blog
From a small dot on the map, Njoro in Kenya seems a long ways
from Canada. Our country with the often lengthy and cold winters, our country noted to usually being receptive to those
from foreign lands, sometimes was not so friendly - and Mabel
told us about some of the rednecks who rode the bus and mocked her - just another Africano....but she was not....the Mabel we know and have tried to keep in touch with came to
rent our room, as a kind and very gentle girl. Very lonely for
home but determined to get the additional education and be
able to go back home and make a difference.
I can only imagine what winter might be like to Mabel. Even to
those of us who feel conditioned and residents of a large and
sometimes cold land, her perspective was likely very different.
My wife offered Mabel some piano lessons, I recall moving some
furniture for Mabel, carrying heavy items up some three flights
into the residency part of the University. Mabel, standing there-
always with a smile and beaming. Our friend.
Every once in a while we get a letter or postcard but those have
been far and few as of late. I do know that Mabel was in Nigeria
and being followed, as she said in an email. And her trip to
some of the surrounding countries must have been nerve racking - with even Kenya facing some riots and killings at the
time she returned. Her good friend Godfrey returned to his
family in Sierre Leone only to encounter a country going through hell, an uprising was taking place and Mabel is not
even certain whether (or not) Godfrey is alive.
The last series of pictures showed Mabel giving a speech in
India, now very educated and respected for her many papers
and studies. Still, we worry about her. The world is not always
a warm and happy place, even the country we live in is going
through many changes.
But we look back at the pictures of Mabel, her beautiful smile
and hope God is helping and protecting her, in her search to
make this a better world.