Spiders..yikes!

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this_wolf_spider_is_pretty_close)

Spider,spider!!!!

Last week we were visiting friends who live on campus at Rosslyn Academy and encountered a terribly big wolf spider. We were sitting with our friends, Mel and Kerry, in their living room when Erica spotted a strange shadow in their curtains,.. "That can't be a spider.. can it?" To our horror, the long hairy legs of the spider began to scurry as we pulled back the curtain. Kenya is home to many venomous spiders, the worst being the camel backed spider. This fella would give a painful sting, but it was certainly not dangerous -- just very creepy. After he was swiftly delt with, we settled back to our conversation, but no one could help but be on alert (could there be more?).

Spiders aside, this has been a great week. Keenan Carline is home and improving(back-to-
school). We had a long weekend (American Thanksgiving) to enjoy some picnics and fun with friends. And we've had a great time with our team leaders Malcolm and Patty Card.

Please pray for us as we continue to plug away at language study. We are so thankful for the wonderful Somali friends who are coaching us along.

Our Christmas update letter is being emailed out later this week, please send us your email address if you would like a copy of the letter and are not already on our update list. This one will not be going on the blog.

Blessings to you all this advent season!!!

November's happenings...

November is moving right along! Last week we greeted Wayne & Kathryn Cassidy, friends from our language prep time at Tyndale. Wayne and Katheryn are serving in Tajikastan (spelling?) where they work among a largerly muslim community. They are staying with us at either end of their time here in Kenya, enjoying some R&R.

Yesterday, a short term team from First Baptist Vancouver arrived for a three week mission. They will be spending nearly a week of their time in Garissa, Northeast province, where they will be learning about the CBM work there among the Somali people.

The work in Dadaab is going well. The primary school is enjoying the playground (which is holding together strong despite the extrodinary high use it is getting -- Paul Carline has already had to replace the "d" clamps holding the swings because the kids have already warn through the first set in just over a month). The school principal tells us that kids are still lining up to play on the swings and teeter totter an hour before school starts every morning and they are on it till dark!

Finally, please keep the Carline family in your prayers. Keenan, the youngest, has contracted a terrible dose of the mumps. He was sick all weekend, but it has gotten worse and he has been in hospital for the past two nights.

Birthday girl!

Just thought you might like a peak at the birthday girl!

Ava really liked her first taste of cake.

Our Kids in Kenya

We thought it would be fun for you to get to know our family a bit better, so we’ve collected some questions that we’ve received from churches and added a few of our own for an interview with Tristan and Emma. We hope this will be a fun way for you to get to know these two amazing little people (no bias) and about our life here in Kenya.

Tristan, what are some of your favorite things we do as a family?
I like playing board games, popcorn and movie nights, and going on trips. I also like playing Nintendo and cooking with Mommy, playing adventure games with Daddy, playing hide and go seek with Emma, and just playing with Ava.

What do you like to do on your own? Take a nap.

How about you Emma? What do you like to do as a family?
I like it when we play games, and go out for Indian food, and watch movies.
Do you have any favorite things you like to do?
I like making jewelry with Mommy, playing adventure games with Daddy, playing tag with Tristan, and dancing with Ava.

What do you like to do on your own? Play school.

You both like to read. What are three of your favorite books?
Tristan: “The Tale of Des Espirit”, "Mr. Popper’s Penguins", and "The Dangerous Book for Boys"
Emma: "The Hot Hippo", "Disney Fairy Tales", and I can't think of any more right now.

What do you two like to do with your friends?
Tristan: Playing board games like carcazone, playing spy, and having sleepovers .
Emma: Playing mermaids, playing boys chase girls, digging in the sand and planting rocks, oh and sleepovers, and Nintendo games.
Tristan: Yeah, Nintendo games!

What are your favorite Nintendo DS games?
Tristan: Mario, Animal Crossing, Pacman and Zelda.
Emma: Nintendo Dog, Mario, and my Princess game.

What are a few things that you like about Kenya?
Tristan: Feeding giraffe and ostrich; riding camels; seeing crocodiles; and catching frogs, scorpions and lizards.
Is there anything you don’t like?
Tristan: The traffic, the robbers, the milk, malaria and how things always go missing in the stores, like pop corn and pancake mix -- Sometimes we have to wait three months for things.

How about you Emma?
Emma: I like all the monkeys here, and the giraffe and the baby elephants. I don’t like thorns, mosquitoes or ticks. And I don’t like it when the power always goes off or when we have to have sponge baths because there is no water.

What do you like about your school?
Tristan: My friends
Emma: My friends, my teacher, ballet class and art.

What about our church?
Tristan: I like it.
Emma: I like the music, the stories and colouring. I also like it that our church is at our school.

Most Sundays we go to the International Christian Fellowship, but some weeks we attend Kenyan churches. What do you think of those services?
Tristan: They’re okay, but they are way too long and I don’t understand the language.
Emma: I like going to African Church, and learning new African songs.

I know that you both miss your grandparents, all your cousins and your friends back in Canada. Is there anything else you miss about living in Canada?
Tristan: McDonald’s chicken Mc nuggets! Well, any fast food, and TV, and the people.
Emma: I miss JJ’s Diner (in Sussex, NB), and Mama Georges (a restaurant in Midland, NB). And I miss “trick or treating”, and snow.

Finally, what about our trips into Northeastern Province? What were they like for you? What is it like living in the desert with Somali people?
Tristan: I like Dadaab but not Garissa. Well, Garissa is okay, but I like Dadaab better.
Emma: Living there is kinda easy and kinda hard. I like playing out side, but it gets really hot! But I like playing in the sand.
Tristan: The drive is so long.
Emma: I like seeing dik diks. But I don’t understand what the kids there are saying to me. All the kids want to touch me.
Tristan: Me too.
Emma: They want to touch my hair and my skin.

Do you like living in Africa?
Tristan and Emma: Yes!

Could you repeat that please?

Learning Somali is allowing us to encounter interesting, wonderful and even shocking aspects of Somali culture. Somalis are traditionally nomadic pastoralists moving with their herds of goats and camels throughout the arid horn of Africa following after rains in search of water and fodder for their animals. Although most of the Somali people we serve in Eastleigh are a generation removed from nomadic life, they carry with them a deep sense of pride and connection to it. For instance, the other morning I was greetedby a Somali friend, Said, who said to me, "Ma bariday?" (Which literally means "Were you left?" I had to shake my head and confess that I did not unnderstand his question.

"Ma bariday?" he repeated. "You know, are you left over?" My blank look must have indicated my confusion, because he continued to explain. "In the bush, when we greet someone in the morning we ask ma bariday. Don't you know about left overs?"

"I don't think so." I replied, still not sure where this was going.

"You know, like at night after you have eaten supper and you put away the food that hasn't been eaten. It is left for another day."

"Okay, I think, but I'm not sure I understand the greeting."

"In the bush the night is very dangerous. Lions take many lives. In the morning we ask "were you left over?"" He begins to laugh. "And you must reply "Haah, waan bariyey!" Which means -- yes, I'm one of the left overs! I wasn't eaten! I survived!"

My friend continues to use this expression because it ties him to his past, and it expresses the continued struggle for survival that Somalis face. Each new morning is a reason to praise God, when survival is a daily struggle -- Yes, I survived!

At the Eastleigh Community Centre, people come together each new morning to share their talents, resources and energy to make life better for this displaced community. The centre offers primary education right through to marketable skills training in eight different trades, as well as business deveopment, micro credit, support groups and community health programs. It is a privilege for us to be able to share in the lives of people lifting up Hope in such a place as this.

This month, Erica and Kelly Carline are beginning a new midweek women's group. It will be meeting at the Eastleigh Fellowship Centre where we have been teaching English. Please pray for us as we continue to make language acquistion a priority; pray for Erica and Kelly's safety as they travel together in Eastleigh; And pray for the relationships being built through these important ministries.

Blessings!