Tuesday at Elyon High School

Tuesday we visited Elyon High School. For some it was a reunion with some familiar faces. For others, it was totally new experience. Upon arrival we joined the students for their daily morning devotion and worship time. WOW!!! Kenyan style with a little extra zest as they are students! In the morning we ran 3 workshops (Handwriting, Careers & Computing) in a rotation so that each student participated in all workshops. In the afternoon there were more workshops but this time they were more "interest groups" (sport, sewing, drama, dance, computing + 1 other I can't remember). This time the student chose their interest group. It was a great day for the students and all of our team!

Linda's blog for Monday

I'm blogging at the same time as Catherine about our time in Korogocho at a maternity clinic. What an interesting day we had. We were shown around the clinic by Ceri. I had hoped and said that I intended to hold a baby before we left and thought my hopes were dashed when we were outside preparing to leave, a lady walked out of the clinic with a baby in her arms and looked straight at me and said "do you want to hold the baby". Wow. Hadn't spoken to her previously, she hadn't said hello, just do you want to hold. Cedric was beautiful. Also almost saw a baby being born. However the the lady believed she was spiritually cursed to have a bad birth. We felt we needed to pray which we did. God has used us much whilst we've been here.

Better late than never??!!

It's been a full week with early mornings and late nights with limited chance to get on-line.

Monday was a day of firsts for me, personally.

We started early, with a van-load, and headed for Tumaini Clinic in in Korogocho slum - I'd never been to either place before, so thankfully we were following the lovely Ceri who manages the clinic. Traffic was nuts, and with all the new roads and roadworks going on I wasn't sure what was where and where was who! At one point there were 8 lanes of traffic going our way, 1 coming the other and people in the middle going every which-way. Added to the chaos were matatu touts who were directing traffic in order to let the matatus through. I decided to ignore their directions (because it would mean being separated from Ceri) and boy did I make them angry! I've never seen a Kenyan so angry, let alone 5 of them!They even tried to push us out of the way (while the car was in gear, with the brake on, and no-where for me to move to)!

At the clinic we were given a tour of the facilities and had the processes of the outpatient clinic and maternity clinic explained to us. We met a day-old baby and her mum and were able to 'pack drugs' for the pharmacy. We had a short walk through the slum, which was a quite confronting and heartbreaking experience for all involved. Just before we left we prayed for a lady who was struggling with her delivery. I think I can speak for everyone and say it was a morning of mixed emotion. For me personally, it was nice to finally see the clinic which I've heard about for years, it was, as always, difficult to see the conditions that some people live in day after day and it was wonderful to see brand new mums and bubs being cared for and supported in such a practical and life-saving way.

Thankfully we got home without much incident (unless you count getting slightly lost in the city - it's not my fault they took away a roundabout and replaced it with new roads!)

Sunday 8th January

Early this morning we packed our bags and said goodbye to the beautiful Lukenya Getaway. We had an early start as we had to be at Lifespring Chapel early to set up the puppet show. The team performed a puppet show for the Sunday school children at Lifespring. The church service was amazing. Singing, fellowship and the sermon were fantastic. Pastor Bob spoke from Numbers 23:13ff. After church we travelled to Parkside Community Church (a plant from Lifespring) for a thank you lunch for our host families, the Lifespring staff and our helpers. From there we dropped most of the team off at the markets at Yaya to shop while Peter and I returned to Lifespring to transfer all our luggage to our new accommodation at Kijiji Guest House.

Saturday 7th January Lukenya

Today i woke up with pen all over me from the night before, Joey and Louise tagged me up. It was a bit funny cause I got pink ink all over ther pillow.then went to the table to have a little meeting .we missed breakfast so we just went and played pool with Joey,Andrew and Louise . Became a pool wepon, swam heaps and had lunch. In the arvo we hired out 4wheelers and 7 of us raced around the countryside near Lukenya . We drove them around the plains drifting corners and generally fizzed out . Saw zebras, gazelles, antelopes, giraffes, and a secretary bird. Was so cool and had heaps of fun. Cant wait for Church tomorrow at Lifespiring and lunch with mates afterwards! Quad Biking in Kenya

Kitui visit

Last night we arrived in the rural town of Kitui. We stayed at a nice hotel called Talents Hotel. It was only built in 2009 and so everything is still fresh. The owner, Michael (a Christian) was extremely helpful. Our purpose for visiting Kitui was to meet Enoch & Eunice who run a children's home. Actually, a better description is that they have 2 children of their own, they have adopted 3 more and then have also taken in 8 street kids. By any standard they are extremely poor but God has given them both a generous heart to share what little they have with these children in so much need. We were able to present them each with a gift pack containing various age appropriate items such as clothing, toys, lollies, etc. We also hosted the entire family for lunch at the hotel. While some of our team joined the children for games after lunch on the soccer field behind the hotel, a few of us met with Enoch, Eunice and their pastor (Ps. Reuben) to discuss their needs and explore possible ways to assist them to be more self sufficient. I wish I could share with you the joy expressed on their faces when we said that we would pay the school fees for all the children for one year - pure joy! To finish off the day a few ladies from our team took Eunice grocery shopping. To say that our team was impacted by this family would be an understatement. Kenya Help will continue to keep in contact with Enoch & Eunice and also seek God's guidance as to other ways that we might assist them to better provide for the extended family. Please pray for Enoch & Eunice as they continue to answer God's call to nurture these children.

It is great to be back here again! God has been faithful in providing all our needs to be able to get here. It has been great weather to do soon maintenance work as well as painting the Sunday school rooms. Today we will be going to kitui to see a lady who has been looking after about 13 street kids. We hopefully will be able to build a chicken pen for her.

Feels like home!

It's so nice to be back in Kenya again (for Linda & me, it's our 3rd visit in 3 years). Everyone is so friendly and hospitable. As I came thought the airport visa entry, upon seeing my multiple previous visas, I was greeted with "welcome back". This first week Linda & I have been staying with Smiler & Mercy & ofcourse their 3 beautiful children. We have welcomed into their home as though we we're memmbers of their family. Tonight, as we prepare to have dinner we were visited by Mercy' sister, Pauline asking when we would visit them for coffee saying that Smiler & Mercy were hogging the guests. Tomorrow we leave their home heading to remote town of Kitui to visit a children's home. Leaving will be hard.

Finally!!

Finally I can write on the blog! We had some tecnical difficulties. Today we finished painting and finished fixing the building. Louise is feeling a bit sick and tired, but hopefully will be well soon. Joey had a case of food poisening but is sleeping and slowly recovering. All of us are a bit tired and hot and getting frustrated at some point. Luckily we are having a rest day on saturday, which means swimming, reading, cards and other games, sleep and just having fun. The people are very friendly. Already we have several friends helping us, some who we meet last time. They are Ben, Stella, Victor, Kelly, Maish and others.

And so the adventure begins!

The team arrived bright and early Saturday morning - it was great to see them 'bright-eyed' (well....red-eyed might be a better description?!) and bushy-tailed and ready to go.

After dropping all the luggage at Lifespring we headed to Java House (where else?!) for breakfast, then it was off around the city on Pete's 'Magical Mystery Tour'! Really just an attempt to keep everyone awake! Everyone survived day 1, albeit under a fog of exhaustion!

A lack of access to reliable internet has limited blog posts, but hopefully some of the others can give their take on the last couple of days soon!

The 'real' work starts tomorrow, with painting and plagyground repairs on the agenda....