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I realize it has been a few weeks since my last letter. I am now home but wanted to fill you in on some of the events of my last two weeks in Kenya.
Linda came out on July 6th and I met her in Nairobi. We stayed in a very nice hotel for one night. It was quite a contrast for me, having been in the more primitive accommodations at St. Philip’s. The hotel was across the street from the Israeli Embassy so security was very tight. There were soldiers with machine guns checking every car headed toward the hotel. We had to stop to have the trunk of the taxi opened and they asked me what was in my bags. I was glad I was warned beforehand about the security outside of the hotel. In general, the police regularly carried AK47 machine guns, a fact that I found a little disconcerting. It took four more days and a lot of phone calls for Linda’s luggage to arrive. Fortunately, she had an extra outfit in her carry-on bag but was very happy to be able to wear a different skirt and blouse.
On Linda’s first Saturday, we went with the mobile health clinic to Emikasa Parish in Luanda. The health clinic rotates between five of the Mothers Union orphan feeding programs. It is funded by the Diocese of Massachusetts Jubilee Fund. It turned out to be a very quiet day for them; only about 100 orphans and caregivers were seen, and only one child needed to be sent to the hospital for further treatment. They have seen as many as 300 patients. Because the mobile health clinic has been coming every five weeks for well over a year, they find that they are having fewer serious cases and providing a lot of preventative medicine. Malaria continues to be the greatest problem. We think the low turnout was because another group in Luanda was offering measles vaccinations that day.
Linda and I also visited St. Peter’s Church in Luanda. They have recently begun an orphan feeding program. They said that they are feeding about 250 children a week. Right now there are 16 parishes in the Diocese of Maseno North participating in the Mothers Union orphan feeding programs. Of those, ten are being funded by our diocese and individual parishes. St. Peter’s does not have a sponsor. The beans and maize they cook up have been donated by their members and they purchase the sugar and tea. A team of teachers has also volunteered to teach classes for the children.
On Sunday, I declined the offer to take Linda to an ordination service. I was told that an ordination service lasts at least six hours and decided that that might not be the best way to introduce Linda to Kenyan worship. Instead, I led the service at the St. Philip’s Chapel for the few folks that had not gone to the ordination. We then joined Davis, one of the Americans staying at St. Philip’s, who has begun a ministry of feeding the street boys in the city of Kisumu. Street boys have either been kicked out of their homes, run away or have been orphaned and have nobody to care for them. They end up in the city and must fend for themselves. Almost all of them are addicted to sniffing glue to the point that you will often see them with a small glass jar with glue in it glued to their upper lip so that they may continually inhale the glue. Davis’ heart has gone out to these boys so every Sunday he travels from Maseno to Kisumu, about 20 kilometers by matatu to hand out a simple meal of bread and butter and juice, or fried bread and ground nuts. He goes down to the shore of Lake Victoria where the boys tend to congregate and serves the meal. They are very tough kids but for the most part appreciate somebody acknowledging their existence.
On Monday and Tuesday, Linda and I visited two parishes. I led a Bible study with the parish leaders and then we had lunch with them. It was a nice opportunity to talk and get to know folks. Linda also made contact with the Academic Dean at Maseno University to talk about a possible link with U Mass-Lowell where Linda works. He was very interested in the concept of service learning and gave Linda the names of the department deans in the four science-related schools of the university. Linda and I were able to meet with two of them and this will hopefully lead to continued e-mail conversations.
On Thursday, July 13th, we participated in the smearing of a hut. Through funds provided by members of All Saints’ Church, I was able to pay for the building of a new hut for Beatrice Mbone, a widow with three young children whose hut was collapsing. The building of the hut cost about $400. Once it is built additional layers of mud have to be smeared on, after waiting for the previous layer to dry. This is the responsibility of the homeowner and not the builder. A cross-country running team of 10 high school boys from the Chicago area had just come to stay at St. Philip’s and were looking for some service projects, so we volunteered them to help with the smearing. We also arranged for the head of the Mothers Union from Khwiliba Parish come and show us how.
After a bumpy ride down a very bad dirt road, we arrived at Beatrice’s home at about 8:30 AM. The first task was to get water. The stream was about ¾ of a mile away down a narrow rocky trail. There were three 55 gallon drums that needed to be filled. To the amazement and delight of the neighborhood, the boys and I proceeded to make many trips up and down the trail to get enough water. Once we had enough water and some of the mamas from the Mothers Union had come with heavy hoes called jembes, we began to dig up the soil next to the hut. After loosening lots of the reddish-brown clay/dirt we added the water. At first we mixed it with the jembes but eventually the only way to get the correct consistency is to roll up your pants or hike up your skirt and dance in the mud. The mamas provided the music and we all treaded the mud. Once it was ready we would gather up big globs of mud and bring it to the base of the hut wall and proceed to smear it on with our hands. The first batch of mud was enough for the outside of the hut. We then had to refill the three 55 gallon drums with water and make a second batch of mud for the inside. By the time we finished there were about 25 members of the parish helping. We then had lunch, cooked by Beatrice. After lunch we had some speeches, songs and prayers and then returned to St. Philip’s, stuffing 13 of us into an eight passenger land cruiser. We were all tired and dirty but felt great to be able to not only help Beatrice, but to help build community at Khwiliba Parish. None of them were quite able to fathom the fact that these mzungas from America would be willing to travel so far to help a poor widow and her three children. I pray that they will continue to support Beatrice and each other. When we got back to the school I was able to take a shower but the boys on the cross country team had to immediately join a local high school running team for a run.
Peace,
Tom
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