40. April 19, 1968, Friday after Easter, Barbara to her folks

 40. Friday after Easter, (April 19, 1968)

Dear Mom and Dad, (Line from Barb)


Sorry for being so long to write. All of a sudden  things speeded up! 


Two weeks ago, Tuesday, I went to Nairobi to get supplies for the trip we hoped to take to the coast over Easter weekend. At that time, it looked as though we might have school on Monday after Easter, even though it is a National Holiday here. I got all the food we needed and got home about supper time the next day. This was also the time I took Milt and Kiva to the doctor in Nairobi. (It’s a little hard to sort things out this morning!) They both had laryngitis (Hoarse voice and croupy cough), and had had it for three days. It started the morning I went down for Diane, and I couldn’t find any private doctors in Embu. The Asian lady doctor we’d gone to off and on had taken down her sign!


We got to the doctor in Nairobi and got the proper medicine, found the Sentman’s were gone, so stayed the night in their house in order to get everything done. When we got back to St. Mark’s, we discovered that Mr. Kiriro, the Principal, had returned from his two week trip to Moscow, Russia, and had decreed that the school be turned out for the term on Good Friday, then being two days away. There was really a scramble to get things wound up as we had all been thinking, drearily, that we’d be there until the 15th. We got all packed to leave around four Friday morning and it rained buckets Thursday night. It leaked in the car and got two sleeping bags wet, so we didn’t leave until Friday afternoon. One reason for leaving so early was to get to Melindi in one day, but instead we camped overnight at Kenyatta College. We got there just as three other families did, and also found the Sentmans back home. We had planned to stay in their house again. It was quite a crowd, but no one seemed to mind, and we left around 8 the next morning. We got to Melindi about 8 that night. That included a three hour wait for the ferry at one point!


We’ve been here on the beach for a week. We went goggling this time, and Frank got his backside burned from neck to heels, except where his bathing suit was. We spent nearly three hours with face masks and snorkels paddling around looking at fish and coral. It was just like those fancy pictures you see in the Geographic! I can’t say I feel at ease enough to thoroughly enjoy it, but the sights are wonderful! Diane, Vicki, and Frank have made arrangements to go again, and bought 2 masks and snorkels of our own. That is how enthused they were! The little kids would let me hang them over the side of the boat so they could look through the mask, but didn’t want to go clear in. Kiva wouldn’t even hang over the side! Now we know where we can go to  wade out in the water and use the mask This time an African took us out over the reef in his boat. It is a sailboat with one large sail. The ride was as enjoyable as seeing the fish. We have another week, then Frank has to teach an In-Service Institute and Diane goes back to school.


We’ve had rain off and on this time, which is refreshing, and only a few people as neighbors on the camping site. Kiva found a beautiful shell. I’ll write more later. Barb

Diane came out tops in her class!

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