Wrapping up 2012 here at Omwabini and welcoming 2013

 

 

Another trip to the machinist in Kitale to build up and machine a spindle to accept a bearing. Its always entertaining to watch the "tradesmen" tackle their challenges using the limited and dated tools and equipment they have. Some remind me of equipment we owned on the farm in the 50s.

 

 

 

Oxygen-acetylene pressure gauges are optional

 

 

Machinist lathe is dated but very rugged and functional

 

 

 

 

Coal fire supported by a hand operated fan to heat metal to shaping temperature

 

 

 

 

 

Another common cash crop of Kenya is beans

 

 

Self appointed highway crew fill in a few potholes and then try to flag down vehicles looking for donations

 

 

 

Three chickens were purchased at the market for our New Year’s dinner tomorrow. Fresh meat at its best. They will be butchered tomorrow here on the premises and then cooked and served  – reminds me of days back on the farm. My chicken butchering days are behind me so I'll leave that job up to a seasoned professional,  our cook Redempta.

 

Later this evening we'll join the Orphans and staff for year end worship at the center to wrap up 2012 and and see the new year in.

 

 

Wishing everyone a happy New Year!

 

Sunday at Omwabini

Off to Sunday worship at the centre. Pastor Evan led us in worship and then asked  Albert and I and others to say some words. The orphans were also given opportunity and encouraged to share how they were blessed, how they were thankful to God for what He’s done in their lives in the past year. James and Mike, sons of Mary, also spoke of God’s providence and gave words of encouragement.

Omwabini has had a very difficult year financially after a foundation of long term major philanthropist ended their support. Perhaps this was a bit of a wake up call for Mary and James to focus on expanding their donor base to more donors of smaller amounts rather than relying so heavily on one source.

It was so wonderful to hear of God’s providence experienced by both the adults and children and listen to them express their praise.

 The pastor also related that he had been a friend and neighbour to Omwabini, then God called him into the ministry a few years ago. He currently serves the nearby region of Mount Elgon, an area that had experienced tribal clashes and much death after the last election in 2007.  His strong message is that God is a God of all people everywhere – even of all races and tribes.  As much as we see the light of God’s love in this community the extreme evil forces of tribal bigotry, adultery,  (the root cause of the spread of aids) and witchcraft is also evident.  Pray that his message takes root as Kenya heads for another election in March 2013. 

 

 

Next door to us is the Kimilili police force office and their housing. No reason to covet your neighbor's house.

 

 

 

 

This is a small mill down the street that grinds maize into flour

Activities at Omwabini

 

Today was a lesson on repacking disc bearings with grease for both the tractor drivers and a few of the older orphan boys. Yesterday I purchased 14 new disc bearings and they all needed to be packed with fresh clean grease so it was time for a hands on training.  It was a bit of a challenge to install the bearings onto the hub without the tools we are use to. They did have a hammer that looked like it should be used for splitting rocks and the ratchet extension from my CTC tool kit that I brought along doubled as a punch.  Not sure if it will still function as an extension...
 by Albert


                                            Repacking bearings 101

 

I (Carolyn) visited Juliana, housemom to about 65 orphan girls in one hall. It was such a pleasure to listen to her hopes for the children, and how when a girl will cough in the night, she knows exactly who it is. She is blessed with a very big, caring heart, one who so appreciates where Omwabini has rescued herself from. She sees so much where God has answered sometimes night-long praying by the organizers.

by Carolyn

 

                                         Washing breatfast dishes

 

 

 

How many blankets can an eight year old carry before the rain starts

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Beauty of Kimilili Area

 

 

 

 

Today's trip to Kitale was a success. I was able to pick up the plough parts from the machinist and purchase the much needed plough disc and bearings, bolts etc...  Tomorrow, begin reassembly.

 

Every time we travel I'm struck by the natural beauty and landscape around Kimilili. It's beautiful. Everything is lush and green partly because December been a wet month  by their standards. This has resulted in a good growing season for sugarcane, maize and sunflowers.

 

 

 

 

Local forest...

 

 

Pictures on my laptop always draws a crowd

Tim, Tom and Andre I confess I re gifted some of the golf shirts you gave me... They are being put to a good use.

 

Carolyn, Kids and card making...

Electricity is intermitten following a rain and now is one of those times so I better keep this short and sweet to preserve the laptop battery power.

Vigilante Justice here in Kimilili

The plough parts were not ready as promised but that didn't surprise me we'll try again tomorrow.
With time on my hands I repaired the eaves troughs that were nearly falling off one of the buildings at the "center". To make this repair I needed to make up some hangers on which to suspend the eaves trough so  I took a walked to the "Industrial Strip" to find a local metal/welding shop and purchased some flat stock. They cut the stock into 12" lengths and drill two holes in one end for screw to pass through. The business didn't own a drill but the folks here are very innovative.  They simply used a punch to a make the hole hacksawed flat the stretched portion around the hole  then ground off the burrs. Worked fine.  Eaves troughs can collect water again.

   In Kenya an arc Welding face shield is optional and arc welding may be a spectator sport

 

Furniture maker does a great job with very basic hand tools....

 

and doubles as the casket maker...

 

 

 Carolyn and the cooking crew peeling plantain

 

Thursday is market day in Kimilili so Carolyn and Mama Mary went to the market to buy some local produce and purchase clothes for a very needy widow and her family.
We've been in Kenya now for a few weeks and we thought we saw most everything but here is another...
While at the market Carolyn and Mary happened on a major commotion as a crowd gathered. They couldn't see exactly what was going on but Victor told them that a mob was stoning a man to death for stealing a motorcycle. Vigilante justice at its worst!

 It seems unbelievable to us that something like this could happen. Mama Mary told us that stoning is more common for such crimes and that she has personally intervened to stop a stoning as it was about to start telling them to let the police deal with it and that God will judge him.  Unfortunately many have little faith in the police believing that they often accept a bribe and let a guilty person go free without charges.


                                                  Kimilili's Thursday Market

                                 

Boxing day - Off to Kitale

Again this morning, like most mornings, we woke up at about 5:00 am to the persistent crowing of our resident rooster.  I was hoping that he was going to be served for dinner on Christmas day but this morning's crowing told me that he survived.

Today we headed off to Kitale, a town about 25 kms from Kimilili, to bring some of the plough parts to a machine shop for repair. Kitale is a larger town with more shops and industry than Kimilili.  I should be getting use to the rides but each trip is still a"white knuckle" trip for me. I have a hard time relaxing enough to enjoy the scenery while our driver dodges all of the livestock, people, carts,  overloaded trucks, bicycles and motorcycles all while using both lanes of the roadway as he tries to avoid the potholes and craters in the roadway.

If all goes as planned we'll do the trip again tomorrow to pick up the repaired pieces and purchase some additional parts so we can begin the rebuild.

                           Some buildings in cities like Bungma and Kitale are fairly well constructed however there are no traffic lights, stop signs and crosswalks.

The road between Kitale and Kimilili is riddled with washboards and craters, some you simply can't drive through; they are too deep. The  suspensions sure take a beating and the washboard sections of the ride rattles the fillings out of your teeth.

 

                                                A common sight...

 

Shuttles like this one is common, a 12 passenger Toyota van carrying about 15 people; most are inside the van

 

 

This colourful bus is only used for the longer hauls between the bigger cities and Nairobi 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Day with the Omwabini Community

Today we celebrated a very different and yet a very memorable Christmas. Yesterday Carolyn and Mama Mary made up six Christmas baskets for six most needy families in the community who Omwabini is working with. They delivered three late yesterday and this morning Carolyn, James the director, and I traveled into the countryside to deliver the last three.

                                                           A thankful crew...

 

 

Mama Mary enjoyed her Christmas dinner with family who came home to visit and Carolyn and I joined the orphans for their Christmas dinner. After dinner we showed the Nativity Story and Carolyn gave each orphan a candy cane to enjoy.

                 Christmas dinner chapatti (pancakes) plantain (cooked green banana) roast beef

 

 This little guy nicknamed "Gifty" would melt your heart.  He crunched down his candy cane and then went to his "friends" looking for more. Most shared a small piece with him

 

The teacher/tailor and his helper amazingly created 8 tunics and three dresses from three new bedsheets that were donated by a neighbour in Portage

Hauling water from a protected spring in the country.

A healthy crop of sugar cane

 

Gearing up for Christmas in Kenya

Christmas preparation in Kenya in someways is similar to home. Lots of traffic and lots of people milling about with up to 30 people in line at the cash in the last store I was at.  I felt a little guilty when I, the only mzungu, was pulled out of the line up and escorted to the cash ahead of the rest. I'm not quite sure why but I think I could get use to that kind of treatment.

                                                Shopping congestion in Bungoma

 

 

 

Below is the kitchen facilities here at Mary's compound where we are staying. All meals are cooked on an open fire or charcoal cooker.  Don't feel sorry for us, the food that our cook Redempta cooks for us is very tasty. 

 

 

This morning one of the widows that the Eerkes' from Edmonton helped build a house for this past summer came by to help out with the grocery needs by bringing a half sack of peas. Yesterday another woman brought a chicken.

 

 

This is the ground's watchdog; looking  pretty thin. I think he could use about four cans of Alpo for Christmas or one of the chickens that are running around the place...  or maybe she's saving herself for an intruder.

 

 

 

 

 

The county doesn't have to worry about hiring someone to cut the grass along the roads here in Kenya. The cows, goats and donkeys have got that covered. They usually have one of their legs tied by rope to the nearest post or tree so they don't dart out onto the road, .

 

 

 

Keep your eyes open when walking down the street...

 

 

 

Moving day for one of the locals. Instead of "two men and a truck" its two men, a cart and a donkey

 

 

Man powered lumber truck

 

      Wishing everyone a blessed Christmas as you get together with family and friends!

Lorry Rolling Next challenge Disc Plough

Keeping folks on a schedule here in Kenya is a bit of a challenge. I've heard it referred to as "Africa time". Most of us own a watch and we schedule our days by the hours or even minutes. In Kenya the sunrise and sunset ocurs about the same time of the day year round and timed events or tasks for the most part are not narrowed down to hours and minutes but to morning and afternoon. While waiting I've learned to socialize with the locals and entertain myself surfing the net on my cell phone.

The good news of the week is the Fuso now has a new clutch and tires and passed its "safety" certification and can now be used to haul local and distant goods and generate some much needed income.
The next challenge for me and my "apprentices" is to revive the two disc ploughs. They are in very poor mechanical condition and not usable even though they tried. Disc plates are split  and worn down to about half of the origional diameter. As a result the disc bearing housings have been dragging on the fields wearing away the metal of the housings. All of the disc plates and most of the bearings need replacing. Tasks include removing nuts and bolts that have been worked over by a pipe wrench.  They are now nearly disassembled, the next challenge is to locate and finance the needed parts.

 

Cooking for 300 Orphans is done in huge cast iron pots that fit into specially designed wood stoves

 

Saturday is bath time. A sister bathes her younger brother

 

The new High School is progressing well and hopefully will ready by Jan 10th. That's the start of their new school year.

 

 

Spreading hand mixed concrete

The high school construction is progressing well. This morning locals were mixing and spreading the concrete for the floors.  As part of Omwabini's plan toward sustainability it is hoping to cover most of the cost of education for orphans by opening the high school up to the community. Unlike in  Canada, Kimilili families must pay school cost for both elementry and high school of about $500.00 US

There is only a few of us in the compound this afternoon because Mama Mary went to campaign with her brother and most of her family are attending the funeral of a relative. Unfortunately funerals are too common an occurance for younger people here in Kenya.

Excitement here for Christmas is growing. We are looking forward to celebrating Christmas, Kenyan style.

Off to the Markets

With the Fuso still at the welders we took advantage of the down time and went to the local  market with Mary. It was huge, covering about three blocks. Everything from fruits and  vegtables, to  goats, donkeys, and chickens.  The used clothes that you may have donated to your local charity were spread out over the ground on tarps. Larger animals such as cows and donkeys arrived on foot  and smaller animals such as goats and chickens came  in cages on bicycle back carriers.  Prices were great.

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We then travelled to the next larger town Bungoma to go to a bank and supermarket. The scenery on the way was spectacular. The land appeared to be very fertile.

 

In Bungoma was the first time that I've seen items on the shelf priced which was good for us otherwise the price for items we look to buy often double when we ask "how much" because they believe mzungas have lots of money

 

 

One advantage of having roads that don't have an underpass is that there is no limit to how high you can stack your load.

Off to the the tire shop

Spent the major part of the morning with James the director of Omwabini brainstorming with him on how to raise funds to sustain the work of Omwabini. They do generate about 60% of the revenue needed to carry on their operations receiving some school fees from the extended families of a small number of the orphans and through hiring out their farm equipment and Fuso.  They are currently dealing with a real financial challenge because a major donor who had supported them in a large way for a number of years pulled out when the company restructured and its new board of directors decided not to continue support. The expenses of sustaining 300 orphans, schooling for them,  and local house and water projects continue and they are forced to cut expenses and even begin food rationing. 

As mentioned in a previous blog, in all of your giving this Christmas do consider Omwabini Rescue Steps.  You can receive a charitable receipt when you make a check out to Hebron Christian Reformed Church - Omwabini - 431 Albert St,  Renfrew ON K7V1V8

On the lighter side...  We were able to arrange for the purchase and installation of rear tires for the Fuso. They do things a little different in Kenya.
by Albert

                                                  Local Tire Shop

 

Lug Nuts are a bit tight

 

 

 

 

While Albert was having all his fun at the tire shop, I was making greeting cards with about 15 children aged 5 – 18 who were left at the orphanage over the Christmas break. I have a new and heightened respect for all teachers:) A neighbour had donated some sheet sets and Joshua the teacher/ tailor very smartly put together 4 little dresses, and 8 tunics for  orphans.