Sunday on the Athi Plains

Cody Bannister letting Emma

have a seat on his piki piki

(The Swahili word for a motor bike)

On Sunday, we enjoyed a great day with our friends and colleagues Tim & Diane Bannister at their home on the Athi Plains near Machakos. The Bannister's son Cody is back for a visit during his summer break from the University of Toronto. Ava was very interested in his piki piki, but not so interested as to accept his invitation to sit on it with him. Emma was very brave, but without a helmet she didn't go for a ride.

Diane brought us down to Acacia Camp for the East African Women's League bazaar. It was very fun to rummage through the sale and meet many of the British residents of Machakos. We enjoyed a great pork roast barbecue and of course tea and sweets. The ladies had a lot of fun joking around: One of the women wore a pink feather tiara all day, and at the close of the afternoon three men dressed in women's bathing suits put on a dry land synchronized swimming demonstration -- we all had a good laugh!

Back at home this morning, the girls were playing house as we got ready for work. Ava had her baby...

... and Emma had hers!

Daddy and Ava going to brush up!

In Prayer:

* Please keep our friends from Middleton Baptist Church in your prayers as they prepare to join us in Eastleigh at the beginning of July.

* Please remember the the Iftin women on Thursday and Friday of this week as they will be taking part in community health seminars. On Thursday our colleague Tim Bannister will be demonstrating the benefits and use of vertical gardening in an urban setting. Together with the women, he will be creating a vertical garden. On Friday, the students from the advanced English class will be sharing with the women of the community a presentation of HIV/AIDS and TB. Please pray for them as they take this courageous step in public speaking. They are being very brave as they will speak about a subject seldom spoken about in this community. We are very gratiful to Diane Bannister who initially taught on this subject with Iftin back in March. Much of the information that the women will be sharing was learned from Diane.