My husband is man who spends his days teaching first graders how to read and write, and yet maintains a capacity for deep thinking and great ponderings. The other day he sent me this quote from one of his favorite authors, George MacDonald. But God sits in that chamber of our being in which the […]

Stigmatized        Cast out Shunned                         Misunderstood Feared Worthless      Shamed Such are the words used to describe what it felt like to be HIV+ in 2006.  Little was known about HIV/AIDS, myths abounded and Kenya was infested with fear. People were afraid of being tested—for the stigma and shame of being HIV+ was great. […]

I open the light blue binder, faded by time and use, to a page filled with words written in teeny tiny cursive.  My mama’s writing. The first page, undated, contains verses from the Psalms. Words of Poetry. Pleas for mercy. Pleas for comfort. Pleas for strength. And, yes, gratitude and praise. Essential words. Tested by […]

Some dates are embedded in our memory, sharp and crisp, while others catch us unawares. This morning, the signs were there ~ an uneasy night’s sleep, the daffodils with their sunny faces catching the early February sun, my morning devotions with the reminder that today is the death date of Martin Luther, who died in […]

Annunciation There was Is Has been And will be An everywhere Fixed And transfixed Within That point in time Wherein One single Simple Open soul Received The potency Of the creative whole. Elizabeth B. Rooney I sit in the waning sunlight on an unusually clear and warm December afternoon. My bones gratefully soak up the […]

I’d like to say the moment I stepped off the plane in Nairobi on Tuesday, January 11, 2022, at 10 P.M., I was on solid ground–normally when I land in Kenya, that’s how I feel.  However, traveling internationally during the pandemic adds a layer of insecurity to each step. And the steps are many: extra […]

Along the red dirt roads of rural western Kenya, the foliage is so thick in places that car windows need to be shut tight to protect occupants from scratches by thorns and branches that slip through even the slimmest of cracks. These roads wind endlessly, deceiving me into thinking, “I’m in the middle of nowhere”. […]

These phrases, which I picked up during my November trip to Kenya, have become part of my lexicon. “Don’t crack your head”….means, “Don’t get stressed out about it”.  I discovered this after Caren, one of the palliative care nurses, announced to our class that she was passing out pretests and panic ensued. “Don’t crack your […]

Sharing our grief: Kenyan Friend Mary Chuchu and I For months I’ve attempted to put pen to paper. Oh, yes, there are pages and pages of scribbles in my notebook staring back at me, daring me to try to make sense of them, but they remain jumbled and incoherent. Truth be told, this past year […]