Grace

"For by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is a gift of God-- not the result of works, so that no one may boast." Ephesians 2:8

I recently re-read If Grace is True, by Phil Mulley and James Mulholland, an important and thoughtful book. The main point is that grace is the most important attribute of God, and that grace (like God) is not to be limited by our doctrines, creeds, and dogmas; that if grace is true for anyone, then it is true for everyone.

Important ideas, but the Grace I wish to discuss is a more concrete one, Grace Sokonyi, our beloved housekeeper over the years here, our friend, and in many ways our most important teacher about all things African.

Grace does indeed save me: feeds me, keeps from making cultural blunders, and helps me with the nuances of etiquette. She is truly a gift. There is no one I know whose name is more fitting; she is,well, Grace-ful.

Grace has not had an easy time, especially in recent years. She was widowed at a relatively young age about four years ago, but has managed to hold her family together, and keep all her children in school. For the last several years, she has cared for her 90-something mother-in-law in her own home (culturally, she should be living with her own children), while at the same time having responsibility for her 90-something mother, who lives a couple of miles away. All this while working very hard for the hospital, doing various cooking and cleaning jobs. And she does all of this without ever a hint of complaining or ingratitude. She bears it all with amazing grace.

On Liz's last day in Lugulu, we walked the mile or so to Grace's modest shamba, where she had spent the day preparing a lavish feast for us. She also wanted us to see her children, 4 of the 5 whom were there with her that day. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Missing was her oldest daughter Catherine, who is off in Nairobi, where she goes to school. Catherine was described as married (although the dowry is not yet paid, so the ceremony will not be until later this year) and expecting a child "sometime soon." Culturally, people don't seem to talk much about pregnancy, almost as if an excess of anticipation might bring disappointment or even bad luck. Still, it was clear Grace was excited.

Yesterday afternoon (Sunday), Grace showed up unexpectedly; she said she needed to charge her phone so she could call Catherine back. I had Grace use my phone to call Nairobi; it seems Catherinie had gone into labor, gone to one hospital and been told that "the baby is not sleeping right" and so referred to another hospital for a C-section. I know that C-sections in Nairobi are over $1000 (5x more than here) and commonly done, so there were huge financial implications to all of this. Grace is not usually very emotionally demonstrative, but she was clearly worried (as was I).

But Grace came this morning with good news: the second hospital had told Catherine everything was fine, and allowed her to labor. She gave birth early this morning to a healthy daughter, Grace's first grandchild. As Grace put it, "I am now finally a grown-up person."

On this very special day, Grace hurried and finished her work in the morning, so she could leave early, to participate in the funeral of her neighbor and friend, and her friend' s mother. Her friend had died unexpectedly last week, and at the news, her elderly mother who had been ill for sometime, died as well. So another double funeral. Such is life -- birth and death -- in Kenya.

[Liz, if you read this: I can no longer access gmail; I will see you Friday afternoon in Mabanga.]