Visiting/Meeting more Family!

On July 9 we headed to Kitengela in Kajiado county to meet more family. Although we had never met any of these people in person, we felt a little connection since we were going to meet the siblings of Ajali’s cousin that lives in New York and he has known her his entire life. We were late due to Nairobi traffic, but were well received. They prepared a traditional meal for us which included beef stew, chapati, goat, mokimo, watermelon for desert as well as Kenyan tea with Kenyan brown sugar- a favorite of Sanaa and Ajali. I will add that they were not thrilled at the portion sizes we ate, as they would’ve liked for us to have more. We were proud of the girls for trying new foods. Our driver waited in the vehicle for us, as it was too far and gas prices are too high for him to drive back to Nairobi and come back for us later. Once the family found out the driver was Kikuyu they said “we must feed him”. How sweet we thought. You will not believe how much food they put on that mans plate! There was so much food I thought it was going to put him in a food coma and he wouldn’t be able to take us back to the hotel. They explained this was normal portions for a man and that he “needs to eat it all”. Hmm yeah OK! Ajali and I just laughed. They brought him a plate and sure enough, he ate it all.

The girls, more so Jasmine, were thrilled that our cousins had a dog. It had its own house outside, was on a leash and was not very friendly, although Jasmine insisted she wanted to play with it. In Kenya, dogs are more for security, not pets. They don’t come in the home and many just roam the streets.

After dinner we gave gifts of towels/washcloths/sheets as a gesture of thanks. They were received well, as those items are very expensive in Kenya. We didn’t know what size beds they had, but we know what we gave will be used. After a few hours, the four of us and two cousins piled in the van with our driver to drive towards Nairobi to a place called Banana Hill to see where Ajali’s father, CuCu (pronounced ShoSho) grandmother, and Guka (grandfather) were buried, as well as see the area where his father had lived. Prior to passing away in Maryand, Ajali’s father requested to be buried in Kenya, and Ajali’s brother made sure that happened in 2009. In Kenya, its not like most places have addresses, like here in the states, i.e. 6473 Loft Road. It’s more so like, I live in -such and such town, past the grocery store and when you drive you’ll see the gas station in the left”. Yeah, I would always be lost lol. Thank goodness for the two cousins that came with us because we wouldn’t have been successful.