Letters From Africa

  36. March 11 Dear Mom and Dad (Line from Barb) Guess by now you have received the letter with the check inside. We received a package from Byron’s family mailed on the 12th of November. It was some raffia like stuff and a little plastic loom to make flowers. It cost them five dollars to buy it, one dollar to mail it, and us, nine shillings for duty. It has been a lot of fun to work with. We’ve even made flowers out of grass. No power yet. We have all our new plugs in and the poles are in the ground from bringing the wire to the house. On the way to Embu they have cut down three huge trees. They must have been one hundred and fifty feet tall and about three feet in diameter. It seemed like awfully big trees to cut by hand, but they did! Last trip I made to Embu some of the local people, mostly women, were hacking off limbs and carrying them away. I don’t know what they will do with the trunk. Probably some woman will chop off a piece and carry it away on her back. There were some ...

  35. March 7 Dear Mom and Dad, (Line from Barb) Got your letter with birthday check yesterday. I think that is pretty speedy service. Thank you so much for the money. Think we’ll put it in the travel fund. Last trip was so enjoyable, I’m looking forward to the next one. The birthdays were pretty quiet. We went to a movie on Sunday night. Haddens in Embu got the film “Texas Across the Border” from somewhere and invited everyone to come and see it. I baked cakes trying different combinations as suggested by the high altitude Colorado leaflet. After four cakes the last one looked a little more like it should, but there still needs to be a few changes. We ate them all and had enough strawberries to have some on one cake with ice cream. That was my cake! Amy got a big box of water paints and Vicki got a recorder, which is a musical instrument like a tonette. She has learned the notes and has been playing tunes that are recognizable. Everyone gave me a vinegar cruet and a $5 bill besid...

34. March 5 Dear Mom and Dad (Line from Barbara) Our half term turned out to be a little damp, so much so, that we finally didn’t go anywhere. We did get to Nairobi to do the shopping we didn’t get to do when taking Diane back last week. We left here Friday around noon, and came back Saturday evening. It rained part of Thursday night, and so we decided it was best to stay home. We had planned to go up toward Meru. One of our group, the Rhienhiemers, live there. They came down and stayed last night on their way to Nairobi. He had been out hunting and killed four antelope, all different kinds. One was a waterbuck with a beautiful gray hide. I can’t remember what the others were. He was taking the hides down to be tanned. He told about getting his hunting license. He had to take a test on identifying a large number of animals by their pictures and answer questions concerning the laws and regulations. He had to buy a permit to buy and keep the gun and promise to keep it locked up in a safe...

  33. February 26, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, This last weekend was Diane’s half term. It really turned out to be a party! Early in the week we made plans to go to Nairobi on Friday and pick up Diane, so we could all go to the U.S. Embassy Nurse’s Office and have our Gamma Globulin booster shot. I wrote letters to get permission from the school to get Diane and the Ferguson kids (They were to be with us for the half term) out early for the shots as their vacation didn’t begin until ten Saturday morning. About the time I had sent the letters off to the schools I got word through Mr. Hadden, who had been in Nairobi at the AID office, that immunization day was Saturday. They sent word by him, as it was faster than by mail or telephone! (Does that  tell you something about the telephone service??) In the meantime we had a wheel bearing that was complaining louder and louder, and a couple of rain showers that made us decide we would just come back home after picking up the kids and not...