WEEKEND VISITORS FROM AFRICA

My kid brother, John, (15 years younger than me) and his wife came for a visit on the weekend. I was so glad our weather had been turning warmer but still he was almost shivering after spending time in Kenya in Africa and then flying to Malaysia for ten days where it was really cozy. We went to the White Spot for lunch and he got fortified with a generous meal. The server brought warm milk on the side and he soon felt warm again. I think he was suffering from jet lag. After a stop in Seattle his wife will go back to Kenya with him where they as well as other volunteers work together to set up mini farms for the people in Kenya. They work under the auspices of International Fellowship in Lynnwood, WA, Box 2359, Zip 98036-2359.

In addition to the local families with their own children, each family at the farm agrees to accept four more children who are orphans or their parents are too ill to care for them and the farm pays them extra from farm proceeds. Goats, cows and other animals as well as large gardens are all part of the farm. They bring books back from U.S. and Canada and it all helps with the children’s education. Sometimes volunteers from America, Germany and other places come to help out and have a working vacation there at the farm.

My older sister, Helen, now 88, spent 54 years in Ivory Coast and is now retired in Kamloops where my younger sister and her husband live. They visit her three times a week and look after her needs. She has written a book about her work in the outback areas of Ivory Coast. I love the cover picture of her extracting an impacted tooth while her “patient” sits on a little stool under a large shady tree as two of her friends in colourful dresses stand by. The patient is so glad to get rid of the painful tooth she doesn’t complain about the pain and washes her mouth out with a little salt water. A walk of 60 miles return would bring her to a dentist in the nearest city but no money to pay the dentist. A complete set of dental tools was sent to Helen from an Alberta dentist. One lady was so grateful she insisted on running home and bringing an egg as a gift. The egg “peeped” and my sister thanked her with a smile and told her to put the egg back under the hen and a chick would arrive soon.