We don’t count sheep if we can’t sleep, we count pens and pencils. We brought out 1160 pens, 1543 pencils and 446 coloured pencils a total of 3149 as well as 5 pairs of shoes, 3 balls, 17 jumpers, 6 dresses and 30 books plus a few sundry items. We have given every child in Mogonjet school a new pen or pencil plus pens and books on assemblies for the teachers. We have been able to provide bread for the Bible College students every day as well as exercise books, study books and a new printer.
Linda has been walking around the street handing out pencils to every child she sees. She is known as the Pied Pencil lady of Kericho. I have been very busy at the Bible college teaching and it is also warm and humid which makes it tiring work. I have the digital projector working and there were surprised faces on the first day as they couldn’t understand how the image got from my computer to the wall. I have a Papershow device where I can write on the designated paper and it appears on the wall – this totally threw them. However the projector has been good as we can watch videos and I can use PowerPoint presentations, as well as write my notes on the pad and it is displayed on the wall – it saves on chalk. I have 11 students in the class from years 1 and 2, but the 3rd year also keep slipping in as they don’t have any lessons.
We have the formal graduation meal on Friday and I was informed on Tuesday I would be the guest speaker, so I have another sermon to prepare this week. In fact I have been so busy I have not even had time to go to the internet café for a couple of days.
On Tuesday I spoke at the church, it was meant to start at 5pm, but as usual no-one turned up till about 5.30pm, although the Pastor was even getting concerned at this stage. I have marked the students homework and returned it to them.
We have been living on rice and Ugali at dinner time and are loosing weight slowly. We have been invited out for several meals which has been very nice, but it means we get rice and Ugali again! Linda isn’t too keen on the food and because it is too hot there is no chocolate to eat either. We were invited to the Principals house today for a cup of tea and dinner. He said it was not far – over an hour later on unmade roads we arrived. In his garden he is growing tea as well as vegetables. We ended up driving back in the dark, which was adventurous as you have to avoid the cars without lights, the animals and people walking in the road. Everyone driving in the opposite direction doesn’t know how to turn their main beam off (I should be grateful their car has lights I suppose) and so you get blinded all the time.
Linda has been keeping busy, she taught the students about Barak Obama on Monday and they liked her input and started asking questions about the (Kenyan) President. She went for a walk outside the college and gave away a few pencils and started talking to a man ( as she does) and he asked her where she was going. She replied the Bible College and he said ‘there was a white man who comes to the college twice a year and has been for there for a couple of years, his name is Werrett’ Linda replied “Oh I know him, he is my husband’. The man then insisted on escorting her to the College, introducing his wife enroute and showing her where he lived.
Linda has been out visiting several orphanages over the past few days, three in total and of course she is the Pencil Santa Claus leaving pencils where ever she goes. She went to one in Kericho run by Grace which has 21 HIV children and they all were neatly dressed and happy. They sang for her and had been kept off school especially for the royal visit. They keep their own animals including goats and cows. The children were very polite, clean and tidy. It is not supported by the Government. They have some sponsors who come out from England to support them, and then we found out they were staying in the next room to us at the hotel.
She went to Mogonjet schools and was mauled by the Kids who were pleased to see her. She was able to give out pens and jumpers to the children. She also took some photos of the science block and the new pharmacy. The primary classrooms are being used. On the way back she visited a baby home which had 45 babies aged from a few weeks to four years. They have been abandoned by their parents and the Home looks after the. Fifteen of them were sitting on the grass, but when Linda tried to take a photo one of them started to cry. They weren’t too keen on the Muzungu (white women)
We have been eating marmite sandwiches in the room in the evening as we have been too busy to stop for dinner. Its surprising how useful a jar of marmite can be. We did go for dinner last night and they gave us a menu. I asked for fish fingers – but they had none, ffish – no we have run out. It was easier to ask what they did have – which was steak or chicken. Linda ended up with vegetable soup.
Whilst you can’t sell coals to Newcastle or sand to the Arabs, Linda is bringing her own Tesco tea bags from England to Kenya ( where they were grown in the first place) and at tea time at the college she gets out her Tea bag sto use. She has even given some to the Principal and Staff, so they are probably think they have beautiful English Tea to drink, when in fact it is home made in Kenya!
There are pictures at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.werrett