Get Well for Christmas campaign was a success

Well, well, well.........yes a WELL! The words are music to my ears.  When we found out that the problem with our well was found in the control panel we were excited.  This meant that we could repair this well rather than have to drill another well. The cost was just under $2000 for the entire operation and repair.  As an answer to our prayers, my sister Sharon, organized a fundraiser in the greater Moncton area that she called "Get well for Christmas".  The effort succeeded in raising a surplus of several hundred dollars, I am not sure of the exact total yet, but the extra money will be used to buy new clothes for the orphans for Christmas.  We want to send our heartfelt thanks to her and all the rest of you out there who sacrificed to support this project.  I will attempt to post a picture next week of the water flowing with a complete report.

The garden project that we are working on in partnership, with Organics4Orphans, has been going very well.  Today we have over 70 garden beds cultivated with about 20 beds planted with a variety of vegetables.  We have managed to begin installation today of a foot powered pump, commonly known as the "money maker pump" here in Africa.  We are connecting this pump to a 10,000 litre tank, that was donated by Moncton High School, so that we can use the collected rain water to irrigate the crops.  We currently have 2500 litres in reserve that will last us for a little over a week. The success of our gardens will rely heavily on the availability of water so we have to plan ahead.  The rainy season this fall wasn't as rainy in this area as usual, so we have to think ahead for contingencies should our expected sources 'dry up'. The well water next door at the orphanage will be used for drinking and cooking as a priority, then bathing and laundry if there is enough, and finally for irrigation.

Skygo Utility Vehicle

Looking ahead it may be reasonable to think about fundraising to purchase another Tuk-tuk as they call them here.  ( So named for the sound of the 2-cylinder engine, Tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk.....) This utility vehicle is made by a motorcycle company called Skygo.  The front of it is a motor cycle , but the rear is a utility trailer with a dump feature. It has rear wheel drive (shaft driven ) and the rear part can be out-fitted with seats for passenger transport.  They presently have one here but it is kept busy hauling grass and water for the cattle most of the day.  With an additional Tuk-tuk they could transport the younger children to school (presently  a several kilometer uphill walk) and haul water for the gardens. These machines cost about 160,000 Kenyan Shillings or about $1900 Cdn.  These bikes are very practical and  due to their affordability have become very common in the past few years.  Mainly they have been used as taxis in the large cities but this new utility vehicle has found a market in rural Africa.

It's strange to think that Christmas is just 11 days away. The heat, the climate and the sun burns on Chelsey's back are saying mid-July.  No Christmas music, no cold or snow, no Christmas cards, no Christmas lights, no Merry Christmases in the shops..... I have come to realize that the things that we associate most with Christmas are the commercial hypes that our culture has conditioned us to respond to. (But we miss it, lol)  Don't get me wrong, they celebrate Christmas here, but the things that they treasure are different.  The focus here is on a Christmas feast.  They will slaughter a cow and everyone will eat meat!  Food is the big deal here at Christmas, because what they have in scarcity is what they celebrate with.  They mostly eat the same things here day after day, when they get meat it is usually chicken, so beef is a treat.  Variety and plenty are the things they celebrate with.  So Christmas here is a sort of  like a Thanksgiving, which is rather appropriate, after all.  It means that if you get a good meal with meat and a new set of clothes then you have had an amazing Christmas.  What more could you ask for??   (It is a lot like living in an episode of "Little house on the prairie".)

So tomorrow my African bank account will be open. There has been a little red tape, but complete with a local address and a card that will work in the bank machines here (although the closest one is 40km, 1 hour drive). This will make it possible to wire money from a Canadian bank to the Kenyan bank, which as it turns out is cheaper than withdrawing money from here.  Even from here it is the banking rules and fees that get you.

So Ben 'Kay-D', our resident christian music star, was filming a music video today and this afternoon we went with them part way up the mountain to the village just below the bluff of Mwan Gogi.  The road to get there was about the same condition as the road to Martin Head in the spring.  That's the condition of many of the roads here. Most of the wood roads in New Brunswick are in better shape then the main roads here.  It sure makes us appreciate the roads at home.  I don't think that I will be able to complain about potholes now and keep a straight face.

Well I guess that is about all for now.  God Bless.

Clothes, nurture and nutrition. What do you want for Christmas?

There are snakes, scorpions, spiders, and lack of water. We are surrounded by profound poverty and filth, yet there is nowhere on earth we would rather be.  Karen had a good cry today, the tears were tears of happiness, tears of sorrow and tears of gratefulness to be here in Taita Hills with the children and such incredible people.  What an honour to be able to live among these people in this place.

 Karen was talking to one of the children today about Christmas and he said he would love a pair of socks and shoes and he said he would look so smart (this is their word for sharp).  Many of the children have torn dresses, pants without crotches, no underwear, some of them don't have footwear at all.  Our Christmas wish would be a special meal for the these little treasures and one set of nice clothes each.  Most of them wear flip flops(or slippers as they call them) some too big and some too small because with flip flops it doesn't matter so much. Socks and shoes he  said, with a dreamy look in his eye, socks and shoes. To him this was something he could wish for, a Christmas miracle.  So we cry. We cry in disbelief, in amazement, in wonder really, that we could be so ignorant of things that should be treasured.  A simple pair of shoes here can be purchased for around $10 but for some of these people that is more then they earn in a week. Minimum wage here in Kenya is less than $75/month and unemployment here is well over 50%, some say 65% others say nearer 80%, lets just say it is really high.

Karen was feeling guilty the other day because of the tight budget that we are on here and with Christmas coming was worried about how Chelsey would feel, with the lack of presents under our tree. (figuratively speaking, of course. There will be no tree.)  Chelsey with wisdom beyond her years and a blossoming maturity of someone much older responded simply with, " It doesn't matter Mom". You know she is right of course, it doesn't matter. We will undoubtedly have the richest Christmas that we have ever celebrated just being here with these kids.

We have been watching the daily routine and the women that care for these 40+ orphans are busy cooking and cleaning from sun up to sun down. The children have tea for breakfast, then simple meals of starches and vegetables for lunch( between 1 & 2pm ) and supper between 7 & 8pm. Chores, bathing and laundry are things that get fit in between the rest. The nurturing is mostly done by the older children to the younger, so the time they get with Karen and Chelsey is highly treasured. One of our visions right now is to see how we can increase their nutrition level and immunity by implementing a breakfast shake/smoothie made from greens(kale) and fruit. So we need some commercial sized hand powered blenders and with the gardens we are planting we can begin to implement a breakfast drink for these children. Who would think that our main focus would simply be clothes, nurture and breakfast?( and a stable water supply, but I've covered that thoroughly)

On the water front, we have managed to contact some well specialists that have helped us diagnose some of the problems with our well. We have also had some energetic and generous hearted people come forward and offer to raise some money toward this project. We are very hopeful on this front, so keep praying.

Ali, Hitch-hikers, good food, Malaria and WE NEED A WELL

Well it has been too long since I posted an entry, my apologies.

Let's see. Ali is doing better. His complexion is changed from a pale yellowish brown to a darker more healthy brown. His hair is starting to change as well. We received news this week that his mother is soon to be released from the hospital, so after 4 months here, Ali and his brothers will be able to return home!

We were so excited last week when the rain started and we had water filling our tanks. After getting good rains for three days in a row, the tanks were full and things looked good. Then we found out that the heavy rain had washed out a section of the government pipe and the water source was cut off from us. We need a working well here. They had one installed two years ago and it worked poorly for about a week and then nothing. The company charged a large sum of money but had some changes of management and we were left with an unserviced well and no recourse. I have been able to locate a man in Nairobi with a charitable organization that may be able to help. Pray for favour and a good source of water. Hopefully we can save this well or get a new one. A sustainable water supply is more critical than most of us realize.

I am continually amazed at the view here. Behind us, towering over us every day is the incredible rock face of Mount Gogii and then like a horseshoe ridges and mountains halfway encircle us. On a clear day from the front of the house we can see the top of Kilimanjaro over the tops of the Mango trees and between the peaks of two nearer moutains( or hills as they call them here). The ground is sandy and red like PEI soil and relatively fertile if you cultivate it well. If you don't dig it well and mix in some compost the ground is hard packed/baked and doesn't really absorb the little rain we do get. There I go again talking about water. Hoping for water, planning for rain, planning how to make your stored water last is a constant preoccupation here.

The villagers of Bura are starting to get used to us here.  They usually only see Mzungu's{white people} on tour buses driving by on the road on their way to Safari Lodges. There are less surprised looks and screaming toddlers hiding from us and many friendly greetings in both Swahili and English. Our Swahili is still poor but we have mastered 20 or more words/expressions and learn more almost daily.  It is only the older people and the younger children that have little English skills and even they are very helpful despite our handicap.

Karen, Chelsey and I went for a walk in the orchard the other day, surveying the progress of the various fruit trees and Karen was complaining that something was prickly under her skirt. We never thought much of it at the time as we all had little hitch hikers on us in the form of some clingy seeds from some kind of weed.  The next morning Karen found a scorpion in her dirty clothes. He was just small, 2-2 1/2 inches long, but we were surprised none the less. We just stepped on it and after the customary photo threw him outside. This environment has helped both Karen and Chelsey a great deal with their coping mechanisms around creepy crawly things.

The gardening is coming along well. We have about 10 raised beds so far and I hope to have another 10 or more by the end of next week. We have a nursery bed with seedlings for cabbage, turnip, cauliflower, beets, Swiss chard, onions and 2 varieties of tomato that should be ready to transplant next week. We have seeds for more beds and our compost pile is almost ready to use, in just 2 more weeks. We are so excited to see the growth, especially since the rain came last week.

Karen cooked us a traditional Kenyan dinner tonight consisting of fried goat meat, carrot soup, ugali and fresh papaya for dessert. It was very good and the third time in three days that we have eaten meat. We have had very little meat for the past few weeks and I personally have lost over 20 pounds. I don't know if it is the vegetarian-like diet or if it's just the heat and the work/exercise. Either way I'm not complaining, another 20 would be nice....

Chelsey got Malaria we figured out yesterday, but not to worry, we had the doctor come over (Free house call) and she started a three day treatment with antimalarial drugs yesterday and is feeling better already. They pretty much shrug Malaria off here as a fact off life, like the flu or a cold. If you get it, treat it. Sleep under nets, eliminate standing water( mosquito breeding grounds) and don't worry about it.

School is out for the December(summer) break and both the health inspector and the District Education Officer have given us lists of requirements for the next school year( begins January 3rd) so there will be plenty of work to do and funds needed if anyone out there is in a charitable Christmas mood. Really this work is like the story of the loaves and the fishes from the Bible; they have done a lot with very little and are to be commended.  However if these were our kids we would be fundraising $500,000- $1 million and building them a nice facility with a well, hot and cold running water INSIDE the building, washers and dryers, Indoor toilets that flush and lockers and closets and nice metal bunk beds and......... You get the picture ,  or do you,... I really need to post some.   We need a working well.

Tourists on Safari

Tourists dropped by yesterday, their white western faces peeking out from within the safety of their safari van. They had their driver hand two packages of 10, glitter covered, pencils out through his window for the 25 or so little African children standing excitedly nearby. Karen and I were in the compound when they came and seeing the children running we walked out to investigate. Karen walked right out to where the kids were, and the tourists with their windows up and their eyes wide taking in the sites, said something to their driver and drove away.

We are in the middle of a drought with a water crisis on our compound for the last couple of weeks so its dirty, and the kids clothes are dirty. They each have a school uniform, a set of play clothes and some Sunday clothes. It doesn't make sense for them to have more anyway, because they spend most of their time outdoors, working and playing, and everything is dusty. More clothes would just mean more laundry, more laundry requires more water,..and...well, you get the picture. Don't get me wrong the kids are well cared for and get washed regularly, but they frolic and play and hang out, outside, so their clothes are dirty and ragged. The clothes get replaced as needed and handed down, or traded amongst them, but the point is the clothes that they do have are well worn.

Then along come the tourists peering out from with the safety of their vehicle as if this was just another of their stops and we all were the wild animals. It was surreal. I'm not sure what they were afraid of, the only thing contagious here is the love that these children pour out to everyone that allows them to. It makes you think though, why even stop with your 2 packs of dollar-store pencils if you don't want to become engaged with what's going on here. Why not just drive by, back to the $200/night lodge with it's $30/plate buffet. Don't get me wrong, the kids were excited for the pencils but they don't have any paper to write on, well they do now because we went and got them some along with some crayons for the kids that didn't get a pencil because they only gave us 20.  You get the picture I hope.

The point is we from the first world just don't get it. We go about our lives peeking out the window to the rest of the world passing small tokens, sparkly pencils, out the window, and go on our way feeling good about what we've done. We can tell the stories about the lions we saw and the elephants and those dirty little kids, ...why doesn't someone do something about an orphanage like that allowing those little children to be so ragged and dirty. The thing is we need a secure source of water, more staff, better facilities and for all that we need..., you guessed it $$$. This work has come a long way in the last 6 years on very little money. The kids are off the streets and cared for and educated. However it is like going back in time 100-150 years in many ways. When it comes to bringing things up to the 21st century standards of the western world it requires money.

So you can have all the African safaris, Florida vacations, Las Vegas, Mexico..., that you want. I'll take a few weeks here in rural Kenya over any of it. Spending time with these kids, the little ones and the teens, is the most rewarding thing that I have ever done. Teaching them, and learning from them, has changed and is changing me. They don't really need things that we have as much as we think that they do. They play games with sticks and stones and discarded string. Most of these teens that I have met are hard working , skilled, creative and wise beyond their years. They all have dreams of a better future and believe that if they work hard it will come. They dream of coming to Canada to visit me...I dream of coming to Kenya to visit them.

Water, Gardens and a Star is born.

So it's Sunday evening now, almost a week since my last post. I am sitting in the house waiting for the pump that we have rigged to pump enough water up in a small water tower so that we can have enough running water in the house to wash up and flush toilets etc. The water has stopped coming in any quantity from the public water lines and the tanks at the orphanage are dry. They older kids have to walk about 1.5 kilometres to a stream/swamp to fetch water for bathing and laundry. We still have a few hundred gallons in one of our tanks here on the farm so the smaller kids fetch water here for cooking and drinking.

Some of you have asked about a well, and one had been drilled here two years ago but it only worked for a very short time and then quit working. The organization had charged a large amount of money for this well and then just walked away. SSooo..... we are going to attempt to investigate the state of this well in the next month or so, and I am sure that we will need additional finances to repair it.

The gardening workshop with Organics4orphans went very well. The agriculture students are very excited as are the teachers and the Murrays. We have currently one bed of Kale planted, and one bed of nightshade greens, approximately 200 plants in all. As well, we have established a 5x5 foot compost that will provide composted soil in less than 6 weeks. We started a nursery bed in which our tomatoes, cauliflower, chard, cabbage, beets, red onions,and turnip seedlings will be started to transplant later. Tomorrow we will dig more beds and plant soya-beans and cow-peas. In the next few weeks we hope to cultivate over 1/2 acre of raised vegetable beds so that by Christmas we will be over run with fresh vegetables.

The rest of the team left this week to return Canada, leaving Karen, Chelsey and I to settle in as temporary residents of this small rural Kenyan village. The Bishop and his family make sure that we are very well cared for as his first missionaries to Bura.

Yesterday we walked to the village to go grocery shopping.  Ben, the Bishops son, accompanied us to help us find what we wanted. Ben was continually amused as Karen listed things off that were unavailable here, or he didn't even know what they were. No brown rice, only white, no baking spices, very few yellow vegetables. We mainly have cabbage, Kale, onions, and chard for vegetables. We did, however, find three small eggplant, 3 passionfruit, 6 oranges, 1 papaya, 1 small coconut, 5 avocados, 3 small green peppers, some mixed spice for salads, 1 dozen rolls, a small plastic basin and a 6 litre bucket for kitchen compost,  all for less than $7.00.  So you see the fresh produce is not expensive or the locals who live in such poverty could not afford it.  Most of the people here who are working earn between $1 and $2 per day.

Chelsey and Ben have been composing a new song and it's really good. Chelsey wrote the lyrics and Ben the chorus. The are collaborating on the music. Ben plans to record three of the tracks on his next CD with Chelsey, very exciting. She has become a bit of a local celebrity here. We were walking down the road the other day and as we passed all the little girls began to sing Chelseys part in the song she sang at open air concerts held the last two weeks.

By the way thank-you for all your prayers for little Ali. He is much better and I even saw him trying to run and jump yesterday, so cute. He has also begun talking  a little to the other children. It really is a wonder to see his progress day to day. We are hoping at some point to travel to Voi, 40 kms away soon to an internet cafe where we can get a connection good enough to upload some photos.

Well that's it for now, I've got to go shut the pump off and hopefully have a quick, cold, dribble of a shower.
:)

Farming, worms and little Ali

Monday and we have begun our Organic Bio Intensive farming Workshop with some of our High School students and some local villagers. The organization Organics4Orphans, has as part of its mission statement, the goal of increasing the capacity of communities to care for the orphans in their midst. It makes sense, what with the number of orphans nearing 50 million in Africa, they all can't be cared for in orphanages or childrens homes.  Enabling communities to build their own food security allows them to care for more of the hungry within the community.

The methods are quite interesting and provide a high yield in a relatively small patch of ground (100 sq ft) with only manure, compost and mulch used for fertilizers. The goals are primarily food security, nutrition and disease prevention. We will be learning much about the healing capacity of  various foods; for example, pumpkin is being used as a dewormer.

This is good to know since Karen noticed yesterday that several of the small children had sores on their heads, faces and necks. One little girl had sores that were more pronounced then the others, they appeared to be open and seeping....... When Karen pointed this out she was told that it was worms and that the girl would be taken to the clinic for treatment. What surprised us was how quickly it seemed to have broken out as we see these children everyday.

I am not sure whether I had mentioned little Ali.  Ali is 5 years old and was rescued with his two brothers from near starvation after being abandoned when their mother was hospitalized for critical illness as a result of Aids.  When he came here just over a month ago he was little more than a skeleton with a bloated belly.  He couldn't walk so he just sat on those little legs not much bigger around than my thumb.  Ali has been doing much better and has been walking for about 2 weeks although he is only about the size of an 18 month old.  He finally began to smile and interact more with the children in this last week or so and then Karen noticed today that he appeared a little jaundiced. Please pray that Ali is okay.  We will get him checked tomorrow but I am worried that his little body would be too weak to fight off anything too serious.....

It rained for about 15 minutes today and  I was too far from the house to get soap in time for an impromptu shower.  Oh well, on the bright side the system we have set up for collecting rain water seems to be working. It needs a few small adjustments and we will be ready for some serious rain, maybe a couple of hours worth.

I received a visit today from Gilbert, the local military officer in charge of civil security for this region. He just stopped by to introduce himself and to reassure us that it was his job to keep us safe and secure from Al Shaabab and any other security threats.  It caught me a little off guard as I never imagined that  our small group way out in rural Kenya would be much of a target for a terrorist organization. However Gilbert assured me that we were quite safe and gave me his phone number to call if I had any concerns at any time.  It's nice to have friends in high places.

Well that's it for today. God Bless us everyone.

Bedbugs and Cockroaches

It's Sunday night, it's been a busy day.  First thing this morning we had the exterminator come so that we could spray for bedbugs and other creepy crawlies at the school and orphanage.  We found out yesterday that many of the high school girls were not sleeping well due to a bedbug infestation in the dorm.  What a difference to girls in Canada, it went on for quite a while before any of them complained.  I expect that it may have spread quicker due to the close quarters that the girls live in.  We really need to raise money to build a larger girls dormitory, the bunk beds are stacked so closely together it reminds me of the pictures that I have seen of concentration camps during WWII.   When Karen first saw the girls dorm she had commented that it was a good job that many of these girls are small, because a larger person would have difficulty just walking between the bunks.

So church lasted from 10 until 2pm and the fumigation was still in process when church was over.  In the end the whole process took until about 4pm but a good thorough job was done.  Hopefully no more creepy crawlies.  Karen went over to see the bed bugs and commented that they were a little bigger than a flea and lighter in color.  Karen was also shocked at the thin little foam mattresses that the girls sleep on, so there's another fundraiser for someone.

There had also been some cockroaches spotted in the Kitchen that serves the school and the childrens home, so it was fumigated as well.

 The kitchen needs a couple of thousand dollars to be spent on renovations.  Presently the food is cooked in large pot over an open fire, reminding you of something out of a story book.  The pot itself must be at least three feet in diameter. This open fire is built inside the building on a dirt floor just inside a large open window.  The smoke inside the kitchen is still quite bad even in spite of the large openings in the wall.  The kitchen needs a cement floor so that it can be kept clean of food spillage so as not to attract any more creepy crawlies.  We begin to install a new floor tomorrow, but we still need a large commercial gas stove(~$1000) plus some shelving, a good cutting board area and a washing up sink.  ( Another good project for some one (hint, hint,nudge,nudge))

The rest of the day passed without incident,  our instructor from Organics4orphans arrived safely from Uganda tonight as we begin a workshop on bio-intensive farming with some students and local farmers tomorrow. I had better get some sleep............zzzzzzz