Menno Retreat at Brackenhurst
Every year the Mennonite missionaries with Eastern Mennonite Missions (EMM), which is our mission, and Mennonite Central Committee (MCC), a development-oriented agency, who are living in East Africa get together for a retreat. The retreat is held at Brackenhurst in the mountains above Nairobi around Christmas time. It is a beautiful area at just under 7000 ft, which makes it cold in the evenings.
Our theme this year was Peacemaking (see Matthew 5:9). All of the resource people were from East Africa and active in reconciliation and conflict transformation work in the area. Churches and Christians in Africa where they have seen war and injustice recognize the importance of this Biblical work more than we often do in the USA.
An old friend, Makonen, shared about his reconciliation work with the
Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia.
A traditional event at the retreat is the talent show. Our family - being more timid - rarely participates though we enjoy this evening at retreat.
Brent, who is also from Stumptown Mennonite Church, was the emcee at the talent show.
Elaine and some of the children showed their talent by singing a children's song, complete with motions.
Carl, whom we've known for many years, working currently in administration at the MKC college in Ethiopia, recited an epic poem he learned as a child in Canada.
Retreat is also a time to get reacquainted with old friends, and to make new friends, who are serving in other countries.
Sean, who has been living in Djibouti for many years, and I went on a walk along the mountainside.
Alia also made many friends: Lavendar, Leah, Susana and Alia. Our Alia is in the back.
The
Shenks, old friends who had worked with us in Djibouti in the mid-90s, and who are now working at Haven of Peace Academy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The back row are Andre, Jamila, Elaine and Doug. In front are Nathaniel and Alia.
Garden Adventure
Alia and I had transplanted 8 tomato plants into the small garden just in front of our porch. We'd been having a lot of rain and cool nights, which I've learned is perfect conditions for tomatoes to develop blight. So today's garden adventure began with a search for anti-blight treatment. Fortunately, the first hardware store that I entered directed me to the correct store, where I bought some chemicals for a few dollars.
We had also started a few tomato plants from seed, and they were growing in a milk container that I'd cut for that purpose. These plants were getting too big for the small space they were in, so I decided to plow up another small patch of the garden. I used a
jembe, the larger hoe that small-scale farmers use around here, to break up the hardened soil. It hadn't rained for about a week so the ground was hard. I thought that I'd found a large root from some of the bushes I'd transplanted elsewhere, so I gave an extra tug - and broke the water line to our reserve water tank!!!
Soon the dry dirt of the garden was gooey mud, and I had a major job on hand. I had to shut the main valve from the city supply in order to repair the broken PVC pipe. However, this valve would close, but it water continued to flow. The old valve just wasn't working. So I decided to detach the pipe and let the water flow into the ground there, so that I could have dryer conditions where I needed to repair the broken pipe.
Cindy and I drove into the shopping area of Westlands (near where we live). The 1.5 mile drive can take 15 minutes due to the traffic, and the traffic was bad. We got an elbow, the piece that had broken, and some PVC glue at the hardware. I practiced my newly learned Swahili with a hawker trying to sell me a rechargeable flash flight, as Cindy bought some milk in Uchumi's, the local supermarket chain.
We returned home and I fixed the PVC pipe. After waiting some time for the glue to dry properly, I reconnected the line from the city supply and continued with the gardening work. I put in the new tomato plants and sprayed all the tomatoes with the anti-fungicide. I began watering some roses and then the tomatoes with a hose. There didn't seem to be much water pressure, but we often have water outages and low pressure, so I didn't think anything of it.
Finally, Cindy came back from shopping with Erika Minor, with whom we'd worked for several years in Djibouti. She checked the water situation at the Yoder's on the other side of the duplex, and they had good water pressure. So I went back out to see if I'd done something incorrectly in reconnecting to the city supply. As I disassembled the pipes, and put them back together, I noticed that the main supply into the house - not to the storage tank - had completely sheared off at a joint. The metal pipe (copper?) must be decades old and it had corroded so badly, that my manipulation of the pipes in disconnecting and reconnecting them had caused it to shear off.
So, now we had water running freely into the yard - through the water meter - and not into the house, nor the storage tank. It was also getting dark and shops were closed. I managed to plug the leak, and tomorrow the adventure continues.
An old friend, Makonen, shared about his reconciliation work with the Meserete Kristos Church in Ethiopia.
Brent, who is also from Stumptown Mennonite Church, was the emcee at the talent show.
Carl, whom we've known for many years, working currently in administration at the MKC college in Ethiopia, recited an epic poem he learned as a child in Canada.
Sean, who has been living in Djibouti for many years, and I went on a walk along the mountainside.
Alia also made many friends: Lavendar, Leah, Susana and Alia. Our Alia is in the back.
The Shenks, old friends who had worked with us in Djibouti in the mid-90s, and who are now working at Haven of Peace Academy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The back row are Andre, Jamila, Elaine and Doug. In front are Nathaniel and Alia.
