Uniforms and Farewell to our Friends at Omwabini

Friday Carolyn and Mama Mary visited the widow Joyleen who they set up in her fish selling business this past Tuesday. After three selling days she has sold half of the fish but earned enough money to cover all of the initial cost of the fish plus a healthy profit. She is well on her way to being self sufficient. She is very encouraged and thankful to God for her answered prayers. Gladey"s (house #1) house has received its second coat of mudding and is ready for the doors and windows

 

 

I made a few final mechanical repairs on the machinery and vehicles and passed on the CTC tool kit to Victor who will oversee much of the routine maintenances.

The tailor was so excited about receiving the bolts of fabric he pulled an all nighter and sewed about a dozen uniforms for the students. The students were so excited to receive the uniforms, likely the first new piece of clothing in years.

 

Today we said our final farewells to staff, orphans and Mama Mary and her family before flying to Nairobi.  It was difficult to say good bye. We had experienced so much together in the time we were with them.  Without a doubt a part of our hearts will remain there with the orphans and with all who participate in the work of Omwabini Rescue Steps.

Now that our time at Omwabini has come to an end this will be our last blog. Your support  and interest has been very encouraging. To date this blog has registered over 2,200 views. Thank you for your interest, for your prayers and for the financial support you have provided for Omwabini Rescue Steps and we thank God for the many answered prayers.

Off to Kisumu to purchase Material for the School Uniforms

We were up with the birds this morning to travel to Kisumu with Mama Mary, the school teacher/tailor Joshua and a few others to purchase bolts of fabric for student uniforms. It was a nice break from mud house building, especially considering that today the temperature was 30 plus degrees.

 On our way to Kisuma we came across a family of baboons on the side of the road munching away on some sugar cane that fell of a vehicle

I may be wrong but I think that this fellow is suffering from a bad case of diaper rash. Possibly too much sugar cane.

Kisumu is the most modern of the cities we visited in Kenya. The stores were more similar to those in the west with the opportunity to browse items in the isles rather than have a clerk hand you an item through a barred opening.

This afternoon we had a great sight seeing treat  on Lake Victoria. Victor contacted a friend who  operates a small sightseeing  "tour boat" at one of the resorts and he took us out for a short cruise along the shoreline to see some hippos and other wild life


Lake Victoria is the second largest fresh water lake in the world, Lake Superior is the largest.

We were able to get within 6 - 8 meters of this hippo.

Tomorrow is our last full day here at Omwabini. There are still a few minor mechanical jobs that will need attention and I may get out to start house #4 while Carolyn does some follow up visits with a few widows that she and Mama Mary has been supporting to set up sustainable "businesses" such as selling fish.

House # 3 and on a Roll

We started the our third house construction today for a widow named Evelyn, (they all have English or American names plus an African name that we don't ever hear them use). She is a widow  with 5 children. Now that we have a few houses completed we are almost experienced "mud house builders" and the process goes faster.

Carolyn and some others went back to the second house to check on the progress of the mudding. Sadly only a few women came back to help on day three so the Omwabini crew stayed to continue the mudding process. I`m not sure why but I know many locals will work for a good meal and since they saw Omwabini community support ladies were not there to prepare a meal many of the fair weather volunteers may have disappeared because they knew Carol couldn`t provide a meal.




Thanks to a very generous donation from our friends at Hebron CRC, Carolyn and Mama Mary will travel to Kisumu to purchase bolts of material for school uniforms and other sewing materials. We`ll give you more details

Mudding at House #2 and a trip to the Springs

Today we went back to Carol's house to complete the roof trusses, runners and install a steel roof. We also got a good start on the wall "mudding". The mudding process is something that is just so foreign to us that we have a hard time imagining that this is actually part of the building process for a house people live in.


This was a picture we took of Carol and her family when we first visited; looking  dejected, feeling overwhelmed and without much hope.

I was working beside her yesterday on the"mud line" and she couldn't hide her excitement. This is the progress we made yesterday. Her old house is on the left.

These two guys hacked and hoed all day making mud in the heat of the sun. The ladies made a number of trips to the nearest water supply to haul water in buckets , carrying  the large buckets on their heads.  The water was needed to make mud .  Don't know how they can do that.

Later, we dropped by the water spring project and were encouraged to see good progress being made. Alun tells us that he is never sure if the locals will actually make it to the construction  sites and participate as they promise but the level of participation at the projects to date have been excellent.

We will return to Carol's house tomorrow to continue mudding since her local support group is considerably smaller than that of Gladys' and we don't want her to be overwhelmed by the task and give up.

 

 

 

House #2 and a New Business Venture for Joyleen

With house #1 brought to the point where Gladys' family and neighbours can continue with the mudding we moved on to Carol's place to begin constructing  house #2. Alun, from Wales checked on Gladys’ house construction progress this morning and he informed us that the initial stage mudding had been completed and the 2^nd coat, a thinner layer of mudding was half done. When the home owners complete this stage of construction Alun will release funds for the purchase of a door and 2 windows.

 

 Carolyn and Mary took 8 kg of tiny dried fish, called amano, to the widow, Joyleen to help her begin a "fish selling business" to provide for her family. Last year Alun, through Omwabini provided her with a house but she is still in dire financial straits. When they got to her house at around 11:30 a.m. they discovered she and her family hadn’t had anything to eat and didn’t know if they’d have anything by the end of the day. Carolyn provided her with her business capital, the fish and enough funds to buy maize, salt and soap for her family needs so she wouldn’t have to eat her capital. It’s a small beginning, but it put hope in her heart as witnessed by the huge smile they saw on her face as they left.

 

 

 

 

Got back to Omwabini after house building in time to repair a disabled tractor with a clutch linkage problem. Enough for one day.

 

 

 

That dreaded rooster who starts crowing at  4:30 am and stays crowing long after the sun is up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

House #2 with a smaller crew

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now a seasoned mud house builder

 

 

 

Our last schuled Sunday here at Omwabini

Today is our last scheduled Sunday here at Omwabini. Carolyn and I were hoping to spend Sunday morning with the orphans again and then go for a nice hike out Mt Elgon way with Alun and Magdelina but Mama Mary had other plans for us.

This morning we joined her and went to the Anglican church in a neighbouring village that initially supported Mary's work at Omwabini. That church was once partnered with CRWRC and it was through that affiliation Mary received the support and training she needed to do much of the work she now does in the community.
  Much to my surprise I discovered that I was introduced as the guest preacher and was expected to preach the sermon this morning. Fortunately the many praise songs during the start of the service gave me a chance to gather my thoughts and the relevant scripture passages on which to anchor a message that is relevant to the challenges the people here are facing.  Delivering a message with a translator repeating each phrase or sentence does give one additional time to organize thoughts while he is translating.


  Sunday morning's worshippers at the Anglican church

Sharing lunch on Friday with the locals.  Most dinner tables are about coffee table height because many homes cook over an open fire inside the house. The low profile allows one to stay below the cloud of smoke. Utensils are only a tool used by mzungus.

Tomorrow we hope to either begin construction of the second house or the construction of a protected spring. Alun, from Wales has gathered funding for house and spring construction and is eager to get as much done as possible in the eight weeks he is here.

A typical unprotected spring water shared with animals and run off in the source of many illnesses

 

 

A protected spring water source filters the water through a lengthy bed of rocks and then  deposits the water into a small concrete tank. A pipe half way up the tank becomes a constant source of clean running spring water.

 

New Clutch for the Toyota Van

 

 

Took a short hike just before supper  to view the sunset that we heard people say was a " must see". It was so bright that it would actually reflect  off of us.

 

 

 

Saturday is normally an off day here at Omwabini so I took advantage of the vehicle down time to buy and install a new clutch assembly on the Toyota four wheel drive van with the help of a few older orphans boys. Its ready to go to back to its task of hauling people to places no vehicle should go.  No pics on this one, not much to see except legs sticking out from under the vehicle.

Here are a few more pics of the more eventful house building project we were on Thursday and Friday.


After the "mud stomp" comes rolling up the mud cakes that are dropped into the wall between the inside and outside "horizontal runners".

Carolyn's over sized feet after the mud stomp

 

 

 

 

Most workers kick off their sandals and work bare feet on the job site