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.

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.

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.

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 29^th. 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.