The return of the Mzungu

I have delivered 193 pencils, 165 pens, 30 crayons, 3 rubbers,13 football shorts, 1 school dress. 20 Bibles and 10 other books.

My church has provided finance to stock Linda’s shop and the college bought : 12 head towels, 120 exercise books, various tissue/toilet papers, 12 milking jelly, 12 inks, food stuffs, sweets, soaps, match boxes, toothbrushes, toothpaste, light bulbs, biscuits, shoe polish, paper, envelopes, pens, erasers, pencil sharpeners, cellotape, files and other stationary equipment plus a few other bits that don’t translate into English.

The official opening is going to be next week - you are all invited of course!

In eight days I have delivered 6 hours of lectures for 5 days, preached 10 sermons, 2 speeches at different schools and one prayer meeting (although I had to do that twice for those who were late!) and I am on holiday. I am feeling quite tired and worn out. It is still hot here, although it cools down in the afternoon slightly when it rains. It is the mozzie season so I have to use the net to sleep under, which I don’t like, but its either that or get bitten as I did the first night. I have dispatched a few mozzies but their friends just replace them.

I have done a couple of bible studies at the Town Church which were due to start at 5pm. On the first day I was there at 5.15pm and they hadn’t started, so the next day I arrived at 5.30pm and was just in time. The concept of starting on time is an alien one here. I have been to visit Betty’s (one of the lecturers) farm and meet her family. Linda went last time so they were asking after her. We had chapattis and tea, everywhere you go you have tea and never coffee. They make tea with sugar and milk, but I am getting used to it. We had had torrential rain, so the muddy roads were terrible, but Kemal managed to get us back to the main road.

The college course has finished and as usual the students were all appreciative. They seemed to enjoy it, probably too scared of me to say they hadn’t. We did the practical session today where they had to preach for five minutes on a passage from Joseph. It went well, they all did well and several tried out new ideas. I have one female student, who was on the computer course, but she had sat in on my lectures and submitted all the assignments and delivered a good sermon. I told her she was on the wrong course, she needed to be on the theological course not a computer one.

I have too many invites for the next the time I am here, all the students want me to visit their homes and families. The Principal took me to visit his home school today, its not far 40 minutes he said – 2 hours later we arrived! It was a rural school in the middle of nowhere, and all the children had to sit on the grass but the guests were under a wooden shelter. I presume this is in case it rains, but having looked at the way it was built, I am not sure it would provide much shelter from any rain! However, we had lots of speeches and then I gave a speech, which was well received. After it was all over I went to shake their hands, but they were unsure of the mzungu (white man) and until one shook my hand, then they all wanted to. The Principal said they won’t wash their hands for two days now! I suppose they don’t see white people in the rural part at all. It was a four hour round trip which with all that I have to do I could have done without.

The driver (Jemal ) is staying in town and the T-Hotel is just outside town so we have a system where he gets dropped in town and then I drive to the hotel as its safer to leave the car there. It’s a nightmare driving in the dark, trying to avoid animals, people in the road, motor bikes and cars without lights.

You will be pleased to know I have discovered the secret of the hot water, you need to have a bath between 6.30pm and 7pm and there is hot water. I even managed to get fish fingers for my dinner the other day, although they have run out of fish now. The breakfast is ok I just have coffee and scrambled egg, its less complicated that way.

I had a text from my wife today saying ‘Happy Anniversary,’ but I hadn’t a clue what she was going on about – so I texted back and ask what it meant, evidently its my wedding anniversary today, 16 years (you get less for murder!).

I have been so busy that I have not had time to go to the Internet café. I went tonight at 7pm when got back to town and it was closed. I hope to upload this and some photos when I get back to Nairobi. I also need to check in for my flight.

Today has been very busy, I was leading the seminar day on ‘mentoring’ at the Kericho town church, it was due to start at 10am (although they had told everyone 9am) – and we started at 10.30. About 30 plus attended at some stage during the day, although strangely most people were here in time for lunch. It was a good crowd and they seemed to have enjoyed the subject, with some good questions. Lunch was provided – rice for a change with some meat. It was nice to sit on the grass in the sunshine and chat with them. I have several invitations to go to churches during my next visit.

Emanuel and Ian (Pastor Mutai's boys) wanted a trip in the Rav 4, and I wanted to leave a bag at the college ready for next time. So they came for a trip and we arrived at the college just in time for afternoon tea. The boys were running around, climbing trees and having fun. I drank tea and chatted with the students, it is still very hot today – and was even hotter in the kitchen.

After this we had to drop Betty home, and of course we were invited in for tea. Her sisters were working in the fields doing some weeding, I met her brother who is a traffic policeman in the Central Province. We chatted about Police matters and differences between the two forces. I didn’t hold it against him being a traffic officer. Betty then gave us a tour of her farm its about 5 acres, with vegetables and tea growing everywhere. They have a well to draw the water from. Betty is one of the lecturers at the College, and she is also the pastor of the local church near her home, and so we then went on a tour of that.

Her nephews and nieces wanted a ride in the car, so we had to go do the road so they could have the ride. As we stopped two old ladies asked for a ride as well, so we ended up taking them to the main road and the shop they wanted to go.

We then came back to town, but it was too late to go to the Internet Café.

There is no hot water tonight as I am back late. They have run out of fish fingers, so it is back to fish, although it has taken so long, they must have gone to the lake to catch it themselves! I have discovered that you can have chapatti instead of chips – which is another option.

Sunday: I was up early as I had to be at the 8am service. I can see now why we don’t start in the UK till 11- it’s a much more respectable time. I had to get up and wash in cold water and then have breakfast, before checking out and setting off for church. Although it started at 8am – most people drifted in about 8.45. After preaching and saying good bye to my friends I set off for the next service – and met Pastor Kirui in the next town. We followed him down some bumpy muddy roads and finally arrived there about 10.15. The service was in Kalejin and then I spoke in English with a translator. After that it was a quick stop at a local house for lunch - rice etc and then back to Nairobi. It took over four hours to get back.

I had a meeting tonight for a couple of hours re next years conference – and then it is time to pack my bag and be up at 5am to go to the airport. It is all go.

There are a few photo’s at http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/simon.werrett

Warm Water

Finally at 20:48 (Kenyan time) on Tuesday 22nd September 2009 there was warm water, not hot, just warm – so I stopped what I was doing and ran a bath – you probably don’t need any further details. I checked at 21.30 to see if it was still hot – as I might have been tempted to have a second bath – but it was cold!

I have been busy at the college today, the driver picks me up, he is getting used to my schedule, and now knows to stop for the newspaper on the way to the college, its to his advantage as I leave it in the car for him to read during the day. He is from Nairobi and its too cold for him up here, whereas I am baking. I was in a t-shirt, he was in a shirt, jumper and coat.

We lost the electricity today at the college about mid morning and it came back in the afternoon, not very good for showing the video via the projector, but I improvised and went back to old fashioned methods and used the chalk and blackboard. I did have the Ipod if needed in the afternoon but fortunately the electricity came back. We had rice for dinner and peas cooked in gravy. They are missing Linda as they had no tea and were drinking hot milk. I bought them some from the local shop and so they have some tea to drink, last time Linda brought her own bags.

The students are very receptive and enjoying the studies as we are doing homiletics (the art of preaching for the uneducated). I am trying to teach them to evaluate different sermons and identify learning curves, however they seem to have a problem identifying bad points or areas for development. I went with them to a local church prayer meeting on Tuesday afternoon, it was held at a members house but as it was so hot it was outside. So we sat on wooden logs and had a prayer meeting.

It was meant to start at 3pm, but only a few people had turned up so then we had to sing a few hymns and a few more stood up. You knew when someone new was coming, as they had to walk past the cows and the cows would moo, better than a burglar alarm! I was invited to say a few words and then we had some prayers. As its Africa you can’t visit someone’s house without the tea coming out. So we had tea, no-one apart from me drinks coffee and then some other people turned up, a bit late – but this is African time. So I had to say my few words all over again and pray again, as they missed it first time, no tape here to replay!

On the way back we stopped at the local shops, the butchers, although the hygiene was a bit limited. They use old fashioned weights to weigh the meat, and then put it in a bag. They also had a café which served tea for 16p (much cheaper than Starbucks – although quality is probably different).

I then came back into town and went to the Internet café, but it was so slow I could do the blog but no photos. In the evening I had a meeting with Pastor Peter and was able to give him some bibles for the local people. He was pleased with them. We had dinner together, although the choice was limited, fish or chicken. They managed to really cook the fish, and it was slightly hard and burnt, I was fed up with chips, so had ugali instead.

The Last Meal

Linda produced my lunch on Friday and said to me ‘enjoy your last meal. This worried me, had she put arsenic on the pizza or did she know something else I didn’t. If you read this blog – then it wasn’t the last meal – if it doesn’t get published them maybe ……….

The journey to the airport was a nightmare, there was an accident on the mg11 and so the road was closed in one direction and not much movement on the other. My flight was at 19.15 and we left home at 14.30 and didn’t get to Terminal 3 till 17.30. It was a bad time to travel across London at rush hour – but we had no choice. It was down the A10, on to the North circular (A406) and followed this till it became the south, and then the A4 to Heathrow. It was actually 20 miles less than using the motorway, but more traffic lights, which seemed always to be red.

We finally got there and the plan was to have a drink before I went through security, but there was no time. Fortunately I had checked in online and so I could go to the bag drop. I am flying Virgin this time for a change – well not for a change the fare was cheaper.
I then cleared security which was not too slow, and had about 20 minutes before I had to go to the gate – just about time for a Starbucks.

I was reading in the Standard that the Prime Minster is going to have to make cuts to reduce the budget deficit and each department has to identify areas it can save. I will be applying this fiscal policy to the household budget and look forward to the suggestions from ‘er indoors’ and the Dog as to where they will be making some savings.

I am typing this on the plane as I have some spare time waiting for dinner to be served

The plane landed about 06.15 and I was through the Passport control quickly, but the luggage took ages to come. I then met up with my driver Kemal and we went to the petrol station. The petrol lorry had just turned up, which meant that it would be an hour unloading and so no petrol. David turned up and so I went to his house to see the new baby, and Rachel. The baby looked ok, it had two arms, two hands, two legs and two feet – and a head. It didn’t cry much – fortunately.

We left Nairobi about 10am in the end – and it was a 4-5 hour drive to Kericho, I was tired so I dozed for the first part of the way, until Nakuru. The road got bad after this so it was more difficult to sleep. Just before we arrived there was a thunder storm and this included hail stones, big ones. Of course no-one stopped driving, even though visibility was very limited.

I have room 2 this time, evidently the Presidents wife was visiting and she needed room 10 for her staff. The hotel hasn’t changed, no hot water, nothing on the menu is available but they still just look and smile at you. It’s the only secure hotel in town, so I am restricted , if I could find somewhere better then it would be helpful.

They did have the football on and I saw the end of Chelsea beating Tottenham 3-0, so its 6 wins from 6 and top of the league, although it will be Tuesday before the report appears in the Daily Nation.

I went to a different church on the Kismu road on Sunday, Andrew, one of my students who graduated in March, had been there for 29 years as their lay pastor. It was good to go with him, and the service lasted about 2 hrs 30 mins. I spoke for about 45 mins, but before that there was plenty of singing from the children and the adults.

I was invited to Andrews for dinner and it was rice, meat and cabbage. It was very nice, I will be getting use to the rice, as it’s the colleges staple diet. On the way back to Kericho I stopped to have tea with Pastor Mutai and see his wife and the two children Ian and Emmanuel. They had been telling their mum to call me to make sure I would come today, but when I arrived they went all shy. However, they are doing well at school.

Today I have been at the college and started my lectures. I have twenty students from years 1-3 and then some of the 4th year come and listen – when they have no other lessons. I have downloaded some sermons and talks from other preachers so they get variety. There is also group work to do plus the inevitable PowerPoint’s to watch! It was rice for dinner today. It has been raining so the roads are muddy and the Rav 4 slides on occasions.

There have been power cuts recently, but I hope none this week, otherwise I can’t use the computer or digital projector for the students, and it will be back to the blackboard and chalk!

The internet is too slow to upload any photos.