Day Eleven

We had a day off from blogging yesterday but here we are again, still working hard in the Kenyan sunshine.  We have now had some rain over the past few days which is really important over here, and doesn’t last particularly long but is often very heavy when it does.

Monday followed Sunday just as it does in the U.K., and we spent Sunday with Kim, Joyce and David at their church, enjoying some very loud music and wonderful African worship.  We did allow ourselves the luxury of lunch after church in a western mall, and then mainly had a restful day before having a lovely tasty traditional dinner with Kim and Joyce in their home.  Emily had spent a couple of hours down in the office working out how to cover some thick foam pads which we need to take to a home later this week.

Normal service has been resumed today, with one team spending the day in another school in which we have sponsored children.  This is completely different to the one we spent time in last week, and much more western, and is also much more expensive but it offers good facilities that some of our children really need.  It was really encouraging to see smaller classes, individual desks, and good teaching.

The 2 sewing machines in the office were called into good use today as we spent time making up the covers for the cushions.  These turned out to be quite complicated for inexperienced seamstresses, especially as Kenyan zips come in the form of a roll of zip that is cut to length and then the actual zipper is purchased and put on separately.  (Thee are no stoppers as we have in the U.K.)  This means that you spend a lot of time trying to put the thing on, only for it to come off the other end if you are not very careful,   but we did manage to more or less finish them before being told that there was a lady just two doors down from the office who could have knocked them up in a very short space of time for a very minimum cost!  We also made curtains to go round the beds for Mr Daniel who we had visited last week.

Another team went back to Mr Daniel to take him the curtains, a table, cooking pots, mugs, plates and a paraffin wick stove for cooking, all items that he had previously been borrowing from neighbours in exchange for feeding the neighbours children with very poor quality chipatti.  We came away feeling we hadn’t even scratched the surface of their need, but he was thoroughly delighted.

The day also included a visit to Mama Ramsey and baby Nicola who is doing very well.  She was provided with some newborn baby clothes that we had brought over and also some nappies we had purchased at the mall yesterday. Most newborn babies don’t have this luxury, they are usually wrapped in rags which are obviously either washable or disposable.

All in all, it has been quite a tiring day, but we have made a difference to a few people and give thanks that we have learned a lot and been able to bless a few people with the knowledge that some of us care for them.