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.
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