32 Sleeps–Kenya FAQs Part Two

I posted a number of FAQ’s a few days ago…a continuation:

6. What am I doing to get ready? I’m reading a LOT of books about Kenya. Just last week I went to pick up a book at the library, and came home with seven! Prior to that I had finished four. I’m attempting to immerse myself in the history and culture of the country before I get there so that I will not feel like a fish out of water.

Other things I’m doing—I’m shopping at thrift stores to find clothes that are more appropriate than my normal wardrobe. Women, especially those my age, are expected to dress ‘modestly’—no shorts or skirts above the knees. Mainly I’ve found long, colorful skirts, and I plan to leave them there. (All the more room in the suitcase to bring back souvenirs!!) I’ve also had to get my travel visa, my travel meds/shots, assemble camera, cash, phone options, personal products, and dozens of other small details that will carry me through a month away from home.

7. Where exactly is my project located? I’ll be in Mombasa, the 2nd largest city in Kenya, right on the Indian Ocean, and about 300 miles from Nairobi. I’ll be working in a community center in Bamburi, a community within Mombasa.

8. Where will I be staying? This is the really neat part—I will be living with a family in Mombasa. The money that I paid as a project fee is paid to them for my room and board. Talk about immersion!! I am really excited about this arrangement. Many volunteers stay in dormitories, but I specifically looked for a program where I could stay in a home. I’m a bit old for the dormitory life!!

9. Will I need an interpreter in order to communicate with the people? Many Kenyas speak English, along with their native languages of Swaheli or Bantu. There shouldn’t be a problem with communicating among us.

10. What will the weather be like? Here are two facts: 1) The equator cuts through Kenya, and 2) I’m on the ocean front. So…hot and humid!

11. Will you have the opportunity to do any sight-seeing? Yes! I have weekends off, and it appears that it’s common for volunteers to make plans together to do ‘stuff’. One thing that I know I will be doing is a safari at the Masai Mara Game Reserve. Can’t wait! We went on safari in South Africa a few years ago, and it’s an unbelievable experience! I’m excited to go again. Beyond that, there’s time at the beach (I’m told it’s one of the most beautiful in the world), and whatever else the younger volunteers will tolerate taking this Grandma to! (80% of their volunteers are under the age of 30!)

12. How will I communicate with Jim and others at home? Will I have Internet? Yes. If not at my homestay, there are coffee shops where it’s available. I hope to post several times on this blog, and also post photos on Facebook.

The recommendation from IVHQ, and also from past volunteers, is to purchase an inexpensive phone once I get there. I will need to stay in touch with my program manager in Kenya, and others in my group. As for contacting Jim, I hope to be able to use What’sApp to do that. I still need to do more research on that option.

13. What will Jim be doing while I’m gone? Funny you should ask! It was the 1st question that our son Mark asked—“What’s Dad going to do for a month without you?” 😊 He’s looking forward to his own adventures! Every year for the past 30+ years, he has worked at the Dalton Steam Thresher’s Reunion in Dalton MN, as a steam engineer for a large stationary steam engine at the show. This year will be no exception—he’ll be there the 2nd weekend in September.

Then, he will travel to his home territory in Bottineau county, North Dakota, where he will join a crew that is building a large new center for Metigoshe Bible Camp. He will get in on the tail end of the project, but is excited to be joining them. The Bible Camp is just a few miles from where his family had a cabin (which his brother still owns) on Lake Metigoshe. They worshipped there a lot in the summers. It’s on the Canadian border, and about 25 miles from the family farm in Newburg, ND. In addition to working on the building, he is looking forward to spending time with a ton of cousins that he doesn’t usually find time to visit.

14. A question that was sent to me after my last post: Would I like prayers for my trip? I certainly would like prayers!! Although I am not going with a religious organization, and this is not a traditional ‘mission trip’, I certainly have felt the hand of God in this entire process. Years ago I learned the phrase “God’s Holy nudge”, which is a good description of what I have felt this process has been, from the planting of the seed many years ago, to its fruition now only 32 sleeps away. So, please pray for my safety, my good health, and for the people with whom I will come in contact. And, in keeping with the byline of my blog—pray for wisdom and courage, and thankfulness for this opportunity!

That covers the main details of my upcoming trip. I don’t have a paper chain like Owen did to indicate the number of sleeps I have left…but I DO have it written on my calendar, counting down to August 30! My excitement grows with each day, and when there’s only “one sleep” left on August 29, I may not sleep at all!

That is my Soul Story…moving closer to Kenya as I plan to gain a lot of Wisdom, use a heap of Courage, and experience a mighty amount of Gratitude for this experience!

36 Sleeps–Kenya FAQs, Part One

When 18-year-old Owen was 3, he came to stay with us when his parents went on vacation for a week. His mom made a paper chain (like you used to see on Christmas trees) that had the number of days until they returned. Each day, we would snip off one piece in that chain so that he could see how many ‘sleeps’ were left before his mom and dad came home. That is the 1st time I had ever heard that term: “X number of sleeps until ____”

On August 30, I am flying to Nairobi, Kenya to stay for 4 weeks, volunteering for a women’s education and empowerment program. When I checked the website a couple week, there was a notice telling me that “You have 52 sleeps until you join us.” Cool!!

I’ve been telling a lot of people about my trip (can you say “someone is very excited”?!!), and as you might expect, I get a lot of questions. So here are some FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions), with some answers to share with you—done it two parts, because it’s really too much to digest in one reading!

1. Why am I doing this? The simplest answer is that I really want to volunteer overseas while I still can. This may be my only opportunity, or it might lead to more opportunities in the future, but I just don’t want to put it off.

I trace the roots of this trip back to my high school days. The Peace Corps had just begun in 1961, and I found the concept very intriguing. I announced (well, sort of) to my parents that I wanted to join the Peace Corps after high school…or maybe after college. Well…the idea wasn’t met with a high level of enthusiasm! Although they were generally very supportive of what I did, somehow the idea of sending me off to who-knows-where in a program that was still so new, just didn’t hold any appeal to them. So…we compromised. I would finish college, and then go overseas to teach school, preferably in Germany—the homeland of my ancestors. Good plan!

During my freshman year at Concordia, I met this charming young man by the name of Jim Tonneson, and…well, you get the picture. I got to Germany 28 years later on a tour of Europe! And the teaching I did in Minnesota, and in Washington state when he was on internship. So, I taught school, and I went to Germany, but not quite simultaneously!

2. What organization am I using to do my volunteer work? The organization is IVHQ—International Volunteers. They send volunteers all over the world, and as I researched them, I found them to be a solid, reputable organization. I feel very confident that I am in good hands!

But I originally began with a Google search for “overseas volunteer opportunities for seniors”. I figured I might as well begin the elimination process with those organizations who weren’t going to take a 72-year-old volunteer!! I had about 6-8 from which to choose. My next criterion was the type of program—and there are many, many from which to choose. I wanted a program where I could work with the empowerment of women, to help them find ways to bring in revenue for themselves and their families. So…that brought me the possibility of several countries—India, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Kenya…a few others. I narrowed it down to a place where I would feel a level of comfort, since I was going on this venture with no one else that I knew. I have never been to any of the locations, but IJim and I spent 3 weeks in South Africa in 2015, and from I could tell, there were enough similarities between the two African countries that I felt best about choosing to go to Kenya.

3. What exactly will I be doing? Here’s what I know: I’ll be working in a community center in a part of the city of Mombasa. (Mombasa in the 2nd largest city in Kenya, and is right on the Indian Ocean.) Kenya women come to the center to learn crafty-type skills that they can turn into income. That may involve beading/jewelry-making, basket-weaving, or some other type of art or craft. In addition, they need to learn how to run a small business—presenting their wares to others, counting money, making change. When you’re starting from nothing, there is much to learn. The specific details of what I will be doing will be dependent upon the needs of the women who are there at the time that I am. So…I’ll roll with the punches!

4. Are you at all concerned about going alone? I’m a ‘little’ concerned, and a ‘lot’ excited. Actually, the second factor pretty much cancels out the first! I’m not concerned about whether I will be well taken care of (see above reference to research). My concerns are more for whether or not my body will tolerate this entire month well— How long will it take me to get over my jet lag? What kind of mattress will I be sleeping on? Will the neuropathy in my feet remain controlled well enough? Will my knees refrain from painful ‘clicking’ when I go up and down steps? Will my sciatica rear it’s painful head while I’m there? Let’s see…what am I forgetting?? If my body handles this trip well, I’m not too concerned about other things! Well, okay—one other concern: will the 20-somethings who make up 80% of the volunteers in IVHQ be willing to hangout with this grandma? (See above concerns regarding my body, in terms of being able to keep up with them!!)

5. How long is your flight? 18 hours—ugh! 9 hours to Amsterdam, with 2 hours on the ground there, and then another 9 hours to Nairobi.  There’s an 8 hour time difference, so while I will arrive there at 9:50 at night, it will still be 1:50 in the afternoon at home.

That’s where I’ll stop for today. I’ll count down a few more sleeps, and then write some more details.

Wasting Time

Recently I read a blog post by Susan Sparks entitled “Wasting Time with God”. (http://susansparks.com/blog/wasting-time-with-god/)   Before she got around to talking about God, she talked about wasting time with her dad when she was young, and then she posed the thought that “‘wasting time’ with those you love is, perhaps, one of the most important things you can do. Spending unstructured time together helps you reconnect, bond and build intimacy, honesty, and trust. It makes you stronger.”

Well, I thought,…she’s on to something there!  Then she went on to identify “wasting time” as “no agenda, nothing to do, nowhere to go, not even really saying that much. Just wasting time together.”   What?!  Is that even possible? …asks this very busy brain of mine!  If I’m going to spend time with someone, don’t I need an agenda?  Something to do? Doesn’t there need to be a plan in place???

If you know me at all, you know that ‘wasting time’ is a real challenge for me!  I actually wish that that was not the case.  I’d like to be more at ease with wasting time…with doing nothing. In fact, I often envy people who can waste time well! (and what is THAT–“wasting time well“?)  Plus, I have a confession to make–I’m also judgmental about people who waste time!  “Don’t they have something better to do with their time than just sit around and ______ (fill in the blank)?” Rather paradoxical:  envy them/judge them.  Ugh!

No wonder its a struggle for me!  I can’t decide if wasting time is a good thing or a bad thing!  I’m not even sure what falls under the category of “wasting time”!  Is reading a book “wasting time”?  Is Happy Hour with friends? Going on a bike ride with neighbors?   Playing a computer game?  Writing a blog post (particularly if the topic is “wasting time”)?

These thoughts have been rattling around in my head for a week or so, and finally here is where I’m landing:  There is a difference between “wasting” and “wasted” time?  There has to be! If I’m just ‘wasting time’ with loved one(s), that couldn’t be considered wasted time!  It must come down to the value we place on however we spend our time.  If I continue to read a book that I’m not enjoying, I really think that’s a waste of time. But if I’m sitting in the living room with Jim, and we’re both reading something that we enjoy, that is a good way to waste some time together.   If I spend 2 hours of Facebook…at least 90 minutes of that is wasted time. I’ll give myself 20-30 minutes a day.  After that, it’s a waste!  And if I do go beyond that, I end up feeling icky (a very scientific, diagnosable feeling!)! Same is true with games on my phone or iPad–if I lose track of time, and just keep playing mindlessly, I seldom feel good about myself.  I feel like I just wasted a bunch of time…and time is just so darn limited at this stage of life!

Last week was our annual ‘Grandma Camp’ that first began when Owen (now nearly 18) was 4 or 5.  (I tried calling it ‘Grandpa and Grandma Camp’, but it always got shortened to ‘Grandma Camp’.)  Owen graduated from camp a couple years ago, and Noah, now 11, began when he was about 4.  They had several years of overlap, which was double-the-fun!  Our time together has usually been a mixture of structured and unstructured:  playing games, sitting around the campfire, chatting with each other, riding bike, playing in the pool…it’s been a lot of “wasting time together”, but not a minute of it has been “wasted”.

Later this week I’m going to waste some time with some of my siblings.  We do that once each month–we gather at my sister’s home, we drink wine, talk, laugh, have lunch, hug, and remind ourselves how lucky and blessed we are to still be able to enjoy each others’ company at this stage of life.  Not a moment of our time together is wasted.

I’m going to continue to challenge myself to waste more time–to be less tied to an agenda, less obsessive about getting things done on my ever-present ‘to do’ list, more spontaneous and willing to change my plans if something fun and ‘wasteful’ comes along!  I’m telling you…it will not be easy!  I think I was born with a To-Do list tattooed inside my brain!!  I am wired to not waste time!  Maybe I just need to make a very clear distinction in my mind between “wasting time” and “wasted time”.

Wasting time does sound like a lot of fun!  How do you waste time?