I finished my sample purse for “The Perfect Purse Project” we hope to be able to sell some of them either here in Tarime, Nairobi or back in Iowa at craft fairs. I’ve put in a photo of the front and back. There are two different fabrics used that coordinate with each other a pocket on the outside and several pockets on the inside. I noticed the price on the internet for the same purse is $35.00. I hope we can sell some and make a little money. I fugure it takes about 6 dollars to make a purse so I am hoping to sell them for 12-15 so with every purse sold they can buy material for 2 more purses.

Now let’s take a look at some of the landscape I see every day that reminds me of something out of “‘Horton Hears a Who”

This one looks like a Yucka plant with a huge stock.

This one is a tree and all the leaves fall off and then this "flower" appears on the end of the dead branches. Weird!

This one reminds me of pompoms on a stem.

This flower reminds me of a trumpet. It blooms about once a month but the blooms only last a day or two.

In Nairobi I found this bush near a bank. I love the different colors of flowers on the same bush. It was beautiful and I think blooms all the time.

I call these golf balls on a stick.

More golf balls on a stick up close. They have one layers of orange petals and reminds me of a cartoon type space ship. Behind is an oven that bakes bricks.

I know I saw this in "Horton Hears a Who".

Thanks to friends we now have 7 more new desks at the school. Things are really getting busy for Liz, Eric and Holly as preparations are made to open the new high school. We have a head master and a second head master. The next step for them is hiring teachers and we have had lots of interest in those positions. It will hard, I’m sure, to make the dicisions of who to hire there are so many qualified teachers.

Monday was a landmark day here at Angel House. We had 10 boys circumsised. Ages from 5-12. As you know there is a language barrier here and we use a lot of pantomime so use your imagination and pantomime circumcision. This is a big deal for them and it binds the boys together as they have all gone threw the same procedure. Liz and Eric bought meat for a celebration and Mark and I are going to buy soda for the circumcision celebration. Instead of wearing pants for a week they wear kongas, a piece of colorful cloth wrapped around the waiste. (Now they know what it is like to wear a skirt!)

While I was helping the boys in the surgery area, I was talking to the doctor he told me that when this procedure is done in the villages they many die because all they do is cut off the extra skin and don’t tie off the bleeders or put the remaining skin back together with suture. They often bleed to death or get nasty infections as they use the same knife on every one. (I would want to be the first one in line!) Not to mention no anesthia is used. So far are boys must be real men because all of them are healing nicely. So yoy can say “You Da Man” and really mean it because when your are circumsiced you also become a man and so if you have been sleeping on a mat you get a real bed with a matress. The village of Gamasara has been playing music and yelling a lot in preparation for their circumcision celebration. I understand the celebration goes on for days and they fly flags around the house to let everyone know about the circumcision.

Now as I am taking down the Thanksgiving decorations, it is time to put up
Christmas decorations. I know a lot of friends and family put Christmas up the weekend after Thanksgiving so we are late. The plan is to pool our money together and buy the one and only Christmas tree (that I know of), in Tarime, it’s about 2 and half feet tall, sort of a Charlie Brown looking tree, but a tree is a tree I don’t care how it looks. It has also been suggested that we buy a living banana tree and decorate it. Then I plan on down loading some Christmas music and hopefully it will seem more like the Advent Season. Liz’s father, a Methodist minister, sent us Advet Devotions for every day in Advent. I almost wish there was snow on the ground. (just kidding) Christmas Cards will not get to you in time so I want to wish all of you a blessed Advent Season and a Joyous Christ Centered Christmas Day. We are certainly blessed with wonderful and supportive family and friends.

Blessing,

Pam and Mark