Power Outages, Car Hijackings, and Broken Cameras

It is one of those weeks. The power went down for a long time on Monday, for some unknown reason, again. Sometimes a storm knocks down a tree onto powerlines. Sometimes it's human error, but it's a regular occurrence around here. We joke, about it, and learn to make do, but it's one thing I won't miss about Kenya. This time, when the power finally came back on during the wee hours of the morning, our satellite, which powers our internet wireless, had a fried wire. Doug, our mechanic and general fix-everything-guy, has now fixed the satellite box itself, and set it in the living room of Kenyatta House, so we all have to come in here and borrow someone's laptop with built-in wireless until he is able to reinstall it on the roof so that it powers the internet in Wageni Guest House.
Thus, for now, I will not be able to download photos on these journal entries. I promise to add them as soon as I am able. My camera broke one week ago, so any recent outings will require me to borrow other photos. My video camera charger is also broken, and I blew up my battery charger by using the wrong voltage converter.
Other than that, I am in good shape. I have escaped the latest round of sinus, ear, and upper respiratory infections that have ravaged this campus. I praise God for my health, as I have been exposed to everything when working in the clinic with Dr. Pope for the kids' semi-annual check-ups. Also, this week is the first of a two-week school break, so we MM's are spending more time reading and playing with the kids. They are very affectionate. They crawl all over us and touch every exposed surface. They finger my earrings and bracelets, my water bottle, my face, my hands, they even braid my hair when I let them.
Don't get me wrong, I do love affection. It's just that the season is changing from Dry to Rainy, and they are all catching colds. Now, instead of having sunshine all day long, and temperatures in the high humid eighties, we usually have cooler, cloudy mornings. Once a week or so, we might have a day shower or a night storm. These occasional rains are welcome, as they wash down the dust and water the grass and flowers. The evenings cool down sooner so that my walks in the sunset and full moon are pleasant and soothing. Equatorial "winter" is approaching. The weather is still about as perfect as it can be.
One more thing that I will not miss about Nairobi is the crime. The weekend before I arrived, there was a deadly carjacking in which two women missionaries were shot to death because they didn't exit their car fast enough for the robbers. One was a mother about my age, and the other was her elderly mother. They had connections to the FT missionaries who work here at Rafiki. For that reason, YL decided not to pick me up at 10 pm that night I arrived at the airport. Instead, I was met by the driver for another family of missionaries, and taken to the Mayfield Guest House, closer to the airport, to spend the night. YL came to pick me up there the following day with driver David, Mama Faith, and three kids who were going to the dentist.
Unfortunately, there have been numerous carjackings before and since, including one this past weekend on the very street where one of our off-site missionary families resides. We always have to be back here by dark, even though some of the carjackings have occurred in broad daylight. Word on the street in Nairobi is that it is not safe to be out after dark.
This is one reason I will not be able to meet up with the singles group from my church in Austin when they arrive back in Nairobi after 6:30 pm tonight. They have been on a back-packing mission in the remote mountains of Southern Sudan, and I had so looked forward to meeting with them. We Rafiki MM's are leaving for the beach at Mombasa at 5:45 am tomorrow morning, however. We will not return for 4 days and 3 nights, until Monday, April 9th, my birthday.
That's it for now.