Karibu [Welcome]

Jambo from Kenya :) I have been in Africa for a few days now and it has still not sunk in that I am truly here. This experience has been a year in the making-a year full of doubt, questions, hard work, wrong turns and u-turns, excitement, and planning. And I am finally here-what am I supposed to be thinking and feeling? Ah, who knows? The trip here was uneventful, yet God's presence was truly apparent in the little things: Chris' flight was early to Chicago giving us plenty of time to board for London, we got to switch seats and sit next to each other, I picked the perfect book for the journey here: Eat, Pray, Love. It is a lovely read and filled with many insightful lessons. On the plane from London to Kenya, there were over 200 empty seats on the plane which meant that we got the run of it. We sat in the bulk head and then when it was time for sleeping, we each got our own row of 3 seats to slumber in. The flight attendants were fun and lovely to chat with. And the best part: all of our luggage arrived here with no problems! I am staying in a house far, far nicer than I ever could have hoped for. I have my own room with my own private bathroom. There is hot water that pours from the shower whenever I so desire to take one (a nice switch from the summer for certain) and I have a comfortable bed, a desk, and a large closet. I have yet to see a house lizard (they frequent the houses in Uganda at night) which has been the best blessing yet I think. I have electricity in my room and we have internet in the house (although it is not always the most reliable). I believe, by George, that I am in heaven :) The house is a guest house and is run by 2 lovely Franciscan nuns. Sister Theresita is older and a stern grandmother-like type but very loving and sweet. Sister Eddie is younger and a lot of fun. She announced over dishes the other night that we were now sisters. Last night Sister Theresita told me I was now her daughter. I am glad to have family here already. Jet lag has been my downfall thus far. It has me so exhausted all the time-it is throwing off my sleeping and eating. I cannot wait until I am adjusted to the time difference. The transition between YouthWorks and Kenya has been much harder than I planned for and dreamed it would be. The end of YouthWorks was a whirlwind that passed before I even blinked and left me tired, crabby, stressed out, and missing San Fran and my staff like crazy during my time at home which, of course, made things tense with my family. I didn't feel like our time together was put to it's best use considering I hadn't seen them for 3 months and I was about to take off again for a year. However, they stayed sane and loving through the entire 2 days and I love them all the more for it. I just wish I could have used my time with them more efficiently. However, I had no idea what was going on the whole time. As soon as I got to Kenya though I began to wish things had gone better while I was home. It's also quite lonely here in Kenya. Don't get me wrong, I am so glad to be here and I am excited to see what the semester here brings, but I feel so overwhelmed with all of these feelings and I am without the ease of picking up the phone and calling a best friend to work through it with. Of course I have email and that has been great-the people who have been consistently on the other end without fail have saved me-but I miss conversation with people who know me well and know the exact advice to give me. I miss being able to process through things with others. I can't wait until 2 of my favorite people in the world join me in Uganda in December :) The plus of not having anyone however has been what I have turned to in order to fill the gap. I have been journaling consistently-not average journaling, no-but thoughts, prayers, and praises to God about anything and everything. It turns out that He is the BEST friend and listener a girl could ask for. I am shamed that it took placing me on another continent away from all of my friends and family for me to realize this, but I am extremely glad that I did. Someone recently shared something quite amazing with me: in an interview with Mother Theresa before she died, she was asked what she did to pray. She responded that mostly she just listened to God. When asked what He said, she replied that He mostly just listened as well. For me, this is strikingly beautiful and something that not many people strive for-the ability to just BE in the divine presence of God-just listening to each other. The hustle and bustle of daily life surely diminishes one's capacity to do this. It is my goal to get there one day. I am coming to believe that God is sending me some sort of sign. Over and over again. I spent the summer living in San Francisco, hearing all about how it was named after a saint I had not spent much time learning about ever before: St. Francis of Assisi. I am thinking about doing an internship at St. Anthony's Foundation in San Fran next summer-a community of Franciscans. Now, I find myself in a huge community in the middle of Kenya of all places-of Franciscans. I live with 2 of them, I met the coolest Franciscan Friar today, and about 1/2 of the students at my university here are priests or nuns. Sister Eddie and our cook, Nora, are both telling me that I should become a nun. Ha! I told them I am too boy crazy for that profession. But I believe that there is something that God wants me to take from this St. Francis character, or from Franciscan spirituality or something of the like. We shall see, but as of now, I am paying attention :) Kenya is much different than Uganda and I am finding that I like being pleasantly surprised by my expectations not being fulfilled in the way I thought they would be. I like that things are different and that I am not completely comfortable yet. Although being so far outside of my comfort zone that I seem to have permanently misplaced it, is draining and a bit frightening when you realize it and have no hole to scamper off to. It's a bit like being a gopher and you venture out of your hole and then a fox comes and you can't remember your way back and have no where to hide for miles. Perhaps not that dramatic ;) We went to the market today and I loaded up on fruit-mangoes, bananas, papayas, pineapple, and watermelon. My dream come freaking true. Heck yes. Love it! At dinner, I had 1/2 a mango, a banana, and a huge slice of pineapple. So good... We took matatus to get there. They are the public transportation here. They are 15 passenger vans that they often squeeze more like 18 into and are about the size of 7 passenger minivans in the states. Music is blasting so you can't hear anything and they swerve so much that you have to hunch over as much as possible to avoid hitting your head on the ceiling. We almost died like 4 times and I believe I saw one with some chickens in it today. Luckily I was not inside that one. I think that about does it for now. In case I missed you on the email list, here is my address here in Kenya: (I will write back) Martha Kaempffer P.O. Box 15155- Code 00509 Langata, Nairobi Kenya Skype me anytime: kaemp002 And of course email works too: mtkaempffer@csbsju.edu Asante sana for reading :) More soon!