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.