Saturday, June 16, 2007

"In the time of Noah..."



Last weekend Laura and I rented a little toyota corolla, picked up Anthony Musyimi and his two friends, and drove three hours from Nairobi to the rural village of Mantangini in the Central province of Kenya. Anthony, his mom (Margaret), his brother (Martin), and his little niece (Mary), hosted us for a night in their mud brick home in Mantagini. We feasted on chapatis and sheep meat stew and were welcomed at the Mantangini Catholic mass on Sunday as "Christians from America." And, we heard lots of stories that started "in the time of Noah..."
Anthony now lives and works in Nairobi, but 13 years ago he was Noah's host brother. Noah spent a summer in Kenya with a program called Global Routes - as part of his time here, he lived with Anthony and his family while helping to build a school in their village. Amazingly, Noah's been keeping in touch with Anthony by mail ever since.

This is how we found ourselves scraping along 20km of the worst dirt road in the world to Mantagini. We nearly turned back when our little car was faced with fording rivers and rocks bigger than the tires. But, we made it. Anthony and his family were very welcoming.
In the morning they slaughtered a goat for us:

"In the time of Noah, schools were built, Anthony and his family ate guacamole for the first (and only) time, and there was lots of dancing."

This is the school Noah built:
















The living/dining room:

Anthony and his brother Martin in front of their house.

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