In those days…

Do you ever remember memorizing, or hearing Luke 2 as a child around Christmastime?

I still remember when Mom had all of us kids learn it…”In those days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world…”

Well, yesterday evening, I had the interesting experience of being included in the official Kenyan Census Day. Yes, that’s right. I am now counted in the 2009-2010 census for the country of Kenya! A woman knocked on each RVA door last night (or most of them), and had to come into our home to fill out an official “SAT” type form with circles to be filled in, and letters to be marked.

She asked me pretty typical questions–age, gender, time of residence in Kenya, nationality, if I was the “head” of my household.

And, then I got some pretty interesting ones, which I wasn’t quite expecting:

“What type of cattle do you keep?” (Chickens, goats, pigs, etc.) “Umm, none.”

“What type of material is your house made up of?” (options: clay, bricks, straw, concrete, etc.) “Concrete.”

And then more sobering questions came:

“If you are a woman 12 years or older, how many children have you had so far, and of those children, how many still live?” “Is your mother still living? Is your father still living?”

“I have not had any children. My parents are still both alive.”