Our Mini United Nations

The compound where we live is a like a mini-United Nations. There are people here from the UK, Sweden, South Africa, Slovenia, India, Uganda, Japan, Germany, Kenya and of course we're Canadians.  We had a community potluck a few weekends ago and got to officially meet each other.  It was the best!  We visited for four hours, munching on food from different countries and enjoying each other.  No alcohol.  No smoking.  So nice.  There was such a good feeling there as we sat around the swimming pool while some of the children swam.  We visited until after dark (7 p.m.)  Now we greet each other like old friends.  Tonight we helped our neighbor fix his door bell and he's invited us over for his wife's birthday.  So great to be friends with all these wonderful people.  

One of our neighbors was surprised that we've only been in Kenya for two months.  She said that we have acclimated very quickly to the culture compared to most people (including herself).  I told her that we have been to many countries and that has helped.  But the thing that's helped the most is that we have been called by God to be here.  And we really do feel that this is the right place for us to be.

We have become the grandparents in the compound.  Almost everyone is the age of our children.  The neighbor kids even call us Grandpa and Grandma.  So fun to have them pop in and out.  There's 7 of them now.  We started out with 3 but it has increased as more and more children find out about our candy cupboard.  They are so polite.  They say thank you and please and they put their wrappers in the "trash bin."

Cute little Joy was interested that I was mopping the kitchen floor.  She has a couple of live-in servants who do all of the work -- cooking, cleaning, laundry.  In fact most of the families have housekeepers or nannies.  So Joy asked if she could mop.  She was so excited!  She and the other children mopped our whole apartment.

Joy's brother, Prince was enthralled with the way the mop squeegeed.  Mopping the floor kept the kids entertained for a very long time.

Cute girls, Fay and Joy.  They even call us Grandma and Grandpa.

I bought a few kids' books and some toy cars for the kids to play with.  But the real hit is the keyboard.  They love to play tunes.

Joy's family are very Christian.  She liked looking at this picture of Jesus.  We are careful not to "proselyte" the children.  That wouldn't be fair to their parents.  We enjoy sharing our beliefs with the parents though.

The kids love to dance while LeRon plays.