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Greetings from… Kenya! We’re one month into a whole new life since our move from Ethiopia. Bill and I (Stephanie) have been walking around in shock at the differences between Nairobi and Addis Ababa, as relocating to Nairobi is like stepping forward thirty years, especially in terms of consumer culture. I stood in a hypermarket the other day (whoa! no more going to four tiny grocery shops searching for supplies?!) looking at the gift wrap and ribbon section, thinking that my days of bringing all our Christmas and birthday wrapping paper to Africa with me are over. Then we bought a sofa suite for our new house and after they delivered it we discovered that the frame of one piece was broken. Thinking back to similar situations in Ethiopia, Bill and I braced ourselves for extended negotiation with the sellers, with limited language ability on both sides, and very little hope of resolution for the customer. Just visualize us the following day, with our jaws hanging open as the sales people immediately apologized profusely, took full responsibility, and promised to bring us a new one a.s.a.p. (And they did.) Add to that the ability to use our US debit card to buy groceries—no cards or ATMs in Ethiopia—and you can see why we feel we’ve been catapulted into the 21st century. Not to mention that we can sit in our garden and use our wireless internet connection to video chat with our children in the US, a sharp contrast to Ethiopia’s 53 kbps dial-up. Of course there are things we miss about Ethiopia. But we’re not quite to the point of feeling nostalgic yet.
We’re in a similar state of awe at the differences where we teach. Since the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) is about five times the size of the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology (EGST) and has much more infrastructure (no criticism of EGST, who are doing an amazing job in a pioneering situation with few resources), we’re constantly experiencing things we’ve never encountered in Africa before. I asked a question about my computer the other day and the receptionist told me to check with the IT department. Whoa! we have an IT department?! Bill and I have beautiful large offices with phones and internet connection, the classrooms are plentiful and spacious, there are regularly scheduled faculty and department meetings, the NEGST staff took us through a well planned and informative orientation program, we receive college news and faculty memos several times a day by email, and there is a gorgeous academic bookstore on campus. Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.
The mix of students at NEGST is also new to us. EGST is the only masters-level theology program in Ethiopia and is specifically geared to the Ethiopian context, so with rare exceptions all our students were Ethiopian. But NEGST has a much broader African focus. Bill and I have students from Kenya, Uganda, DR Congo, Malawi, Nigeria, the Gambia, and more. The ethnic diversity is a learning experience—and occasional challenge—for the students themselves. Friday at our ‘Grace Group’ (students and staff are mixed in these small fellowship groups on Friday mornings) one of our African student members was missing because he was out buying goats for the welcome party for new students on Saturday. The Student Association had decided to bring the goats to campus live and slaughter them there before roasting them, so that everyone could have the part of the goat their ethnic group likes—e.g. if you like to mix the fresh blood with milk and drink it, the blood would be right there available. The goat buyer’s wife is also in our group and I asked her how many people you calculate per goat when you’re planning a big event like this. “Well,” she said smiling, “It depends on who’s eating the goats.” Then she proceeded to give me a run down of a half dozen different Kenyan ethnic groups and which ones are likely to eat the most roasted goat meat per person. “But what about your own community?” I asked. “Oh, we don’t eat goats,” she said. I never figured out why they sent her non-goat-eating husband to buy the goats for the cookout the next day, but the answer to how many he’d been told to buy was eight. In addition to the variety of African students, about 15% of our students are from outside Africa. In my hermeneutics class I have a Chinese-American Harvard grad, a physician from the UK, and a Korean guy whose first degree was in Russian literature. Even more interesting for me, after years of having at most one or two women in each class—and usually none—about a third of my students at NEGST are women.
Which is not to say that all of life in Nairobi is euphoric. The crime rate is dramatically higher here than in Addis Ababa, so security issues are a daily matter. Bill and I have inherited a guard dog named Rambo who is three quarters Rotweiler and one quarter black lab. Somehow his personality turned out all black lab, so what we’ve really got is a huge Rotweiler who wants to be your best friend. We call him the world’s largest lap dog. Just don’t tell the thieves. (Fortunately he barks at the appropriate moments.) Nairobi is also expensive, and getting more so, with inflation running at 27% this year, and the cost of electric power up by 94% since January. We’re especially getting hit by the steep rise in basic food prices that people all over the world are feeling. And compared to our nice, comfortable 4-bedroom house in Addis, we’re living on the NEGST campus in a tiny sort of tumble-down cottage which Bill is convinced was built by the original British settler in Kenya and not updated since. But it has a glorious garden. Bill’s been working hard to make the house more functional, and I love the ten-minute walk along a dirt road, in the African sunshine, to class each day. Our little cottage is quite the contrast to the neighborhood around us, as NEGST happens to be situated in probably the most upmarket suburb of Nairobi, the main ‘white settlers’ enclave since colonial times, with large homes and horse paddocks lining the leafy roads near the college. Think ‘Out of Africa’—which is fairly accurate, since Karen Blixen’s original house is nearby. After years of being some of the (relatively) richest people in Ethiopia, it feels a bit odd now to be the poor relations in the neighborhood.
So that’s where we are. Bill is teaching systematic theology to the 2nd-year MDiv students and Old Testament survey to a small group of students in the undergraduate extension program. I’m doing hermeneutics (theory & methods of Bible interpretation) with the 1st-year MDiv’s, and intermediate Greek with the 2nd years. I’m also continuing in my role as accreditation officer with the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA), for which I’ll be traveling to South Africa next month. We’re enjoying getting to know the other NEGST faculty and trying to learn the names of all the students. We’re slowly getting to know our SIM colleagues, since we’re seconded to NEGST and don’t actually see the SIM people very often. And we’re church shopping for the first time in years. Lot of transitions, including suddenly being ‘empty nesters’ after twenty years of parenthood.
Caroline (just turned 18) is experiencing her own transitions in her first year at the University of Virgina (UVA). It’s quite a change to go from a small mission high school in Ethiopia where your class consists of your ten best friends, to a large state university in America, but she’s slowly acclimatizing. She says she’s at that point, though, where she’s met lots of people but doesn’t yet know who her real friends will be. On the other hand, Linnea (20 next month), in her second year at UVA, is fully acclimated and has hit the ground running, enjoying her new apartment mates, her Bible study group, and (apparently) her classes. Both girls are at a student Christian fellowship retreat this weekend, so we’re praying that it’s a great time of connecting spiritually and socially for each of them.
And for those of you who’ve asked, my time in the States this summer to close out my late father’s affairs and buy a small house in Virginia to serve as a home base for us Blacks was spectacularly unsuccessful. My brother (only sibling) was planning to buy my share of our parents’ house, but his personal situation continues to deteriorate, so eventually I had to leave everything in the hands of lawyers, and return to Africa. A sad situation, but—based on the number of people who told me their ‘brother stories’ this summer—one which happens in many families. Please pray for a good outcome to this conflict, and for my brother’s well-being.
That’s our news, and here’s a summary of our current items for prayer and praise:
- Praise for such a positive beginning to our new teaching ministry at the Nairobi Evangelical Graduate School of Theology (NEGST) in Kenya – Bill teaching systematic theology and Old Testament survey, and Stephanie teaching hermeneutics and Greek
- Prayer for clarity about whether we should extend our time at NEGST to a second year
- Prayer for Stephanie’s travel to Johannesburg, South Africa, 13-19 October, for the Accrediting Council for Theological Education in Africa (ACTEA)
- Prayer for Caroline (18) adjusting to her first year at the University of Virginia, and praise for a good semester for Linnea (20) in her second year at UVA
- Prayer for 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).
This update is a little longer than usual, so we appreciate those of you who have read through to this point! With a brand new mission assignment, and a new African country to learn our way around, we crave your prayers more than ever. Thank you so much for being the givers and prayers that make this ministry happen!
blessings,
Stephanie
for Bill, Linnea and Caroline Black
New life in Kenya…
Stephanie lines up for Convocation to begin the academic year…
…and chats with colleagues after the ceremony
Bill teaching his systematic theology class
The NEGST community worships together in chapel three times a week…
…and then we all have morning tea together
Some of our faculty colleagues discussing really serious academic stuff over tea
Our new home, ‘Rose Cottage’. The original house has been divided into three units, so that window on the far right belongs to someone else—the bit from the door to the left end is ours.
The best part is the huge front garden, which we have all to ourselves. Note that the very large dog wants to be wherever the people are!
Back in the US of A, Caroline settles into her dorm room. “OK, I’m at college now. What’s supposed to happen next?...”
