Letters From Africa

32. February 19 Dear Mom and Dad (Line from Barb) Before I forget another time, Diane’s address is P.O. Box 30035 B.P., Kenya Girls School, Nairobi, Kenya. I know she will be tickled to have a letter from you. I don’t know how many she is writing these days. We didn’t get one this week, so I figured that things are going a little better. When we saw her last weekend, she felt pretty blue about the whole thing, but was on the road to working out a time to practice guitar and piano, so she wouldn’t have to “rest”. Next weekend is their half term so we will take a short overnight trip north of here. Our half term isn’t until the following weekend, so we can’t do anything very lengthy. Last Wednesday we made a trip to Chukka, about forty miles north of here towards Meru. The Dutch couple were moving to the school there, and Frank took a load of their things up for them. Vicki rode with him and the other kids and I went up with Miss Williams. She decided it was a good excuse to see that par...

  31. February 12 Dear Mom and Dad (Line from Barb) Yesterday we went down to Nairobi to see Diane. She could come out for the  day. We went down Saturday, did some shopping, and stayed the night in our tent in Knudson’s back yard at Kenyatta College. It was a real nice trip, and Diane was sure glad to see us. We hadn’t let her know we were coming. She seems to be doing all right, although she bawled when we left. I would guess that she gets more homesick than she lets on. She is quite enthused about her guitar lessons. She can practice during rest period, which suits her better than just laying on her bed. I’m not really convinced that it is a good idea for her to go another term, except for the chance to be with people her own age. This is Happy Valentines to you. I couldn’t get the kids enthused about making Valentines. It’s not the right kind of weather I guess, and it is impossible to find red paper, even in Nairobi. Paper products are scarce and when you do find them the...

  30. February 4, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad (Line from Barb) This last week was a real exciting one for all the local people. President Kenyatta is touring the country. He came to Embu Thursday and is staying three days. I think he leaves today. When we came home from seeing Diane last week, I counted 250 flags displayed in Embu. During the week they put up lots more and decorated everywhere with small flags and bunting. The place really looked gay. We didn’t go to see him come in. We went to the garden party given that evening at the house where he was staying. There was a long evening’s entertainment given by different groups of school children singing and lots of groups of dancers performing  native dances. It was very interesting and some of the dancers were really good. They were all dressed up and looked like some of the pictures from National Geographic. The school children were not quite so interesting, but they sound pretty good. Lots of the tunes were familiar but with d...

  29. January 29 Dear Mom and Dad (Line from Barb) Yesterday was the first time Diane could “exit”, so we went down and spent the day with her. It was a nice visit and we all enjoyed it. We took Cheryl Ferguson too, from the family who lived next to us in New York. I told you about meeting them when we took Diane to school. We took a picnic lunch and drove out to the Ngong Hills east of Nairobi about twenty miles. You drive right up to the top of some really steep hills. We had to get out and walk at one place as the car just wouldn’t pull it. From the top you get a tremendous view of the valley all around. There were some people there, but it was relatively quiet and we just lazed around after we ate. I came home with a bit of a sunburn. Diane seems to like the school fairly well. Some of the teachers sound like duds, but maybe that’s just her opinion. The geography teacher was amazed when Diane knew all about the land and climate between the cascades and the Rockies. It seems rat...

  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 ...

  27. January 4, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad (Line, from Barb) Can’t remember when I wrote but know it’s been a long time. We came home from Melindi December 26 and had Christmas the 27th, as we had left our presents for each other at home. It was just as much fun as having it on the 25th. On Friday, Frank and I left the kids at home and went to Nairobi to get the car license and permission to go to Uganda. We got the permit to go to Uganda, and the re-entry to Kenya in good time, but the car license really got involved. Our bus was used as a school bus before we got it, so it had a commercial license, which means it had to have an inspection costing forty shillings and an extra sixty shillings for the license. We spent three hours trying to find out how to get the license changed to private status. Most of that time was spent standing in lines. Finally we went back to the dealer, as he had to write a letter saying he had sold it for private purposes. So he said he’d take care of it and ...

  24. December 12 Dear Mom and Dad (Line, from Barb on the Christmas card) The first lap you might say of our vacation is over. We went to Nairobi December 3 to attend the TEEA Conference. I guess the conference part for the men was more or less a gripe session, but did give everyone a chance to get things off their chest, settled and straightened! We stayed at the Spread Eagle Hotel, the four up-country families. The wives and kids spent most of the three days at or in the swimming pool. It rained one day and night, but was still pleasant. Tuesday night there was a dinner in a Nairobi restaurant with steak for the grownups. Diane and Vicki made a little money babysitting. We left Wednesday and tried to get all the Nairobi business done.  We almost fell over when we paid the hotel bill. 735 shillings! TEEA paid $20 plus mileage per day which came to some 580 shillings. It was fun, but pretty expensive! Thursday we left Frank at his Science Institute and came on home. That was...