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Published: August 19th 2009
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Break on through....
Alistair with a hammer.. oh no! We started a bit late today. After our mammoth 30 odd hour commute many of us hadn't had much sleep (with the exception of Mike who seemed to hibernate the whole way) so many of us had a lie in until 7:30 ish then it was breakfast around 8 am (Weatabix, toast, sausage, egg and tomato). We then adjourned to the Library for a short talk from Doug on Philippians then some prayer and a planning meeting. Well I say meeting but that implies some degree of democratic discussion but in truth it was more like a benevolent dictatorship with our glorious leader Tim at the helm. We then split off into our teams to tackle the various projects we wanted to complete. Mike, Me (Andrew), Paul, Danny, Jerry, and Ian went to Shiatsala Secondary School to survey the room where we are going to install the computers. The rest of the guys were to remain at the guest house and work on a number of Jobs: Jeremy, Alex, and Simon to look at the water system in the library which didn’t work, Mark and Stewart to meet with the builder and look at the plans for the modification of the
At the roadside
Some of the many people by the side of the road on the way to Shiatsala. empty spaces in the guest house and the rest to start clearing the common areas and wiping down the paintwork ready for a new coat of paint.
Our Bus driver Elias arrived just after our meeting to take us off to Shiatsala School so we climbed aboard the bus and set off. As you may imagine the roads in this part of Kenya are not the greatest in the world it was akin to a 15 minute drive over a washboard! We met the principal of the school Mr Otando and he told us a little of what was going on in the school, there were quite a large number of children in a lesson even though it’s the summer holidays! Remedial lessons it transpired but many of the local schools remain open in the holidays and the children still go to school even though officially they are off! Whilst we were there Mike was talking to the principal and somehow managed to negotiate a dozen extra jobs for us to do whilst we were there!
Meanwhile back at the guest house the rest of the guys discovered that there was a 'miss-translation' in the plans to transform
First look at the Computer Room
Yes its Jerry again but at least its a first appearance of me!
Ian took this so no hes not in Marbella the empty spaces on the upper floor into rooms. Instead of stud walls they now had to build brick ones! This meant we unfortunately had totally the wrong tools! So Stewart and Julyan had to head off to Kakamega for building supplies whilst the rest of the guys cleared the common areas then started to handball the enormous pile of bricks, that it turns out were just around the corner, up to the 3rd floor of the guest house in preparation for the building.
Lunchtime approached so we left the school and came back for lunch. Stewart and Julyan were still on the way to Kakamega so we did the decent thing and saved them some. We know only too well how Stewart gets when he doesn’t get his lunch.
During lunch we heard about Simons attempt at rescuing frogs from inside the libraries water tanks which involved him squirming his way inside! A brave fellow indeed.
After lunch we split up again. Dave Burton, Mike, Jerry, Ian, and Danny went off to Kisumu with a huge shopping list, Paul and Dave Howe looked at the electrics (another opportunity for Dave to go rooting about in loft
spaces) whilst the rest of us took part in the great brick migration to the top floor.
Mid afternoon Stewart and Julyan returned with many interesting tales from their Kakamega trip which I will endeavor to produce in literary form when we have some spare time. Neither had eaten so they both wolfed down their lunch without complaint, even Stewart ate the lot!
Later in the afternoon Demolition started As evening approached and the light started to fade we came across our first showstopper. There was a large fuse box right where one of the new doorways was to go. That didn’t deter Alistair though who was determined to break on through to the other side. So as the sun set we had managed to move many many bricks, put a hole in a wall, and remove some electric sockets. A small start but good preparation for tomorrow.
As Dinner approached the Kisumu shoppers returned with most of the supplies they went for. It appears Dave Burton was a masterful barterer and Jerry met a guy who claimed to have gone to school with Barack Obamas father!
We now had the wood, paint, electrical supplies, and other bits and pieces we needed to make some real progress on Wednesday.
Andrew Wood
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Jill Wood
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Great pictures!
Great pictures - keep them coming! Nice to see the locals and landscape. You all seem to be very busy - well done Mike! Love Jill and kids xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx