Posted by Bronwyn
When we first arrived to our house in Kenya we were welcomed not only with some needed household items like a bed and kitchenware but also a fairly stocked pantry and refrigerator to get us through several days without the need for a full grocery run. We have purchased a few things on some outings but yesterday was our first solo shopping day. Brett drove and I navigated which to be honest was only a few turns but for those that know our terrible sense of direction know this was huge! There are some small grocery stores around but for major shopping, the grocery stores are part of large malls which also take a bit of navigating themselves. There are 3 malls pretty close together all on the same road and we went to 2 of them to get a feel for what each one had. Things we have learned so far that are different besides lots of brands we have never heard of is that you can get many American items but they are super expensive. Kellogg brand cereal will cost you $6-$9 a box, Skippy peanut butter (only U.S. brand we have seen) is $7.50 for a small jar, and protein bars are $3-$5 each. We have not looked for chocolate yet but hear when you find it, especially chocolate chips, it is super expensive as well. The up side is that fresh produce is pretty inexpensive and really good! It actually looks like real stuff instead of perfectly shined, colored, and waxed fruit and vegetables. However, local lemons are green and limes often more yellow in color. The produce area is staffed so that when you bag your apples or whatever, they weigh it and put a price tag on it right there verses at the register. As a general rule, if it is frequently purchased by Kenyans then it is inexpensive or what we are used to as normal prices but if not, then the price jumps up. There is not a big demand for pork products so you don’t see too much of it. Brett will miss his occasional sausage and biscuits but we did buy bacon. Plastic bags are illegal in Kenya (including ziplock bags) so you have to purchase reusable bags which is totally fine except we keep forgetting to take them with us. We are currently good on reusable bags.
We have been asked several times about the possibility of sending us care packages, and you can absolutely do that. In Kenya mail does not get delivered house to house so we have a P.O. Box, we will attach this info at the bottom. Boxes can be searched by customs and you can be charged for what they think the difference might be if you purchased the items in Kenya. It’s somewhat arbitrary and possibly even a little corrupt, however there are some things you can do that will help. First regular and large envelopes almost never get searched so that is an option. Also the USPS small rectangle flat rate boxes also tend to not be searched and you can cram a lot in there. We will post some things that would be great to have at the bottom too.
It was a year ago today that I first sent the text about BlueSky to Brett and here we are living in Kenya. God has been so faithful through all of this and we are excited to see what the next year will hold. We do still need more monthly supporters so continue to keep that in your prayers. Thanks for following us along!
Brett and Bronwyn 
If you drive to the market make a habit of putting the bags in your vehicle instead of storing in the house.
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Ha! Yea, we have already put them there.
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