We just left Nairobi to fly to Kisumu which borders Lake Victoria in western Kenya. We had lunch today at our hotel (no ox testicles on the menu!) with an old friend, Dr. David Silverstein and his wife, Channah. Twenty years ago, when I told my father of my plans to spend a year in Kenya, he panicked. He couldn’t imagine I would be so far from home and know nobody. So, given my dad’s incredible resourcefulness and creativity, he of course found a way to contact a doctor in Kenya who could keep an eye on me. To find this doctor he pulled down his directory of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and looked under Kenya. There to our amazement was Dr. David Silverstein from Chicago! Dad picked up the phone and called him and David graciously offered to watch over me and to pick me up from the airport when I arrived. So, when I landed in Nairobi for the first time (I flew in the cockpit of the 747 with the headphones on to land! those were the good old days) David’s driver was there with a smile. He whisked me away and off we went to David’s house. On the way there I learned that 8 days earlier David had had a son and the bris was being held at this house. Little did I expect that the then president of Kenya, Daniel Arap Moi would be the guest of honor. I walked into the house and saw this enormous African president with a kippah on his head holding a Jewish baby for circumcision. Dr. Silverstein personally guided President Moi in re-establishing strong relations with Israel and helped to build the first synagogue in Nairobi which thrives there today. Channah, David’s wife worked as an emergency medical specialist in Somalia and Rwanda and has helped to develop Nairobi hospital’s emergency department. David and Channah met the day of the United States embassy bombing in 1998 when they found themselves in the emergency room of Nairobi hospital inundated with 500 patients at once.
More soon!
p.s. thanks to everyone who is sending comments! I read them aloud to the entire family and we feel so lucky to have you connected to us. I cannot seem to connect on my Blackberry to approve the comments, but know that we receive them and love them! Keep them coming!!