"I got her for free"

Well, where have we left off? Last week Steven and I worked with the local Rotary Club to visit schools to do jiggers dips. Jiggers are a little bug that like to set up camp in the dirt floors of the common mud hut. The prefer body crevices however, especially between the toes. The problem with jiggers is that they turn the feet into what I would compare to shredded leather. Not cool. I am sure there is a safer and less toxic way to get rid of them, but alas, it's not available in Kenya. So we soak their feet in Triatix, which i am told is a form of insecticide. Given the alternative though, it does seem to be the lesser of the two evils.

Steven had an interesting conversation with a local merchant that I overheard and thought you might enjoy at home. I was shopping in his little store, and Steven was waiting outside and started talking to the shop owner. He was asking Steven what he was doing in Maseno and things like that. He eventually asked Steven if he had a wife, to which Steven replied, "yeah, she's right there." The shop owner commented on how young I looked, and after a little contemplation added, "you must have paid a very high dowry for her." (A dowry is a payment made to the father to marry his daughter. It usually consists of cows and cash.) I was surprised by this comment and a little flattered until Steven replied with, "No, I got her for free." The conversation then turned to how long we'd been married and how many children we had. When he found out we'd been married for almost 4 years with no children, he looked at us both sympathetically. I'm sure he was thinking to himself, " no wonder he got her for free." I did not feel this was the time nor the place to try to explain birth control, so I just smiled and kept shopping. It was an interesting cultural experience, not to mention I got a really good deal on some beautiful scarves. Perhaps he gave me a good price because he felt sorry for me and my barren womb :)
Ahhh, just another day in kenya...........

Jessie