When I first saw this little girl she was carrying her baby sister on her back in a wrap.  When I got down to where I could take their picture, she had taken the baby into the house and put her to bed because she was asleep.  By the time these children are old enough to have children of their own, they know all about mothering as they have been doing it all their lives.  Notice the grass!  This is very unusual to have grass in their yards.  It's nice for them to play on.  This little one is very serious right now.  She wasn't sure about me -- big old white muzungu taking a picture of her.  She was happy when I showed her the picture afterwards.                                                                                                                                                     

Proud mama and two of her three children.

A view across the valley from Papa John's compound.

We went to the Kulungu Hill area with the Halls to visit some new mothers and their babies.  This sister was working out in her shamba with her children but consented to take a little break to guide us to one of the homes.  The roads are dirt and as you walk along the road, there will be a little trail that takes off uphill and there you will find a house or two or a whole compound of houses with generations of people living close to each other.   In the background you can see how the shambas and houses are built on terraces.                                                                                                                                

This big brother is showing us his ball which is made of old plastic bags tied with baling twine.

The sister in the middle, holding the baby, is one of the new mothers we went to visit.  Her name is Esther.  The woman on her right is her mother-in-law.  When the girls get married, they go live with their husband's family.  This older woman was very outgoing and animated.  Her daughter-in-law was extremely shy and spoke very little English so it was hard to communicate with her.  We took her gifts of baby soap, towels, scented soap for her, a baby outfit, candy bar, cookies for the other children and Vaseline.  They don't use diapers but instead they wrap the baby with a cloth or a blanket after slicking up their little bottoms with vaseline.                                                                                                                                       

Aren't they beautiful!  The temperature was about 75* but they still wrap their babies up with warm blankets and put warm hats on their heads.  The babies were all very good sleepers.  It is very hard to tell the ages of the people in Africa.  These young mothers look like they are 16 but both of them have two other children so they must be older -- but maybe not.                                                                                                                                                                                                           

This sister is in the Primary presidency and has come to bring the keys to the church so that we can leave some things for the missionaries.  From the time these babies are born until long after they can walk, they have bodily contact with someone -- either the mother or a brother or sister -- almost 24 hours a day.  They are swaddled in wraps or carried         everywhere they go or while their families work.  I am starting to think that this is why they seem so content.  The           children are very quiet.  In church, they will sit for three hours without making a sound.  They are nursed anywhere and at any time.  Also, they eat only food that is grown and prepared -- organically -- with no preservatives or artificial          coloring.  There is no T.V. or video games and the people are NEVER in a hurry.  The women and children spend their   days working in their shambas, preparing food, visiting with the other villagers and tidying up their humble homes.         They don't sign their children up for sports, lessons, scouts, etc. so there is no stress to get them places.  If the family has enough money, they send their children to schools where they live and come home only on holidays.  If they can't afford school, the children stay home and play with their brothers and sisters.    It's a slow-paced way of life.                 

Aren't they cute?

This proud Grandma rushed into her house, washed her cement floor, changed into her best clothes, put our her hand-made doilies and furniture covers and posed with her grandbaby.

The proud grandmother with three of her grandchildren.

What a view from their little patio!

This family has a separate kitchen area. 

This box is where this family kept their chickens.  There was a hen with her chicks inside.  The bricks that make up their homes are hand made and put together with the clay from the hillsides.

So serious!  So beautiful!

This is the second family we visited.  This house is made from sticks and bricks and mortar made from clay.  The houses are very small and dark inside.  They use the little chinks in the mortar as tiny shelves.  There was one bed to sleep a mom, dad and three children.  There are two other children living elsewhere going to school.

This sister and her husband had a very nice patio area.  They had planted a wall of shrubs around their home and the ground was swept nice and clean.

Proud mama with her babies.

This was a little girl standing in front of her home.  We were on our way to visit another family and she came out to see what was going on.

The three children on the right are brothers and sisters.  Their mother has taken their baby brother to the doctor because he is sick.  This young mother and her baby are at the house watching the children.  I don't know if there is a relationship or not.  The father was right next to the house building a plow and wouldn't talk to us.  He said, "I am committed," meaning he was busy.  Sister Hall had brought some clothes for the children.

These little girls are so excited about their new dresses!

Little brother could care less what he was wearing!

These little girls were so happy with their new clothes!  Can you see that little toy on the ground?

This is a round house with a thatched roof.  There is Elder Hall's pick-up truck hiding around the corner.  About the only vehicles you see in the hills are motorcycles and the people call them picky-pickies.  They are the taxis and sometimes they have three people riding on them at one time!  Yikes!   Some of the drivers wear helmets but not the passengers.

Here we are at the Ilima Branch.  This a nice, big pre-fab church with lots of space around it.  To get to this church we climbed down a long cement staircase.  The primary has a nice little separate building down over the hill.

There are Elder Olsen and Elder Hall on the side of the Ilima church house -- inspecting the gounds.

These donkeys are resting after carrying water to the villagers.  You are very blessed if you have a donkey!

This is a view of the Kyambeke branch.  There is lots of space and this is a very nice building.  You can see the baptismal font in the foreground.

This is the restroom behind the church house.  I just couldn't do it.

This is Lucy on the left  and Angel on the right.  Angel is the branch president's wife.  The baptismal  font is in the background.  There was supposed to be a baptism Saturday but there was no water to spare so it was postponed.

A view of the city from the side of the church house.

This is Rebeccah.  Isn't she beautiful!  She is very lucky because she lives with her family in a group of houses where her grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins live.  They have a very nice compound with a beautiful shamba and lots of animals.  They are successful farmers and they build their own houses.

Here are some of the family members who live in the compound.

Here is Elder Olsen checking out the livestock on the farm.  He said this was one of his favorite days in Africa.  He wanted to pull up a chair and stay.

One of their calves.  Pretty comfortable!

Proud Mama and her beautiful baby all dressed up in their Sunday best!

Some of the cousins.  How fun would it be to live with your cousins and be able to play outside in perfect weather every day!  Eat sugar cane, bananas right off the tree, mangos, sweet fruits, figs, etc.

Elder Olsen in the Garden of Eden.

Everyone helps get the dried corn off the husks so it can be ground for cornmeal which is a staple in their diet.

Playing all the day.

This is Papa John.  He is the patriarch of the family and he is feisty and mischievious like Grandpa Stick.

Harvesting is a social time -- everybody helps and sometimes they sing.  It's not as easy to get the corn off the cobs as you might think.  I bet your fingertips get pretty tough after a while.

Papa John and Elder Hall.  These people were so generous.  They gave us sweet fruit, eggs and mangos to take home.

Little helpers.

Love those wraps!

Brothers!

Cousins!

Bananas and chickens in the pantry.

The family is building a new house on the compound.  They are hurrying to get it done before the rainy season starts.

More family members come to visit.

And you thought your shoes were in bad shape?  These two men are helping to build a new family home.  They were happy, friendly and hard working young men.

This little princess was showing me her cute beaded necklace.