18. November 5, 1967: Letter from Barbara to Frank's Folks

18. November 5 

Dear Mom and Dad, (Cochrane from Barb)

Frank’s writing a test so he won’t write this time. He sends his love and will catch you next letter.

Hard to believe it’s November already. Kiva’s birthday was Saturday, and she really had a big time. Sang Happy Birthday to herself all day. I tried another cake, but this one fell too. I’ve decided it’s the altitude. If you happen to have anything that tells about special measurements for high altitudes, please send it along. I think it must need more flour as the cake seems really sticky and too greasy.  Everyone ate it anyway, and said it was good. No one wanted to was the dishes (because they “griped the cooking”! That’s the deal - you complain about the cooking, you do the dishes!)

We gave Kiva some books we bought in Nairobi and Diane made her a rabbit about 18 inches tall with a coat and shirt that come off. It is the cutest thing. It was in one of the Women’s Day Magazines that we brought along. She made it out of brown cotton material and stuffed it with kapok that came out of an old mattress. Vicki made her a Hildie doll, so new clothes and a bed with all the trimmings. It was a successful celebration.

How’s the hip, Dad? I suspect you are probably still using the crutches, but I hope it feels a lot better. Just take care and don’t try to do everything all at once.

Diane finished her Literature yesterday. She hit a snag in the Algebra, the book didn’t have some forty pages in it. She has written for a new book, but when it will come is a mystery. They have been real slow returning her lessons. So far two have come back from the Lit. course and there are forty in all! As soon as they receive the final lesson of the Literature course, they will send the Spanish course. I wanted to bring all of them with us, but they wanted one course finished before sending another, I suppose so there would be a reason to finish one. I am real proud of the way both she and Vicki settle down and get those lessons done. I never have to push them. Milt sometimes has a little trouble settling down to work, especially not that I am teaching, and we work at their lessons after I am finished up at the college. But, he is making pretty good progress and seems to feel good about it most of the time. Amy whizzes right along and thinks it’s great. Kiva never seems to have much trouble finding something to do while the kids are studying, although she gets a little loud when she sings to herself.

Everyone has been in real good spirits and good health for quite a while now. It sure is a relief not to have to worry about that. I thought all this wet weather would bring on some colds, but the sun shines a little each day, and it dries out so quick that things like beds don’t gather much dampness. It is supposed to be different in July, but we’ll just hope that we can be somewhere else during that month.

This holiday time is unbelievable!  School is out November 30 and doesn’t take up again until January 15. So we are hoping to do quite a little traveling during that time. The wet weather will be drying out by that time and the roads should be in good shape. I’ve been real relieved to find out that the roads don’t go to pieces as fast when it rains as I had been led to believe. Just a half hour of sun or so and the main part of the road, two tracks anyway, is dry enough that you don’t slip on it.

We went down to Embu yesterday and did some shopping at the African market. Boy was that place muddy! We wore our boots and were glad of them. We bought potatoes, carrots, onions, a funny looking fruit that looked like a pineapple with no stem and some bananas.We had two baskets full and so heavy it was all we could do to carry them, and I spent 15 shillings.Oh yes, that included five eggs at twenty cents each. The millet is a small grain about the size of alfalfa seed. I didn’t get it ground fine enough and it was like eating lumpy Cream of Wheat, but I think my African neighbor can help me get it fixed right. She says it is very good for breakfast.

The other day we walked down the hill to the river where the pumping station is for water here at the college. It is a good pump but the color of the water as it goes into the pump house convinces you that you should boil it before drinking, even if they do treat it! A little farther down the stream is a mill where they use the water power to turn two big stones to grind corn. We watched a woman sifting her ground corn to remove the husks and chaff. She had a small screened box she would shake the meal through into a big canvas. Right by the mill on the hillside were rows and rows of coffee drying racks. The harvest must come later, as we have seen lots of racks but no activity around them. They tell us that late November begins the harvest.

We celebrated Halloween too. We made paper masks to wear and dressed up and went around giving treats. The kids sure enjoyed it and they ended up with some treats too.  I think the Africans were pretty surprised. We gave them popcorn and the next day three of the little kids made a special point to tell me how good it was. One of the English women gave us each an apple which was a real treat. They don’t grow here so they have to be imported and most of them come from Australia. There is one American Peace Corp man living here. The kids yelled trick or treat to him and he couldn’t believe it, just stood in the door with his mouth open!

Francis was sick this week, so I sent him home and I did the washing, just for sheets and nightgowns. The next day we sent a letter to Jim asking him to send the washing machine out of the barn! We still have some sea freight allowance left, so we decided to make use of it. It will take a transformer to be able to use, but it will be well worth the effort. Looks like the power is really on the way. They have been surveying the line all week. The washing machine should get here by the time the power does! 

Love, Barb