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.