20., 20.1,20.2 November 19, 1967: Letters about Open Day

20. Open Day:

November 19

Dear Mom and Dad (Line, from Barb)

We had Open Day this last Saturday. Man, what a day. I still feel a little weary! We’ve known it was going to happen from the beginning of the term, but I really hadn’t realized what a production it was going to be. On Thursday and Friday there were no classes held, so that the students and teachers could clean up and set up displays. Everyone was really working. I had most of my things up the first day, or I should say, I did it in one day because Thursday most of the second year girls spent sewing on their dresses so that they would be ready to show. We didn’t have a style show like I had thought would be nice, there were too many other things going on. And it’s good we didn’t, as the program was far too long.

The Minister of Planning and Development and the Minister of Education came as honored guests. They were supposed to arrive for lunch. I was supposed to help Mrs. Nyaga, the Matron and Kitchen Supervisor, oversee getting the food ready. They moved the new Domestic Science stove to our kitchen and set up to use both stoves. Three men who cook for some of the staff were to do the actual cooking. They were really whizzes...they had piles of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, pineapple, bananas, and pawpaws and they worked like a house-a-fire with both stoves going full blast all morning. The meat didn’t arrive until around 10:30, which about finished us all, but it was fairly well done. There were two other kitchens turning out things to eat for the same lunch, and there were three goats roasted in the car barn. Now we know that roast goat is a “must” for a celebration! I didn’t know about any of the food until we were up in the dining hall eating and I saw all the other food that hadn’t come from our kitchen! It was really fun. 

Mrs. Nyaga knows what to do for such things and I just helped and gave advice when asked, which she did out of politeness I think. Anyway, she had planned on fifty people to feed, and I’ll bet we fed one hundred and fifty! The students sat down and ate in three quarters of the dining hall. At the other end of the hall they set up a long table served more or less buffet style. Then you just stood around and ate holding your plate! We could never do it American style, but they sure could do it African style! 

You would just never believe it unless you saw it! Here goes the Principal with a tremendous bone in his hand (the leg of something) chewing on it as he goes from guest to guest visiting. Another man has a bone in each hand. Most of the guests haven’t bothered with silver after dishing everything with one spoon. They just eat with their fingers. There were a few knives and forks on the table, and a tablespoon for everyone if you wanted it. There was a fruit mixture for dessert in individual bowls that was delicious. It all tasted very good, but they sure could upset you with their manners! I never saw such grabbing and gobbling!

After lunch the honored guest made a tour of the exhibits in the rooms, and we cleared away the dining hall. Then the speeches began. It was a miserable three hours. I would like to have kicked both Ministers, as they took an hour each, and then the Chairman of the Board and the Principal had to talk, and then they presented awards.

Finally around four o’clock the choir got to sing, and then we went outside to watch the country and native dancing. Most of the day it had been showering, just enough to keep things wet and rather chilly. About the time the dancers were half through their program, the honored guests decided they’d had enough and got up and left. They didn’t even wait for the students to finish. I thought that was really rude. By the time the last dance was over, the staff was the only audience left. All the others had gone off to the dining hall to have tea. That was an even worse grabbing affair than lunch was, because by that time, there were about four times as many people. That’s the thing I’ve noticed about the Africans, they don’t mind being squeezed like sardines, in fact, they act like they enjoy it!

Boy were we tired that night. We’d had to stand during the speeches, because there wasn’t enough room to sit. At least we were outside, and I had sent the little kids to the house during the speeches, so they didn’t have to be still.

I was given some nice compliments. The principal told in his speech how the school had grown from one tutor in 1934 to fourteen and one half in 1967. Everyone laughed, and then he told them that the half teacher was a very gracious American lady who had agreed to teach Domestic Science, and how she was doing it in spite of the fact that she had five children of her own to take care of. The people really clapped and I felt maybe it was worthwhile after all! 

All in all the classes had gone okay. The class of nineteen had sixteen dresses on display. Some of them didn’t have buttons and buttonholes, but generally they came out looking pretty good. Two of the girls had knitted items that looked nice, and the first years’ sewing bags looked good. Some of the machine sewing was terrible, but at least they had had a chance to learn how. Out of seventy girls, only three could not make the machine sew right!

Frank’s science display stole the show. It was really good and impressed the honored guests enough, and the students immensely. I went up after dark to see why he hadn’t come down to supper, and there he was with a big group of students explaining one of the displays and giving a good-sized lecture on all the principles involved. They were almost as enthused as he was. If nothing else, he will have shown them just how many interesting things there are to be learned.

The kids are all well. Today I looked out just as Kiva was hugging two little girls that had wandered into our yard.  I don’t know where they came from. She sure is a favorite with everyone around the college. And Diane and Vicki have begun to make friends among the college girls. A lot of them aren’t more than sixteen. 

Love from us all, Barb.

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20.1

November 19

Dear Grandmother (Adams, from Barb)

Well, we’ve been in Kenya for three months, and Frank has figured that we will be leaving in 17 months. Not that we are anxious to leave, but whenever a fit of homesickness strikes we either figure up how much time there is left, or decide on another interesting route to take in getting home! It has been some time now since we have talked about going home, so I guess we are getting accustomed to being here.

This last week was especially busy, as the school was preparing for an Open Day, which was held yesterday, and it is really an all-out thing. The whole college spent Thursday and Friday just cleaning up and arranging exhibits, and getting ready, choir numbers, rehearsing P.E. demonstrations, and heaven only knows what else. Anyway, the day came off with a big bang in spite of a drizzly rain that fell most of the day.

I am a half-time teacher now. I have seven Domestic Science classes each week and meet with every girl in the college, about 70 in all. It is a lot of fun, but sure takes a lot of energy. We did needlework this term. There are seven sewing machines, and one class had nineteen students in it! It was a little difficult, but believe it or not, we got sixteen dresses made in that class! The other three girls made knitted things. This class was second years, that is why they made dresses. This first years’ made a little bag to keep their sewing in and did some embroidery on it. 

The room looked very nice for Open Day with all the sewing out to be seen. The girls seemed very pleased with what they had done. Next term we are to do some cooking. The college has even bought a new gas stove. How that will work out, I don’t know. I still have trouble with the gas stove here in the house. I cannot make a good cake! They all flop! It’s some of the things that keeps things interesting!

It was so nice to hear from you, even though I’ll bet you think I’ve forgotten you. It seems there just aren’t enough hours in the day at times, and having the lights go out at eleven o’clock makes you more conscious of it. We have bought a gas lantern, so we can stay up longer if necessary, but we all feel plenty ready for bed long before eleven most of the time.The sun rises around six and we are usually awake by then.

We have been having the short rainy season since October 15! I really wonder how much more we can have in the long rainy season! It rains at least one good shower each night and sometimes during the day too. In between it is bright and sunny and warm. Things really grow. The whole countryside is brilliant green. It is hard to realize that winter has come at home. The roads have held up very well. The story was when we came that you just stayed home when it rained. Well, we still do, but after the sun is out for half an hour, the road is dry enough that you can go to Embu and back with little difficulty. The ground seems to soak up the water like a sponge and dries quickly, leaving the surface as hard as a rock. I don’t know if I told you or not that the soil is very red and the mud is sticky red. This wet weather has turned our boots and socks and floor mats reddish brown. Kiva’s and Milt’s knees are reddish brown even after a good scrubbing. I think this is a characteristic color of this part of Africa, and frankly I don’t think I will ever like that color again!

You asked about food and you’re right. It was one of the hardest things to get used to. The college has a water system and treats it with chlorine, but we boil it to be on the safe side. Sometimes it looks reddish brown out of the faucet, and you feel better about drinking it if it has been boiled. 

We’ve had a few minor upsets, that’s all. The local canned things are all different. You can get American and English brands but they are very expensive. Kenya cans delicious pork and beans, but the corn and peas are both canned too old, and the tomatoes are very watery. I never really appreciated the quality controls we have at home until now. It is also very strange not to have the contents listed on the label. They have no laws such as our food and drug laws. I really appreciate a lot of things our government does that I took for granted.

The children are getting along fine. This morning three little girls came wandering onto our yard and Kiva ran over and hugged them all at once, and they went around hand in hand until their mama called them. First time I’d seen them, but it didn’t matter to Kiva. There are lots of children on the compound for the little kids, but Diane and Vicki have just each other. All kids their age are off at boarding school.  They’re getting acquainted with some of the college girls and that helps. Some of these girls aren’t more than two years older than Diane. I guess Diane will go to boarding school in Nairobi beginning in January. I sort of hate to see her go, but I know it will be good for her and an experience she should have.

Our term here is over November 30, and we have vacation until January 16. Isn’t that something? It is also the beginning of the hot weather for this area. I am really looking forward to that. We will spend the first two weeks between here and Nairobi, as Frank has a Science workshop to attend in Nairobi at the University. After that we hope to head to Uganda and Lake Victoria and travel until the money runs out! I forgot to tell you, I will get paid for my teaching. I don’t know how much, as my job has not been officially approved yet!

I didn’t finish telling you about the food. The meat is the worst. You never saw leaner, tougher meat in your life! A man brings it wrapped in newspaper three times a week. We get a six pound hunk each time. They just hack off a piece, and it looks the same whether you tell them steak or roast! It costs one shilling fifty a pound, or about twenty cents U.S. When you look at it that way, it really isn’t so bad. At first we went to the local butchery, but that was pretty bad. Once was about all you could take of the smell and the flies. This man sells and delivers to the college, so we felt like it’s safe to eat! I’m sure glad I brought my meat grinder. So next time you bite into a tough piece of meat, think of me. I’ll bet my piece is tougher! 

Love from all of us, Barb

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 20.2 November 19

Dear Folks, (Cochrane, from Frank)

This has been a real lazy Sunday around here and one we felt that we really earned. Yesterday was the Big Day, The Open House, with all the gala activities and rain and mud. We had Thursday and Friday to set up our exhibits, and of course the students were supposed to help. I got about a third of the ones, who had said they would help, to actually work. Some I just ran off because they created more work than doing it myself. By late Friday night I had a fair to middling display, with enough working gadgets to look through to keep spectators’ interest. It evidently was the most science most of the indigenous people have ever seen in one place at one time Most of it was somewhat practical, and that is apparently unheard of here. To have any form of education that is practical seems unimportant.

Barb also worked like a dog getting her girl’s dresses completed. She really did a job. To start out with, these girls, most of whom had never run a sewing machine, were to make dresses in about four weeks’ time.

We were honored by the presence of the Minister of Planning and Development and the Minister of Education. And of course everyone had to give speeches, very long ones! We started with the Chairman of the Board of Directors, then our Principal, the Minister of Planning and Development, and the Minister of Education. 

This all came after we had a mass dinner. Now that was really something. There just aren’t words to describe it all. Barb had been asked to help see that the dinner got served. They were kind enough to ask her on Friday.  They had ordered meat that didn’t come, but luckily we had ordered twelve pounds for a faculty dinner next Wednesday night, so they used that. We had three cooks down here using our kitchen. They moved in an extra gas stove for them. Every kitchen in the compound was expecting about fifty people for dinner, but the custom here is to feed everyone that shows up, so at least one hundred came to eat! It was a riot! Serve yourself meal like you have never seen. I was in the crowd at the end of one line of tables, so I could look the full length, and all I could see were hands grabbing food. Some used plates and no utensils, some used no plates and no utensils, and some ate as we would expect, with plates and utensils!

I gave up and came down to the house and cleaned up the scraps of the kids’ lunch. All of this happened about two hours behind schedule. No one pays attention to time here. When the speeches started, we didn’t have a place to sit down and we thought we would die before it was over. Barb had just managed to get a bowl of fruit to eat for lunch, and about in the middle of the long talks she headed to the house. Later she said she felt faint, and it was because she hadn’t had any dinner. We were both running around doing odd jobs to keep things going clear through dinner. At least we had enough sense to feed the kids at home.

After the speeches we had presentations of awards, some music by the choir, and some native dances by the students. Those were really good. The Ministers went around by themselves to see the exhibits, and they spent a lot of time in my room looking and asking questions. I don’t know what their reaction was in Barb’s room, as she wasn’t there when they went through.

Then about five (after tea) we opened the rooms again to let all the rest of the people see. This was probably the most worthwhile, because all of our own students came through. It served as a good “interest getter”. It was quite an affair and I was glad that we had a chance to be involved in it. Our kids got to see all that went on too. Everyone was bone tired last night though, and it didn’t take much to get them in bed. During the speeches the principal gave Barbara special recognition for her Domestic Science work, so it made her feel good, even if she worked her head off.

We have just a week and a half now until this term ends. Then there is a six weeks vacation. I have a short TEEA workshop and a math and science workshop  for ten days, so that leaves about four weeks to travel.

Love, Frank