Millie in Kenya…
Six months
after Sara returned Stateside, Millie married a Kenyan—Amos Kumunya. She had known him for several years, and
they’d been good friends. His family, of
the Kikuyu tribe, lived in their upcountry shamba
in the Central Province. Amos was educated in England because
an uncle, whose wives were unable to produce sons, offered to educate him. Upon returning to Kenya,
he was hired as head master at a boarding school outside Nyeri. He wanted to
work with the rural population—who were mostly illiterate. Amos knew a difference could only come through education—he
and Millie spent hours discussing how to go against family and culture to make
changes. Millie respected and admired
Amos long before she realized she loved him.
And perhaps Sara’s leaving enabled her to take the step of commitment
that before she’d been hesitant to make.
Amos and
Millie had five wonderful years together—remarkable in the values they shared
and the enthusiasm they inspired in one another. Millie taught in a rural school. While she was highly suspect, and watched by
both male and female colleagues—fearful of her feminist ways—she was also respected, because they saw her love for Kenya and the children at the
school.
Millie and
Amos lived in a small house just north of Nyeri. Simple in structure, it did have indoor
plumbing—a luxury for that area. They
also had a phone—which rarely worked.
Amos had left early for a meeting in Nairobi—a 5 hour drive
from their home. Millie expected him to
return by 9 that evening—the next day was their 5th wedding
anniversary and they had plans to go to Nakuru to visit friends. When he didn’t
return, and with the phone not working, Millie presumed his meeting had lasted
late and Amos decided to drive home the next day.
However, in the early morning
hours, a policeman from Nyeri arrived to tell Millie there’d been a road
accident. Amos had been killed
instantly. He had also been robbed—his
car and his body stripped of everything—a common occurrence in Kenya.
Millie’s
gift to him that anniversary was to tell him she was pregnant. They’d often talked about having children,
but it just never seemed to happen.
Would he have waited to come home the next morning if he’d known? Millie never knew that child—she miscarried a
few weeks after Amos’ funeral.
Millie felt
her spirit broken. Sara flew to Kenya as soon
as she heard. Millie had no close
family—her parents, ironically also killed in a car accident. In the end, she decided to return to the
States, moving in with Sara and her husband, Hank, for the first couple of
months—needing to familiarize herself once again with American culture.
Millie got a job as a researcher in
women’s studies at the university where Sara and Hank taught. With that small income and grants for further
studies, Millie found a small apartment and immersed herself in school work. Three years later, with PhD in hand, she
obtained a position at Oregon
State University.
Heading north, out of the warm California
sunshine, Millie began her life once again in Oregon.
To be continued…
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