28. January 21, 1968, Barbara's Letter to her folks

 28.

January 21

Dear Mom and Dad, (Line from Barb)

Happy Anniversary! Although it’s probably passed by the time you read this.

We’ve been here one fourth of our time now. I must admit that the vacation time has gone the fastest. We had a letter from Diane on Thursday and I think she’ll be all right. She said there were a billion or so rules but had been befriended by an Asian Senior who was good help in enlightening her. The food, she said, the less said the better. There was not much about classes except that all the teachers were like a teacher she had at Hillside that had to show and tell you each little thing to do and never let you work on your own. She’s found eight other Americans, two Canadians, and one Danish girl, that all seem to be of a mind to stick together and form an alliance to counteract whatever needs to be counteracted! We also had a letter from her piano teacher telling us she was glad to have her for a pupil, and we don’t know if she’s even met Diane yet. At any rate, Diane sounds fairly well settled and thinks it will be tolerable.

We had a dinner party last night. We had the Haddens, from Embu, who invited us for Thanksgiving, and the Whites, who came shortly after we did. Mr. White and the kids really like each other, but Milton really likes him. They are younger than we are and are due to have their first baby soon. We also had Mr. Brown, the Peace Corp man, who lives here at the college, and Pat, another Peace Corp girl who has just come. She has been in Nigeria for a while. Tina and Peter also came. She’s American negro and he’s African. He’d been going to school in the U.S. and they came back here about the time we did. It turned out real nice and the food was real good, even if I do say so! The roast beef was fairly tender. It had been sitting in the refrigerator aging for a week! New potatoes, carrots, squash, and lettuce out of the garden, and apple pie out of a can for dessert. There wasn’t a scrap of anything left, so think they must have enjoyed it. I sure didn’t count on doing so much entertaining when I left home. I had to borrow dishes and make napkins. I just didn’t figure there would be so much social life. As soon as my teaching money comes, I’m going to buy some things, like a tea set for instance.

I washed quilts last week. There were three that got sent from home dirty. The day I decided to wash two quilts was the day the water system pump broke down, so we didn’t have much spare water, as we discovered it after the washing was done. There is a tank in the attic of each house and the water is piped to make it from the big main tanks up on the hill. All the water for the whole college is stored in those three big tanks. I figured things were going to be pretty dry, but a miracle happened, (I’m not sure what or how)and they got it fixed by that evening. It’s the fastest any repair has ever been done!

Mom, I am going to answer some of your questions! Yes, the school does have sewing machines, eight of them. Three treadle like mine, but several years newer, and five table models that have a handle on the wheel that you turn with your hand. The girls like them, because you don’t have the problems of making your feet go the right way! Thanks for reminding me that it was Grandma Adams’ birthday. I have already written to her. I’ve 

been writing to them both. Aunt Ruth says Gra (Line)doesn’t write to anyone, but likes to get the letters.

You wondered about the prices in the paper. The 1.10 on the baked beans was one shilling ten cents or about 16¢ U.S. A shilling has 100¢ and they write shillings and cents the way we do dollars and cents. It sort of shakes you up if you don’t realize the difference. Sometimes they use / instead of the decimal.

Bill sent us his picture in an aerogram. It cost him 37¢ extra. He even put a tin can lid in with it to keep it from betting bent! It was a good picture, and I thought it nice of him to send it.

Dad, we do have a kitty for traveling. We managed to add to it on the trip home from taking Diane to school. Shell Gas is having a contest. You get half a fake shilling note for every three gallons of “petrol” you buy. If you get two halves that match, you get whatever amount is printed on the note. There are 5,000 shillings, 1,000 shillings, 500, 100, 20, and 10. We have been collecting halves all along our trip to Uganda and finally got a match … 10 shillings! So it has gone into the kitty. We’ve started a pool of everyone around the college and when we get a match the two whose halves match will share. So far no luck, but everyone is enthused. 

Glad the presents arrived. They dye the hemp with dye they buy in the market. The man has it in old spice cans and dips it out with a tiny stick into a piece of newspaper and wraps it up. About a quarter of a teaspoon costs 30¢ African. I’m going to buy some one of these times. So far I’ve just watched the others buy.

Don’t worry about the postage on your presents. We just had to send something, but probably will just bring the rest and have that much more to spend. We got a nice carved elephant, about 4 inches tall for four shillings last trip into Nairobi, so think we’ll be able to buy some things to bring.

Frank’s Dad is in the Veteran’s Hospital. His hip wasn’t making the progress he expected, and he has overdone and hurt it some more. They have put him in traction at night and also have him on a diet. Mrs. C. says he thinks he’s starving, so I guess he’s doing okay, if the food is what he complains about! They really haven’t explained too much, so I think there is some doubt about how it will all come out.

I measured the kids the other day. Kiva has grown an inch and an eighth; Milt and Amy each one inch, and Vicki a quarter of an inch. We have been marking it on the kitchen wall. From the looks of Kiva’s clothes, you’d think she had grown three inches! Better stop and get some supper. We are going to have bread and milk, pineapple and peanut butter. It’s just as hard here as it was at home to think up things to eat! Love, Barb and All