The following is a letter from Theresa Tribble (Judy's oldest daughter) to her family and friends about what her life has been like the past few months. Theresa has a yearlong fellowship to study elder care in developing countries; this fellowship stipulates that she may not come back to the United States during her year of study. She certainly is having some wonderful and exciting experiences. Our thanks go to Judy for sharing Theresa's letter with us.

It's that time again, where I write and tell everyone that I am still alive in more words than necessary. I just finished my six-month report to the Watson Foundation (quite a grueling job, writing two pages about three months of my life) and figure that I should also send out an update to everyone while I have the time and am thinking about what I've been up to recently.

Since I wrote last, I have visited my friend Tabitha in Dubai where we brought in 2002 at the Irish Village with the help of The Village Boyz and Mercury (obviously cover bands for The Village People and Queen). I was the one who insisted on attending this really cheesy, but ultimately memory-making event--how could middle-aged men in checked sport-coats and singing "Country Roads" with a bunch of Brits at an Irish bar in the Middle East not be a memorable experience? During my visit, we also got to ride camels, play lots of Tetris, and I fell in love with falafel, which I had never really had until I got to Dubai. I mean that I had eaten it in the dining hall at Wellesley, but, when it comes to most foods, that doesn't count as an authentic experience. For those of you wondering how it was to be in Dubai~ it was a really positive experience. People were really nice and it was quite honestly the safest place I have ever been in my life. I'm not sure that I would want to live there because I recognize that there are trade-offs for always being served first and treated basically like a queen, but it was nice for a change.

From Dubai, I went to Kenya. I had a serious allergic reaction to everything Kenyan during my first week in Nairobi--a mental allergic reaction, that is. The food wasn't great, there was no hot water in my house, people were always staring at me. But, I adjusted in a week: the water doesn't seem as cold, I'm not starving to death. So all is well between Nairobi, and myself although I think that I am much more accustomed to Kenya than Kenya is to me--meaning that some people in my neighborhood still stare when I am on my way home. They can't quite figure out why I live in their neighborhood instead of where all of the other white people live.

I spent my first month here studying Swahili with a group of Korean missionaries. They quickly adopted me into their lunch club and started to bring me rice and Kim Chi everyday for lunch. Who knew I would come to Kenya and discover Korean food? My Swahili is decent considering that I've only been here six weeks and it seems to help differentiate me from tourists. Unfortunately, the phrase that I use the most is "I don't have any money today, I'm sorry" because there are large numbers of street children begging on the streets. Having visited India last year, the visible poverty was not a total shock to me, but I have to admit that it was a really surreal experience to see children living in and eating garbage and everyone around them acting as if nothing was out of the ordinary, probably because it wasn't an extraordinary sight to them The political situation here in Kenya is better entertainment than Days of Our Lives, which, since it is not supposed to be entertainment, is kind of disturbing. Every day on the news there is anew alliance between some political group or other that then dissolves the next day amid cries of corruption and lots of name-calling. It's really a bizarre and unfortunate thing to watch all of these adults behaving like soap stars when most of the citizens are destitute. But even more unfortunate is the picture of American life that some Kenyans have developed. My friend Winnie said to me last week, "Oh, I know all about what most Americans are like. I watch Divorce Court." For those of you who have never seen Divorce Court, just replace it with Jerry Springer. Good to know that we're exporting quality entertainment to the world ;)

I was honestly surprised when kids in my neighborhood wanted to touch my skin and hair after I arrived. Because we are living in Nairobi, I figured that I wouldn't be that big of a novelty. But even my friends who are older wanted to feel my hair and were curious about what I use on it to make it so straight and soft. I was equally curious about how one cares for one's braids because I realized that I'd never really thought that different types of hair required different types of care. It has been little things like learning how often you have to get your braids redone and the sheer volume of hair that is added to most people's braids that has made Kenya the most cultural experience that I have had so far this year.

I've already been absorbed into three different families in my short time here in Kenya. The Hirsts are my friend Sheba's (from Wellesley) family and have taken me in as if they had known me for years. Then there are Dominic and Agnes, who have already invited me to their wedding that is sure to take place in the next few years and whose relatives have also stuffed me with food and tested me on my Swahili. Finally, there are the Mungais, who were quite surprised to learn that I hadn't actually met their sister who had emailed them and ordered them to take me in, but who have become my good friends nonetheless. I really can't get over how friendly people have been to me during my travels. I am going to have to do a lot of playing host to the friends of friends in order to ever get the karma balanced again, so if anyone has any friends who have been dying to visit the Midwest, send them my way.

Before I close, just one more observation, Kenya is the most outwardly religious place that I have ever visited. Considering that I grew up in a town that seemed to have a church for every ten people, it is quite an experience to visit someplace more religious than the Bible Belt. Last Sunday, I went to the gym in the afternoon. The first thing that the person behind the desk asked me was "Have you been to church today?" Talk about being concerned about total wellness! But that doesn't compare to the guy who tried to help me find Jesus when I was running on the treadmill. I think that there just might be something strange about that gym because they also occasionally play gospel music instead of what I think of as music for working out.

As for the older people (yeah, the reason I'm gallivanting around the world in the first place), I have found several willing to talk to me and it has been really informative to talk to these people about their lives and views of Kenya. And we also talk about everything from the status of street children to September 11th, so I learn a lot from them about how they see the world and how they think things should be handled. For me, there's nothing I would rather be doing.

All in all, I am perfectly content here in Nairobi. I've made great friends, am the official ugali (a staple food that is similar to grits) maker in my house, and am learning a lot about everything from ageing to Swahili. The only thing I can ask for is McDonald's on occasion, but it's only 6 more weeks until I can have that again, too. I apologize for the length of this message, but hopefully it has given you a little taste of what my life is like. Take care of yourselves and each other. Love you, Theresa

For those people who have been watching CNN (and who hasn't), I am very far away from Somalia, so please don't worry.