Time keeps moving

It is hard to believe that I have a little over six weeks left here in Kenya.  Time does keep moving on and it seems quicker by the day.  I spend as much time as I can in the sun.  Soaking in the beautiful warm sun. Thoughts of coming back to Canada in November make me want to take in as much warm sun as possible. This Sat. I will be attending the burial of Pastor Mugo's brother who passed last week.  It has been hard time for the family but am grateful to be here to walk with my Kenyan family through this time.

The library continues to move along well.  The kids continue to enjoy the time there. Twice a week we are in the library in the evenings doing some tutoring.  Monday's is the day it is closed.  Tuesday through Friday we have the library open over lunch for the kids in class 1 - 4.  Each day a class gets a turn.  Then after class at 4 the kids are welcome to come until 5:45.  On Wednesdays I go over to the nursery class to read stories before lunch.  Saturday's we open the library from 2 - 6.  Sunday's we open the library from 2-4.  So life is going along well.  Here are some recent pictures.

Mully Children's Home

Before I left Canada to come here to Kenya I was privileged to see the Mully Children's Choir from Kenya. Since I had time to learn a little more about the organization and see some of these great kids I want to see if I could find time to visit once I was here. That time came on Sat.  I will not go into all the details about the organization as it is a big story.  But here is the link if you are interested

http://mcfcanada.org/

I started my travels to Nairobi at 2:40 am on Friday.  We have a local driver that picks us right from the school. The only issue is leaving so early.  So I was up early and ready to go.  The plan was to meet Rose (Friends in Nairobi) along the way at a certain point. The planed worked and I was dropped of to her along the side of the road at 5:30 am.  The original plan with Rose was to go to Mully home on Friday. Then I would spend the night at Rose's and head home on Sat.  But when we got to the house Rose asked if we can change to visit Mully on the Sat. as she just found out about and event she needed to be at on Friday.  So we decided to make that change and both went back to bed for a while.  Rose left the house around 10 am with thoughts to be back mid afternoon.  I spent the day reading and relaxing out is the nice warm sun.  Rose did not get home until 8 pm.  It was a long day but a good test for me who does not like a lot of alone time.  When she came home we made some supper and chatted.  Then we headed to bed.

Sat. morning we woke with the intent to leave at 8 am to be at Mully for 9 as I had arranged.  We did not leave the house until 9.  We did not get to Mully until almost 11.  I needed to be leaving Nairobi around 3.  So I tried to get over my frustration and use the time we had.  It was good time but wished we had more.  Since it was Sat. the kids were not in class.  Here are a few numbers.

This location (there are about 5 in total across Kenya) is spread over 500 acres of land.  They have 350 kids.  They consist of about 67 young Mom's (under 18). The rest are academy or high school kids as well as about 100 college kids.  Here are some pictures that show the rest.

This is were the young Mom's bring there kids when they go to class.

This is one of the class rooms for the nursery kids

This is were the nursery kids sleep during the day and some of the ladies that take care of them.

This is the kitchen that feeds the whole Mully family

These are some of the kids at the home that are in the vocational college.

This is the sowing classroom

This is the salon class room

This the small hospital on site for the kids and the community. 

This is were they teach some of the kids to make jiko's (what Kenyans cook on) and then they sell them to the community 

This is the chapel the kids worship in as well as members of the community 

Tooth

So I have had a tooth that has been bothering me for some time.  I have been ignoring it for years.  Last week it acted up again and was very painful.  There is a dentist here in town that use to work at PACE but has now opened his own practice in town.  So I know him well.  So I went to see him last week.  I had told him what the dentist has said at home about having it pulled.  He took an ex-ray and agreed that it would be best if it came out.  Since I was traveling over the weekend and the beginning of this week we decided to wait.  So today was the day.  It all went well and as long as I take the pain meds I am pretty good.  I was thinking of posting a picture of the tooth but thought that maybe some would not like it.  :  )

One of the best things is the cost.  At home I would have spent anywhere from $200 - $500 for this to be done.  Here for the ex-ray it cost me $6.  For the extraction it cost me $8.  That is right for under $20 it was all done.  It is amazing and feeling grateful.

Library

Some pictures of our first weeks in the library.  Things are coming and the kids are happy to be back.  It is a short term only being 9 weeks.  So working at doing as much as we can.

Trip to Western Kenya

We started our journey very at 4am.  We travelled to Elderet.  When we arrive we spent some time looking for the church that we burned with children in it during the 2007 clashes.  Something I wanted to see since hearing about it.  Once we found it I was a little surprised. There was nothing there at first but a gate and a field of grass.  I was expecting maybe some of the structure to be there or a memorial of some sort.  The pastor that is located there came to greet us and let us in.  He showed us were the kids had been buried.  Some of the graves are marked as unknown as the kids could not be identified.  That is when it all became real.  He showed us were the church was.  As I stood there it all settle in.  The reality that a group of people would have so much hate in their hearts to what to trap these kids in this church and burn them is so unthinkable.  Also to see that this piece of land has not been maintained in anyway made it feel sadder. Seemed like a lack of respect.  After spending some time there we went on our way to the next stop.

While in Elderet we met with friends of Pastor Mugo’s for some chai and breakfast. After meeting with them we drove to Kitale.  There we visited a place for single Mom’s called Esters place.  I had heard of this place a few years back and wanted to visit.  It was good to see. The area that it is located in the girls are getting pregnant as early as 11 or 12.  They have a nice piece of land. The babies sleep with the mom’s until they are 3 years old and then they are moved to their own room.  They have great support from Western Canada where they have been helped to put in a fish pond and farming of fruits and vegetables.  They use the food to feed themselves as well as to sell in town.  It was wonderful to see the love and care that they have for these girls and their kids. To take them in like that and love them. Once the babies are born the Mom’s go back to school so that they can finish their schooling.  There children are taking care of at the home while they are in school.  The director’s wife had just had a baby a week and half before our visit.  So after spending some time at the home we went to see her and talk to hear more.  And of course to see the baby.  It was good to have some time with her and hear more about Esters house. To hear how God is working through them to reach these girls and their kids.

From there we travelled to Chesamisi.  Pastor Mugo and another pastor that we travelled with were presenting in a small church to a group of pastors about the bible school opportunities that are available through PAST for Pastors looking to build on their biblical education.  It was good to be a part of the meeting and sit in a small mud church on very small benches. To see a small community off pastors with a desire to become more educated in the word of God.

When that meeting was done we travelled to Kakamega.  We reached there around 7:00 pm.  We would stay at a guesthouse there.  Now remember that we had been up since about 3 am and driving and visiting since that time.  We were exhausted.  We had something to eat and then heading to bed.  It was a blessed day.

In the morning over breakfast we met with a close friend of Pastor Mugo’s to talk again about the possible schooling for pastors.  When we were done there we travelled again this time to Nandi Hills.  There we were meeting with a group of about 32 pastors to talk to them about bible school opportunities. It was another good meeting. There was opportunity to meet with a many of pastors at one time.  After the meeting we took chai together.  The meeting at run late so we did not start our journey home until 4:30pm.  Thanks to some very fast driving we arrived home safe and sound around 8:30 pm.

I was blessed to see another part of Kenya. This area was filled with much maize and forest.  It was beautiful to drive through.  

Back to School

Well the kids returned to school Sept. 1. This term is very short only lasting about 8 weeks.  Most of the kids are glad to be back to there friends and the routine they are used to.  It was good to see them all again and get back into my own routine as well.  The library is ready to go and the kids are glad to be back.  Looking forward to a great term and being here until they close.

Family

I finally had a chance to spend some time with friends in Nairobi.  I was able to take them out for supper and spend some needed catch up time since I have not seen them since last year.  They are very much family and it was great to spend time with them.

Rose and myself catching up

Patrick and Pastor Mugo.  As they said they were just a long for the ride.  It was all about me and Rose catching up

Also more time with my Imani.  Could not post a blog without this wonderful picture.