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