Jirani yangu...

The students who visit here have said, “You must be so lonely.” But I repeatedly have to explain that the workers on the ranch live in their houses about 50 meters from my door. It also helps that the furrow that supplies water for them and me is right outside my door. This results in many visitors everyday. Of course, when I didn’t know Swahili, it really didn’t matter if they greeted me or not, but now that I am catching on, I really enjoy the multiple “salimia’s” (greetings) everyday and no longer mind stopping what I am doing to ask them about their day, their work, their family… etc. etc. I guess I am adapting. This is a picture I took one night last week when Rose was cooking in the kitchen and we had some visitors who had matching Old Navy sweatshirts. This is Max and “rafiki ya Max” (only because I can never remember his name!).

They are from the same place near the Kenyan border. One night, Max was showing me where they were from on a map posted on my wall and when I asked how long it took to get there, he said 2 days. I was really confused because it looked to be just a little farther than Arusha… but with the roads here you never know. Then I pointed to Dar es Salaam and some other city farther south and asked how long it took to get there. He said 3 months. At this point I realized he was telling me how long it took to walk! Oh the life we are accustomed to in America.