Parenting in Cross-Cultural Catch-up Mode, Part 1 – Venturing out
What’s the problem?
My family has been in Kenya for almost two years and my children know less than I thought they would about what life is like for our local neighbors.
Trip #1 to a friend’s maize mill
How did this happen?
Typically the first 3 months are prime time for the whole family to go and explore and experience some of the lives of the people around Tenwek, but our family arrived in Kenya while the fear and mystery of COVID was still at a peak. Moselle was not working, but shutdowns and curfews were still in place. Vaccines were not available to us until May 2021. By then, we were caught up in the groove of school and hospital work, so we missed out on the ability to take full-family trips out into the community.
Other missionary families who had arrived late 2020 to early 2021 told us they felt the same way. We all were grieving the fact that we missed out on some cultural immersion opportunities.
What are we doing about it?
Right before the MK’s school year ended in May, we put together a “Get-to-know-your-neighbor” summer field trip planning committee of missionary parents and friends. We have been able to plan and execute 4 field trips.
Sharing chai in a local friend’s home while learning about her maize milling side-business.
Walking to another local friend’s natural springs to fill water containers, carry the water to his house, run the water through his biosand filter, then sharing in chai with his family.
Going to Kapkwen, the largest open air market in the Bomet region, with a scavenger hunt/questionnaire for learning about the myriad of items sold and who sells them.
Visiting a local tea field, experiencing how to pick chai leaves, emphasizing how much work is required and how little pay is received, capping it off with sharing chai with our hosts.
Trip #2 learning to fetch water
Every time we visited a home, we had chai! Chai is an important piece of Kenyan hospitality, and it became a big emphasis of our trips.
Every trip we stress the attitudes we want to have when making a cross-cultural visit. We adapted these concepts from lessons taught in the kids’ classes our Colorado Cross-Cultural training at MTI (See this blog post). Our attitude list makes for a helpful acronym, COG:
Every trip we met before to recap our attitudes and then after to debrief with final questions, concerns, and takeaways
C – Curious – paying attention with our five senses to take in our surroundings and ask questions beginning with “I wonder…”
O – Open – We go over hypothetical situations before our trip and kids have had fun imagining what would be an “open” vs a “closed” response to experiences that might be outside of our comfort zone.
G – Grateful – At the end of our trips, whenever possible, we try to have our kids practice responding with gratitude. We go down the line of every kid in the group, allowing them the chance to say thank you to our hosts and affirm the things from the trip that we most enjoyed or learned.
Trip #3 to Kapkwen Market
How is it going?
I praise God because every trip we have planned so far has gone better than I could have possibly imagined. All of the hosts have been super gracious, and the kids have asked great questions and displayed fantastic attitudes. It is my hope that these trips are softening our kids’ hearts, expanding their comfort zone for more cross-cultural experiences and relationships in the coming years.
Trip #4 to tea fields
Would you pray for us?
God ultimately is the one who changes hearts. It is so easy for kids AND adults to fear people they do not understand. It is so easy to become calloused to the needs of the people around us, especially when there are so many needs. We pray that our hearts are softened to empathize with the needs and struggles of our Kenyan neighbors, and we pray the same for our children.