Dick with completed stove, (prototype #1)

We're back in Canada!
It was an interesting trip back. There was the 2 hour drive to Eldoret over very bad roads and a 1 hour flight to Nairobi. The fellow that was to pick us up at the airport was almost an hour late and the hotel he took us to, well, it had a double bed.
The next morning he was an hour and a half late picking us up to go to the airport. The flight wasn't until 8:10 so what's wrong with getting there at 7:30??? He had never flown. We got on board, but not with a lot to spare.
From Nairobi to Amsterdam was 8 hours, a good flight operated by Kenya Airways. In Amsterdam we had a 1 1/2 hour layover then another 8 hours to Toronto. Our daughter Cathy was there with grand daughter Deborah to pick us up and take us to her place where we spent the night before driving the 1 1/2 hours to Belleville.

We are now settled in and are planning to speak at 2 churches in June, "The Gathering" on 19 June and at Quinte Bible Chapel on June 26. One big job we are working on is selecting, naming and organizing the hundreds of photos and videos we took into a coherent story. We've heard from Bruce, the Australian who replaced us and he seems to be getting into things very well.

Shortly before we left we had lunch with Mary, one of the advisory committee members. While talking to her we learned she had been raised by a father who insisted she learn the old ways. Her children are grown and she thought Eva's idea for her to teach those old traditions to the children was a great idea. (In Kenyan culture the grandmother would usually do this but the children at Robin's Nest don't have a grandmother.) Mary agreed to take on the roll of grandmother and the next Saturday she spent 2 hours talking with and teaching the children.

Our thanks to all who were praying for us during the mission. I'm sure that contributed to our feeling of peace and security during the mission.
.

Fri., May 6
Just 4 more days until we leave here to return to Canada. It will be good to see the family again.

My main project this week has been building a demonstration stove that uses less fule, (I’m told), and will take the smoke out of the house through a chimney. Traditionally in Kenya they build a fire in the center of three stones that hold the pot above the fire. This is even done inside the homes making for a very unhealthy environment. I am using locally made bricks and mud as morter to hold them together. Experience in Hounduras has shown mud works better than cement based morter as it dosen’t crack. It’s also cheaper.

The base of the stove ready for the smoke chamber, cooking surface and chimney.

While we were away Jotham finished putting the corrigated metal on the shelter under which we are building the stove. This evening, a neighbour picked up the metal part of the stove that a welder in town made for me, so tomorrow morning I hope to finish it and will have to wait a couple of days for the mud to dry before we build a fire for to test it. Being a prototype, it has been somewhat more expensive than it will be normally.

Fri., 28 Apr., 2011 We had planned on being back at Robin’s Nest Thurs. night, BUT!!! We were ready to leave, as agreed, at 8:30 Thurs. morning, but no van and the driver Henry wasn’t answering his cell phone. We waited, and waited, and began to get worried when he arrived at about 10:20 am. Someone had stolen the only unlocked wheel on the van and he had to find another one and a buyer for one of his 2 cell phones (the phone we had the number for) so he could pay for it.

We headed south toward Nairobi and instead of taking the road we thought we would, they carried on toward Nairobi saying they didn’t know what the road was like. (I think it was really to take John, the other driver home.) About 50 km from Nairobi, about noon, the fan assembly on the van came off and the fan was smashed. John went in search for a replacement and after a while we took a matasti, (small bus), to a service station about a km up the road to wait. About 6 pm we decided to return and find out what was happening. When we got there, no van. I then rec’d a call from Henry saying he was at the service station so we took a matasti back. (They overcharged the rich white people both times.) The van had been moved and after the difficulty getting a matasti the first time since they were all full, we walked. By this time it was dark and walking on the side of the road was scary, especially when an impatient driver decided to drive on the shoulder where we were.

The van was finally fixed about 9pm, (work lights were 2 or 3 flashlights), and we went to a nearby hotel for the night. This was especially interesting because the van broke down within 2 km of where the alternate driver John lived when attending university. That’s how they found someone to fix it, John knew him.

Friday morning it was decided to take a secondary road which bypassed Nairobi and saved about 100 km driving. It was an interesting drive and we saw some very large tea plantations but much of the road was ‘rustic’, (translate ‘full of potholes’).

Tea Plantations covered the hills along the secondary road.

We met the main highway home, A104, and stopped at Nakuru for lunch. About an hour later as we climbed out of the ‘Rift Valley’ the engine overheated. We pulled over and discovered this was a common problem at that point and some young men had a successful business of supplying water and cooling down the engines. There was a truck there at the same time, same problem.


Site of the Sachangwan Oil Tanker Tragedy and mass grave
Right where we stopped was a mass grave for some of the victims of the Sachangwan Oil Tanker Tragedy on 31 Jan., 2009. A tanker truck turned over and many nearby residents and others gathered to ‘salvage’ the fuel. One person was smoking and set the fuel in the whole area burning. There were 347 victims, 130 burned so badly they were unidentifiable. 69 more later died in hospital of their injuries. 78 of the victims were buried in the mass grave.

About 20 km later, the engine overheated again, this time right by a garage. After some work, and 750 shillings we carried on, only to have it happen again 25 km later. Henry suggested we take a matasti back to Bungoma. The one we caught only went to Eldoret and it was almost dark. We have decided to stay in Eldoret as we are concerned about arriving in Bungoma after dark and getting to Robin’s Nest.

So I’m sitting in our 1800 shilling, ($21.69)room on the 5th floor of the Asis Hotel in Eldoret writing this summary. (Last night it cost 2000 shillings.) It has been an interesting trip.

Sat. 30 May
We were up and out by 8 am wanting to catch a bus to Bungoma and get ‘home’. A taxi took us to the bus station(?), really a large lot filled with busses and people encouraging you to take THEIR bus. We got right on the bus and it pulled out shortly. The trip only took 1 ½ hours and we almost missed the point we had to get off. We quickly got a local bus that droped us off at the end of the road to Robin’s Nest.

We arrived back to find the propane tank for the stoves was empty so we called a taxi to go to town and refill it. We also had to go to the bank to get cash to pay the salaries for the 9 staff, (most things are paid in cash here. Jotham went with us so while he was filling the tank, Eva braved the end of the month crowds at the bank and I picked up a few groceries. Returning to RN, we took it fairly easy as we were both exhausted from the strain of the last few days.

Sun., 1 May
This morning we held our regular bible study for the older children in Robin’s Nest and 2 from the surrounding community. For lunch we went to the nearby home of one of the Advisory Committee members. It was a traditional meal of stewed chicken, cow pea leaves, ugali, (ground corn boiled into a paste), and chapati, (similar to a large tortilla but fried in oil). The last time I had ugali it was plain and I didn’t care for it, but with the juice from the fried chicken on it, it wasn’t too bad.

Tues., 27 Apr.
We have learned that a Mr. Bruce Foley will be arriving the week of the 2nd of April to take over as administrator when we leave. Mr. Foley is an Australian. The time between his srrival and our departure will give lots of time to do his orientation.

The 2 day power outage we had last week is a good excuse for not updating the journal/blog as we got way behind in some of the work we had to do. But it’s just an excuse. The day after the long outage it went off for 5 minutes and when it came back on, the UPS, (uninterupted power supply), began to smoke. We’re having it checked to see if it can be repaired.

Jotham and Dick erecting frame for stove shelter

Jothan and I started to put up the shelter for the fuel conserving stove I would like to introduce. I bought the steel roofing and poles for the frame. We got the frame up and Jothan will probably work on putting on the roofing while I’m away.

The wall across the front of the property is coming along well and they were plastering when we left. The welder was to arrive Sat. With the steel bars for the opening in the walls but he still wasn’t there when we left about 9:30 am Sunday.

We have been working on getting uniforms for the guards consisting of 2 monogramed shirts, boots and socks. Having a lot of trouble getting the shirts and one of the day guards fitted with boots, then I found out Sat. night that one of the night guard’s boots wern’t fitting. I’ll have to get that corrected when I get back.

Jan is returning to Austraila on Monday night so on Sunday, 25 Apr. we left for Nairobi. We have crossed the equator before on an aeroplane but this was the first time by land. On the way to Nairobi we stopped at Nukuru National Park. It’s a very large park with a lot of wildlife to see. I’ll leave you to look it up on the WEB. It was dark by the time we left the park, having gotten a lot of photos, and we decided to stay in Nukuru for the night. On Monday morning we drove 4 hours to Nairobi, had lunch, then went to the “Bomas of Kenya” for a cultural experience including traditional dances and replicas of homes and homesteads of the different tribes of Kenya. (www.bomasofkenya.co.ke)

Eva and I stayed in a downtown hotel while Henry, the car owner and another Kenyan (John) who was driving in Nairobi, (I don’t blame Henry for not wanting to drive in Nairobi), stayed at Henry’s sister’s house. Our room had a very comfortable queen size bed with about 16 inches to the wall at the end and 2 feet on one side. 0" on the other. The bathroom had a sink and toilet, and shower on the wall that sprayed water just in front of the toilet. Very ‘compact’.

This morning we left Nairobi and drove to Nanyuki near Mt. Kenya. Eva and I are staying at the fabulous Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club. (I understand Prince William proposed here last year.) We are in a 4 room suite with all the amenities, even a real fireplace. It was raining when we arrived but it is expected to clear tomorrow morning.

Mt. Kenya Safari Club is is right on the equator
The Safari Club had a demonstration of Kenyan folk dancing just before supper. The two dancers had the daughter of the manager, about 5yrs, join them in the first dance. For the second dance they invited us to join them. We then went into the dining room for a delecious steak dinner which neither of us could find room to finish.

Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club

Eva and Dick with Safari Club native dancers

Wed., 27 Apr.

We are here at the Fairmont Mt. Kenya Safari Club and throuroughly enjoying the stay. This morning Henry and John picked us up at 9:30 am and after refueling the van, we headed to the Sweetwaters Game reserve, part of ‘Ol Pejeata Conservancy”, a 90,000 acre game preserve. Although expensive, ($65 each for each non-residenset), we saw a lot. Various types of antelopes, elephants, geraffs, wart hogs, and we even got to feed a black rino. One of the park rangers, Patrick, accompanied us and made the trip much more interesting. The 18 km drive into the entrance was over a very rough road and the roads in the park were marginally better. We were there from about 10am until 3pm when we returned to Nanyuki where we had a light lunch before returning to the ‘Safari Club”. Tomorrow we return to the orphanage at Bungoma. I’m sure we will miss the pampering and luxury here at the Safari Club.

Eva feeding a black rino

Fri., 15 April, 2011
My how the time flies. Some men started to dig a trench for a foundation for the wall that is being completed across the front of the property. We already had the brick and sand but had to order stone for the concrete foundation. The truck bringing the stone kept on breaking down so the men finally used some of the stone on the driveway. Just before 6pm it arrived, and quit about 50 feet from the gate. They got it going long enough to get inside the gate where it quit again. The men with the truck unloaded it off the tailgate, blocking it’s exit, and left it for a mechanic Sat.


Sat. morning we went into Eldoret with Jan Suffock with Henry driving. We droped Jan off at a lawyers then went to a large hardware store to try and get parts to hang the swings properly using the chain we recently found had been bought. I was able to find some parts but will have to keep looking. We have also been having trouble finding the boots for the guards uniforms. The store in town that had the ones we wanted only had 2 pair in the correct sizes. Don’t know when they will get more.

I am beginning to suspect that there will be no one coming in to replace us when we leave on 10 May. We can’t stay longer even if we could get our visas extended. All of our medications including the anti-malarial drug will run out and changing our flights would be really difficult.

Sat. morning we set out with two of the children that have a parent to try and find them. The drive was long over very bad gravel roads. We finally arrived at the correct village and some of the people recognized the boy, (about 5 yrs). They were able to direct us to his mother’s home. It wasn’t until we got very near that the boy recognized it. The mother wasn’t home but someone phoned her and she hurried home. She was then able to provide the information we needed. We got the usual comment from a couple of people in the area, ‘my boy is disabled, do you think you could help him?’ The only thing we can do is explain that the government considers we currently have the maximum number of children for our current facility.

We then went on an even longer drive to find the girl’s mother. We found her and got the needed information, and also got a request that we take another of her daughters. So many children are not really wanted.

There was time before supper to pop into town and buy a wheelbarrow for use on the wall construction. (The contractor doesn’t provide such things.) We also made arrangements for a welder to come out tomorrow and assess the metal work required.

The mechanic came to repair the truck and wound up taking the engine away leaving the truck in the driveway. (To give you an idea of the layout of the property, you can see the back of the truck in the above photo of the wall.)


Sun. 17 April
Nothing special today. The truck is still in the driveway without an engine. The men returned to work on the wall, and a welder came by to look at what was needed to make grills for openings in the wall.

Sunday, 10 Apr., 2011
We returned yesterday afternoon from a 3 day safari to Lake Victoria and region. Thursday morning we left with Pastor Gideon driving, a local youth, Mohamed, Eva and Dick and drove first to Homa Bay where we met another local man, Nixon, at the hospital. He was there to pick up his father and take him to the much larger hospital in Kisumu for treatment, then to Bungoma. It was lunchtime so we had fried, whole, tilapia with chips at a local hotel. The bill for the 4 of us was just over $12.


Ruma National Park -

After lunch we drove to Ruma National Park. The park is considered remote, and after driving on the roads I know why. The Kenyan Govt. recognizes that non East Africans have more money so entrance fees were 100 shillings, (12 cents each), for them and US$20 for us. However there was a 7 km trail we drove and saw baboons, giraffes, wildebeests, and a huge water buffalo in the natural setting they have occupied for thousands of years. Very interesting!

Giraffe at Ruma National Park


Fishing on Lake Victoria

After the park we drove to Mbita where we spent the night. It wasn’t fancy at 1400 shillings for 4, ($18), but it was clean and the beds were comfortable. The next morning we drove to the car ferry located n the same town to take the ferry across Lake Victoria, then drove to the city of Kisumu. We checked into the ‘New East View Hotel’ which was somewhat higher quality than the night before.

While waiting for the ferry I met 2 Dutch medical students who were on their way to a large orphanage with the director to pick up a Dutch boy they had discovered there. Apparently his mother had died and authorities knew nothing about him or his family so placed him in the orphanage for care. The girls had contacted the Dutch and Kenyan governments about him and arranged for his release into their custody and transportation back to Holland. (I don’t know his age but believe he was quite young.)

In the afternoon we visited the National Museum of Kenya. They had both live and static displays and we saw crocodiles, a selection of snakes, and a replica of a Luo tribe family compound. We had a guide for this visit which, as usual, was well worth the cost.

Supper that night was again tilapia but done in a delicious sauce. (Sorry Bruce, I didn’t take a picture.)


The leopard at Impala Nat. Park likes to be scratched

Saturday morning we went to the Impala National Park in the city of Kisumu and on the shore of Lake Victoria. Again we were pleased to have a guide, Linda, who made the visit so much more interesting and informative. After our visit we headed back to Bungoma and Robin’s Nest Orphanage

I’d love to be able to describe everything we saw and experienced on this trip but there just isn’t room. The few photos included may give you a glimpse, but if you want more you’ll have to talk to us when we get back and suffer through the slide/video presentation I plan to make.

Jan Suffock was to arrive from Australia Sat. night for 2 weeks but they had car problems about ½ way here from. The car still wasn’t fixed Sun. night so another one was sent, which developed problems. She planned on taking a bus if it wasn’t fixed by 1pm Monday. The roads are not good so will be a slow trip. This is the same car and driver we are hiring for our safari starting April 24. We hope the car runs well for us.

The front of the cottage we are staying in. The 1'st window to to the left of the door is the office. The window on the right is the kitchen.

Wed., 30 Mar.
Some of you may be wondering what out accommodations are like. The building is a combination of brick and adobe, all plastered with morter and painted white. We have a very serviceable kitchen with a gas stove and refrgerator but only cold water. There is a 2 pc. washroom at that end. The entrance is into the living room and the office is off the LR. A door, which we lock when we have leave without locking the building, is off the LR and leads to a hall off which are 2 bedrooms and a 3 pc. bathroom. The shower has a pressure operated electric heater. (This one really works – we have hot showers!) The bedrooms have painted cement floors and all the other rooms have ceramic tile. There are 2- 48" wide beds in each bedroom with mosquito nets. The LR has 2 arm chairs with small side tables, a couch with a coffee table, a 2' x’4' table with 2 lawn chairs. Althgether it is quite comefortable.

Our biggest problem is getting a variety of vegetables. This is the dry season and those available ard mainly tomatoes, cabbage, carrots and sometimes beets or beans. Now that the rainy season has started, things could improve in about 6 weeks, shortly after we leave 10 May. Meats are restricted to ground beef, chicken, and sausages. That’s OK because I probably wouldn’t buy pork here and the beef we have had in restaurants is generally tough. We have been warned not to buy from the butcher shops due to poor handling.

We were in town Tues. at lunchtime so ate in a restaurant. We had matoke and 1/4 chicken. The chicken was rather tough but the Matoke was good. It is something like a stew made with potatoes, some carrots and bananas and ???. Another very common meal item is ‘ugali’ which is ground corn boiled. It is about the consistency of dryer mashed potatoes. Neither Eva or I care for it.

Thurs., 30 Mar.
We were in town this morning to get the money from the bank to pay the salaries and monthly bills. People here don’t like cheques because the banks always hold the money until the cheque clears, often up to 7 days. On the way in we saw a man transporting about 10 bentwood arm chairs strapped to the back of his bicycle.

We enquired about having a 4 unit locker made for the 4 guards to keep the uniforms they are going to be issued. Somewhat high at 14,900 ksh. When we got back, Nixon, a member of the advisory board, was here and when he heard the price, he just laughted.

If you want to get in touch with us, send emails to breadner@kos.net

Sun., 27 Mar.
Again it’s been a week since my last update. The time seems to go by so quickly. Last week we planted the field that was plowed with corn and beans. They dig a shallow hole and drop 2 or 3 each of corn and bean seeds then add a small handfull of fertilizer. The holes are 12 to 16 inches apart in rows 2 feet apart. I have asked Jotham to try planting some squash seeds we bought around the corn and beans. This is a method the Incas used in Latin America.

Just outside our door is a tree bearing “jungle fruit”. They are up to 8" in diameter and 16" long. I had been told that when they were ripe they smelled sweet. The one I could reach smelled sweet so I told Jotham and he agreed then picked it. It had a white sap which the kids love but adults find it too stickey. I tried a little and it was OK but then formed a stickey film on my lip and denture, almost like wet contact cement and quite difficult to remome. I don’t think I’ll try the fruit itself. The kids came over later and climed the tree where they found more ripe fruit.
Jungle Fruit, sweet but Oh so stickey!

I bought some clothes line that looked like it had a wire or a cord in the center to prevent stretching. Found out it is only molded to look like it does and turned out to have more stretch than I wanted. I put it up under the porch for them to use when it is raining as they wash daily.

There wasn’t enough of the clothes line so I bought some rope at the market in Manyanja, just up the road, on Sat. morning and completed 4 lines. I also bought rope for swings. The metal frames were here but never completed. When I erected them Sat. afternoon the kids thought they were great and were very good about making sure everyone had a turn.
Children and their new swing

The Market was interesting having everything from fruits and veg., (limited variety), to clothes, shoes, hardware, beans, corn, and even a sales area for cattle, goats, sheep, and chickens.
Dick views part of the market at Manyanja

Today we went with Pastor Gideon to their outreach church the other side of the highway cutoff to Bungoma. They are using a rented building about 16 ft sq. Some 35 people were packed inside for the 3 hour service with possibly another 20 outside. These churches are part of the ‘Pentecostal Universal Christian’group and the music and preaching are very Pentecostal with an African flavour.


Outside the church after the service.
After the service we were invited to Gideon’s home for lunch, not realizing it had to be cooked. We did a lot of talking and got back to Robin’s Nest about 5pm, (after the ‘almost daily’ rainstorm).

Monday morning I looked at the roof and thought I knew where the leak was coming from. Jotham went on the roof and cleaned a lot of leaves out of the roof valleys and spillway. I removed the portion of the celing that wasleaking and was sure I knew where the leak was but Mon. afternoon we had a fairly heavy rain and no leakes. Maybe it was just the leaves. The leak was in the unoccupied bedroom so I’ll watch it for a few days.

Wed., 16 Mar.
This morning I was talking to a young man named Robert. He invited me into his home, a thatch roofed adobe bldg. for tea. His wife brought in a pot of hot, sweet tea with milk and a bowl of pcs. casava. It was dirt floored and the room we were in took up over ½ the bldg. Of about 15 ft sq. Later I saw the kitchen, about 4 x 6 ft and farther on was a bedroom. Cooking was done on the ‘traditional’ 3 stones where 3 stones are arranged on the floor in a triangle and the fire built in the middle. The pot is placed on the stones The He has an acre of land and 2 young cows. One comment he made was that they have a good education system in Kenya but far too few jobs. Farming is difficult on such small pieces of property and with the limited water available, although they have more in this part of Kenya than some others. I had a good visit.

The other day one of the day guards had a malaria attack and had to go to the hospical for medication. Today it was the turn of the other one.

Sun., 20 Mar.
I went into Bungoma with Jotham on Friday to buy maize, (corn), seed and fertelizer to plant in a field across from the home that a neighbour lets them use. It was to be plowed on Sat. While there we bought some rabies vacine for the dogs and made arangements for a vet to come and show Jotham how to do it. (We had to buy a bottle containing 10 doses so we will keep it in our refrigerator until next year.) I also bought a lot of groceries, too much to carry back on a bike. We planned on a taxi back so the vet came with us then rode back to town in the taxi. They only charged 50 shillings for waiting while Leah learned how to vaccinate the dogs, not Jotham.

Sat. Morning it was raining too heavily to plow.


Tues., 15 Mar.
Sunday morning they arrived and did most of the plowing but still have a little to finish Monday. In the afternoon we had a visit from the Chief of the district. He asked if Robin’s Nest could consider helping a 15 yr old girl finish her high school. Her father has died and they have very little money to pay tuition. We will pass the request on.

About 5 o’clock we had more visitors. One of the men, an engineer I believe, who had worked on the const. of the home came by with some people who are interested in setting up another orphanage. He was explaining the construction and how the interlocking bricks used were made on site, up to 1500 day.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5586761878175352066" />By using these bricks they don’t have to use morter to hold them together and construction is faster. I thought it would be cheaper but a neighbour costed a job he was doing and found the ‘extra’ costs on a small job made it more expensive. One of the visitors, Dr. Wauyany, owns a hotel near town and told me to be sure to visit.
End Post 5

Sorry it's been so long since I last posted an update. We have been having a lot of trouble with the power going off, especially when I have just about completed a post and am ready to upload it.

Sun., 6 Mar.
After Sunday School here at Robin’s Nest we went to a local church with Jotham. He originally told us the service started at 10 am but suggested we don’t leave until about 10:20. (Like many things here and in Latin America, people take the scheduled time as the time they begin to get ready to go.) We didn’t leave until about 10;40 and could hear them singing as we approached. There were 3 chairs set out especially for us to one side near the front of the adobe, tin roofed building. Also at the front were 2 other visitors: Bishop ------------, the bishop of that church and about 150 others. The second was ‘Apostle David B. Wanyonyi, bishop/senior pastor at Lamb’s Chapel Christian Center in nearby Kimilhi.

The service was very loud, and there was a lot of feedback from the unnecessary microphone. There were several members to give testimonies, a baby was dedicated, the Bishop spoke, we were asked to pray for the people, Apostle David preached, people were prayed over with laying on of hands, and Dick and I were asked to pray over Apostle David. All this was done with the delays of translations into either English or Kiswahili, as necessary. Altogether the service lasted over 4 hours. Because we arrived late, we did not have a chance to ask permission to take photos.

After the service, Pastor Jeremiah asked the two of us to preach next Sunday. That is going to be really different for them since we are not the yelling and screaming type and they are. Please pray for us.

Apostle David wants to make arrangement for us to visit his home church in Kimilhi. There is also a training school there. I suspect that he will be asking us to speak to people while we are there. He has an extensive training ministry for those wanting to go into ministry.

The name of the blind lady whom Robin’s Nest is helping is “Angripene”. On the way back from the church we stopped by her house. The son has cut all but 3 of the poles needed for his mother’s roof. He was stripping the bark off when we arrived.

Tues., 7 Mar.
Nelson's brick kiln for making his own bricks
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5583793217318527586" />Yesterday afternoon we went to the farm of Nixon, the chairman of the advisory committee. He is a retired banker who has settled in this area and wants to work on showing the people of the area better farming methods. One of the big problems in the area is water so he had a well dug. He got down over 20 feet and hit a big rock. He is still trying to figure out what to do. There is a little water at the bottom but he needs to go deeper. He has the healthiest looking cattle and chickens I’ve seen, mainly due I think to ensuring they get adequate water and nourishment as well as spraying the cattle for insects weekly. He is raising watermelons and other cash crops. He has been watering the watermellons using a foot operated water pump that operates similar to a ‘stair machine’ at a fitness club.

Foot operated water pump - operates like a stair machine in a fitness club

While there, it started to sprinkle rain, then started to rain in earnest for about ½ hour, then lighter for another half hour. For a while it came down really hard, and there were hailstones mixed with the rain. We waited it out in the house where we met Alex, a tomato farmer who has been chosen to head up a pilot project at a nearby polytecnic institute to grow tomatoes and other vegetables in a greenhouse. The units come from Israel and he attended training sessions on the methodology. Both be and Nixon are quite excited about the project.

Wed., 9 Mar.

First truss on the house made from younger eucaliptus trees
Dick started the day by going to by Mrs.Angripene’s home, ( Blind lady), with the nails for the men to start building the roof on her new house. He waited to watch them build the 1'st truss then headed into town to do pick up the bank statements and do some shopping. (Each statement costs 100ksh here.)

Framing almost complete. The roof was completed in one day.
After lungh the 5 trusses were completed and they were starting to set them up and before dark at 7pm they had the roof finished.

Thur., 10 Mar.
Eva, Jotham, and I went to Webuye, on the road to Eldoret, this morning. We visited the school where Robin’s Nest sponsors a student, Naiome, talked with one of her teachers and paid the school fees to the end of the term.

Naiome's grandmother and a sister in their home
We later went to visit her grandmother with whom she lives. The grandmother is very poor but is looking after 4 girls. They had had no food in the house since yesterday and we left them some money to buy food. ===

Sun.,13 Mar.
Eva and I were asked to preach at the local church we went to last week. We arived about 10:15 am and they were singing and dancing for about an hour. The pastor read the bible and talked about it for a while, more singing. We each gave a detailed testamony with teaching. This took about an hour as everything was translated to Swaheli.

After lunch we had a heavy rain. Weather forcasts are for rain every day next week. Guess the rainy season is starting. We have a bad leak in the roof which I am having to get fixed quickly.

Sun. 27 Feb. (Evening)
This afternoon we went to see Shaban Wanjala, vice chairman of the home’s ‘Local Advisory Committee’. He wasn’t home but we had a pleasant visit with his son, Mohamed who was studying law until money ran out. Mohamed took us on a tour of the neighbourhood which included a visit to a local fish farm and the community spring which supplies drinking water for most of the community. Part of the way we were joined by Eric, so both Eva and I had ‘personal guides’ telling us about the area. Mohammed has offered to escort us to Lake Victoria before we go back to Canada. We’re only about an hour and half away from it.

Mon. 28 Feb.
We headed into the bank this morning to transfer funds into the Kenyan Shillings Acct. so that we could pay salaries and a number of bills coming due at the end of the month. Monday on the last day of the month is not a good time to go banking. It took about two hours.

The phone is missing and has been for a few days. We have searched everywhere we can think of and if it doesn’t show up shortly, will have to buy a new one.

Wed. 2 Mar.
Dick did a few odd jobs around the home and went to inspect the adobe home that is being built for a local blind woman. Robin Byrnes had agreed to pay up to $300 to cover the cost of putting a roof on the building, windows and doors. He then asked Jotham to request a quote on the cost.

The Blind lady and Jothan at the construction site


In the afternoon the Local Advisory Committee met to discuss the business and plans for the home. Many things have been put on hold until a pending land dispute claim is heard in court in April, so the discussions ranged mainly around future plans. The goal is get the Home as self-sustaining as possible. Members started to arrive at 2pm and the meeting finally got under way at 3:30pm.

Thurs., 3 Mar.
Back into the bank again today. Since Monday several bills have come in which we wern’t expecting. We had covered them with our own funds as most bills are paid in cash since cheques are a real problem for several people. Now we needed cash ourselves.

We decided that we had better do something about the phone. We have our phone from Honduras/Canada and thought we could postpone things by just buying a new SIM Card. Unfortunately the SIM Card won’t work in our phone so we had to buy a new one. Much cheaper than in Canada, only 2500 Ksh, about $33 Cdn. for the Nokia phone and SIM Card. This took a while to find the right place as we wanted to stay with the same air time supplier. We were also looking for a concrete drill. None of the hardware stores had them but we finally found one in the hardware section of a Supermarket.


Eva 'rests' while waiting for lunch

It 11:50am and we decided to get something to eat before grocery shopping so we went to the bar/restaurant in a hotel across from the grocery store. They only start cooking when they get a order so we has a long time to relas on the 2'nd floor veranda. We ordered chicken and chips.
Oily fries and overcooked chicken. Next time we eat out, I think we’ll try someplace else.

Sat., 5 Mar.
The estimate on the house came in about 9000 shillings above budget. I went to a local building supplier myself on Fri. and got some prices which were comparable but learned about ways to cut costs. We are having them use the traditional ‘poles’ rather than milled lumber saving some 5700 shillings. We can also have the door made much cheaper than ready made and by using a lighter grade of corrugated steel roofing we can save another 1700 shillings. I will take the nails to the job site and monitor to ensure any that aren’t used come back to Robin’s Nest.

Fri., Feb. 25
How time flies! On Thurs. we realised that we still had computer problems so we called for the repair man. He arrived about 8:30 pm and worked until 11:30 doing a backup and a complete cleaning of viruses on the backup then strippng the computer of everything and reinstalling windows and the various programs. I told him I would update the virus checker he installed, (‘Avanti’ for you computer geeks), and the printer files.

Friday I went into town with Jotham to transfer money from the US$ acct to the Ksh, (Kenyan Shillng), account and get cash to pay bills. I then paid some bills and bought a printer cartridge and a ‘Flash Drive’ to back up files for Robin’s Nest.




Going into town we took bicyles to the corner then caught a mini bus into town. Coming back we used a ‘piki piki’ which is a 3 wheeled motorcycle with an enclosed driver and passenger compartment. There was one passenger when we boarded and later a 4th passenger got in front sharing the drivers seat. It was only 20 Ksh each to go to the corner, then 20 each to return to Robin’s Nest on bicycles. It’s more because it is up hill.

Sat., 26 Feb
In the morning Eva and I went for a walk to the corner of the highway A104 to visit some of the local stores and learn what each one carries. Not a great variety. It takes about ½ hour to reach the highway. There is a small market as we approach the highway that has a little more variety and some of the stalls have some hardware items. On the way back we bought some tomatoes from a small shop.

In the afternoon Eva worked on the payroll due the end of the month while I built a workbench in preparation for other projects.

Sun. 27 Feb
The numbers at Sunday School were down today and we only had 6 in the Bible study. Most of them did not have their own bible and they were different translations. We didn’t have enough to go around so they had to share. Hopefully enough money will come in to buy some, (550 shillngs each, about $7.50 Cdn.)
Eva and the Bible Study Class last week.

Sun., Feb. 20
Sunday School was scheduled for 8:30 this morning in the new residence still under construction. Not unexpectedly, not everyone was there but they began to drift in and things got started about 8:45, with kids from the neighbourhood arriving for the next 15 minutes or more. They started with singing led by Jotham, the ‘house father’ and then Leah, ‘house mother’ took over to teach the Bible Lesson. Eva and I took the older ones back to our cottage for a Bible study. Eva wants to teach them about the Bible, how and why they should read it and be familiar with it. We had 12 children. Including the 21 children in residence and the visitors, there were 74 children attending. [Eva: I don’t know whether the children were just shy, or unfamiliar with finding theire way around the Bible and reading for their own answers, but response to questions were slow. It is certain, however, that the neighbourhood children were not used to using a Bible.]

The rest of the day was quiet. Jotham and I went to get a photo of a boy hoping to enter the home. He is living with his parents and several siblings in a mud home about 8 by 12 feet and they are having trouble making ends meet because Brian’s father hada stroke recently and so is unable to work.


Mon., Feb. 21
While doing her morning bible study, Eva spotted a very large spider, about 3/4 inch body, on the wall. We got rid of it.

Later in the morning we went into Bungoma on a number of errands. Two buses passed us, filled to the brim so we decided to ride the backs of bicycles. These bicycles have a padded seat over the rear wheel, handle grips under the seat and foot rests at the axels. Going in toward Bungoma it costs 10 shillings, coming back it is 20 shillings because it is up hill. We rode these to the junction of the main highway and the cut off for Bungoma, then transferred to a very small van in which they could cram no more than 9. (The larger ones, about the size of a minivan will take 19 including driver and conductor.)

We checked in at the bank to see if a transfer had come through – no, and at the electric company to see about changing the status of the home from commercial to residential. It will make quite a saving. The computer was down so we have to go back. After other errands we again took a mini van to the junction. We then had a meeting with a welder/teacher of a young man who works part time at the home. This time we took a motorcycle with the driver, Eva and I + groceries on board, 40 shillings.

The office computer has one or more viruses that are causing a lot of problems and it won’t download either of 2 virus protection programs I tried. We have called for a technician and he’s here as I write.

11:30pm:
The office computer has been cleaned of its viruses and the system reformatted. Hopefully that will end the problems.

Tues., Feb. 22
Well, it seems our computer problems are not yet over. This morning I prepared to send to files to Robin Byrnes concerning 2 children for whom they are looking for sponsors. I checked my flash drive on my own computer first, then went to the office computer to copy the needed files to my flash drive. The computer won’t recognized the flash drive! It sees it as a folder that it can’t open! I tried other ports, and different flash drives – the problem continue. However this afternoon Jotham tried something different and it worked.

Dick replaced a faulty water tap and a broken latch on the boy’s bathroom this morning. Jotham brought out three boxes of screws he had, great, but they are ‘Robertsons’, (square head), that were left by some Canadians, and there are no screw drivers here that fit.

This afternoon one of the neighbours had a tractor come in to plow a field. They were using a disk plow and having trouble with the disks coming loose. They finally left for repairs but returned about an hour later to finish the job. We had few drops of rain again and they tell us the rainy season is near. Water is getting low so they are cutting back where they can until the rain comes. I discovered a rain barrel just outside our door was full of mosquito larvae so Jotham had the kids water the plants that are beginning to wilt. from it

Mission Trip to Bungoma, Kenya - 13 Feb to 11 May, 2011

Wed. 16 Feb. - On Sat. 12 Feb. we drove to Toronto to visit Brian, Cathy, and Deborah. Cathy is going to drive us to the airport Sunday after church and keep the car at her place until we get back in May.

The flight to Nairobi was uneventful and very long. The trip took 18 hours. We were met by 'Judy' and taken to her home for the night. The next morning, Tuesday, we went back to the airport for the flight to Eldoret. Arriving at Eldoret about 9 am, there was no one waiting to meet us but we realized they could have been held up on the road. 3/4 hour later I tried to phone, on a borrowed cell phone, but couldn't get an answer. We were sitting outside the terminal when a van pulled up and 3 men, 2 women, and 4 pre-school children got out. Obviously that wasn't them – but it was. They had had trouble on the road when the bolt holding a shock absorber fell out. After meeting everyone and several minutes of figuring out how everyone and our luggage would fit, we headed for the mechanic to get the shock absorber fixed.

WAITING FOR FUEL

Before we got into Eldoret, we ran out of diesel fuel. The driver headed into Eldoret to get more and we waited about an hour and a half for him to get back. (The first station he went to was out of diesel.) Back on the road we first stopped to put in 1000 shillings worth of fuel in this hired van, (about 9 L).

I had left my shoes back in Canada and only had sandles which will not be suitable when the rains start in March. Therefore I went into the Bata shoe store and bought a pair of leather shoes with a good heavy tread, about $12. After grabbing something to eat as it was now gone noon, we headed for Robin’s Nest in Bungoma.

Robin’s Nest Children’s Home is a fenced compound on a small dirt road about 10 minutes drive from Bungoma. There are two residence buildings, one still under construction, a 2 bedroom cottage with living room, kitchen, 2 bathrooms, and the office. Only the bedroom windows have screens but we hope to rectify that soon.

Wednesday was a ‘confusing’ day. Jan, the administrator, was finishing up things before she left Thurs. to return to Austrailia and we were trying to get settled and learn as much as we could before she left. We had a trip into Bungoma with her to finish up some business and bought some groceries while there. There was also a meeting of the Home’s ‘Local Advisory Committee’ called for 3 pm that got started about 3:45. At least we got to meet them and a couple are close neighbours who told us if we need anything, call them.

The people speak Swahili here most of the time but most also speak fluent English so we shouldn’t have any problems that way, except for the accent. This is, of course, a mutual challenge of course. Also, They speak very softly with an inflection that will take us a while to get used to. Everyone we have met so far have been very friendly and we are looking forward to a good experience.

Some of the kids putting on a fashon show with the clothes we brought from Canada


Fri. 18 Feb. - We’re getting settled in. Jan left early yesterday morning for Australia. The house parents told us they were running out of food so we went into town with Jotham to buy groceries. We took the bus. (Gari) Because we were so rushed on Wednesday, we had not been able to get very much in groceries, so yesterday we bought more. We are, of course, having to get staples as well as day-to-day groceries.

Meat is going to be a challenge. One of the “supermarkets” in Bungoma only sells cheap sausages, ground bee, whole chicken and sliced lunch meat.. The staff at Robin’s Nest have warned us that the meat at the butcher’s is risky - uninspected and carelessly handled.

This assignment has turned out to be more than originally advertised, which was “signing cheques and anything else you see that you would like to do.” We are actually the Administrators. The task is similar to running a low-budget hotel/restaurant, something for which we have no experience. Pray for a sharp learning curve.

This morning I (Eva) spent most of my time with Jacinta, the sceretary, learning mor about the book keeping. It rained today, just a light rain starting about 4:00pm, off and on during the evening.

Sat., Feb. 19 The plan had been for one of us to go the Bungoma to check at the back to see if a deposit had come in yet from Canada. It is a fairly large one, and the funds are seriously needed. However, we learned that at trip into the city would be needed on Monday. The electricity provider is charging the commercial rate, and we have been trying to get residential, since this is not a business. We’ll do the bank and the electrical company Monday morning after I have spoken to Jacinta about the funds and figured out how much needs to be converted to Kenyan shillings.

Last night was quite cool, but this afternoon it got really hot.

We’re off! In a short time we will be leaving for Toronto to spend the night with our daughter Cathy, her husband Brian and our granddaughter Deborah. Tomorrow we’ll go to church with them then Cathy will drive us to the airport for our 5:45 flight to Kenya via Amsterdam. We arrive in Nairobi Monday night then Tuesday morn we fly to Eldoret in the Rift Valley. We’ll be met there and driven to the Robin’s Nest Children’s Home in Bungoma.


A lot of luggage to manipulate!

It has been a real rush to get ready and to top it off I came down with cold like symptoms, but it may be a reaction to the Yellow Fever vaccine, our previous one ran out in Dec 2009. In any event, I’m taking something to clear up the worst of the symptoms and as they say in the TV ad, “Feeling better!”

We have 4 bags, 2 of which are devoted to things for the children’s home, mainly clothes. KLM allows us 2 bags each of 23 kg. but the airline from Nairobi to Eldoret say 1 bag at 20 kg. Excess weight is charged at 50 Kenyan shillings per kg. (About 59 cents Cdn). The extra bags weigh about 18 kg each. However, we have been told that they won’t charge if they know they are for the children’s home. I hope that’s correct.

Last Sunday the congregation at Quinte Bible Chapel officially sent us off with prayers and we had dinner last night with old friends and were thoroughly prayed over again. We’re looking forward to this trip.

That’s all for now folks. It may be a while before I figure out the best way to post to this blog but keep tuned and I’ll get something up ASAP. Dick

We're off again!

Bungoma, Kenya is our next destination and the "Robin's Nest Children's Home" is where we'll be. This is sudden. We were asked on 20 Jan. if we would be willing to fill in for the administrator at the home for possibly 3 months or more. After much prayer, we said YES.

The flights are arranged. We leave 13 Feb. and return 11 May. We would have gone earlier but our yellow fever vaccination, (required for entry), expired last year and we can't get it renewed until the 3rd and have to wait 10 days before traveling.

You can check out the organization's web site at; www.robinsnestchildrenshomes.com/

This is just a preliminary post. I'll put up more info as it becomes available. Keep checking.

Dick