholes, plus the sides of the roads have broken away. One has to drive slowly from side to side in among traffic trying to do the same. Judy thought she heard her teeth rattling. We plan to take buses and matatus (private vans) for our transportation.

Lesotho village

This tiny village is right at Sani Pass. After lunch in the Chalet at the pass, we were taken to another small village a few km into the country. There we were invited into one of the rondoval huts where souvenirs were on sale. Judy bought a small broom. The Basotho woman gave us a taste of her delicious hot bread along with a sip of her homemade beer. The bread was baked in a cast iron pot placed into a hole with a fire fueled by dried cow dung in the middle of the dirt floor of the hut.

Tomorrow, Saturday, 10 Jan, we will fly to Kenya. PLEASE pray for us as we make this transition. Classes will begin 13 Jan. We're not sure what our computer access will be there, so please be patient until you hear from us again. We'll be anxious to tell you all about our new life in Kenya.

Lesotho men

Three Basotho young men sang for us while the young man in the middle played this unusual instrument. It is actually a recycled gas can with strings attached. He both plucked and ran a smooth stick over the strings. They certainly know how to make the most of little!

Lesotho is one of the poorest countries in the world. For those of you who know Terry and Robbie Mason, this was the country in which they were missionaries for many years.

Judy at Sani Pass

Looking down into South Africa from Lesotho at Sani Pass you can see the road we came up on. We rode in a 4-wheel drive tour vehicle with Lucky, our Zulu driver and guide. The pass is the highest in Southern Africa at 2874 meters (9400 feet). The ride was extremely rough with huge rocks and fording streams. Passing other vehicles on a very narrow road with a steep dropoff and no guard rails added to the adventure. The scenery for the entire 45 km trip was outstanding. This is the only entrance to Lesotho from South Africa on the eastern side. Lesotho is a small country surrounded by SA.

Drakensbergs in Royal Natal National Park

The scenery throughout the Drakensberg Mtns. is spectacular. The national park is quite small, but we saw scenes similar to this as we drove for miles down to the southern part of the chain. We took a hike in the park along a cascading stream. The hike was short because it was very sunny with the temperature about 90 F.

We thought you might be interested in some of our favorite foods here in S.A. Of course there is the biltong (like American beef jerky); Judy has eaten lots of calamari--the best was in Cape Town; Phil enjoyed the wild springbok; vetkoek w/mince is a fried roll filled with small bits of beef, carrots, potatoes and seasoning; ginger beer is similiar to root beer; koeksisters is fried doughnuts soaked in syrup--high calorie; the fruits and fresh juices are outstanding.

Baboon in Royal Natal National Park

On Wednesday 7 Jan 09 we drove from Harrismith into the Northern Drakensberg Mtns to the Royal Natal National Park. This sentinel was guarding the road into the park. We were warned not to feed the baboons or open our car windows.

Hartbeespoort Dam

Today, Monday, 5 Jan 09, we went by the dam area on the way to Pretoria.

We visited the Union buildings (Pretoria is legislative capital of SA) and the beautiful surrounding gardens.

Lion Park, Sunday, 1/4/09 & Praise!

Amazing! Phil is holding a 5-mth old lion. These cubs had very sharp teeth and claws, but didn't use them. At about 6 mths they hit puberty and can no longer be handled by us amateurs.

Praise report -- Saturday evening we were on a public road outside of Rustenburg. It was very dark. We were trying to turn right--across traffic--on to a dirt road where our B&B was located. Driving on the left side of the road and shifting with his left hand, it was challenging enough for Phil--w/o being able to see where we were going. He almost stopped on the roadway and one car slowed behind us. Phil thought he could see the road and started to turn--just at that time a car came whizzing down the road and went around both of us. Judy was loudly saying "people" (why not car?) and Phil saw the car coming in time to stop. Our hearts were beating very loudly!!! God certainly did protect us.

Thanks for praying for us!!!

Lighthouse Children's Shelter, Sunday, 1/4/09

We were thrilled to see the beautiful new facilities for the HIV/AIDS shelter for children in Rustenburg. This is where Judy volunteered 2001-2002. Judy's heart almost burst as we saw the babies who are still on the nevaripine program. None of these babies have developed AIDS and so could be adopted. This beautiful lady is Nomhle Mputle, managing director. She was at the shelter when I worked there. We hugged for a long time. Sadly, they now have 5 older children who were not on the program and are HIV positive. These children are hard to place for adoption.

Before the shelter visit, we attended the Bethany Christian Centre in Thlbane. This was the Tswana church that Judy attended when in town. Both Phil and Judy spoke and gave greetings to the congregation. It was thrilling to see folks from 6 years ago.

Protea - National flower of South Africa, taken at the Botanical Gardens in Cape Town.

Someone asked about the temperatures. Well, in Cape Town it was about 25C (77F); in Jo'burg it was about 30C (86F); Rustenburg 32C (90F); today we're in Pretoria they said it's in the mid 90's. Fortunately our B&B in Pretoria had a small pool and we took a dip to cool off.

Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens

The back side of Table Mountain from the Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens near Cape Town.

We were here January 1, 2009.

Explanation of two photos below

Photo #1 is of Cape of Good Hope, the most southwesterly point of South Africa. (Notice the beautiful weather :-)

Photo #2 is of the harbor at Cape Town. Note Table Mountain in the background.

Cape Tour

New Years Day

Judy made a new friend. This Durban business woman along with her husband and son were on holiday in Cape Town. She and Judy had a long conversation re AIDS in South Africa. We were fortunate to see this family two days in a row.

Cape Town, South Africa

Our 4th piece of luggage arrived safely in Cape Town on day 3. We were very happy to see it.

Last evening, being New Years Eve, there was a BIG party at the waterfront of Cape Town. Not being big party people, we observed from a distance--at our B&B which is at the foot of Table Mountain. The celebration reminded us a bit of southern CA weather, the party atmosphere in NYC (only with many entertainment venues w/o the central televised spot, and also minus the big ball). At midnight the ships in the harbor (Cape Town is a working harbor) sounded their horns and there was fireworks (very loud).

Cape Town is heavily populated right now with MANY tourists from many countries. It seems that the South Africaners are just serving the tourists. Of course, that is exactly what they want to do.

Phil and I have hiked on Table Mountain, went on a harbor boat around Robben Island (where the prisoners were kept during apartheid) and then today went to the Cape Point.

We have great photos, which we've just tried to post--unsuccessfully! We'll try to post them again later.

We leave in the morning for Jo'burg (flying). Sunday we will be in the church in Tlhbane where Judy attending while in Rustenburg.