Stages of Social Isolation

Most of us have had our nice comfortable lives severely disrupted in the past couple months. Many retreat to the good ole’ days in their minds, just riding this current world-wide crisis out, waiting to return to ‘normal’ life, to business as usual. Others turn to conspiracy theories to explain Read more

The Leper

Eyes wide with apprehension, she extends the tray of eggs gingerly towards me when I open the door, sliding them imperceptibly closer, while keeping her body as far as possible. I grasp the tray by the edge closest to me, careful not to touch her hands. As she starts to Read more

I’m Not Optimistic, But…

We were in the hallway of Children’s Mercy Hospital, on our way to see Joshua in ICU, where he had come out of surgery. We ran into his pediatric cardiology surgeon, still wearing his scrubs. To our anxious inquiries, his response was “Well, Mr. & Mrs. Kingsbury, I’m not optimistic Read more

In Memory of Mom

I’m late posting my blog entry because life events have overtaken me. Life’s like that sometimes. I’m taking a one-time break from my recounting of our early life and work in Kenya to write about something fresh and recent. It may help me process it. I received an email from Read more

Ooos! False Alarm

Being new to bringing little people into the world, Chip and I thought it prudent to go early to the general vicinity of Kijabe Medical Centre, where we planned for our first child to be born. Having no past history in this sort of thing, our doctor had advised that Read more

More Adventures in Linguistics

Language…such a fascinating topic, at least to me. Language can often reveal considerable information about a culture – at least what it values. For instance, there are several words for rice in Swahili – mchele, wali, and mpunga, depending on its state, usage, etc. Rice is a big part of Read more