More Family Days

Today Arnold and David came over and we went to see our Grandfather.  He is a very nice man.  I learned that he actually is Laban Lekamoi.  His Father (my Great Grandfather) was named Paulo K. Lekamoi.  He died in 2003 at the age of 105!  Wow!  His Mother (my Great Grandmother) is Salome Zakaria Sirikwa....so SHE is the connection to the Sirikwa family. She is still alive and living in Ilboru andshe is 96 years old!  WOW AGAIN! 

Laban (my grandfather) was not married to my grandmother Rose.  He has been married twice though.  Once to a woman who he loved very much and had 3 children with.  She had a stroke and was paralyzed and only after she passed away did he marry again to his current wife.  He has one child with her, a little boy named Geopherey Laban, who is 5 years old.  I have photos of him below.  It's weird to think that he is my uncle, as he is only 5!  ;-)

I also have two other uncles, Tumaini Laban Lekamoi and Luka Laban Lekamoi.  Luka has just finished up university and Tumaini has a wife and a son.  Neseriani Laban is my aunt and she is married and has 2 children.

My Grandfather has a fascinating history.  He was in the TPDF (Tanzanian military service) for many many years and he actually fought for years in Mozambique and Zimbabwe before independence came to Africa!  What a fascinating and scary part of African history to be a part of.  The wars waged in those places during those times are sooo scary to read about....yikes!  Upon retirement from the military (after 10 years of service) my grandfather became a teacher at the primary school and has only recently retired (in June 2009).  His English is excellent and he is obviously a well educated and interesting man.  He is Christian and showed us all photos of his wife and he on church trips in Nairobi.  He even showed us photos of our Great Grandma.  Mommy got the negative for the photo and will have copies made and then return the negative to him this week. 

He was so nice and had snacks and sodas for us all (Mommy wouldn't let me or Shei Shei have any sodas though....geesh, she's sooo mean).  He told Arnold and David to work hard in school and to study because they had a great opportunity to get a good education and they shouldn't waste it.  And, he said that we are all welcome anytime and we are all family and he even said that he thinks of my Mommy now as his daughter.  He is so kind and you can tell that he cares for us boys.  I think we are lucky to have found him. 

I could see that David got a bit emotional while we were there a few times....I hope he was ok.  I know that all this family stuff can be confusing and hard.  Still, I'm really glad to have found such great family in my brothers, Arnold and David and now in my Grandfather. 

After our visit we came home and watched Sleeping Beauty on the TV.  Of course, as always when Arnold and David are over there were lots of fun snacks.  David loves peanut butter sandwiches so we always have that on hand for him.  And, lots of bananas and popcorn.  ;-)  Yummmmm