Sunday 16th May (4th day at Mwamba - A Rocha)

On Saturday evening we decided that the next day we would attend church at St. James, Gede, ACK - the Anglican Church of Kenya. Belinda and Henry rang and booked ahead for a "tuk-tuk" to take us there. Then they rang again this morning to check they had remembered..... and again to ask where had they got to! And again....! Eventually it turned up half an hour late and we realised we would be late for the start of the service.

The onomatopoeic tuk-tuk is a three wheeled motor vehicle somewhere between a motor bike and a Reliant Kitten. It is probably the worst vehicle for the roads around here because it is so difficult to miss a pothole! And the roads are full of potholes. Still it was an experience we were keen to try.

Although it got us to church half an hour late, it turned out that we weren’t late after all because the first church service had overrun and the service we were aiming for hadn’t even begun.

We keep reminding ourselves about “African Time”!

The church building was made of breeze blocks and open on three sides. This made it easy to see in and out of the church. It was a good example of “a church with no walls”, something we’ve talked about at Holy Trinity Knaphill. To our left, about 100 yards away, there was a group of children having Sunday School under a tree. During the service, some chickens came in from the back entrance and began to peck around. There was even a cockerel which startled us all at one point with a mighty crow!

The service was very formal. The ministers both wore robes and we knew all the hymns – from our childhood! There were about 20 of us in all, including Carol and Stanley from A Rocha with their 18 month son Jordan who was good as gold throughout the service. Later we discovered that Carol used to be on the Preaching Rota but hadn’t returned to preaching since the birth of Jordan. We encountered her in Bible Study at A Rocha the next day and found her to be a breath of fresh air, a solid Christian who is able to articulate her faith clearly. Get yourself back on that Preaching Rota we encouraged her!

We liked the way church ended – with the Ministers leading us all outside and shaking hands with each person, who then joined the line so everyone ends up shaking hands with everyone. Simple but clever. We must try that at Holy Trinity and St Saviours sometime!