Why I Like Momma
Better; the Daughter Reveals the Tragic Secret
Truth be told, I was the older boys’ favorite when they
were younger. But that is not the case with the dynamic duo, who favor
However, I discovered WHY
(JT and Katie)
ME: Why do you want Momma?
Katie: Momma wipes better.
Me: How does someone wipe
better?
Katie: Momma wipes twice.
There you have it, and any suggestions on techniques can
go to my dear friend Rex Miller at rex@spencer-furniture.com (who has
an amazing book coming out next month) and is probably looking for ideas for the
sequel.
One of my favorite parts of life right now is how much
the twins love their big brothers. When JT leaves for school, he makes a big
show of walking to the door and saying `BYE!’ The twins immediately yell `KISS’
and he walks back and kisses them goodbye.
The way they interact is one of my favorite parts of
life.
(Matthew)
They had the official opening ceremony for the computer
center on Friday. Like many Kenyan traditions, it was confusing and exhilarating
at the same time. There were probably a thousand people in
attendance.
They had a `tent’ set up ( it was some maize bags tied
together) , and a car battery hooked up to a sound system, and an obsequious
announcer who would say things like `Steve Peifer is now walking towards us’ who
had generally inane things to say throughout the afternoon, which made it
funnier to be there.
The first thing was to plant a tree, which made me miss
my friend Mark Buhler, who did so much to instill tree planting in
They decorated us with something that I can only compare
to a Hawaiian lei with an ornament you might put on an
ugly Christmas tree.
Then the stupid moment hit.
Some of the children were doing a dance, and they
invited the MP to and dance with them. She knew the moves, and the kids loved
it.
Then they asked me.
Long time readers are familiar with my dancing issues.
Instead of gracefully waving them off, I had this weird thought: Maybe I could
pull this off.
And I got up there and danced. And hundreds of kids
starting screaming `Can you teach ME how to dance like
that?’ For a moment,
Actually, when I got up there, for some mysterious
reason, the only dance I could think of was to do something like I saw on
Hullabaloo (and if you
don’t know what that is, say a prayer of
thanks)
They all LAUGHED at
me.
There were lots and lots of
speeches. The MC introduced each
speaker with `the hope that their worthy remarks will remain brief.’ This was
not to be, but the speakers were good, with some surprising things to
say.
Many people noted that until the
computer center was built, they felt isolated and unknown. Three different
people said that they couldn’t understand why this center was built in the
middle of nowhere. But they all said they didn’t think they were in the middle
of nowhere anymore.
But the best thing the headmaster
said was that the ones most excited were not the parents or the present
students; it was the younger students, because they could see that they had a
future.
What a gift you have given to
them.
Walter and I went through the
center while we were there, looking for structural issues, power difficulties or
any other problems. We couldn’t find any. We had wanted to make sure it was
right before we continued.
We received notice of funding for
the second center this week. There will be issues as to where it goes, but
another school is going to get a
chance.
The world can change if we want it
to change. We can be passive, and allow what has occurred to continue, or we can
say `No more hungry children and no more children without
opportunity.’
It’s our choice, and our
opportunity.
Your
pal,
S
PS. We will leave for the states
four weeks from today!
Steve and Nancy
Peifer
Stateside
Address:
Stateside Mail Address: