New Tires for the tractor and the Basket weaving continues...

Tuesday we traveled back to Kitale town to purchase some much needed front and rear tractor tires, engine and gear lubricants, filters , etc...  Since the lorry (truck) that I changed the clutch in three years ago is now a school bus we simply strapped the tractor tires to the rack on the roof of the bus and transported them back to Kimilili.

Today we installed the four new tires at a location in town that was equipped to fill the tractor rear tires with water after we had them installed and mounted.  A big thank you for the latest generous donations that allowed us to make these purchases - a Godsend for the folks here at Omwabini and the people they care for.

 Omwabini's  tractor driver "Sam" and two of the students installing the new rear tire onto the rim

  Filling the tire with water. Not a problem here it doesn't freeze
                                 
  Many of the men hang out or work in around the village center. This is a cultural difference that is hard to get use to. It kind of reminds me of what some of us men might do on a Saturday with a few friends when we had a project to do. More socializing than work. Their wives may be at home tending to household duties or tending to a roadside sales stand.

                                                        A couple of 11am shots

              Omwabini's cargo trailer tires. I think I found the leak.

Yesterday Millie, Mama Mary's daughter boarded the matatu (shuttle van) to Kisumu to purchase some more webbing so the basket weaving team could continue their production.
Thirty five completed, fifteen to go....



                    Basket weaving and maize sorting....

Woven Basket Production in Full Swing

By Carolyn:
Production is well underway to fill orders for 49 woven baskets. Half the retail of $10 will go to cover costs and half will go to the orphanage. My prayer is that the workers will be gratified as they work to supply their own needs as well as helping the orphanage. 

                               Sorting maize and weaving baskets

Baskets taking Shape

 
          Street side shot of Sunday's BBQ lunch with Carolyn inside enjoying supper with the gang

                       The neighbour's chicken dropped into our bedroom for a visit

A view of spare parts and vehicle repair alley in Kitale

                                  Cargo delivery going green in Kimilili

Van Repairs and Sunday Trip to Kisumu Airport

The van transmission repairs turned out to be more of a challenge than anticipated. Victor and I did survive the shuttle van ride and made it back to Omwabini with transmission and suspension parts in hand. Spare auto parts store as they call them here don't believe in parts catalogues they take your"sample" disappear for about 10 minutes and after some rooting and digging they come back with a part. The transmission assembly process wasn't working, the two halves just wouldn't quite line up and after a number of checks and double checks I discovered that one of the new gears that appeared identical was not. One gear on the new gearset was 60 mm in diameter instead of the 58 mm diameter gear we took out. Problem is now solved and transmission is back in the van.

 The two blue pipes you can see in the middle of the picture are actually the legs of the parts clerk looking through his inventory for the suspension parts.

Our outdoor workshop works well until the daily afternoon downpour starts

 After replacing a steering control arm and tie rod it was time for a Kenya style wheel alignment. If the string touches the front and back of the rear and front tire at the same time when the wheels were in the straight ahead position all is good.


On Sunday we traveled to Kisumu Airport to pick up James Bunyasi, Mama Mary's son and the project co-ordinator, who was returning from visiting the communities of volunteers in UK and in the USA. On the way to the airport we dropped off some orphan/students who stayed behind to take the applied technology course and were now heading out to stay with relatives until the New Year. We again fueled up and took the school bus because it was the only roadworthy vehicle at the time. The upside of taking the bus was the extra seating gave the orphans who remain at Omwabini full time an opportunity to get out of the Omwabini facilities and see a few different things. They all excitedly lined along the fence at the airport to watch the few planes come and go. Carolyn and I treated the thirty something passengers to supper at a place in Kisumu that Victor recommended because the food was good and at about $1.95 per plate, the price was right.

The restaurant kitchen might not have been given the stamp of approval by our Canadian Provincial health inspectors but the food was delicious, BBQ chicken, kale, cabbage and ugali. 

Since most Kenyans eat with their hands there is always a sink close by to wash your hands. 

(The bucket below the sink is to catch the water from a minor leak)

This lady taking the tailoring course offered through the community development side of Omwabini and others working with her will be kept busy for the next few weeks making baskets to fill orders from family and friends that  responded with orders from Carolyn's facebook post.

Teachable moments and Practical "Hands on" Experience for Applied Technology Students

This week has been a great opportunity for some of the Applied Technology students to get relevant  practical, hands on experience as we make needed repairs to the vehicles and equipment.  Our first challenge this week was to replace a broken suspension spring on the school bus and with that task completed  we are on to their real work horse vehicle, an all wheel drive Toyota van. This was the same van we took down some "near roads" and donkey paths to reach some of the mud house building projects we were involved with while here three years ago.

The Toyota van  has been out of comission for a few months now and is in need of major repair. We now have the transmission removed from the van and disassembled. Victor and I plan to board the public shuttle van bright and early tomorrow morning for Kitale to purchase the needed replacement parts. If all goes as planned we will be back before the end of the day with the parts in hand.

The boys did most of the grunt work while I coached from the sidelines.

Gears with damaged teeth will need to replaced. I"m surprised that the "spare parts store" claims to have the parts we need to make the repair. 

                Another beautiful view of the Mount Elgon area from our hike this past Sunday,

Morning Chapel with the orphans and a Hike at Mount Elgon

This morning Carolyn and I prepared for and led Sunday worship with the orphans that are staying during the school break. I must admit that when students lead the worship music in Kiswahili it is much more spirited than when muzungus lead worship songs in English.

 Initially our afternoon plans were to go for a small afternoon hike with a few orphans as tour guides but Mama Mary suggested a hike through the hills at Mount Elgon would be far more spectacular and that if we paid for the fuel cost, Victor could drive us there.  Rather than just going with just a few in the van we took advantage of this opportunity, fueled the bus and invite all of the orphans to join us on this adventure. The more the merrier! Victor then contacted one of Omwabini's cooks to serve as a tour guide and we were on our way.  The scenery was spectacular and the experience was amazing!

The lush green vegetation covers the hills and valley

This fast flowing mountain stream eventually makes its way to Kimilili and supplies the town with its water 

Its never hard to gather folks for a picture 

This mountain lady and her husband allowed us to trek through their yard during our hike

A bit worried that their hiking flip flops might not give them the needed traction as they scaled to the top

Camera photos often don't often give you a real picture of the elevation drops

Final Day of Applied Tech Classes and another surprise Visitor

Thursday students wrote a test  based on the course content and Friday I awarded participation or achievement certificates based on their performance. It was encouraging to see the enthusiasm of the students throughout the course. For many I could tell that some of their physics lessons "came to life" as they gave application to previously taught concepts.

Friday night yet another former Omwabini orphan came to visit Mama Mary a few hours after his graduation from University in Eldoret. His strength of character, strong faith in God and  his gratitude for all Omwabini did for him and his success in his studies was an encouragement to all.

                                We got to have fun with James as we join him in a few celebration pictures. 

Tim Horton's may have met its match here in Kimilili. These tasty little morsels called mandazis,  are every bit as tasty as Tims but without the sugar coated glaze and only cost 5 cents each. 

They are made fresh daily and sold by a roadside vendor that I have to try to walk past on my way from Mary's house to the Center. Too often I stop by for a treat.

Another day another Challenge

Every day at Omwabini seems to present new challenges and surprises, not all pleasant.  Yesterday Kenya’s version of the traveling Department of Transport police from another area decided to set up a vehicle inspection sting operation in Kimilili. Omwabini’s tractor and trailer were confiscated because of a number of infractions ranging from bald tires to no registration plate and on the trailer. I guess trailers pulled by people, donkeys or oxen don’t need a registration plate but one pulled by a tractor does.

 The end result of this sting operation for Omwabini was a hefty $250. fine and yet another expense Omwabini could ill afford and were unable to pay. It it does seem a real shame to spend that much money to solve this "crisis" when there is so much need.

After we paid the fine we were able to get their tractor and trailer back. The next challenge is to come up with a plan that will make them road and field worthy in preparation for the upcoming planting season.

 The cost of tires for the tractor rear tires is 70,000 ks each (approx  $925.CDN) the front tires $250 and 4 good used trailer tires are $530.00 or about $2,880 for both the tractor and trailer,

On a more positive note, the Applied Technologies classes with the older orphan boys wrap up this week . They each had an opportunity to gain an understanding of applied technical concepts and  hands on skills in a variety of areas ranging from electric circuits, hydraulics, dc motors and piston engines. When this wraps up I will then direct my efforts to reviving some of the equipment, tractors, and vehicles etc.. to prepare them for the upcoming planting season.

By Carolyn: I got to join members of the household to sort the bad maize kernels from the good ones in this beautiful Kenyan climate. I didn’t include this on my bucket list, but had I known about it, it would have been sure to make it. Who would have thought that I could be sitting among millions of maize kernels out on open tarps to dry in the sharp sun, listening to workers singing, laughing, talking, birds chirping, a beautiful purple jacaranda tree forever blooming overhead. I could have been sitting alone in my home back in Canada, but I was blessed beyond measure to be here instead.  The harvesting conditions were wet when the maize had been put into the storage crib, so now the rot is being battled.

They empty the 100 lb bags of kernels each day to dry in the sun, then sort, then shovel back into the bags before the afternoon rain.It takes about 5 drying days for the kernels to be dry enough for long term storage.We will soon shell the next batch.  The bad kernels must be taken out or they will cause the cooked maize to be bitter, even poisonous, causing serious digestion problems. Please pray that there will be enough food for the children throughout the year till next year’s harvest.

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These young boys worked together to complete this 1008 piece puzzle in their spare time