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Well, it wasn’t quite the Christmas we’d planned. As some of you already heard, I (Stephanie) ended up spending Christmas in Nairobi Hospital, after a bad case of influenza led to a black out and fall early on Christmas Eve morning (two falls actually, says Bill—I don’t remember), which left me with a gash on my head requiring stitches, a nasty concussion, and vertigo and balance issues, the net result of which was the five-day hospital stay. Hmm, one of those life events you don’t quite expect. But I can report that when they tell you it takes two to three weeks to recover from a concussion, that’s just about right. It’s only in the last couple of days that my head has almost entirely cleared from the fuzziness and I feel like myself again. Praise God, it wasn’t more serious, and I feel better each day. Poor Bill says he has flashbacks of his wife lying on the floor with lots of blood, but of course I don’t remember that part. The main impression it’s left on me is the wonderfully competent and cheerful hospital care available in Kenya. Nairobi Hospital is the closest one SIM uses for medical evacuations from Ethiopia, so we’re grateful to be just down the road from it now, instead of a two-hour international flight when we lived in Addis Ababa. And, compared to the ever escalating price of US medical care (no NHS…), it’s incredibly cheap: $85, or about £50, for a 20-mile ambulance ride, just under $2000/£1300 for emergency treatment, a CT scan, X-rays, and five nights in a private room, $300/£200 for the ENT physician’s bill, and $500/£320 for the cardiologist’s bill, including an extensive cardio work-up. Amazing.
However, as you can imagine, all this significantly complicated the Christmas holiday for Linnea (20) and Caroline (18), who were making their first visit to our (their???) new home in Kenya. It’s hard enough when your parents move to another country where you don’t know anybody, much less to have your mother in hospital, AND miss the beach holiday at the Kenyan coast we were all looking forward to. Bummer. But Caroline and Linnea rallied nicely. By the end of their three week stay they’d mastered Nairobi’s local transport system so they could get out and about on their own, and found ways to soak up Kenya’s lovely sunshine even without going to the beach. Christmas Day was a bit crazy, though. It was the girls’ first experience putting together a big holiday dinner for guests (missionary friends we knew in Ethiopia), with Dad reading turkey roasting directions out of a cookbook and Mom coaching by mobile phone from her hospital bed. They did great! But since we didn’t get to open presents on Christmas morning, several days later they were so eager to unwrap their gifts that they hauled everything to the hospital and we had Christmas again there. Last night Linnea and Caroline boarded the plane to head back to the University of Virginia, where classes resume on Tuesday. Still waiting to hear if they arrived safely, but by now they—like most missionary kids—are such seasoned international travelers that I’m not worried. Well, not too worried…
Bill’s and my new term at Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) started last Monday. We sort of inched into it slowly last week, because of my health issues and having the girls still here, but this week we need to go full throttle. Especially Bill, who suddenly has three large courses to teach because he’s just been asked to pick up a third course from a missionary colleague who’s had to leave for urgent medical treatment. So now Bill is teaching Systematic Theology II: Christology, Soteriology & Pneumatology (43 students), The Church’s Ministry & Mission (about 35 students), and a church history course which covers The Reformation to the Modern Church (48 students). Whew! I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anyone teaching post-graduate courses in three separate faculty departments at the same time—theology, church history, and pastoral ministry—but somehow Bill has managed to achieve this. Considering that we came to NEGST because they had a biblical studies position open for me, but nothing specific for Bill, the college certainly has figured out how to make use of him. Please do pray for Bill, though, because this is quite a heavy teaching load, especially with the number of students in each class.
I, on the other hand, am only teaching one course at NEGST this term, because I have a long list of projects for the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA). My NEGST course is on exegesis of Greek narrative (my PhD topic) and I had this same group of ten students last term for Intermediate Greek, so that shouldn’t be too bad. Which is fortunate, because the ACTEA work is huge at the moment. My biggest challenge right now is organizing an on-site accreditation visit for a large seminary in Nigeria at the end of February. Because they’re asking us to accredit their undergraduate, post-graduate (masters) and doctoral programs all at the same time, it’s probably the most complex visitation ACTEA’s ever done. I’ve been putting together a team of seven people with appropriate academic credentials, that I’ll lead for the on-site assessment. But it’s one of those situations where everything is taking longer to pull together than you think it should and the whole process has been plagued by a series of set-backs. The most recent one was when a key team member dropped out last week—not sure how I’ll find another qualified person who can drop everything and go to Nigeria with only six weeks’ notice, but I’m looking. Please do pray for that specifically! I’m also scheduled to travel to Zambia next week for an ACTEA staff meeting (I’ve been waiting till the last minute to confirm that, to see if I’d feel well enough, but I think I’ll be 100% fine by then). And I’m coordinating a pair of training workshops in Ethiopia and Kenya in March. (Those are going OK so far, just lots of details to stay on top of.) In addition I have a backlog of ACTEA accreditation applications from various schools to evaluate and reports to edit, revisions to draft for ACTEA’s accreditation standards and to shepherd through some sort of revision process (may have to invent that), and the normal daily email correspondence to keep up with. And this is meant to be a one-third time position! Fortunately I enjoy the work—or at least most of it, except for this problematic Nigerian project—and believe in its value. But no wonder I barely have time to teach.
The only other news I can think of to tell you is that after a lot of looking around we’ve settled into a nearby church, Karen Vineyard. Never thought we were really the Vineyard type (!), but this one’s fairly low key. What interests us is that they focus on outreach to the local ‘white Kenyan’ community, they attract a wide variety of internationals, and they have a good small group/home group system we can join. I’m also interested in their ministry at a women’s prison. I went along to a Christmas event the church sponsored at the prison in December, and hope to continue with that. Mostly, after months of feeling new and disoriented in Kenya, it’s nice to have a church family to be part of!
So that’s where we are at the moment. Here’s a summary of our current prayer items, before I include a bunch of Christmas holiday photos:
- Praise for God’s protection during Stephanie’s illness and fall, for great hospital care in Kenya, and for no lasting ill effects.
- Praise for good family time during Linnea (20) and Caroline (18)’s three weeks at ‘home’ in Kenya for Christmas, and prayer for each of them as they start a new semester at the University of Virginia.
- Prayer for Bill’s heavy teaching load at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) this term: Christology, Soteriology & Pneumatology (43 students), The Church’s Ministry & Mission (35 students), and The Reformation to the Modern Church (48 students).
- Prayer for Stephanie’s work as Accreditation Officer with the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA), especially the many challenges she’s facing putting together an on-site accreditation evaluation at a large seminary in Nigeria in February.
- Prayer for the Lord’s continuing guidance concerning how long we should stay in Kenya and where we should go next, along with a satisfactory resolution to the family conflict over selling Stephanie’s late parents’ house (which needs to be done before we can buy a house for ourselves in the US).
Let us know how you’re doing as well—we love to hear from you! (Find us on Facebook!)
blessings,
Stephanie
for Bill, Linnea and Caroline Black
Christmas 2008
At the beginning of the term break in December our NEGST students’ and faculty wives group visited Amani ya Juu (‘Higher Peace’), a development project for refugee women where they learn reconciliation skills, as well as how to make gorgeous quilted needlecrafts.
Me & some of the NEGST wives—a fun day out for all.
Linnea & Caroline Arrive for Christmas
“I had a farm in Africa at the foot of the Ngong Hills…” Caroline shows off the view of the Ngong Hills from Karen Blixen’s house, near where we live.
One afternoon Bill & Linnea & another friend climbed the Ngong Hills. (That’s Linnea in photo.)
We love Kenya, but we’re still convinced that the best food in Africa is Ethiopian! Linnea (right) eagerly anticipates the injera b’wet at an Ethiopian restaurant in Nairobi.
Our kitchen on Christmas Day—a little crazy, with mom in hospital… From left: Bill coaching, Linnea cooking, and our friend Jimmy Cox carving.
Later that evening they all brought me a plate of Christmas dinner. (From left: Bill, Caroline, Jimmy Cox, me, Linnea, Roxanne Cox, David Cox, Stephen Cox.)
When we still hadn’t gotten to open our gifts several days later, Bill & the girls packed everything up and brought it to the hospital…
…and we had Christmas again.
While I recuperated, Bill & the girls explored Nairobi. One of our favorite places is the giraffe research centre near our house.
Then they decided to take our little Toyota Corolla on safari in Nairobi National Park.
They saw more giraffes…
…and zebra…
…and warthogs, ostriches, various sorts of antelope, etc. But no big predators that day. When Linnea realized how close we live to the park, she said maybe it’s a good thing there were no lions!
A street sign we’ve never seen in America:
Before they left, Linnea & Caroline managed to get an invitation to the Ford Models Kenya Supermodel Search finals (sort of like the finals for Next Top Model).
Caroline says that unfortunately her shortness is accentuated when standing next to models.
Bill relaxing at home.
Believe me, he deserved a rest after serving as ‘cruise director’ for the Christmas holidays while I was ill. Thanks, Bill!
