I am now waiting for the plane home. This week I finally finished the course, all the student passed, and I only had one that really struggled. Although from talking to the Principal he has been struggling in other subjects.
The exam wasn’t too tough for them, but it took me all evening to mark the essay question. I also set them an oral exam, where they had to speak for 5 minutes on the strengths and weaknesses of a biblical leader.
On Tuesday I went to Mogonjet school. The science block is in the process of being built, and the walls are currently going up. I was able to give out some pens and pencils to the children, which they appreciated. Linda had also provided seven red jumpers for the smaller children, and these were handed out to the poorest children.
On Thursday I came back to Nairobi, the road was just as bed and it took six hours to get back. We stopped at the butchers for a snack. The butchers has the meat out the front, and then they cook some out the back, and give it to you on a board. I tried a bit of lamb, but wasn’t too keen on it. I am staying at the Hilton, as it is safe, although it is just across the road from where the bomb went off earlier in the week. However, everything is back to normal.
I finally get a latté to drink, over 14 days since the last one. I was due to meet with friend but he was tired up on Police business, so I had a wander around town and then did some reading in the room.
Today, I have been on a safari, to the Nairobi National park, which is a few miles out of the town. It was an early start, 7am. We had a drive around for a couple of hours, but it is the wrong time of the year, the animals are further south. The grass was long and so it was difficult to see anything, but I did see a cheetah and her babies walking along the road, before they disappeared into the bush. There were plenty of giraffes, Hartebeast, Eland and Impala – but no Zebra. On the way back, saw a jackal and some hyenas. After this I went to the Giraffe centre and a shop called Veranda, where they did good coffee.
The flight leaves at 23.50, which is late, so I had a sleep in the afternoon at the hotel, as I was tired, and then left for the airport at 8pm. The roads were reasonably clear, but security is high at the airport.
So another trip ends, hard work, but it was worth it. Hopefully, the students will defelop as good leaders.
As Bill Hybels (who wrote Courageous Leadership) 'The local church is the Hope of the World and its future rest primarily in the hands of its leaders.’
See some photo's at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.werrett
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Monday, June 11, 2007
No windows means when it rains you get wet.
The road to the church was impassable for a car, so I had to walk with Pastor Mutai from the main road. It was down a muddy track and across a field. My shoes and trousers were very muddy! The Church is in the process of being built and so didn’t have any flooring or windows. This was ok, till it started to rain, as if you were sitting by the windows you got wet! It was a giving service and seven local churches came together, to give money to complete the building. I suppose sitting by a window with no glass, and the rain pouring in helps to focus the mind. Those who had no money gave the first fruits of the land, bananas, avocados, sweetcorn and pineapple for example. These are then sold at the end of the service, to those attending. I did get some bananas and pineapple for the Bible College, to add variety to their diet of rice and ugli.
The service was starting about 10am African time, and so by about 11 we were on our way, with songs from the children. Most people had arrived by 11.30 and so we had some adult singing. There were about 150 people there of which 50 were children. The church was full, and I was the guest speaker. I spoke on Malachi 3 and Robbing God. Robbery is a problem in Kenya and so it was a subject that aroused people’s interest. After the service we had lunch, rice with some meat (didn’t like to ask what it was!) and by now we were in the middle of a thunderstorm, its ok to wash up in, just put your plate out the window and its clean. They had prepared this dinner for all the people by cooking on a fire made out of wood, surrounded by some stones.
On Saturday I had led the seminar on leadership at the local AIC Church in Kericho, and it seemed to go well. Some of the people didn’t turn up – but that’s normal were ever you are in the world. I had lunch there – and it was rice – but this time with boiled potato’s – a bit of variety in my diet!
Anyway, its not everyone who has a local monkey join the church service!
The students have submitted their first piece of homework, to write a vision statement for the college. Some gave me a good vision, but no statement, whilst others understood the concept. So I have marked them all and will hand them back this week. Some of their English was worse then mine, so I had to deduct marks. I have ignored where they put their apostrophes as I haven’t a clue where they go myself (as my Mother keeps reminding me!). On Friday, we did Jesus as a Leader and they seem to be getting the concept of leadership well now, and understanding some of the practical aspects.
On Monday, we will be looking at the leadership of Nelson Mandela and seeing what we can learn from him. Linda has prepared this lesson for them, so it will be different from my normal input. She has read his book and prepared some questions.
The service was starting about 10am African time, and so by about 11 we were on our way, with songs from the children. Most people had arrived by 11.30 and so we had some adult singing. There were about 150 people there of which 50 were children. The church was full, and I was the guest speaker. I spoke on Malachi 3 and Robbing God. Robbery is a problem in Kenya and so it was a subject that aroused people’s interest. After the service we had lunch, rice with some meat (didn’t like to ask what it was!) and by now we were in the middle of a thunderstorm, its ok to wash up in, just put your plate out the window and its clean. They had prepared this dinner for all the people by cooking on a fire made out of wood, surrounded by some stones.
On Saturday I had led the seminar on leadership at the local AIC Church in Kericho, and it seemed to go well. Some of the people didn’t turn up – but that’s normal were ever you are in the world. I had lunch there – and it was rice – but this time with boiled potato’s – a bit of variety in my diet!
Anyway, its not everyone who has a local monkey join the church service!
The students have submitted their first piece of homework, to write a vision statement for the college. Some gave me a good vision, but no statement, whilst others understood the concept. So I have marked them all and will hand them back this week. Some of their English was worse then mine, so I had to deduct marks. I have ignored where they put their apostrophes as I haven’t a clue where they go myself (as my Mother keeps reminding me!). On Friday, we did Jesus as a Leader and they seem to be getting the concept of leadership well now, and understanding some of the practical aspects.
On Monday, we will be looking at the leadership of Nelson Mandela and seeing what we can learn from him. Linda has prepared this lesson for them, so it will be different from my normal input. She has read his book and prepared some questions.
Friday, June 08, 2007
Simon 4 Mozzie 0
A Mozzie has been bothering me for 2 nights – and I finally got him today. Not only that he had invited 3 of his friends over to annoy me. They have now met the leadership book as well. It’s unusual to have them at this high altitude and as its winter here, the wrong time of year as well.
I found out the secret of the hot water – you need to have a bath about 7.30pm as there is water then, if you wait to 9.30pm, then its all gone. So I enjoyed a long soak in the bath, reading my book on Malachi.
The last few days have been hard for the students, as we have been looking at vision, vision killers, strategy, SWOT Analysis, Motivational theories (Maslow, Herzberg and Vroom). You are probably bored just reading this! However, it all came together well in the final session, when we did a case study on Nehemiah and considered all these things. They did the case study in groups and did very well, which shows they have grasped the basic concepts of these areas.
Tomorrow, I will be getting their assignments in, which was to write a Vision Statement for the College. My example was ‘empowering tomorrow’s church leaders today.’ The exams have been printed, and I am confident about them getting some good marks, I have dropped several hints as to what they need to study! They also have an oral exam, where they have to preach for 10 minutes on the strengths and weaknesses of a biblical leader.
The virus on their computer is quite serious, and will mean re-installing the operating system! Its because they have been using floppy disks between machines.
Everyone is friendly at the hotel, the waiter knows I have coffee and scrambled egg, and always makes me 2 pieces of toast, the other waiters also chat to me, and the receptionist calls me Mr Simon. The Duty Manager came and chatted to me the other day to check I was enjoying it.
Linda has been keeping in touch, although I did not appreciate a text at 1am saying good night! As it work me up – and I thought it was the alarm going off and so got up and started to get ready, only to look at the phone and discover it was 1am.
I found out the secret of the hot water – you need to have a bath about 7.30pm as there is water then, if you wait to 9.30pm, then its all gone. So I enjoyed a long soak in the bath, reading my book on Malachi.
The last few days have been hard for the students, as we have been looking at vision, vision killers, strategy, SWOT Analysis, Motivational theories (Maslow, Herzberg and Vroom). You are probably bored just reading this! However, it all came together well in the final session, when we did a case study on Nehemiah and considered all these things. They did the case study in groups and did very well, which shows they have grasped the basic concepts of these areas.
Tomorrow, I will be getting their assignments in, which was to write a Vision Statement for the College. My example was ‘empowering tomorrow’s church leaders today.’ The exams have been printed, and I am confident about them getting some good marks, I have dropped several hints as to what they need to study! They also have an oral exam, where they have to preach for 10 minutes on the strengths and weaknesses of a biblical leader.
The virus on their computer is quite serious, and will mean re-installing the operating system! Its because they have been using floppy disks between machines.
Everyone is friendly at the hotel, the waiter knows I have coffee and scrambled egg, and always makes me 2 pieces of toast, the other waiters also chat to me, and the receptionist calls me Mr Simon. The Duty Manager came and chatted to me the other day to check I was enjoying it.
Linda has been keeping in touch, although I did not appreciate a text at 1am saying good night! As it work me up – and I thought it was the alarm going off and so got up and started to get ready, only to look at the phone and discover it was 1am.
Thursday, June 07, 2007
A vision for the future
Its easier teaching on leadership then on computers! At least with Leadership they have a basis to work from, but computers some know nothing at all. I have had questions like which is the monitor? What does the keyboard do? Do I need an email address to send an email? Perhaps things we take for granted everyone would know. So it has been back to basis. All the computers at the college have a various, which is quite good considering they don’t have internet access, so they will be introducing some basis rules to prevent students using disks from outside.
I have been very busy, not only preparing for the lectures every day, but also writing exam papers and computer handouts. Most days I am working over dinner in the evening and right up to 10pm most nights – certainly no holiday. Fortunately I have Life of Mars DVDs to watch before I go to bed. I have a staple diet of scrambled egg and toast for breakfast, rice for lunch and then a meal at the hotel in the evening. I did have the local speciality ugli yesterday with the students.
The hotel has put a new TV in my room, with a remote control, although it only has two channels that receive anything! There is only one socket in the room, so as I am usually charging up one of my electronic devices I don’t watch much TV. I have my Ipod for music.
The weather has been quite consistent, it is always warm. In the morning it is sunny, and then rains in the afternoon, normally when I am walking back from town. On Monday we had hail stones, and so I had to stop teaching as it was too loud due to the iron roof and I couldn’t be heard.
I am speaking at a seminar at the Kericho Church on Saturday, focusing on commitment and leadership. This means I have had to write another handout, and then I need to take it to the computer shop to print, and afterwards to another shop to get it photocopied.
So I still have a sermon to write for Sunday, and then next week will be bust as I will have to do all the marking of the exams. This is certainly not a holiday – in fact I will need one when I get home!
I have been very busy, not only preparing for the lectures every day, but also writing exam papers and computer handouts. Most days I am working over dinner in the evening and right up to 10pm most nights – certainly no holiday. Fortunately I have Life of Mars DVDs to watch before I go to bed. I have a staple diet of scrambled egg and toast for breakfast, rice for lunch and then a meal at the hotel in the evening. I did have the local speciality ugli yesterday with the students.
The hotel has put a new TV in my room, with a remote control, although it only has two channels that receive anything! There is only one socket in the room, so as I am usually charging up one of my electronic devices I don’t watch much TV. I have my Ipod for music.
The weather has been quite consistent, it is always warm. In the morning it is sunny, and then rains in the afternoon, normally when I am walking back from town. On Monday we had hail stones, and so I had to stop teaching as it was too loud due to the iron roof and I couldn’t be heard.
I am speaking at a seminar at the Kericho Church on Saturday, focusing on commitment and leadership. This means I have had to write another handout, and then I need to take it to the computer shop to print, and afterwards to another shop to get it photocopied.
So I still have a sermon to write for Sunday, and then next week will be bust as I will have to do all the marking of the exams. This is certainly not a holiday – in fact I will need one when I get home!
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
The Not so Last tour of Africa!
Well I am back at number 10 - the previous occupant has moved on. I haven’t been offered the role of a local chief yet, but there is still time. I have shaken lots of hands, smiled at a few babies and eaten local Kenyan food.
I landed on Friday, the flight was ok, and was picked up by the driver from the airport. He decided to go a different route, much better road he said, slightly quicker he said, famous last words. It was a mud track for most of the way, and it didn’t help when a bus and lorry got stuck, so we sat in a traffic jam for two hours. There are no other roads that you can use as a short cut – you just sit there. So a five hour road trip, lasted over seven hours! It was near the Masai Mari – but I didn’t see any animals.
The Hotel staff recognised me – “ Hello Mr Simon, how are you, you normal room”. Even the waiters and managers come and talk to me, to check I am ok. On Friday evening I went to Joseph’ house for supper, and just managed to stay awake. He brought me back to the hotel, so I could have an early night and some sleep – no chance – it was Kenya’s independence day, and the hotel had a live band and my room is over the room they used – it finally finished at 0200!!!
On Saturday, I went down to Mogonjet School, to see how the new building of the science block was proceeding. It was coming up slowly, and is typical Kenyan workmanship – but they will get there in the end. After this we went to his brothers house, they have a six month old baby, and it was a day to celebrate this. They had killed a goat for us to eat (I am not sure the goat was too happy about this) and so we stayed for lunch. I got to hold the baby – and no it didn’t cry, puke or the other end on me.
On Sunday I was preaching at a church in rural Kericho, and Joseph came with me. It was a big church, and well constructed with money given by the former President Moi. In fact it looked a bit out of place in the rural area. I preached on 2 Cor 3 v3, about Christians being a letter from Christ, in modern terms we are now emails, but I didn’t going down that road, as I would probably have lost them. After church we were invited to a local families house for dinner, and this was very nice. We had rice, with a small bit of meat, and some kidney beans. In the evening I was preaching at Kenya Highlands Bible College and spoke on Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. The incident, when they complain to God, about having only manna and no meat. I can understand their frustration – I only get black coffee or tea here – no café latte or Starbucks!
On Monday I was at the Bible College all day, lecturing on Leadership. I have thirty students in my class and it is hard work, speaking all day. I have set them some group work, which they are doing. I need to find time this week to write the exam. However, they are all keen, and keep asking questions, most of them are relevant, and we have a few laughs along the way.
I have been too busy to get to an internet café – which shows I must be busy, however I hope to post this in the next few days.
I landed on Friday, the flight was ok, and was picked up by the driver from the airport. He decided to go a different route, much better road he said, slightly quicker he said, famous last words. It was a mud track for most of the way, and it didn’t help when a bus and lorry got stuck, so we sat in a traffic jam for two hours. There are no other roads that you can use as a short cut – you just sit there. So a five hour road trip, lasted over seven hours! It was near the Masai Mari – but I didn’t see any animals.
The Hotel staff recognised me – “ Hello Mr Simon, how are you, you normal room”. Even the waiters and managers come and talk to me, to check I am ok. On Friday evening I went to Joseph’ house for supper, and just managed to stay awake. He brought me back to the hotel, so I could have an early night and some sleep – no chance – it was Kenya’s independence day, and the hotel had a live band and my room is over the room they used – it finally finished at 0200!!!
On Saturday, I went down to Mogonjet School, to see how the new building of the science block was proceeding. It was coming up slowly, and is typical Kenyan workmanship – but they will get there in the end. After this we went to his brothers house, they have a six month old baby, and it was a day to celebrate this. They had killed a goat for us to eat (I am not sure the goat was too happy about this) and so we stayed for lunch. I got to hold the baby – and no it didn’t cry, puke or the other end on me.
On Sunday I was preaching at a church in rural Kericho, and Joseph came with me. It was a big church, and well constructed with money given by the former President Moi. In fact it looked a bit out of place in the rural area. I preached on 2 Cor 3 v3, about Christians being a letter from Christ, in modern terms we are now emails, but I didn’t going down that road, as I would probably have lost them. After church we were invited to a local families house for dinner, and this was very nice. We had rice, with a small bit of meat, and some kidney beans. In the evening I was preaching at Kenya Highlands Bible College and spoke on Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness. The incident, when they complain to God, about having only manna and no meat. I can understand their frustration – I only get black coffee or tea here – no café latte or Starbucks!
On Monday I was at the Bible College all day, lecturing on Leadership. I have thirty students in my class and it is hard work, speaking all day. I have set them some group work, which they are doing. I need to find time this week to write the exam. However, they are all keen, and keep asking questions, most of them are relevant, and we have a few laughs along the way.
I have been too busy to get to an internet café – which shows I must be busy, however I hope to post this in the next few days.
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