When Peter Stenstrom was in elementary school his parents moved to Kenya where they worked as dorm parents in a missionary boarding school.
The boarding school was to be Stenstrom’s home until he graduated six years later.
It was a life far removed from anything experienced in Canada, but as much as it was new and different, it was a time in his life that Stenstrom recalls with nostalgia and fondness.
“Looking back, I think it was amazing,” he said.
As the son of dorm parents, he lived a somewhat different lifestyle than his counterparts and was able to enjoy home cooked meals and actually living with his parents.
But even so, he said he envied his comrades sometimes at the end of the day when he found himself at home, alone and his friends were all together living the boarding school experience.
Although Stenstrom moved back to Canada after graduation, slowly adjusting and adapting to a conventional lifestyle, he never forgot his years in Kenya and somehow, in the back of his mind, he knew he wanted to go back.
And so, as his parents did before him, he is packing up his family; his wife, Ashley, and 15-month-old son Nathan, and moving to the same foreign shore where he lived as a boy. In fact, he is going to be a dorm parent at the same boarding school he lived in so many years ago.
He believes it was meant to be.
“I wanted Ashley to see where I grew up and we decided to try out some work over there.”
He believes the move is what God wants him and his family to do.
“Things have fallen into place really well. It seems like a perfect fit and there has been a need for our skills and what we can offer.”
Stenstrom, who has a degree in recreation, and his wife, who is a teacher, will be dorm parents to 20 Grade 7 boys for the first few months of their stay. They will then look after 20 grades 5 and 6 boys.
“We will do the day to day things with them, mostly just care for them and love them and create a safe, nurturing environment.”
Stenstrom will also do the recreation planning for the school and be a sports coach.
As much as Stenstrom is looking forward to the adventure of living in Kenya, he is well aware of the risks involved.
“There’s lots of corruption and it’s a hard life. You don’t have the conveniences and you don’t always feel safe. It will be a very demanding job; seven days a week, 24 hours a day. And in Kenya nothing happens quickly. It could take you an hour and a half to go 35 miles.”
The Stenstroms will work for Africa Inland Missions at the Rift Valley Academy, a boarding school that houses about 500 students. Approximately half of the students are American, 20 per cent Korean, 10 per cent Canadian and the remainder are African, said Stenstrom.
The area to which they will be moving is 7,500 feet above sea level and above the malaria belt and temperatures average 22 to 25 degrees C. during the day, dropping to 3 or 4 degrees C in the evening.
Stenstrom, who will wrap up his job in Rimbey July 3, said working here has been a positive, rewarding experience.
“This is the kind of work I enjoy doing, so it’s been a good thing for me personally.”
The amiable community services co-ordinator, who was born in Rimbey June 14, 35 years ago, said he and his wife are glad for the opportunity to work and live here.
“It’s the smallest place we’ve ever lived, but if we came back to stay permanently in Canada we would look at Rimbey over and above any place else.”
But, for the next year at least, Stenstrom is fulfilling another dream.
He’s going home.
“They say that half of the people who were raised in Africa will return. I guess I am a case in point, really.”