7/11/98: We made breakfast for the J’s this morning. Scrambled and fried eggs, with bacon and freshly made doughnuts we purchased from a student fundraiser at RVA…
NOTE: Photo of Nairobi skyline by Antony Trivet.
7/11/23: After the J. family had been so hospitable to us, it was nice to be able to serve them, if only in a simple way as making breakfast for them. Bill and Carol seemed particularly to enjoy a less rushed morning for a change. We decided that we would do something like this as often as we could for those we would be visiting in the coming months of our trip. After taking a couple of photographs of all of us together it was time to catch our ride back to Nairobi.
We caught a ride with a missionary family from western Wisconsin. When they heard we were from Chicago, they said that was close enough for them to consider us neighbors from home. The first part of the drive was peppered with their anxious warnings about a rash of car-jackings, road-side robberies and dangers in the city. “Don’t wear your watch while in the city!” “Don’t walk near such-and-such a street.” “Keep an eye over your shoulder…” etc. I couldn’t tell if they were overly fearful or if Ruth and I looked overly naïve, but we appreciated their sense of concern and protection and refused to let it all put us in a state of panic or paralysis. The drive went off without a hitch, and we had plenty of more pleasant things to chat about, so our ride into Nairobi turned out to be quite nice altogether.
When we did arrive back at the SIM guest house, Stan and Martha B. had left us a set of keys with the gate guard at the SIM guest house, and we settled in quickly. We decided to be cautious but not given to fear, so we walked over to the Yaya Center to do some grocery shopping and eat lunch.