RVA

Good morning America! Sorry I did not blog yesterday, it was wash day and cleaning day and I never got around to the computer. Fortunately I do have a washing machine, but I have to wait my turn and so when that time comes up you do not delay!  Everything is line dried here and so it was great fun to hang up my loads of laundry, watch it flutter in the breeze of early morning and then smell that wonderful clean fresh odor when I took it down. Amazing how you can find joy in the smallest chores of life here! It also brought back lots of childhood memories of hanging out laundry for my mom 50 years ago!

On Thursday one of my neighbors invited me to go to lunch at the Rift Valley Academy which is located on this station. I had no idea what a treat was in store for me!  First of all my neighbor is a delightful Chinese woman from Canada who is here with her radiologist husband for a year assignment. They have two children who are enrolled at the school.  Her sister and husband who live in Fort McMurray Alberta, Canada were visiting and so I got to meet them as well. The reason I mention this is that there are many delightful people from all over the world who enrich this experience so much.

We walked up the red clay steep hill behind our house and through a cedar forest and much to my surprise was this enormous, gorgeous campus.  I knew that the school was there but I had no idea how lovely it was.  Rift Valley Academy was founded one hundred years ago by missionaries seeking to educate their children in a far off land.  One interesting rat fact is that Theodore Roosevelt was intrigued by the concept and came to visit in 1909 when he also laid the cornerstone. Today the Christian boarding school has 500 students in grades 3 through high school. They represent 33 countries, but all have parents who are working on the African continent.  There are also day students whose parents work at the hospital here or teach at the school. The majority of students are in the high school as elementary students are only enrolled if they have an older sibling at RVA.  Of course the popularity and availability of home school curriculum has also affected enrollment just as it has in the states. Currently there are RVA graduates enrolled at Harvard, MIT, Princeton, Yale as well as many universities all over the world. I mention these to tell you that the curriculum is rigorous and that these young people do well. I was also fascinated to learn that one of the head negotiators for the US in the Sudan situation is an RVA grad. Great to know that people of faith who really understand Africa are involved in this negotiation. I am hoping that I can somehow get involved at the school or at least be able to attend some events there. By the way, the food was good too!

love to all,

mom and dad, nana and poppy, micki and marv