Open Arms Village

We went to the Open Arms Village yesterday to see the house parents and children. We have 23 children at the village now. They are doing great! I recognized many of them, but need to learn all their names. It was so much fun playing and dancing with them. We really kicked up the dust swapping dance moves. This old lady can still bust a move;)

It was great to see Kemili and Stella again! I met them last July. They are house parents for one of the children’s homes (Upendo House). I got to meet our newest house parents Daniel and Lydia. We have seven welfare officers (guards) that keep all the people and livestock safe. I met several of them as well. They are all lovely people who love the Lord and the children very much.

I leave tomorrow morning to do field research of medicinal plants in the Kakamega rain forest. I’ll be studying with the local herbalists and a guide for two weeks. I won’t have internet access while there. So this is my last blog post until I return.

Go to http://www.openarmsinternational.com/ if you would like to learn more about Open Arms Village.

Feeding Program - Part II

I finally found a way to include photos in my blog posts, but can only upload one photo per post. Thought you might want to see their yummy meal.

Kambi Teso - Feeding Program

Went to the Kambi Teso slum on the outskirts of Eldoret for the Open Arms feeding program yesterday. I had participated in it last July and wondered if the children would remember me. I recognized several of them and the older ones said they remembered me and pointed to the area where we had set up the medical tent.

Our cooks - Susan, Betty, and Metrine work many hours to prepare and deliver the food. There are currently 100 children in the feeding program! After a hearty meal of getheri, we had Bible stories and singing. There was even time to play some games:) I had a small group of young ones around me playing catch with a nerf football. The configuration of the group changed and I soon had frisbees and balls flying at me all at once. I didn't have enough hands for that bombardment!

We got reorganized and I learned a new Swahili phrase from the children. They were saying, "na mi mi"when they wanted their turn. I started saying it back to them (not really knowing what I was saying, but had a pretty good idea) and one girl wouldn't toss the ball to me unless I said it. Our feeding program coordinator, Metrine, later told me it means, "and me." It is the polite way to ask for something.

Shower Victory!

There are always adjustments in new places, especially in a foreign country. One consistent challenge for me in all my travels has been figuring out the shower. Those of you who have traveled know what I mean, right? I am pleased to announce that I finally had a hot shower in Eldoret this morning. It only took me five days to accomplish this monumental task!
I am staying at the Open Arms International office in Eldoret, Kenya. It is a five bedroom house and a vast improvement from the office they had downtown when I was here last summer. I even have my own bedroom and bathroom next to it. I wasn’t expecting that! When I was shown the bathroom the night I arrived, I noticed that the room contained a toilet, sink, and shower head all in the same space. You could take a shower and use the toilet at the same time. That’s efficiency!
Then I was shown the switch on the wall that turned the hot water heater on for that shower. I was told that I didn’t need to wait more than a few minutes for the water to get hot. It was important to turn the switch off as soon as I was done, to conserve electricity.
I woke up my first morning and turned on the switch for the hot water. Waited a few minutes and turned on the water to the spigot about 2.5 ft above ground. I waited for the water to get hot before diverting it to the shower head. It never got hot. So I settled for shaving my legs in the cold water and washing my face and underarms in the sink (also cold water). I told Renee I must have missed a step in the instructions the night before. She was concerned that the hot water heater might be broken.
The next morning, I waited longer for the water to heat up and still only had cold water. At least I had running water! There was only a trickle of cold water coming out a 2 ft high spigot my first trip to Rwanda. This place has much better water pressure than that.
Then Renee and Ruth told me that the hot water only comes out the shower head. The spigot and sink don’t get hot water. Ohhhhhhh. So I turned on the switch to the hot water again and jumped in the shower. This time I diverted the water to the shower head. Still no hot water! Then it occurred to me that the local staff had arrived and perhaps one of them had turned off the switch. After all, there is a sign posted above the switch stating, “PLEASE TURN OFF AFTER USE” So I took a chance on sneaking into the hallway with a towel wrapped around my body to check the switch. Sure enough, it was turned off.
I was happy to have warm showers the past few days. This morning I discovered that I really can get hot water out of the shower head IF I don’t turn the faucet so far. I should add that we take conservation showers in Africa. Perhaps you are wondering, “What is a conservation shower?”
Conservation shower 101: Step 1) Turn on water to get wet. Step 2) Turn off water. Step 3) Apply soap, shampoo, etc. Step 4) Rinse off.

Computer is back!

Glory! Halleluia!
Jack was able to get my computer working again! He had to replace the hard drive. He is trying to retrieve information from the old hard drive, but still working on that. Thankfully, I heard many similar stories from others who had traveled to Africa with computers. I backed up my important documents on a flash drive before leaving the USA (Thank you Gloria!) AND I had backed up my research documents the night before the crash. So I only lost the information I was working on that day.

We are going to Rondo today. The Open Arms Kenya office women (Renee and Ruth & her mum, Sylvia) are staying the night. Levi and I are meeting with Ben Obanda to sort out the details of my field research with him there. I hope to arrange for that to happen Feb 15-28.

God is good ALL the time, because that is His nature.

PS I need to have Jack help me restore more software before I can post photos again

Computer Crash

There's always something....
I was having difficulty uploading images on my blog post last night, when it happened...the dreaded "blue screen of death." At least that is the term Troy has given it. We tried to restart the computer as the screen had commanded, but then I got a message that said my processor could not be found. YIKES! Each time we tried to get it to work, it seemed to get worse.

Sooooooo, we took it to a computer "expert" friend of Levi's (Levi Kones is my Kenyan brother) this morning. Jack said he had seen this happen before. Then as he was fixing it, he noticed a clicking sound - the hard drive needed to be replaced. Oh no! I left it with him (after shelling out KS 9000) and have not heard from him since - good or bad.

Have borrowed a computer at the Open Arms office to post this message. If you do not hear from me again (or in several days), you know why.

I might be doing the rest of my research "low tech." I have lots of paper and pens:)

Is this Hawaii?

2 Feb, 2009

Today reminded me of a day in Hawaii (without the beach). Taxi George and I began the day with a visit to Kiambethu Tea Farm. It is one of the oldest tea farms in Kenya. The last time I visited a tea farm was on the Hawaiian island of Kauii. The drive to the farm looked much like the interior of a tropical island. We felt amazingly blessed with a beautiful day in the garden and private tour (because the others who had reservations were late).

Part of the tea farm tour is through the indigenous forest on the property. A Kenyan guide points out the traditional plants and explains their medicinal uses. I was thrilled to begin my research project and our guide, Kimani, was excited to teach someone who was truly interested. He grabbed his well-used book and I took copious notes and photos of each tree Kimani showed us. George was my lovely assistant. We could have done that all day, but settled for an hour (much longer than the usual tour).

George enjoyed tea and lunch served to him and the other drivers in the garden, while the rest of us (tourists) dined inside. I was pleased for him. What a marvelous treat compared to driving taxi all day in the city. My lunch companions were a delegation of five from Belgium. Never in a million years would I have anticipated sharing lunch and conversation with the Ambassador and Minister of Belgium. They were in the country working on a resettlement project for refugees. Of course, they asked what I was doing in Kenya. They seemed interested in my research project and the work of Open Arms International. Their last words to me were, “Give us a call if you’re ever in Brussels.”

The farm has been passed down through three generations. Fiona and Marcus Vernon are the current proprietors. They enjoy having daily guests for tours. I’m sure they get to meet many interesting people from many parts of the world. The garden was especially lovely today, because they have a reservation for a wedding the following weekend. I gave them medical advice for their orthopedic injuries and suggested we barter – lunch for treatment. They gave me the “missionary rate” instead. I was grateful for that. It was an absolutely delightful experience!

Our next stop was the Kazuri factory. It is world-famous for handmade beads, jewelry, and pottery. They receive orders from all over the world. The business was started by Lady Susan Wood (of Britain) who wanted to provide employment and healthcare for single women in Nairobi. It has grown considerably, but, thankfully, the original mission has been preserved. Lady Susan Wood passed away two years ago. Her good friends, Mark and Regina Newman, took over the business when she died. Mark passed away last year, so only Regina remains. I asked who would take it over when she is gone. Our guide thought it would be her son. Hopefully, the original mission will continue with the successive owners.

Last stop (other than an ATM machine) was the Karen Blixen Museum. If you have seen the movie Out of Africa, you have seen it. I didn’t go inside; only made inquiry.

First Work Day

My first full day in Nairobi (Jan 31) was a “work” day. I was able to hire Taxi George for the day. He is the taxi driver for Open Arms International when we bring teams through Nairobi. I have known him since 2005 and he has become a trusted friend.  We went to several places gathering information for a course on *Healthcare in Kenya* I hope to teach in January 2011. 

It was such a wonderful day! We thought it would take two full days to visit all the places on my list. The traffic was not as bad, because it was Saturday.  So we went to almost all of them today. God is so good:)

We didn’t go into all the places. Just made inquiry and collected information pamphlets. In fact, the only one I went into was our first stop at the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. I had seen a segment about this place on a recent 60 Minutes broadcast. They rescue orphaned elephants and rhinos. Sadly, I did not have my camera (because we didn’t plan to go inside any of the places today). However, I was able to capture these photos of Maalim from their web page. He was born prematurely and was abandoned by his mother. These photos were taken when he was one and two days old. I’ve seen many rhinos on previous trips to Kenya, but this was unusual.