Well, the weather hasn’t been that hot but it’s been hot enough for David and Yvonne. By now the rainy season is usually over but we’ve had a lot of rain, particularly on Saturday and Sunday in the late afternoon and evening, resulting in us all being caught in a downpour, having to shelter for an hour and walk back from the stadium (actually just a playing field) through some floodwater. On Sunday, David and I and Mary took our big boys back to their school in Oyugis after their half-term, and had an interesting journey back to Kosele in the Landrover, driving through torrential rain along a road that’s in bad condition at the best of times.
David and Yvonne have been enjoying their visit here and learning to get by without some of their home comforts. They have been visiting the school, playing with the younger kids, visiting homes in the community and shopping in the bustling market in Oyugis. Today we have all been helping to build a house. The funding for the new house came from part of the money raised through the ceilidh which we organised in Paisley - and Yvonne’s employer, Santander, doubled the money raised. The house will provide a new home for Julita, a young widow with 4 daughters who has been living in a tiny 1-room house. Our part in this ,along with some church members ,was helping to apply mud to make the walls of the house. It’s hard work when you’re not used to it!
David has been taking football training for the older boys and we hope to organise a friendly match against another school nearby. Yvonne has been helping some of the children with their maths homework and also visited the young mothers group at the church and saw them making beads. Another day we went with 37 of our older girls and two teachers to the county primary schools music festival. Our girls were doing a traditional dance and song from the coastal region, and did so well, coming first in their class and beating 5 other schools. The music festival was good – most of the choirs and dancers were of a very high standard.
Tuesday 26 June 2012
Tuesday 19 June 2012
Rado and Safari
The Encounter, or Rado in Dholuo as we are now calling it, went very well on 12th and 13th June. The aim of the Encounter is to facilitate the work of the Holy Spirit in consolidating people in their faith and taking them forward in areas such as forgiveness, breaking curses, deliverance, and knowing the love of their Heavenly Father. Eight church members completed the two-day seminar, and all of them were very responsive to the teaching and to the times of ministry. This was the best of the three Encounters we have done so far in Kenya and it confirmed Dorine and Kennedy in their roles as leaders who are anointed to use tools such as this to take our church forward.
The next day we headed off by taxi to Kendu Bay and then by matatu (mini-bus) to Kisumu. There are Chinese restaurants even in the heart of Africa and that’s where we had lunch and then to the airport for a short flight to Nairobi, where we arrived in good time to meet David and Yvonne arriving from Amsterdam. They had a good journey apart from being tired. A new experience for them coming to sub-Saharan Africa, and also for us welcoming our family to Kenya!
After an overnight at Sam’s guest house we were picked up by our driver, Matthew for our safari to the Masai Mara. Plenty to see on the way – the bustle of Nairobi, the amazing view from the escarpment over the huge Rift Valley, Maasai tribesmen in their traditional brightly-coloured blankets herding their cattle, goats and sheep, and plenty of wildlife even before reaching the National Reserve. Our driver proved to be something of a mechanic as well as he kept the vehicle going despite problems with the fuel pump.
Even a small corner of the Masai Mara is outstanding in its wildlife – thousands of gazelles, impala, topi, zebra, wildebeest and buffalo. Seeing lions, giraffes and ostriches in their native habitat is great, but for me the highlights were a herd of elephants making their way through the savannah, and a pair of cheetahs that we saw close up. Wonderful!
Another long journey on Sunday over rough tracks and some decent roads brought us to Oyugis and then the very bumpy road to Kosele. David and Yvonne have met so many new people they must be confused, and been welcomed to the whole school at Assembly. They’ve also had the chance to visit the little boy Dan whom they sponsor and his family at their home. They will have a good time here as long as they can stick the heat!
The next day we headed off by taxi to Kendu Bay and then by matatu (mini-bus) to Kisumu. There are Chinese restaurants even in the heart of Africa and that’s where we had lunch and then to the airport for a short flight to Nairobi, where we arrived in good time to meet David and Yvonne arriving from Amsterdam. They had a good journey apart from being tired. A new experience for them coming to sub-Saharan Africa, and also for us welcoming our family to Kenya!
After an overnight at Sam’s guest house we were picked up by our driver, Matthew for our safari to the Masai Mara. Plenty to see on the way – the bustle of Nairobi, the amazing view from the escarpment over the huge Rift Valley, Maasai tribesmen in their traditional brightly-coloured blankets herding their cattle, goats and sheep, and plenty of wildlife even before reaching the National Reserve. Our driver proved to be something of a mechanic as well as he kept the vehicle going despite problems with the fuel pump.
Even a small corner of the Masai Mara is outstanding in its wildlife – thousands of gazelles, impala, topi, zebra, wildebeest and buffalo. Seeing lions, giraffes and ostriches in their native habitat is great, but for me the highlights were a herd of elephants making their way through the savannah, and a pair of cheetahs that we saw close up. Wonderful!
Another long journey on Sunday over rough tracks and some decent roads brought us to Oyugis and then the very bumpy road to Kosele. David and Yvonne have met so many new people they must be confused, and been welcomed to the whole school at Assembly. They’ve also had the chance to visit the little boy Dan whom they sponsor and his family at their home. They will have a good time here as long as they can stick the heat!
Sunday 3 June 2012
Back to Kosele
Hard to believe but this is actually our sixth trip to Kenya. Each time we’ve travelled the same route – by KLM via Amsterdam – this has proven to be the cheapest and easiest way from Glasgow to Nairobi. We prefer travelling by day but this means a very early start to catch the 0600 Glasgow-Amsterdam flight. Arriving at Nairobi Airport we had the quickest ever passage through Passport Control – found a short queue and the official accepted our multi-trip visas, even though they were in our old passports, so we didn’t have anything to pay. Minor scare while we waited for our luggage – we got 3 bags very quickly off the carousel but took ages to find where they had put our other one. Our friend Sam met us at the exit and we were soon at his guest house.
Wednesday’s objective was to go into central Nairobi to get our Work Permits stamped in our passports. After the bomb in a shopping centre in central Nairobi on Monday we were more aware of the security situation, so we didn’t hang about too long. Reuben, one of the national Elim church leaders, met us and guided us through this last stage.
On Thursday morning we took an early flight to Kisumu and were met at the airport by Dancun. The only other part of the immigration jigsaw was, we thought, to collect our “Alien Cards” from the Kisumu Immigration office. This was achieved very quickly, but when we looked at the cards in detail we saw that they had already expired! The frustrations of Kenyan bureaucracy! Nothing else we could do but apply for renewal, which involved getting our fingerprints taken again, and we go back in a few months to collect the cards. Then we can officially be Aliens!
Spending 2 and a half days travelling and dealing with officialdom is well compensated by arriving at last at Kosele and being welcomed by the schoolchildren, staff and church leaders. It’s good to see them all again. Such a good welcome even though we’ve only been away 3 months. Since Thursday we’ve been resting, getting unpacked, sorting out our room, shopping, and renewing acquaintances with people here and in the church.
One of the good things about the weather here is that when it rains, it usually rains at night or in the evening, so that is what we’re experiencing just now. Next week we’ll start to get back into our routine again – we’ll be having a meeting with Kennedy and Dorine and with all the church leaders and preparing for another Encounter which may be held on 12th and 13th June. After that we look forward to meeting David and Yvonne on the 14th June as they make their first visit to Kenya.
Wednesday’s objective was to go into central Nairobi to get our Work Permits stamped in our passports. After the bomb in a shopping centre in central Nairobi on Monday we were more aware of the security situation, so we didn’t hang about too long. Reuben, one of the national Elim church leaders, met us and guided us through this last stage.
On Thursday morning we took an early flight to Kisumu and were met at the airport by Dancun. The only other part of the immigration jigsaw was, we thought, to collect our “Alien Cards” from the Kisumu Immigration office. This was achieved very quickly, but when we looked at the cards in detail we saw that they had already expired! The frustrations of Kenyan bureaucracy! Nothing else we could do but apply for renewal, which involved getting our fingerprints taken again, and we go back in a few months to collect the cards. Then we can officially be Aliens!
Spending 2 and a half days travelling and dealing with officialdom is well compensated by arriving at last at Kosele and being welcomed by the schoolchildren, staff and church leaders. It’s good to see them all again. Such a good welcome even though we’ve only been away 3 months. Since Thursday we’ve been resting, getting unpacked, sorting out our room, shopping, and renewing acquaintances with people here and in the church.
One of the good things about the weather here is that when it rains, it usually rains at night or in the evening, so that is what we’re experiencing just now. Next week we’ll start to get back into our routine again – we’ll be having a meeting with Kennedy and Dorine and with all the church leaders and preparing for another Encounter which may be held on 12th and 13th June. After that we look forward to meeting David and Yvonne on the 14th June as they make their first visit to Kenya.
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