What is the News?

Will and I have been taking Swahili lessons three days a week. This is now the fifth African language we have attempted to learn in our collective time in Africa over the years. One thing that I love about language learning is that it is an opportunity to learn about the culture and the intricacies of how people think and what they focus on.

Oftentimes, when you really study how people greet each other, you can learn a lot about the culture. In Swahili, a common greeting is “Habari Yako?” Or “Habari…” and then the time of day. What you are asking is “What is the news of the day (or the news of the morning, etc)”? 

This simple greeting has been so eye opening to me about Kenyan culture. As with the other communities we have lived in in Africa, Kenyan culture is communal, rather than individual. In America, we greet each other with “How are YOU”. We want to know about the one person in front of us first and then we sometimes ask about the other people they are connected to (family, etc) after that. However, in Kenya, you first ask about “the news” meaning, the happenings of that persons whole community because how a person is doing is effected directly by the people around them. If their family is suffering, they are suffering too.

I love the communal nature of life in Kenya. I appreciate the mentality that knowing that news of what is going on around a person is important in knowing how that person is doing. 

The reply to “what is the news of the day?” Is always “it is fine!” Or “It is very fine!” You say that even if things are really terrible. After the basic greetings, then you can eventually get to explaining if things are indeed not “very fine”. 

Just for fun, here is a small glimpse into some of the “news” going on in our daily lives here.

We got to go to Nairobi National Park with some of the girls friends from school. It is about 45 minutes away from us and we saw zebras, lions, rhinos, hippos, giraffes and so much more! We even saw a lion right after it caught a zebra (that’s a fun one to explain to the kids ;)). 

This past weekend, Tallie celebrated her second birthday! Pray for us, there’s a lot of “two” happening around here!

We went on a retreat with our team three weeks ago! It was in Naivasha in an absolutely stunning area. We had a great weekend getting to know the team more and enjoying time together!

Ellie is losing lots of teeth these days! 

We ordered a desk for Ellie’s bedroom and this is the way it was delivered on motorbike! I continued to be amazed by what Kenyans can make fit on a motorbike taxi! 

Ellie and Audrey’s school had a “Fall Festival” last weekend. It was complete with henna tattoos, games, camel and horse rides, bouncy houses, and pumpkin painting!

On the way to pick up Ellie the other day, we saw 10 monkeys just hanging out at her school! We are still excited and amazed when we see monkeys, but to locals, they are annoying and similar to us seeing a squirrel in the States ;)

We received our first package from a sweet friend a few weeks ago (thanks Marcia!!!!) it felt like a huge hug from home! 

We are always excited to hear “the news” from our friends in the States so please e-mail or text us with the news from your family!