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/
Sunday, 23 October 2011
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.
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