Lessons in Patience & Life

It is quiet around the compound on weekends. Most guests use this down time to go on excursions to the rainforest, animal game parks or other wonderful points of interest within and around Kenya. The quietness they left behind provided me with a good opportunity to start working on some of the less fun aspects of my practicum – assignments and research. This quickly provided me with a reminder of just how spoiled I am with the high speed of information through technology at home as I found myself becoming quite impatient with the long delays.

Kenya is a lesson in patience. Meetings start when the majority of participants show up -- which could be hours after the designated meeting time. Traffic on Eldoret’s busiest street can put you at a standstill until you muster up the nerve to make a go of it through an intersection with four lanes of vehicles, motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians, trying to go different directions through the intersection all at the same time. After riding with my field instructor yesterday, I am convinced when she returns to American she should consider a career as an automotive manufacture test driver or in try her hand at road racing…she certainly can maneuver her little suv through the tightest of turns and clear any obstacle through any conditions without batting an eye.

She and the other staff members that live here on a full time basis have a great tradition of getting together once a month at one of their homes for a themed pitch-in dinner. Sometimes visiting guests are invited as well (lucky me). The host home we went to today houses three families and had a swimming pool. The guys jumped in for a game of pool volley ball as someone began to tell me about a previous game when some of the Askari’s (guards) were laughing at the Mzungu’s who kept trying to jump out of the water to hit a ball instead of swimming. They had never seen such a sight.

Today’s theme was a Moroccan fest complete with belly dancers performing during dinner. Their skirts twirling as their scarves were whirring through the air creating a waving rainbow over their heads. It was amazing to watch the ‘teacher’ as she celebrated the sensuality and power of being a woman. I can not even begin to imagine the patience she must have had to learn these beautiful dances that use movements in every muscle group of the body. The other three dancers were young children of staff members. In the belly dancing world, a common school of thought is the belief that young belly dancers have limited life experience to use as a catalyst for dance. So according to this thought our three aspiring dancers must learn patience as they grow into life and try to master the movements. But I say what they lack in life experience and skill they certainly made up for with their enthusiasm in trying…and isn’t that a wonderful life lesson for us all?