Graduation Day

Today was graduation day for my first class. There were 16 that completed the class and passed the exam. Thank God everyone passed! Two of them completed the exam but had a lot of blanks. Mary, our translator, translated the questions for them and took the answers orally and so they passed. Even though they can take the exam in Kiswahili, none of them elected to do so. I'm not sure if it is out of embarassment or what.

Geri went along with us today and took pictures of the class and of each person as they received their certificate. She also took so movies of the day. It is so much fun. We had order a cake. The cake is actually pretty good. They bake it in a dutch oven rather than a modern bakery. As we were cutting the cake, they all sang songs for us. It is all very moving.

The class lives in two clusters that are fairly spread apart. They Have decided to split into two groups for their ongoing work. They will be doing general AIDS awareness programs in their respective areas that are geared towards youth groups and church groups. Some of the students walked about 6 miles each day to get to class. Something that I don't think too many young adults in the US would even consider doing.

As has happened every day, they fed us before we left. the woman in charge of the food wants to make sure we eat well. She piled about 4 cups of rice on my plate. It was some kind of meat, but was VERY tough. It is very expensive and so there was not a lot of meat. One of Geri's pieces was so tough that she was afraid it would break her bridge. I took it from her plate and had a heck of a time getting it broken into two pieces so that I could swallow it.

We made it back in about record time. We checked the odometer and it was 90km or 60 miles. It took us 1 1/2 hours. The roads and markets are very crowded because of Christmas. Many people are returning to their villages from Nairobi or even smaller towns such as Bungoma or Eldoret. The matatus are absolutely packed. I got dropped of in town and so am braving the matatu for the trip back to the farm. Normally, it wouldn't be so bad, but it's hard to say how many people they'll get into one. Someone said that they have had 21 people in theirs at one time. In case you have forgotten, a matatu is a minivan. Fortunately they can't go that fast on the road to the farm so it's safe.

Geri and I are going to stay on the farm this weekend rather than travel to an outlying sight. I have to do laundry one day, we'll come into town, and just relas around the farm. Next weekend, we will go somewhere for the New Year.

Love and Merry Christmas to you all!