Letters From Africa

  52. June 17, 1968 Dear Dad, and Mom too! (Line from Barb) (*air letter decorated for a Father’s Day Card) Hope you have an extra nice Father’s Day, or at least the chance for an extra five minute nap. Looks like we might have a nice day today. The sun is out bright and clear, and it is about 8 a.m. We went down to Embu to the Halls’ house for a movie. (Mr. Hall’s Brittish and teaches at Kangaru Boys’ School) They show the films that come to the school over again to all Europeans in the neighborhood. This one was a World War II film with Marlon Brando and Yul Brynner. I can’t remember it’s name! We had our first fried chicken last Friday. The Bensens are raising some chickens and we got four from them. They were three months old, but about the size of the very first we would eat, out of a bunch at home. A little small, but very good! WE fried the four and just stuffed! We had thought that we would have company, but the rain scared them out. It rained two inches Friday night! Amy ...

  51. June 9, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, (Line from Barb) We heard on the radio about Robert Kennedy’s assassination a few hours after it happened, and the papers were full of it. It is hard to believe it really happened. I have finally finished Vicki’s sweater, and it looks good and fits! Now I’m going to put together the one I finished knitting two years ago for Diane. I can’t think why I brought it. It must have been one of those days packing when I was throwing in everything I ran across. This week has been the unusual nightly rain storms with one or two exceptions. Yesterday was one. It rained all afternoon instead! Last Monday Diane and I took off for Nairobi to get the wheels aligned on the car and get the flat tire fixed. I wrote about the trip around the mountain last week, and the next morning the rear tire on the bus was flat. I was glad it didn't happen on the way home. We left home Monday afternoon because we could see a storm coming and the appointment for the car as 8 in...

50. June 2, 1968 Dear Mom and Dad, (Line from Barb) June came in here with the most beautiful day! It was the first time we had seen the sun at 7 in the morning for about two weeks!  It was a welcome sight!  June first is a sort of Independence Day, the day that Kenya began to be a republic, not the official beginning. It’s when they declared themselves a republic. The day England recognized the Republic is in December. So there was a big celebration in Embu. We went down but arrived too late in the afternoon to get in on the festivities.  We visited the Whites after we discovered that the celebrating was over. They had been downtown earlier and said it was much like Kenyatta Day, with lots of groups singing and dancing. It was a blazing hot day, and both of them got sunburned. It was also market day at Embu, and while there wasn’t  any dancing going on, there must have been a couple thousand people milling around in the marketplace. It was pretty exciting and as far...