Leaving Bumala and on to Ahero

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Keeping up with this blog writing is a challenge, but maybe no-one is reading it so in that case it matters only to me. I want to complete it for my own satisfaction.

On the 5th Ben and I set out quite early from Bumala for Kisumu,the third city of Kenya. It took about two hours in a bus which was one, or maybe two, up from a matatu. Quicker, but also had accommodation for my very large suitcase in which my few remaining possessions rattle around. Ben had arranged for a friend from Ahero, who has a taxi, to meet us and he was waiting. Off we went to Ben and Lillian s house and I met that charming lady. As they arrived from school I met their daughter Janny, nephew Sam, and Lillian s niece who lives with them. I gave them some gifts from Robin and me. Ben was particularly delighted to receive my old Kindle e-reader, especially after I had downloaded onto it The Amplified Bible, which he considers to have no equal.

I have to explain that in 2009 I spent almost three weeks at Ahero as part of a group from Prescott, Ontario. We were working (sort of) at the Ebenezer Orphanage and my particular interest was two cottages for widows which were being constructed using funds donated in memory of my wife Nan who had died in 2007. This was how I met Ben who was the project officer for that. And through Ben I met Lillian for a few minutes one day. After I left in 2009 Ben and I started corresponding by email and our relationship progressed to Papa and Adopted Son over the years.

Of course there were other people at the orphanage and in Ahero who were important to me I was anxious to meet again, especially Winnie Owiti the founder and director of the Ebenezer Orphanage.

To pick up the story again, on 5th March 2014, after arriving at Ben s house at 2o'clock, and expecting to be picked up at 3 o'clock by Winnie, she actually arrived at 7. I was to stay at her house and a scrumptious dinner was on the table right away. It's good to have loyal staff. Winnies husband Silas is very elderly and has recovered from a stroke. He is the founder and Archbishop of the Voice of Salvation and Healing Church, a man with a great reputation as a man of God. This denomination has over 550 churches in East Africa. Since Silas is not very active now the church asked Winnie to take the title Assistant Archbishop and to operate in his place. I shall tell you a little about the orphanage as I go along.

On Thursday I went in the morning to visit the school at Ayweyo. I had taken a close interest in this school in2009 when it was only two years old. The head teacher was Philip and the three or four classrooms had dirt floors, no equipment and big classes. The children came from a very poor area and Winnie had taken it on as a satellite of Ebenezer without being able to offer Ebenezer s standards. When I returned I found Philip leading a school with 260 children, all eight levels, more teachers than classes, still dirt floors but plans for a new permanent building, and striving to do well in the national exams which they're being allowed to enter for the first time. I spoke at school assembly round the flagpole. Really hot by then and I was glad to be picked up by car.

The next day Winnie took me first to visit Ebenezer. There are 660 children in the orphanage and both an elementary and a secondary school. Some children from the community come to the schools and pay fees which helps with the costs. I was struck by how closely she follows what is going on and the strength of her direction to the staff. We visited many parts of the orphanage and I was pleased to recognise many faces from 2009. One of them was Elizabeth, who chided me in2009 for forgetting her name from one day to the next. I greeted her by name and then challenged her to remember mine, and she did.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur as we went into Kisumu, taking Silas with us. I was taken to see the streetboys shelter at Tido and then waited at their headquarters in Kisumu while a series of meetings took place. We left for Ahero at 6:30 and, as usual, dinner was served as soon as we arrived. Winnie went back in for a prayer meeting which went from 9 to 1 a.m.

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