Blogs from Nyanza Province, Kenya, Africa - page 5

More people arriving, and some more last minute preparations going on to attempt to accommodate the increase in numbers. The Birmingham students were here for six weeks, but until the Family were due to leave in a couple days, they had to make do with using the floor of the small office and store floors over in the main building. One of the guys was grateful to have the loan of my sleeping mat till such time as that had occurred. There were two girls and three guys. From the sounds of it the girls had signed up early, and it was a drive over the next few months before they were due to leave to round up some guys. With the arrival of the students some of the other projects were able to be instigated. ... read more

Finally some new people have arrived. They are only here for a week, but still I am pretty happy as the amount of alone time I was getting, was... well getting to me. They consisted of a 5 person non-christian english family who had managed to persuade the people that they could only come for a week (I think the normal minimum was the two weeks I had taken). I think they were the Bex's or something, and this was their first 'volunteer' thing. Mother (GP), Father, 18 yo son, 17 yo daughter and a 14 yo daughter. Nice people, Richard the father was really good with the kids, he wanted to let them play with the camera, teach them football, talk with them, teach them to write their names etc. He probably had the greatest ... read more

I had arrived in the dry season. Like Uganda there are not seasons perse, more just a dry and wet season. The ground at the centre was terrible. They had what looked like a failed maize crop behind the chicken coup where the chickens used to live when they had some alive, they had run out of food and the chickens died... Anyway, I planted these four trees for them. I said the ground was too hard so I tried digging a base hole then filling it with donkey poes and some chicken poe and sawdust mix. I tried to tell them that if we at least made it easier for the roots of the small trees to get started by the time the wet season came around we could hope the ground softens sufficiently for ... read more

Well I made it through that first night. It really was not too bad, but so not what I am used to. Looking back at this Eddys shack is really a palace compared to some of the 'houses' around here. The camping Mosquito net sucks. Not sure if I mentioned it, as I used it briefly in Zimbabwe too, but its a horrible thing. Its more like a sheet with holes in it. So when you use it, it claustrophobia's around your face. When I used it in the centre, I had a bunk bed, so tied it to the slat of the bed above me, but it still hangs over you like a sheet. Its not quite big enough, I'm sure my feet or hands or face was always popping out. Needless to say I ... read more

Merry Christmas everyone! And, Merry, Happy whatever other holidays you may observe this time of year. Since this season is a time of giving, gathering and good wishes, my greeting of Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, or Happy New Year holds hope for peace and good life for all. Although I returned to the U.S. from Africa almost five months ago, I’ve wanted to write more blogs of my experiences. And, so for Christmas, I decided to send my greeting to you in the story of last Christmas, which I spent in Oyugis, Kenya. Looking back to one year ago, I was at the Mama na Dada (mother and sister) program in Kunya Village. This is the village where I helped in the clinic, Kunya Dispensary, and financed the building of new shelves and some other improvements ... read more