Sorry for the long silence – where has the time gone? We can’t even say that it’s because we’re busy in the lead-up to Christmas because Christmas is such a low-key event in this culture – the other extreme from the commercialised Western Christmas.
We hear the weather at home has got cold and snowy. Here, after a few weeks where we have had a lot of rain (which really brings the temperature down) we are having a couple of hot sunny days. We are praying that the rains will slow down now, as people are complaining that their land is waterlogged, their houses are damp and the cobs are beginning to rot on the maize plants. A couple of weeks of sunshine would restore hopes of a great harvest.
We’re well, keeping going with supporting the church leaders, helping out here at Hope & Kindness, farming (!), visiting people and helping to assess needs, taking photos and practising speaking Dholuo.
Last Saturday we had the pleasure of attending the wedding of one of the teachers – a bizarre experience indeed. The invitation said “from 10.00am” but the bride was not in the church until sometime after 2.00. The procession of 8 flower girls, 11 bridesmaids, 13 men and boys forming the groom’s escort and various other bride’s helpers took a full hour to sashay into the church. Unlike British weddings, it seemed like they had the party in the middle of the service, at least in terms of the amount of celebration and dancing! A great experience, if you could avoid a headache due to the high noise volume!
We’ve had visitors staying with us here. Two Danish girls doing a “gap year” and spending 4 months in Africa stayed for two weeks and spent a lot of time working with the children, particularly doing art with them. In the middle of that we had another team from the international company Cisco, which supports the school and home. They were really busy for the few days they were here – painting the classrooms, helping to build a house, and organising the kids in a “talent show”, amongst other things.
All these visitors really joined in the work here so well; they all seemed to enjoy their time here and the kids loved them. It’s been a pleasure to have them but it has also been nice now that they’ve all gone away and we have the house to ourselves again. Even Terry has gone home for a few weeks and the school has closed for the long holiday. Most of those children in the home who have a grandmother or aunt or other relatives to go to have gone off for a holiday. Only 14 children are still here.
There’s still a lot happening here – building work is progressing well and there’s a lot of maintenance work getting done on the site. Yesterday we had another practice session for the people who will be involved in training others in “Farming God’s Way” – we hope to be ready to offer the training to church and community members from early January.
The group for young mothers has got off to a good start with up to nine mums and their babies and toddlers attending. They have been very attentive to the teaching on nutrition, hygiene and vaccinations that Hilda has brought so far. The men’s and women’s groups and the church generally are also encouraging.
This Sunday we will start with the Pre-Encounter teaching for the 4 people (English speaking) who will be our “guinea pigs” for the first Encounter – this is scheduled for 14th and 20th December.
Friday 9 December 2011
Wednesday 16 November 2011
wildlife
We are fine here and trying to keep out of the rain which is still coming most afternoons. This has been a really wet “short rainy season” and people are now concerned that if the rain continues like this, the ripening corn cobs will not dry properly.
It’s Monday and I’m looking forward (can you believe this?) to our regular Monday lunch of boiled potatoes and beans. The potatoes (“Irish potatoes” as they call them here) are really tasty and are cooked in water with a little oil, onion and tomato. The beans are just normal beans but are delicious with a dollop of chilli sauce. (Terry maintains that chilli sauce makes anything edible here!)
We have a nice wee house here and we don’t mind sharing it with others. However, apart from the bees in the chimney, a few of which find their way out each morning and commit suicide trying to get out of the (permanently shut) back door, the other creatures we have found sharing the house have been a bit of a problem. On Monday evening Hilda noticed a little pile of earth on the floor in the hallway, and on close inspection found termites coming up through a tiny hole in the concrete floor. The night guards confirmed that they were indeed termites and we also found more evidence of their presence outside. In fact there was a large frog sitting beside a termite hole just waiting for more of them to emerge. Where there are frogs there are also snakes, the next link up the food chain, and Leonard’s torchlight then found a nearby baby black mamba, which he quickly dispatched with his hatchet. Life here is never dull! Today a fundi (expert) was brought in to dig round the house and spray insecticide, so hopefully we have seen the beginning of the end of the termites.
While we were out of the house this evening, waiting till the insecticide fumes drifted away, I joined some of the Home kids in a classroom doing “prep”. Some were revising for tomorrow’s Standard 7 maths exam, some were reading books or today’s newspaper, but six of them were gathered round a table reading the Bible and discussing its meaning. Encouraging!
On the other hand, a young man who recently became a Christian and seemed to be turning his life around has gone against the godly advice a church leader offered him and has got married. Arranged marriages are no longer the norm here, but this young man’s sister apparently found a suitable girl for him and he went off to meet her last weekend. The next we knew, he had brought her back to his house and they had “married”. While Western ways of courtship and marriage are not necessarily good either, the church here has a lot to do to help people to apply biblical principles to relationships and many other aspects of life.
Hilda and Dorine are starting a group for young mothers and the first meeting is Thursday morning. Hilda will be giving some basic health education and the first topic is “water”; Dorine will do a very short Bible lesson . The purpose of this group is to support young mothers who are struggling and to outreach into the community. We’ll let you know how it goes.
It’s Monday and I’m looking forward (can you believe this?) to our regular Monday lunch of boiled potatoes and beans. The potatoes (“Irish potatoes” as they call them here) are really tasty and are cooked in water with a little oil, onion and tomato. The beans are just normal beans but are delicious with a dollop of chilli sauce. (Terry maintains that chilli sauce makes anything edible here!)
We have a nice wee house here and we don’t mind sharing it with others. However, apart from the bees in the chimney, a few of which find their way out each morning and commit suicide trying to get out of the (permanently shut) back door, the other creatures we have found sharing the house have been a bit of a problem. On Monday evening Hilda noticed a little pile of earth on the floor in the hallway, and on close inspection found termites coming up through a tiny hole in the concrete floor. The night guards confirmed that they were indeed termites and we also found more evidence of their presence outside. In fact there was a large frog sitting beside a termite hole just waiting for more of them to emerge. Where there are frogs there are also snakes, the next link up the food chain, and Leonard’s torchlight then found a nearby baby black mamba, which he quickly dispatched with his hatchet. Life here is never dull! Today a fundi (expert) was brought in to dig round the house and spray insecticide, so hopefully we have seen the beginning of the end of the termites.
While we were out of the house this evening, waiting till the insecticide fumes drifted away, I joined some of the Home kids in a classroom doing “prep”. Some were revising for tomorrow’s Standard 7 maths exam, some were reading books or today’s newspaper, but six of them were gathered round a table reading the Bible and discussing its meaning. Encouraging!
On the other hand, a young man who recently became a Christian and seemed to be turning his life around has gone against the godly advice a church leader offered him and has got married. Arranged marriages are no longer the norm here, but this young man’s sister apparently found a suitable girl for him and he went off to meet her last weekend. The next we knew, he had brought her back to his house and they had “married”. While Western ways of courtship and marriage are not necessarily good either, the church here has a lot to do to help people to apply biblical principles to relationships and many other aspects of life.
Hilda and Dorine are starting a group for young mothers and the first meeting is Thursday morning. Hilda will be giving some basic health education and the first topic is “water”; Dorine will do a very short Bible lesson . The purpose of this group is to support young mothers who are struggling and to outreach into the community. We’ll let you know how it goes.
Wednesday 9 November 2011
bizarre?
Kenya is a place of bizarre experiences.
• The preacher on Sunday is wearing a Somerfield fleece jacket. No-one thinks there is anything unusual about this.
• The Standard 8 children are sitting their primary school leaving exams – this is taken extremely seriously and as well as an invigilator from another school we also have a policeman on site (actually he looks more like a soldier, complete with semi-automatic rifle) to ensure that there is no cheating!
• We came back from Oyugis in a shared taxi the other day. The taxi waits until it is filled with passengers, then the driver gets in – how is he going to drive when there is another man sitting in the driver’s seat? Not a problem – he just squeezes over. There are 4 adults in the front of the Toyota estate car, 4 in the back, and another 5 in the boot, not to mention babies and luggage!
As I said, this week our Standard 8 pupils are sitting their KCPE exams which will determine if they can go on to high school and potentially university. Last Thursday, in preparation, all the standard 8 pupils from the area met in one of the local schools for a “day of prayer” for the exams! Then here on Friday all the school gathered together, one of the teachers spoke on the David & Goliath story (the exams are their “Goliath”!) and we prayed for their success. It was something we couldn’t imagine happening in the UK! In church on Sunday they were again prayed for. So if they don’t do well it won’t be due to a lack of prayer.
Our main work continues to be to support the church leaders in developing and implementing a vision for the church. We seem to have an open door at the moment for leading them into new ideas. We have a lot of respect for them as we see how strong their faith is, and their love for God. Some of them have come through very difficult circumstances, and all of them struggle to a greater or lesser extent to feed and care for their families.
I have been out in the community also with Dorine. We visited a 19 year old who first came to the Hope & Kindness gate last week with her 17 month old son. The child has really bad Kwashiorkor (wet malnutrition) due to lack of protein. The mother was given a supply of food, vitamins, de-worming tablets, iron syrup and an antibiotic for his infected sores. We will keep a close eye on him. She had stopped breast feeding early because she had become pregnant with his sister, who is now one month old. She gave birth, all by herself, in her mud house! Her husband keeps leaving to get a job in a nearby town and disappears for months and does not provide for them.
I have recently met another 19 year old, who has twins as a result of rape - they are very malnourished.
Seeing these two young mothers has made Dorine and I decide not to wait until next year to start a Young Mothers Group but to start next Thursday. Neither of these girls have support from families. They don’t attend church but both have been responsive to what we have shared with them, and one of them just cried when Dorine prayed with her yesterday.
We have a church leaders meeting on Sunday afternoon so we will seek their approval first – but I’m sure there won’t be a problem. We plan to do some basic health education and will have some spiritual content also. Maybe I’ll just play with the children!
With the leaders this Sunday we will sort out dates for the first Encounter weekend, which will just be for a few English speakers, including Dorine and Kennedy. Hope it’s not too hard going with just the two of us taking it! We are going away this Friday for the day to start working on it.
We have been invited to the wedding of one of the teachers on 3rd December so will be interesting to see how things are done here. It is only the better-off here who have a wedding. Most girls just go and live with their husband when a cow or two are handed over as a dowry. Often even this does not happen and the husband can still be owing the cows many years later!
• The preacher on Sunday is wearing a Somerfield fleece jacket. No-one thinks there is anything unusual about this.
• The Standard 8 children are sitting their primary school leaving exams – this is taken extremely seriously and as well as an invigilator from another school we also have a policeman on site (actually he looks more like a soldier, complete with semi-automatic rifle) to ensure that there is no cheating!
• We came back from Oyugis in a shared taxi the other day. The taxi waits until it is filled with passengers, then the driver gets in – how is he going to drive when there is another man sitting in the driver’s seat? Not a problem – he just squeezes over. There are 4 adults in the front of the Toyota estate car, 4 in the back, and another 5 in the boot, not to mention babies and luggage!
As I said, this week our Standard 8 pupils are sitting their KCPE exams which will determine if they can go on to high school and potentially university. Last Thursday, in preparation, all the standard 8 pupils from the area met in one of the local schools for a “day of prayer” for the exams! Then here on Friday all the school gathered together, one of the teachers spoke on the David & Goliath story (the exams are their “Goliath”!) and we prayed for their success. It was something we couldn’t imagine happening in the UK! In church on Sunday they were again prayed for. So if they don’t do well it won’t be due to a lack of prayer.
Our main work continues to be to support the church leaders in developing and implementing a vision for the church. We seem to have an open door at the moment for leading them into new ideas. We have a lot of respect for them as we see how strong their faith is, and their love for God. Some of them have come through very difficult circumstances, and all of them struggle to a greater or lesser extent to feed and care for their families.
I have been out in the community also with Dorine. We visited a 19 year old who first came to the Hope & Kindness gate last week with her 17 month old son. The child has really bad Kwashiorkor (wet malnutrition) due to lack of protein. The mother was given a supply of food, vitamins, de-worming tablets, iron syrup and an antibiotic for his infected sores. We will keep a close eye on him. She had stopped breast feeding early because she had become pregnant with his sister, who is now one month old. She gave birth, all by herself, in her mud house! Her husband keeps leaving to get a job in a nearby town and disappears for months and does not provide for them.
I have recently met another 19 year old, who has twins as a result of rape - they are very malnourished.
Seeing these two young mothers has made Dorine and I decide not to wait until next year to start a Young Mothers Group but to start next Thursday. Neither of these girls have support from families. They don’t attend church but both have been responsive to what we have shared with them, and one of them just cried when Dorine prayed with her yesterday.
We have a church leaders meeting on Sunday afternoon so we will seek their approval first – but I’m sure there won’t be a problem. We plan to do some basic health education and will have some spiritual content also. Maybe I’ll just play with the children!
With the leaders this Sunday we will sort out dates for the first Encounter weekend, which will just be for a few English speakers, including Dorine and Kennedy. Hope it’s not too hard going with just the two of us taking it! We are going away this Friday for the day to start working on it.
We have been invited to the wedding of one of the teachers on 3rd December so will be interesting to see how things are done here. It is only the better-off here who have a wedding. Most girls just go and live with their husband when a cow or two are handed over as a dowry. Often even this does not happen and the husband can still be owing the cows many years later!
Sunday 23 October 2011
together
One late afternoon we had gone with three of the children from the Home to visit an elderly grandmother, and the sky darkened just as we arrived at her house (the usual mud walls and floor and tin roof variety). We managed to have a brief conversation with her before the skies opened and the rain came pouring down. She quickly organised her four- and six-year-old orphaned granddaughters who live with her to run out with all their basins and containers to catch the rainwater from the roof. They returned and we all sat, unable to verbally communicate because of the noise on the tin roof. We could only smile and wait for half an hour for the rain to stop. We seemed to share together in a way that speech would have spoiled. Even the chickens that followed the girls in seemed to sense the moment and sat down on the floor between us until one got hungry and began to peck the ants off the floor!
The crops had been watered again and no one would complain about the mud that followed. A neighbour rushed to assist me as I was leaving and got a firm hold of my arm and did not let go until we had reached the end of the muddy path!
The chickens joining us there were preferable to the swarm of bees that decided to join me in our house while Ian was out in the community. They had been living in the supposedly blocked off chimney! However three of the guys who work here came to my aid with Doom (an appropriate name for an effective insect eradicator) and they were soon exterminated!
Last Monday we went with Terry and some of the staff to a seminar in Kisumu, held by the charity Teach a Man to Fish. This organisation aims to help rural schools like ours which are dependent on outside funding become more self-sufficient, and in the process teach children skills in agriculture and business which will enable them to support themselves when they leave school. It was an interesting and useful day, especially hearing how other people are tackling this.
We continue to work with the church leaders and have set up another “away day” with them next Wednesday. We have been able to set up part-time paid roles for two of them – Kennedy will be working particularly in preparing and leading programmes of preaching and teaching, while Dorine will have more responsibility in pastoral care. We are looking forward to working more closely with both of them over the coming months. Kennedy has already started a preaching series which will introduce the biblical themes that underpin Farming God’s Way.
The schoolchildren, led by Duncan who is enjoying his additional role as “farm manager”, have already got the first crop of maize and beans growing well on the Farming God’s Way demonstration plots. There has been a lot of rain recently and this has really helped. We hope to see the concept being taught to church members as well and help them put it into practice in the next growing season starting in January. We believe it has the potential to change people’s attitudes and greatly improve what they can achieve on their very small farms.
We hope you enjoy our blog but you can read much more about what’s happening here by following Terry’s blog at http://terryathopeandkindness.blogspot.com/
The crops had been watered again and no one would complain about the mud that followed. A neighbour rushed to assist me as I was leaving and got a firm hold of my arm and did not let go until we had reached the end of the muddy path!
The chickens joining us there were preferable to the swarm of bees that decided to join me in our house while Ian was out in the community. They had been living in the supposedly blocked off chimney! However three of the guys who work here came to my aid with Doom (an appropriate name for an effective insect eradicator) and they were soon exterminated!
Last Monday we went with Terry and some of the staff to a seminar in Kisumu, held by the charity Teach a Man to Fish. This organisation aims to help rural schools like ours which are dependent on outside funding become more self-sufficient, and in the process teach children skills in agriculture and business which will enable them to support themselves when they leave school. It was an interesting and useful day, especially hearing how other people are tackling this.
We continue to work with the church leaders and have set up another “away day” with them next Wednesday. We have been able to set up part-time paid roles for two of them – Kennedy will be working particularly in preparing and leading programmes of preaching and teaching, while Dorine will have more responsibility in pastoral care. We are looking forward to working more closely with both of them over the coming months. Kennedy has already started a preaching series which will introduce the biblical themes that underpin Farming God’s Way.
The schoolchildren, led by Duncan who is enjoying his additional role as “farm manager”, have already got the first crop of maize and beans growing well on the Farming God’s Way demonstration plots. There has been a lot of rain recently and this has really helped. We hope to see the concept being taught to church members as well and help them put it into practice in the next growing season starting in January. We believe it has the potential to change people’s attitudes and greatly improve what they can achieve on their very small farms.
We hope you enjoy our blog but you can read much more about what’s happening here by following Terry’s blog at http://terryathopeandkindness.blogspot.com/
Saturday 8 October 2011
rain
Hi. We are well. We are now into the short rainy season, although we had a lot of rain since August so the contrast hasn’t been too marked yet. On Thursday we had a particularly heavy thunderstorm – with huge hailstones – in late afternoon. People here have planted their second crops for this year and the maize is growing up strongly.
Last week we had a trip to Kisumu and Nairobi. In Kisumu we renewed our visas and applied for registration as “aliens” – visions of little green men? In Nairobi we met up with Terry and two of the leaders of Elim Kenya who helped us in the process of applying for work permits. Hopefully these will get approved soon, which will allow us to stay in Kenya and work as “missionaries” for 2 years before they need renewed. We enjoyed our trip, doing some shopping, staying in guest houses and getting some meat in our diet again! Nairobi is getting increasingly busy, and the traffic jams get worse!
Back here we are continuing our work with the church leaders. We are planning an “Encounter” weekend for them, based on those done in Paisley Elim. We think the first one will need to be just for a few English speakers, some of whom could then help us with the next Encounter. Running the event over a weekend may not be suitable so it will probably be run over two days in two successive weeks. This weekend Ian is speaking in church on Sunday. Today we were at a special church meeting held at the home of a man who got into some trouble, was in jail for 2 months (it could have been 10 years if he had been found guilty of assault) and has subsequently come back to God and to church and turned his life around.
Some things are frustrating here, like inefficiencies, erratic internet connection, and the length of time it can take to achieve some things. And Hilda’s very slow progress in learning Dholuo! But on the other hand there are lots of encouragements, so we have lots of hope for the future. Health is such a major issue for people here. Recently we visited a young man who is HIV+ and who had been very ill the last time we saw him – his father had lost hope for him. But this week he was so much better we didn’t even recognise him!
We’ve established that people can get onto the national health insurance scheme if they make contributions of KSh160 a month (just over £1). This will basically pay for any hospital costs, but not surgery or out-patient costs. Even this amount will be beyond the means of many people, so we are looking to see if we can set up sponsorship of people to get this insurance provided.
We’ve just finished reading “When Helping Hurts” for the second time together. It’s by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert and we would recommend it to anybody interested in working with the poor either in the developing world or at home. We’re now reading “The Purpose-Driven Church” by Rick Warren and finding it really useful for our situation here.
Last week we had a trip to Kisumu and Nairobi. In Kisumu we renewed our visas and applied for registration as “aliens” – visions of little green men? In Nairobi we met up with Terry and two of the leaders of Elim Kenya who helped us in the process of applying for work permits. Hopefully these will get approved soon, which will allow us to stay in Kenya and work as “missionaries” for 2 years before they need renewed. We enjoyed our trip, doing some shopping, staying in guest houses and getting some meat in our diet again! Nairobi is getting increasingly busy, and the traffic jams get worse!
Back here we are continuing our work with the church leaders. We are planning an “Encounter” weekend for them, based on those done in Paisley Elim. We think the first one will need to be just for a few English speakers, some of whom could then help us with the next Encounter. Running the event over a weekend may not be suitable so it will probably be run over two days in two successive weeks. This weekend Ian is speaking in church on Sunday. Today we were at a special church meeting held at the home of a man who got into some trouble, was in jail for 2 months (it could have been 10 years if he had been found guilty of assault) and has subsequently come back to God and to church and turned his life around.
Some things are frustrating here, like inefficiencies, erratic internet connection, and the length of time it can take to achieve some things. And Hilda’s very slow progress in learning Dholuo! But on the other hand there are lots of encouragements, so we have lots of hope for the future. Health is such a major issue for people here. Recently we visited a young man who is HIV+ and who had been very ill the last time we saw him – his father had lost hope for him. But this week he was so much better we didn’t even recognise him!
We’ve established that people can get onto the national health insurance scheme if they make contributions of KSh160 a month (just over £1). This will basically pay for any hospital costs, but not surgery or out-patient costs. Even this amount will be beyond the means of many people, so we are looking to see if we can set up sponsorship of people to get this insurance provided.
We’ve just finished reading “When Helping Hurts” for the second time together. It’s by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert and we would recommend it to anybody interested in working with the poor either in the developing world or at home. We’re now reading “The Purpose-Driven Church” by Rick Warren and finding it really useful for our situation here.
Wednesday 14 September 2011
more focused
Sorry, we have not got lost. We have been out of touch for a few days with no network connection. We are actually very well and getting busier. Our weather here is typically hot in the middle of the day and some rain in the evening. By next month the midday sun will be directly overhead as we are almost on the Equator. We’re generally enjoying the diet here which is mostly potatoes, beans, maize, kale, eggs and the tiny fish, but we supplement it with our own breakfast cereals, coffee, fruit juice and occasional treats – we even had some Cadbury’s chocolate recently!
We are becoming more focused in our role with the church leaders and have spent 3 days meeting with Doreen and Kennedy, with another day lined up meeting with them individually - it has been very useful for us, learning more about the culture, local beliefs and the church. We have also had the added benefit of getting to know them better and have real respect for both of them.
Today we had an ‘away day’ in Oyugis with all 6 church leaders (Kennedy is now on the leadership team so it’s no longer all women!) to seek God for vision and the way forward for the church. The day didn’t go exactly according to our agenda but was really useful. We think the leaders have done really well over the last year with limited resources.
Ian and Kennedy are encouraged with Men’s group – meeting on Saturday afternoons. I can’t imagine any men at home choosing to meet at that time, especially the football addicts! The men seem keen to participate and some are asking deep questions.
Many of the church members can read in Dholuo but don’t have Bibles, so we have been able to buy some at a discount for about £4.50 each with funds from our home church in Paisley.
Ian has been driving the elderly Land Rover occasionally but he had his most challenging drive last week coming back from Oyugis when the skies went black and the rain became torrential. The volume of water rapidly obscures the holes and ruts in the road that are better avoided. However, we got home safely before it got dark.
The older children have been involved in the first attempt at “Farming God’s Way” – preparing the land, measuring it out accurately, digging holes, adding fertiliser, planting maize and bean seeds and covering it with mulch. Already the shoots are beginning to appear through the ground and now the regular task of weeding has started.
The construction work has now started on the new block of four classrooms on the land we have just agreed to buy at the bottom of the site. Also, now that we have got Planning and the other permissions, the contractor has just started on the visitor centre which he will build at the same time. Ian is “project managing” the contract and liaising with the contractor, so another challenge there – things here are generally done with much less paperwork and red tape than in the UK.
We had a visit last week from an Englishman who is involved with a school for deaf children not too far from here. It was a bit like a visit from Santa – a small round man with a white beard bearing gifts (sorry, Martin) - he brought a Kenya flag, magazines, some SU material for the school and 100 copies of the “Book of Hope” in Swahili for the children. All these are much appreciated.
“How others see us”......read the report on their visit to Hope and Kindness by the two young men travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa – see http://realwaydown.blogspot.com/
We are becoming more focused in our role with the church leaders and have spent 3 days meeting with Doreen and Kennedy, with another day lined up meeting with them individually - it has been very useful for us, learning more about the culture, local beliefs and the church. We have also had the added benefit of getting to know them better and have real respect for both of them.
Today we had an ‘away day’ in Oyugis with all 6 church leaders (Kennedy is now on the leadership team so it’s no longer all women!) to seek God for vision and the way forward for the church. The day didn’t go exactly according to our agenda but was really useful. We think the leaders have done really well over the last year with limited resources.
Ian and Kennedy are encouraged with Men’s group – meeting on Saturday afternoons. I can’t imagine any men at home choosing to meet at that time, especially the football addicts! The men seem keen to participate and some are asking deep questions.
Many of the church members can read in Dholuo but don’t have Bibles, so we have been able to buy some at a discount for about £4.50 each with funds from our home church in Paisley.
Ian has been driving the elderly Land Rover occasionally but he had his most challenging drive last week coming back from Oyugis when the skies went black and the rain became torrential. The volume of water rapidly obscures the holes and ruts in the road that are better avoided. However, we got home safely before it got dark.
The older children have been involved in the first attempt at “Farming God’s Way” – preparing the land, measuring it out accurately, digging holes, adding fertiliser, planting maize and bean seeds and covering it with mulch. Already the shoots are beginning to appear through the ground and now the regular task of weeding has started.
The construction work has now started on the new block of four classrooms on the land we have just agreed to buy at the bottom of the site. Also, now that we have got Planning and the other permissions, the contractor has just started on the visitor centre which he will build at the same time. Ian is “project managing” the contract and liaising with the contractor, so another challenge there – things here are generally done with much less paperwork and red tape than in the UK.
We had a visit last week from an Englishman who is involved with a school for deaf children not too far from here. It was a bit like a visit from Santa – a small round man with a white beard bearing gifts (sorry, Martin) - he brought a Kenya flag, magazines, some SU material for the school and 100 copies of the “Book of Hope” in Swahili for the children. All these are much appreciated.
“How others see us”......read the report on their visit to Hope and Kindness by the two young men travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa – see http://realwaydown.blogspot.com/
more focused
Sorry, we have not got lost. We have been out of touch for a few days with no network connection. We are actually very well and getting busier. Our weather here is typically hot in the middle of the day and some rain in the evening. By next month the midday sun will be directly overhead as we are almost on the Equator. We’re generally enjoying the diet here which is mostly potatoes, beans, maize, kale, eggs and the tiny fish, but we supplement it with our own breakfast cereals, coffee, fruit juice and occasional treats – we even had some Cadbury’s chocolate recently!
We are becoming more focused in our role with the church leaders and have spent 3 days meeting with Doreen and Kennedy, with another day lined up meeting with them individually - it has been very useful for us, learning more about the culture, local beliefs and the church. We have also had the added benefit of getting to know them better and have real respect for both of them.
Today we had an ‘away day’ in Oyugis with all 6 church leaders (Kennedy is now on the leadership team so it’s no longer all women!) to seek God for vision and the way forward for the church. The day didn’t go exactly according to our agenda but was really useful. We think the leaders have done really well over the last year with limited resources.
Ian and Kennedy are encouraged with Men’s group – meeting on Saturday afternoons. I can’t imagine any men at home choosing to meet at that time, especially the football addicts! The men seem keen to participate and some are asking deep questions.
Many of the church members can read in Dholuo but don’t have Bibles, so we have been able to buy some at a discount for about £4.50 each with funds from our home church in Paisley.
Ian has been driving the elderly Land Rover occasionally but he had his most challenging drive last week coming back from Oyugis when the skies went black and the rain became torrential. The volume of water rapidly obscures the holes and ruts in the road that are better avoided. However, we got home safely before it got dark.
The older children have been involved in the first attempt at “Farming God’s Way” – preparing the land, measuring it out accurately, digging holes, adding fertiliser, planting maize and bean seeds and covering it with mulch. Already the shoots are beginning to appear through the ground and now the regular task of weeding has started.
The construction work has now started on the new block of four classrooms on the land we have just agreed to buy at the bottom of the site. Also, now that we have got Planning and the other permissions, the contractor has just started on the visitor centre which he will build at the same time. Ian is “project managing” the contract and liaising with the contractor, so another challenge there – things here are generally done with much less paperwork and red tape than in the UK.
We had a visit last week from an Englishman who is involved with a school for deaf children not too far from here. It was a bit like a visit from Santa – a small round man with a white beard bearing gifts (sorry, Martin) - he brought a Kenya flag, magazines, some SU material for the school and 100 copies of the “Book of Hope” in Swahili for the children. All these are much appreciated.
“How others see us”......read the report on their visit to Hope and Kindness by the two young men travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa – see http://realwaydown.blogspot.com/
We are becoming more focused in our role with the church leaders and have spent 3 days meeting with Doreen and Kennedy, with another day lined up meeting with them individually - it has been very useful for us, learning more about the culture, local beliefs and the church. We have also had the added benefit of getting to know them better and have real respect for both of them.
Today we had an ‘away day’ in Oyugis with all 6 church leaders (Kennedy is now on the leadership team so it’s no longer all women!) to seek God for vision and the way forward for the church. The day didn’t go exactly according to our agenda but was really useful. We think the leaders have done really well over the last year with limited resources.
Ian and Kennedy are encouraged with Men’s group – meeting on Saturday afternoons. I can’t imagine any men at home choosing to meet at that time, especially the football addicts! The men seem keen to participate and some are asking deep questions.
Many of the church members can read in Dholuo but don’t have Bibles, so we have been able to buy some at a discount for about £4.50 each with funds from our home church in Paisley.
Ian has been driving the elderly Land Rover occasionally but he had his most challenging drive last week coming back from Oyugis when the skies went black and the rain became torrential. The volume of water rapidly obscures the holes and ruts in the road that are better avoided. However, we got home safely before it got dark.
The older children have been involved in the first attempt at “Farming God’s Way” – preparing the land, measuring it out accurately, digging holes, adding fertiliser, planting maize and bean seeds and covering it with mulch. Already the shoots are beginning to appear through the ground and now the regular task of weeding has started.
The construction work has now started on the new block of four classrooms on the land we have just agreed to buy at the bottom of the site. Also, now that we have got Planning and the other permissions, the contractor has just started on the visitor centre which he will build at the same time. Ian is “project managing” the contract and liaising with the contractor, so another challenge there – things here are generally done with much less paperwork and red tape than in the UK.
We had a visit last week from an Englishman who is involved with a school for deaf children not too far from here. It was a bit like a visit from Santa – a small round man with a white beard bearing gifts (sorry, Martin) - he brought a Kenya flag, magazines, some SU material for the school and 100 copies of the “Book of Hope” in Swahili for the children. All these are much appreciated.
“How others see us”......read the report on their visit to Hope and Kindness by the two young men travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa – see http://realwaydown.blogspot.com/
more focused
Sorry, we have not got lost. We have been out of touch for a few days with no network connection. We are actually very well and getting busier. Our weather here is typically hot in the middle of the day and some rain in the evening. By next month the midday sun will be directly overhead as we are almost on the Equator. We’re generally enjoying the diet here which is mostly potatoes, beans, maize, kale, eggs and the tiny fish, but we supplement it with our own breakfast cereals, coffee, fruit juice and occasional treats – we even had some Cadbury’s chocolate recently!
We are becoming more focused in our role with the church leaders and have spent 3 days meeting with Doreen and Kennedy, with another day lined up meeting with them individually - it has been very useful for us, learning more about the culture, local beliefs and the church. We have also had the added benefit of getting to know them better and have real respect for both of them.
Today we had an ‘away day’ in Oyugis with all 6 church leaders (Kennedy is now on the leadership team so it’s no longer all women!) to seek God for vision and the way forward for the church. The day didn’t go exactly according to our agenda but was really useful. We think the leaders have done really well over the last year with limited resources.
Ian and Kennedy are encouraged with Men’s group – meeting on Saturday afternoons. I can’t imagine any men at home choosing to meet at that time, especially the football addicts! The men seem keen to participate and some are asking deep questions.
Many of the church members can read in Dholuo but don’t have Bibles, so we have been able to buy some at a discount for about £4.50 each with funds from our home church in Paisley.
Ian has been driving the elderly Land Rover occasionally but he had his most challenging drive last week coming back from Oyugis when the skies went black and the rain became torrential. The volume of water rapidly obscures the holes and ruts in the road that are better avoided. However, we got home safely before it got dark.
The older children have been involved in the first attempt at “Farming God’s Way” – preparing the land, measuring it out accurately, digging holes, adding fertiliser, planting maize and bean seeds and covering it with mulch. Already the shoots are beginning to appear through the ground and now the regular task of weeding has started.
The construction work has now started on the new block of four classrooms on the land we have just agreed to buy at the bottom of the site. Also, now that we have got Planning and the other permissions, the contractor has just started on the visitor centre which he will build at the same time. Ian is “project managing” the contract and liaising with the contractor, so another challenge there – things here are generally done with much less paperwork and red tape than in the UK.
We had a visit last week from an Englishman who is involved with a school for deaf children not too far from here. It was a bit like a visit from Santa – a small round man with a white beard bearing gifts (sorry, Martin) - he brought a Kenya flag, magazines, some SU material for the school and 100 copies of the “Book of Hope” in Swahili for the children. All these are much appreciated.
“How others see us”......read the report on their visit to Hope and Kindness by the two young men travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa – see http://realwaydown.blogspot.com/
We are becoming more focused in our role with the church leaders and have spent 3 days meeting with Doreen and Kennedy, with another day lined up meeting with them individually - it has been very useful for us, learning more about the culture, local beliefs and the church. We have also had the added benefit of getting to know them better and have real respect for both of them.
Today we had an ‘away day’ in Oyugis with all 6 church leaders (Kennedy is now on the leadership team so it’s no longer all women!) to seek God for vision and the way forward for the church. The day didn’t go exactly according to our agenda but was really useful. We think the leaders have done really well over the last year with limited resources.
Ian and Kennedy are encouraged with Men’s group – meeting on Saturday afternoons. I can’t imagine any men at home choosing to meet at that time, especially the football addicts! The men seem keen to participate and some are asking deep questions.
Many of the church members can read in Dholuo but don’t have Bibles, so we have been able to buy some at a discount for about £4.50 each with funds from our home church in Paisley.
Ian has been driving the elderly Land Rover occasionally but he had his most challenging drive last week coming back from Oyugis when the skies went black and the rain became torrential. The volume of water rapidly obscures the holes and ruts in the road that are better avoided. However, we got home safely before it got dark.
The older children have been involved in the first attempt at “Farming God’s Way” – preparing the land, measuring it out accurately, digging holes, adding fertiliser, planting maize and bean seeds and covering it with mulch. Already the shoots are beginning to appear through the ground and now the regular task of weeding has started.
The construction work has now started on the new block of four classrooms on the land we have just agreed to buy at the bottom of the site. Also, now that we have got Planning and the other permissions, the contractor has just started on the visitor centre which he will build at the same time. Ian is “project managing” the contract and liaising with the contractor, so another challenge there – things here are generally done with much less paperwork and red tape than in the UK.
We had a visit last week from an Englishman who is involved with a school for deaf children not too far from here. It was a bit like a visit from Santa – a small round man with a white beard bearing gifts (sorry, Martin) - he brought a Kenya flag, magazines, some SU material for the school and 100 copies of the “Book of Hope” in Swahili for the children. All these are much appreciated.
“How others see us”......read the report on their visit to Hope and Kindness by the two young men travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa – see http://realwaydown.blogspot.com/
Wednesday 17 August 2011
encouragements
We are OK here and have seen quite a lot of rain here recently. The ‘short rainy season’ doesn’t normally start until September.
We read in the newspaper here that the Kenyan Government has been advising Kenyans not to travel to the UK, particularly to London as there is a high level of crime there. I think that was a bit tongue in cheek!
We continue to be involved in the community here and as we get to know the way of life here better we are more able to see how people could work better together and how the church can assist.
There had been a few discouragements last week. For example on Friday we heard that the young HIV+ woman who had come home from hospital on Monday had died during the night. Hilda had been visiting her with one of the older girls from the Home and they had both thought she looked a bit better. Even though her health had been fragile for a long time, it was still a bit of a shock.
We had an ‘away day’ last week at a place where we can hire a nice room for the day. It is quiet there and has a flushing loo! So it was good to have a day off and God spoke to us through Lamentations 3:22 -‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.’
There, I began thinking of all the good things that have happened recently-
• The church leaders have agreed that Kennedy ( who is an able Bible teacher) would lead a men’s group with Ian supporting. There is a need for the men to be built up in faith.
• The continuing hunger of some of the young people for God.
• Maurine (6) and Grace (7) from different families, both HIV+ and undernourished. I feel encouraged every time I see their smiling faces. They started school here a couple of weeks ago and are already looking healthier. Neither had been at school before.
• A mentally ill widow with a son, who had been very ill is now getting better.
• The crops that Duncan and the children have been growing have been amazingly good. The sukuma wiki (kale) just keeps growing and growing – so much so that they have taken sackfuls to give out in the community and at church. Good source of iron and vitamins.
• Our neighbours have agreed to sell a piece of their land that backs on to ours, so we will be able to complete building the classrooms. We are waiting to hear if the family will agree to sell another much bigger piece of land that would provide enough land for the planned agricultural school.
• A grandmother with 2 orphaned granddaughters is struggling to farm her land and support them. Meanwhile one of her neighbours, a 19 year old who lives in a rented house with her 2 young daughters has been abandoned by her husband and has no land. She is also struggling to get enough food. This week we have got her to agree to work on the grandmother’s farm and in return she will get half of the crop. We will get one of the family elders along to formalise their agreement. Hopefully this will work out for them and others will do the same as there are many in similar situations.
Some friends have e-mailed us to say they have written to us via our blog. However, we have not received anything via our blog. If you have done this and not received a reply from us then please just e-mail us in the usual way and we will respond. We don’t understand what the problem is with the blog as Ian has tested it and it seems ok.
If you would like to see some great professional photos of people here at Hope & kindness, go to www.antonyb.com/gallery
We read in the newspaper here that the Kenyan Government has been advising Kenyans not to travel to the UK, particularly to London as there is a high level of crime there. I think that was a bit tongue in cheek!
We continue to be involved in the community here and as we get to know the way of life here better we are more able to see how people could work better together and how the church can assist.
There had been a few discouragements last week. For example on Friday we heard that the young HIV+ woman who had come home from hospital on Monday had died during the night. Hilda had been visiting her with one of the older girls from the Home and they had both thought she looked a bit better. Even though her health had been fragile for a long time, it was still a bit of a shock.
We had an ‘away day’ last week at a place where we can hire a nice room for the day. It is quiet there and has a flushing loo! So it was good to have a day off and God spoke to us through Lamentations 3:22 -‘Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.’
There, I began thinking of all the good things that have happened recently-
• The church leaders have agreed that Kennedy ( who is an able Bible teacher) would lead a men’s group with Ian supporting. There is a need for the men to be built up in faith.
• The continuing hunger of some of the young people for God.
• Maurine (6) and Grace (7) from different families, both HIV+ and undernourished. I feel encouraged every time I see their smiling faces. They started school here a couple of weeks ago and are already looking healthier. Neither had been at school before.
• A mentally ill widow with a son, who had been very ill is now getting better.
• The crops that Duncan and the children have been growing have been amazingly good. The sukuma wiki (kale) just keeps growing and growing – so much so that they have taken sackfuls to give out in the community and at church. Good source of iron and vitamins.
• Our neighbours have agreed to sell a piece of their land that backs on to ours, so we will be able to complete building the classrooms. We are waiting to hear if the family will agree to sell another much bigger piece of land that would provide enough land for the planned agricultural school.
• A grandmother with 2 orphaned granddaughters is struggling to farm her land and support them. Meanwhile one of her neighbours, a 19 year old who lives in a rented house with her 2 young daughters has been abandoned by her husband and has no land. She is also struggling to get enough food. This week we have got her to agree to work on the grandmother’s farm and in return she will get half of the crop. We will get one of the family elders along to formalise their agreement. Hopefully this will work out for them and others will do the same as there are many in similar situations.
Some friends have e-mailed us to say they have written to us via our blog. However, we have not received anything via our blog. If you have done this and not received a reply from us then please just e-mail us in the usual way and we will respond. We don’t understand what the problem is with the blog as Ian has tested it and it seems ok.
If you would like to see some great professional photos of people here at Hope & kindness, go to www.antonyb.com/gallery
Saturday 6 August 2011
too small to make a difference?
‘If you think you are too small to make a difference, try spending the night in a closed room with a mosquito’. (African saying)
Some wonder why God created mosquitoes but maybe it was for this reason??
Nearly six weeks since we left home and we have not had time to feel bored or homesick or think too much about ice-cream or chocolate!
We are enjoying working here with Terry while Mary (the manager) enjoys a well-earned holiday. At present we have a young English visitor staying with us for two weeks. Among other things she wants to help some of the children with Maths.
Last Sunday the Youth took the whole service at church and by all accounts did really well. We can see an amazing difference in some of the Youth since our last visit.
Ian and I were at Oyugis during the service, getting a very ill HIV+ young woman admitted to the District Hospital. The Government provides the facilities and staff at the hospital but treatment still to be paid for. We were impressed with the speed at which she was dealt with but when we got to the ward we saw two cats strolling about! They may be there to keep the vermin down? The other day when we spoke to her brother he reported that there is now another patient sharing her bed!! Be thankful for our NHS! She has malaria and typhoid but despite the conditions she is a now a lot better.
I have begun to collect information about the hospitals and clinics in the area so that we will know where to take people with different conditions and the costs involved.
Hope & Kindness is buying some more adjoining land to help with the expansion of the school. The family who own this land may also be interested in selling us an even bigger extent of land which would also meet the needs of the proposed agricultural college – please pray that if this is right we will be able to agree a deal with them quickly. Terry is also making arrangements with a contractor to build the extra classrooms we need to give us a complete primary and nursery school and also a visitor centre, and Ian will have some involvement in this.
Later in August we hope to go to Kisumu for 3 days and get to know it a bit better while having a break. Kisumu is 2 hours drive from here and beside Lake Victoria.
Some wonder why God created mosquitoes but maybe it was for this reason??
Nearly six weeks since we left home and we have not had time to feel bored or homesick or think too much about ice-cream or chocolate!
We are enjoying working here with Terry while Mary (the manager) enjoys a well-earned holiday. At present we have a young English visitor staying with us for two weeks. Among other things she wants to help some of the children with Maths.
Last Sunday the Youth took the whole service at church and by all accounts did really well. We can see an amazing difference in some of the Youth since our last visit.
Ian and I were at Oyugis during the service, getting a very ill HIV+ young woman admitted to the District Hospital. The Government provides the facilities and staff at the hospital but treatment still to be paid for. We were impressed with the speed at which she was dealt with but when we got to the ward we saw two cats strolling about! They may be there to keep the vermin down? The other day when we spoke to her brother he reported that there is now another patient sharing her bed!! Be thankful for our NHS! She has malaria and typhoid but despite the conditions she is a now a lot better.
I have begun to collect information about the hospitals and clinics in the area so that we will know where to take people with different conditions and the costs involved.
Hope & Kindness is buying some more adjoining land to help with the expansion of the school. The family who own this land may also be interested in selling us an even bigger extent of land which would also meet the needs of the proposed agricultural college – please pray that if this is right we will be able to agree a deal with them quickly. Terry is also making arrangements with a contractor to build the extra classrooms we need to give us a complete primary and nursery school and also a visitor centre, and Ian will have some involvement in this.
Later in August we hope to go to Kisumu for 3 days and get to know it a bit better while having a break. Kisumu is 2 hours drive from here and beside Lake Victoria.
Monday 18 July 2011
18 July update
Here nearly 3 weeks now – the time is flying past, although some things in Africa just can’t be rushed. We’re very well and enjoying hot weather in the middle of the day and often a thunderstorm in the evening.
We’ve had good chats with the church leaders and Kennedy and Duncan, but have continued to spend much of our time on home visits to people in the community. Update on the 3 families we mentioned in our last post – the teenage girl who was living in a small house with her big brother now has a space in the Home; the lady with 6 children – we have paid her rent for the next month and we are finding a space in the school for her 6-year-old daughter who is HIV+; the lady with teenage sons sharing the tiny house with her sister – she has got a place of her own and we have paid rent for the first 3 months.
We’ve also visited Isaiah and seen his new house being built. It must be grim living in a house with a leaking roof when the rain is as heavy as it was last night! There’s a list of people needing new houses and with money that has been donated for houses we’ll be able to get 5 or 6 built over the next few months. With self-help by the benefitting families and sourcing timber from local trees, Mary has been able to bring down the cost of a new house.
Last Wednesday we went to Kisii (large town) about an hour away in the Land Rover and Oyugis (small town) on the way back. Oyugis is about 30 minutes from here on a very rough road. The road from there to Kisii is tarred - so much better. We saw a camel in Oyugis ridden by a Maasai – an unusual sight here. We returned with a new handle on the kettle and with 7 knifes sharpened. Everything can be repaired here for a small amount. Things don’t get thrown out when they are broken. Mary ordered a new supply of sandals for the children and a 10,000 litre tank for catching water from the roof of the main block of classrooms. We bought 10 blankets and 8 mattresses for grandmothers with money that the older women at church gave us before we left.
The maize grown by the Duncan and the children from the Home has all been harvested and totalled about 6 sacks – a good result for their first attempt, and the sukuma wiki, onions and tomatoes are also doing well. We will share some of it with people from the community but the level of hunger is not nearly as bad here as in Northern Kenya or as severe as it was in 2009.
On Saturday afternoon we set off to the “stadium” (public park?) with 16 kids, only to find it locked up. The kids were happy enough to walk on to the village where we each had a “soda” – something of a treat here!
Two visitors have just arrived and will be with us for a few days – 2 young guys who are travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa through 22 countries and visiting a charity project in each country. They are filming each project and part of the outcome of their adventure will be a TV programme “Real Way Down”. It will be on The Community Channel, but maybe not for another 12 months. We’re going with them tomorrow to visit some of the people in the community who have been helped by Hope & Kindness.
We’ve had good chats with the church leaders and Kennedy and Duncan, but have continued to spend much of our time on home visits to people in the community. Update on the 3 families we mentioned in our last post – the teenage girl who was living in a small house with her big brother now has a space in the Home; the lady with 6 children – we have paid her rent for the next month and we are finding a space in the school for her 6-year-old daughter who is HIV+; the lady with teenage sons sharing the tiny house with her sister – she has got a place of her own and we have paid rent for the first 3 months.
We’ve also visited Isaiah and seen his new house being built. It must be grim living in a house with a leaking roof when the rain is as heavy as it was last night! There’s a list of people needing new houses and with money that has been donated for houses we’ll be able to get 5 or 6 built over the next few months. With self-help by the benefitting families and sourcing timber from local trees, Mary has been able to bring down the cost of a new house.
Last Wednesday we went to Kisii (large town) about an hour away in the Land Rover and Oyugis (small town) on the way back. Oyugis is about 30 minutes from here on a very rough road. The road from there to Kisii is tarred - so much better. We saw a camel in Oyugis ridden by a Maasai – an unusual sight here. We returned with a new handle on the kettle and with 7 knifes sharpened. Everything can be repaired here for a small amount. Things don’t get thrown out when they are broken. Mary ordered a new supply of sandals for the children and a 10,000 litre tank for catching water from the roof of the main block of classrooms. We bought 10 blankets and 8 mattresses for grandmothers with money that the older women at church gave us before we left.
The maize grown by the Duncan and the children from the Home has all been harvested and totalled about 6 sacks – a good result for their first attempt, and the sukuma wiki, onions and tomatoes are also doing well. We will share some of it with people from the community but the level of hunger is not nearly as bad here as in Northern Kenya or as severe as it was in 2009.
On Saturday afternoon we set off to the “stadium” (public park?) with 16 kids, only to find it locked up. The kids were happy enough to walk on to the village where we each had a “soda” – something of a treat here!
Two visitors have just arrived and will be with us for a few days – 2 young guys who are travelling by Land Rover from London to South Africa through 22 countries and visiting a charity project in each country. They are filming each project and part of the outcome of their adventure will be a TV programme “Real Way Down”. It will be on The Community Channel, but maybe not for another 12 months. We’re going with them tomorrow to visit some of the people in the community who have been helped by Hope & Kindness.
Friday 8 July 2011
our community in Kosele
We’ve been in Kosele over a week now and the time is flying past. We’ve been kept well – just two mosi bites and a blistered thumb to report! The weather is hot in the middle of the day but cool enough at night that the local people are saying it is cold. We certainly have never felt cold here!
We’ve been catching up with people here and getting to know them better. Duncan has started to give us proper lessons in Dholuo, the local language. Pray for Duncan! Some of the words are easy to pronounce but others give us a problem to get our tongues around them. We don’t know if we’ll ever be able to do more than greet people, but we’re trying.
We’ve spent quite a bit of time so far doing home visits to people who need some help – mainly housing, health and hunger issues. Here are some examples:
- Two of our day scholars who are orphans are looked after by their older brother and his wife. The head teacher is concerned about them, and feels they are not getting fed at home. When we visit the home we learn that the elder brother’s wife has just died. He has two small children; his own health is not good. Where do we go from here?
- A lady with 6 children has been asking for help. She has been living in rented accommodation and has just been told to leave by her landlord. She has no income to pay rent. She has had three husbands and all of them have died or have “chased her away”. She and the 2 youngest are all HIV+. She cannot afford to send her children to school. Her eldest daughter went to live with a relative and ended up being married off at age 13. Dowries are paid here!
- A lady and her 2 teenage sons live in a tiny house rented by her sister, who has 2 small children. They are overcrowded even by the standards of this area and her sister has told her to pack her belongings and find somewhere else to live. She has no land, no home and no work.
These are just 3 examples and it is apparent that this area is plagued by poverty, HIV and women’s lack of rights, amongst other things.
However we are very encouraged by many things – the good atmosphere in the school and children’s home, the progress in the church, the good results of the children’s first attempt at farming, the growth in character of some of the young people and the hard work being done by the Standard 8 children as they prepare for their exams which will determine whether they go to one of the established secondary schools.
We have eaten sukuma wiki (kale) that has been grown by the children with help from Duncan. We also got involved with getting the maize from the cobs this week and it is now being dried in the sun. Those in the community are also beginning to harvest their maize but many say their crop is poor.
We have seen butterflies in numbers that we have never seen before and many varieties. We have also seen several types of colourful birds and have found it fascinating watching weaverbirds hanging upside to build their nests.
Our Father in heaven who made every living thing cares for each person that we meet in this community.
Wednesday 29 June 2011
we're here!
Well we have arrived in Kosele safe and sound.
The journey was good but long and tiring – leaving home at 8.30 on Monday morning and arriving here at 4.30 on Tuesday afternoon. David and Yvonne dropped us at Glasgow airport. We had a long stopover in Amsterdam but took a train into the centre and enjoyed a few hours looking around the city in glorious sunshine. Overnight flight and as usual we didn’t catch any sleep. Transfer to local flight at Nairobi – and we didn’t have to pay any excess luggage despite having over 80Kg of bags to check in. Mary was there to meet us at Kisumu airport and it was great to see her again. Changed money in Kisumu, visited the immigration office, had lunch and did some shopping with Mary. Her main concern was to buy more maize flour to make the children’s porridge – the price has really shot up and supply is so low the shops are rationing it to 2 or 3 packets per person – so we each bought some! A further 2 hours drive to Kosele and a lovely welcome from the kids, some of whom had stayed behind after school to sing for us. Great to see everyone again and experience the warmth of their welcome!
After a 12 hour sleep we had a quiet day unpacking and trying to find places to put all the stuff we’ve brought, and greeting people that we didn’t see yesterday. There have been some improvements since we were last here, and things feel positive. However the situation in the community is not good with the maize crop poor and many people hungry.
Tuesday 14 June 2011
We're diving in!
Well, we’ve booked our flights so we’re definitely getting set now for an eight month return to Kenya. We’re just waiting for visas to arrive from the Kenya High Commission in London – they should arrive at the beginning of next week. Meantime, there’s a list of things to do and people to see, so the next 2 weeks will be busy.
We fly Glasgow- Amsterdam on Monday 27 June and then overnight Amsterdam – Nairobi. Next is a short local flight to Kisumu in western Kenya. Maybe spending a night in Kisumu and then a 2-hour drive along by Lake Victoria and up the hill to Kosele on the 29th. We’re looking forward to seeing our friends at Kosele but a bit nervous as this will be our first longer stay in Kenya - previous visits have just been for 3 or 4 weeks.
Once there we want to catch up with the staff and children at the home, and with the church leaders and members. Initially our focus will be on continuing to build relationships, learn more about Luo culture - and hopefully a bit of the Luo language – and exploring how we can work with the local managers and church leaders and encourage them.
So far, planning and preparing for this trip has gone really well. This just reinforces our conviction that this is all God’s doing and that he will be with us in this big adventure. Please remember us and pray for us as we take this step out of our comfort zones, that we would continue in good health and that we will see more of God’s Kingdom coming in Kosele.
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