Building/Richard (CV)

Tomorrow morning we will leave Mercy Home bright and early to begin our journey to Uganda.  We are planning to stay in the city of Jinja (on the source of the Nile!) for 3 nights, and then head to Kampala for about a week and a half. 

Things are going well with the high school building project.  I finally feel like I have a handle on keeping track of finances and I am quite proud of my organized excel sheet.  I have now been to the hardware store and the lumber yard in Kiminini so many times that people have begun to stare a little less at the white girl buying all the cement, timber and other building supplies.  It has even become a bit less awkward to go to the worksite because they have employed a few ladies so the ratio is no longer thirty-five to one.

I was surprised at how much time was spent on the foundation.  Clearly I was a bit ignorant on the process.  I would have just dug a hole and poured cement in it, but apparently there are a few more steps than that.  So far I have been impressed with the quality of the work, and I am learning loads about construction!  Now that the foundation for the classrooms is done, progress is a lot more obvious.  The walls are now at waist height, and it is super exciting to be able to see the classes taking shape.  The boys’ dorm is about a week behind the classrooms (we had to wait for approval from the health authority) so they are just finishing digging for its foundation. 

I am a little nervous about leaving behind my accounting responsibilities to go to Uganda, but I am looking forward to coming back and seeing how much progress was made while I was gone. 

As a side note, I just wanted to do a quick blurb on one of the boys at Mercy Home.  Obviously, it would be best not to have favourites.  But of course I do.  Richard Wekesa without a doubt makes top 5 in my books.  He is in Form 1 (grade 9) and he’s one of the sweetest boys I know.  He is also a total goof and never fails to brighten my day.  I found out recently that he is the only student at Mercy Home without a sponsor.  If anyone has been considering sponsoring a child at Mercy Home, then please let me know.  It is $50/month.  I cannot even express how much I would appreciate it; he is like a little brother to me!  Also, even though the other students already have one sponsor, Mercy Home is always looking for more. Now that the children are getting older many of them will be going to college and it will be helpful to double up with sponsorship to make it more affordable. 

Blessings,

Candice

Naivasha Trip

Well, I am definitely learning how to be flexible.  I had such a great plan and it has been foiled.  On Wednesday I wrote a long blog post about our recent weekend trip to Naivasha. I pre-typed it on our computer at Mercy Home, put it on a flashdrive, and brought that flashdrive to an internet café in town where I was planning on posting it along with pictures.  However, my brilliant plan was ruined when I plugged it in. Apparently a virus ate the file. It is gone now, and of course I was super smart and deleted the original file off our computer.  Go Anna go. File gone….enough said.

Here we go again.

We left Mercy Home early Sunday morning and headed to Kitale where we planned transfer to another vehicle.  The moment we got off the matatu (bus) in town, we were swarmed by people asking us where we were going.  We decided to ignore most of them, until one man came up to us and we decided that we should follow him.  At this point we were a little overwhelmed and not really knowing who to trust or what to do.  This is an incredible story in itself, because earlier that morning we prayed that God would protect us throughout our journey and specifically that he would place people on our paths that would help us.  The man that we followed brought us to a ticket booking office, and guess who was standing there?  It just so happened that Epong, the social worker at Mercy Home, was picking up a few packages from that same office at the perfect moment.  Epong was then able to translate for us and help us figure out what bus to get on.  What a testament of God’s faithfulness.  Sometimes I forget how present God is in even the small moments of our lives.  He cares even about the little things, and He is so faithful.  That was a really great lesson for me, and a great reminder.

 We were dropped off on the side of the road in Naivasha, and then rode a piki-piki to the town center, where we got on another matatu that would take us to our destination; Crayfish Camp.  The matatu driver tried to charge us 500 shillings for a 20 minute ride, which is absolutely ridiculous.  You definitely have to stay on your toes here or you will be ripped off.  Luckily, we had asked in advance how much the matatu should cost, and it was 80 shillings per person.  Good try Mr. matatu driver. Good try.

After a long day of travelling we arrived at Crayfish Camp at about 4:30pm.  We were so excited to be camping in a tent!

The next day we planned on exploring ‘Hell’s Gate Gorge,’ which was located about a kilometre from our camp.  We walked down the road to the park gate, where we were approached by two men trying to convince us to rent bikes from them.  We had decided earlier that we were just going to walk instead of bike through the park because we thought it would be too expensive.  However, they gave us a good deal so we decided to take it.  We now had two bikes for the entire day, as well as a guide that would show us all the main attractions of the park.  I am so glad that we decided to do this, because if we had been walking by ourselves without a guide, we would have been very lost.

We ended up biking about 25km in total along a dirt road surrounded by African scenery.  It was so amazing! It ended up being like a safari on bikes (which, in our minds, in 100x cooler!).  We saw giraffes, zebras, gazelles, buffalo (don’t worry, they were in the distance), monkeys, and even Pumba! We also had the chance to go rock climbing, which Candice was particularly stoked about because she has been missing climbing with her friends in Victoria.

After biking 10km or so, we stopped at a picnic area for a bit of a rest.  Then, we left our bikes and started our hike through the gorge.  It was so neat! We were very glad to have Simon Peter, our guide, with us because he was able to show us the area, and educate us a bit about our surroundings.  Here is a good quote from him as we walked barefoot through a small path surrounded by long grass:

“This here is snake territory. You may see green pythons or small black mambas.  There venom is very poisonous you know.  If you get bit…very bad.” Candice and I looked at each other and laughed hesitantly as we hurried alone. Oh my…

After an incredible day of experiencing the nature side of Kenya we arrived back at our camp around 4pm.  We were happy to find a group of tourists that had just arrived at the campground.  It ended up being a safari group that planned on exploring the area for the next week.  It was very exciting to see other white people. Ya! Instant friends! There were people from Spain, Australia, and even from Canada! There was actually a man from Victoria who lives not far from Candice.  What are the chances! We also met a lovely Canadian girl named Rachel who was taking a week out of her three month stint of volunteering at an orphanage in Nairobi (the capital of Kenya). That was rather exciting!

The next day we woke up early again and began our trip back to Kitale. Long story short, 9 hours and 6 matatus later we arrived back at Mercy Home.  We had a great trip, and it was nice to get away for a bit, however, it was great to be back and see some familiar faces again.   We now have a couple days left here before heading to Uganda for two weeks. 

Sending hugs from Kenya to Canada!

Anna

 

Pictures coming soon.

 

 

 

 

Picture 4

This is Alphine, Lucy, Gladys and Joyce (front).  Behind them is the boys' dorm (left) some classrooms and the kitchen (right).  They are wearing their uniforms from the schools they were at last year.  Since the picture was taken, the new high school uniforms have arrived and they all look smart in black and purple. 

Picture 3

We've now had all of the high school girls over to make chapati in our kitchen (on three separate days).  This is Winifred (Form 1) showing us how it's done while some of her classmates watch a movie in the background.  She sends special greetings to her sponsors Don and Jean Klan!

Picture 2

Last time I was in Kenya, I stayed with a Kenyan family, the Ochanas, along with the rest of our team.  Anna and I have been to visit them twice now.  Awesome to see them again.  They send their greetings to everyone in Canada, mainly David Williams, Mama Trudy and Mzee Dane, Nancy Miller and Gramma.  Pictured here is Joshua, Stellah and her baby Benjamin, me, Anna, Frank (babu!), Geoffrey and Daniel.  David Ochana was also there, but he took the picture.

Picture 1

Transferring the Bill of Quantity for the high school into an excel document drew quite a crowd to our 'office.'

Construction Site (CV)

I mentioned before that this year Mercy and Caring home has opened a high school.  Right now the classes are being run out of the building that was originally intended to be a chicken farm.  Needless to say, they are in desperate need of new classrooms. 

So construction for the new high school started this week.  For the sake of clarity in communication, I have been given the job of being the liaison between Kenya and Canada.  It is my responsibility to keep track of every shilling spent and keep the Canadian board informed when plans change.  This is proving to be a rather difficult task. 

It is a great idea in theory, but in practice it is actually borderline ridiculous.  I have been given a bit more authority on this side of things than I had expected.  The first day, I showed up at the site and the contractor asked me if I thought we should order eight Y-8 reinforcement iron bars per classroom, or if four would be enough.  (I don't know?!) The whole "Christ will be your strength in weakness" idea is being given new meaning.  I have absolutely no qualifications to have any authority at a work site, or to be handling this sort of money, but I can do all things through Him who gives me strength!  And I have new respect for engineers, construction workers, accountants and secretaries. 

This week has mainly been one of organizing (or at least trying to) and doing town runs to buy supplies for the work site.  It has been great to be busy and to feel somewhat useful.  Now that I've been at it for a couple days I feel a little more comfortable and competent - but it's still a stretch.  The workers seem to be making good progress, and the students are really excited to finally see their new classrooms becoming a reality! 

"Come to Me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.  Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."  -Jesus  (Matthew 11:28-30)

In Him,
Candice