Cemetery

Hello,

On the way home from the giraffe sanctuary we stopped at a WWII cemetery. I was surprised to learn that there were so many soldiers from Africa in WWII. I am not a big history person, but I do think about the war just involving North America, Europe, and Asia. I do not know the number of burials here, but it was a lot. It was well taken care of with mown grass and rows and rows of identical small tombstones. It was interesting to read the names, dates, and ages.

In the middle of the city of Nairobi there is an arboretum. We spent a pleasant morning there walking around some native trees and some imported trees. I was glad that they had labels. Some paths were paved and some were dirt. In spite of the sense of care it was not as groomed as things generally are in the US. It was also pleasant to see so many people there. Some of them seemed to be rehearsing a play while others were sitting on benches or walking as we were. A couple guys were, as Lexi said, “La la.” That is the word for sleeping in Kswahili.

I will be going back to Kenya on April 21, 2009. Stephen has come back to the US to look for a job. It seemed to me that it would be good for Sarah to have some help managing these two long flights with a small girl. We will fly a bit more than eight hours to Amsterdam, sit in the airport for about five hours, and then fly another nine hours to Minneapolis. In New Brighton we will all gather at Brian and Jen’s home for the first total family reunion since 2004. I am so looking forward to that. We hope to be able to get a family picture complete with all four little girls smiling. What do you think will be the chance of those smiles happening at the same time? At least they will be in the picture. Solemn is ok.

Paula
http://picasaweb.google.com/psbradway/WWIICemetery#
http://picasaweb.google.com/psbradway/GiraffeSanctuary#