Monkey Business in Mombasa
April 17, 2010
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It’s late Saturday afternoon here in Mombasa. We got here in the middle of the night, after a long day sitting in the Kampala airport. We arrived in Mombasa at 11 PM, took a ferry across the inland passage, then rode across the island, arriving at Word of Life around 1 AM. We got to bed at 1:30 AM, totally fried. Up at 7:30 AM for 8 AM breakfast. I spoke this morning to about 25 young leaders in a tiny building that looked like a Quonset hut. All the buildings here are covered with thatch made of dried palm fronds. Peter Odanga (director of Word of Life Mombasa) says the roofs tend to last about 7 years. The property is right on the Indian Ocean, which is nice but as Peter noted, upkeep is huge with the breeze, salt air, humidity, and so on.
While I spoke to the men, Marlene spoke to about 50 women. As she started talking a monkey entered the room and ran along the rafters. She said it wasn’t a small monkey either. They say they monkeys are smart and mostly come around the women because the men will beat them away with sticks. Peter says don’t be deceived. These are not “pet” monkeys. If you leave the door open, they will come in foraging for food. When it rains baboons come on the property. They can be quite large. Haven’t seen any yet. The rule is, leave them alone and they leave you alone. Peter says we’ll see baboons before the week is out.
This is Muslim territory, going back to the days when the Arabs fought the Portuguese. Kenya has a growing Muslim population. There are Muslims in the northeast and here along the coast. This morning I met a young man raised as a Muslim who was a drug addict for many years. After he found Christ during his rehab two years ago, his life changed radically. When I asked how his family accepted him, he said that his parents are both dead but his father was a polygamist so he spoke of his brothers and sisters “from the same womb” and said they are glad he is no longer on drugs but don’t want to talk about his Christian faith. He is in the discipleship program at Word of Life.
This is also vacation territory with lots of tourists, including many Germans and Swiss who come here for a week or two on the coast. The area is not developed as highly as, say, the Florida coast but there are very nice hotels along the beach for miles on both sides of Word of Life. So how did Word of Life acquire such a prime property? In the early 70s this was a chicken farm. When a group of German Christians made an offer, the owner of the chicken farm thought they were joking. They weren’t, he sold it, and today Word of Life Mombasa covers 20 prime acres. It would be worth millions of dollars today.
Right now we’re in the rainy season so the temps are “only” in the 90s. They say it gets really hot in January. Frankly, it’s plenty hot to me. Overwhelmingly hot. Hot and muggy and humid off the charts. Juddy Odanga told Marlene she was glad to leave Word of Life in New York because it was too cold. She likes Mombasa because it really can’t get too hot for her. I guess it’s all about the call of God.
Meanwhile I’m sitting at an Internet café typing this update because we don’t have good access at the camp. Tomorrow I speak at the church that meets at the camp. They draw around 200, which is large for a church in this part of the world. Then we’ve got a Christian workers’ conference and prison ministry next week.
We’re doing fine and trying to stay cool. This afternoon Marlene and I sat on our second-story veranda and watched the monkeys play in the grass a few feet below us. We’re hot and sticky and glad to be at Word of Life Mombasa, on the Indian Ocean. We’ll post some pictures later. Thanks for your prayers.
While I spoke to the men, Marlene spoke to about 50 women. As she started talking a monkey entered the room and ran along the rafters. She said it wasn’t a small monkey either. They say they monkeys are smart and mostly come around the women because the men will beat them away with sticks. Peter says don’t be deceived. These are not “pet” monkeys. If you leave the door open, they will come in foraging for food. When it rains baboons come on the property. They can be quite large. Haven’t seen any yet. The rule is, leave them alone and they leave you alone. Peter says we’ll see baboons before the week is out.
This is Muslim territory, going back to the days when the Arabs fought the Portuguese. Kenya has a growing Muslim population. There are Muslims in the northeast and here along the coast. This morning I met a young man raised as a Muslim who was a drug addict for many years. After he found Christ during his rehab two years ago, his life changed radically. When I asked how his family accepted him, he said that his parents are both dead but his father was a polygamist so he spoke of his brothers and sisters “from the same womb” and said they are glad he is no longer on drugs but don’t want to talk about his Christian faith. He is in the discipleship program at Word of Life.
This is also vacation territory with lots of tourists, including many Germans and Swiss who come here for a week or two on the coast. The area is not developed as highly as, say, the Florida coast but there are very nice hotels along the beach for miles on both sides of Word of Life. So how did Word of Life acquire such a prime property? In the early 70s this was a chicken farm. When a group of German Christians made an offer, the owner of the chicken farm thought they were joking. They weren’t, he sold it, and today Word of Life Mombasa covers 20 prime acres. It would be worth millions of dollars today.
Right now we’re in the rainy season so the temps are “only” in the 90s. They say it gets really hot in January. Frankly, it’s plenty hot to me. Overwhelmingly hot. Hot and muggy and humid off the charts. Juddy Odanga told Marlene she was glad to leave Word of Life in New York because it was too cold. She likes Mombasa because it really can’t get too hot for her. I guess it’s all about the call of God.
Meanwhile I’m sitting at an Internet café typing this update because we don’t have good access at the camp. Tomorrow I speak at the church that meets at the camp. They draw around 200, which is large for a church in this part of the world. Then we’ve got a Christian workers’ conference and prison ministry next week.
We’re doing fine and trying to stay cool. This afternoon Marlene and I sat on our second-story veranda and watched the monkeys play in the grass a few feet below us. We’re hot and sticky and glad to be at Word of Life Mombasa, on the Indian Ocean. We’ll post some pictures later. Thanks for your prayers.