Death stops Conference

It appears that everywhere I go death follows.  After I retired the murder rate in Essex appeared to have dropped, or  perhaps the deaths are not news anymore.  I seem to have the same affect in Kenya as the conference I was due to lead had to be cancelled as one of the leading elders died (although the death was natural and not suspicious).

AIC Kaboswa was our destination on Sunday morning. We were informed it was a 9am start and we would be finished by 11am, which was good as we were leaving Kericho today. We were early at the rendezvous point and waited, Peter turned up slightly late and then said we were going to an old lady's house to pray for her as she was ill, so obviously not a 9am start. It had been raining so the roads in the village were slightly muddy and so were we as the final ¼ mile was not suitable for the car, so we walked. We met with the family and prayed for the old lady, who was  very pleased to see us. It was then a muddy walk back and onto the church. By now the children had seen Linda and were following her, a new tribe. 

Although we had been told church started at 9am ( it was nearer 09.45 by now) the message didn't seem to have filtered out to the congregation, as there were not many there. However, there were loads of children, courtesy of Linda. We started anyway and one of my students called Dorothy was leading the service and did any excellent job, must have been my teaching! Wilson Kipsang had won the Tokyo marathon that morning (runs slightly faster than me) and so I was able to link that into a sermon on running, based on Hebrews 12 verses 1-3. As the main bulk of the congregation was children, I tailored my sermon to them, fortunately it was interpreted as they did not speak English.  I finished around 10.45 and then everyone else wanted their say, including the prospective MP. We were invited for tea in the village, but we explained we had a long journey and needed to get on our way, there is no thing as a quick cuppa in Kenya! We were just off schedule with a 11.15 departure.

Peter needed a lift to Brooke and Linda bought some tea from the men by the roadside. It was then full speed ahead to Nakuru where we were scheduled to meet Boaz. Our conference had been cancelled as they needed the day to plan the funeral. We had made the decision not to stay in Nakuru overnight, but head back to Nairobi. However, we were going to meet Boaz for coffee and hand over the last bag.

It took a couple of hours to get there and we caught up with Boaz, another former student, and then started the long journey back to Nairobi. It was a tiring journey on the single track road, with lots of slow lorries, evidently everyone returns to big city for their villages on a Sunday afternoon. We stopped at the Rift Valley view shops and Linda bought some material. It was about 6pm by the time we reached the Hilton. We have a lot less baggage to carry up now.

On Monday we left the hotel at 10am and went to the Giraffe centre so  Linda could feed the, giraffes, costs £8 to get in prices have gone up! Linda was happy feeding the Giraffes until one of them dribbled down her top, more washing for me. After this we went to the Kazuri bead factory so she could spend some more money and I sat and read the paper drinking black coffee. It had a Garden Coffee shop where you could drink anything, as long as it was black coffee, which suited me. Linda went on a tour, spent my money and then found some monkeys to amuse her before we finally left. 

Our next stop was the Galleria for a spot of lunch and more shopping. I bought some Kenyan coffee beans for home, might as well use up the spare luggage with something useful. Linda found some more craft shops and bought some more material, I did find a belt I liked but the store owner didn't want to negotiate low enough so I walked away. We returned to the hotel and spent the evening relaxing and repacking our cases.

On Tuesday we went for a walk around the area and then sat by the pool catching up on emails and reading before going to the airport in the evening for the flight home.

We have given away six bags, around 85 tops, a large quantity of pens and pencils, running equipment, knitted items (including hats, blankets, tops, puppets), bibles, theological books, machine knitting books, balls as well as making financial gifts to several individuals. Thanks to everyone who has supported in some way.

You can see some photos here (hopefully link works)

The Pied Piper returns....

Linda in her job spends her time warning kids not to accept gifts from strangers so here she is like the Pied Piper all the local kids know her and wait for her at the college gates, she has her own little tribe.  She has given out balls, knitted puppets, pens and biscuits to them. On the days she has been elsewhere they just sit and wait till she returns.  If she walks down the lane they follow her, when she leaves they stand there is a line waving good bye to her.  Their English vocabulary is limited to thank you and I’m fine. 

On Saturday we went to visit a local secondary school and church near Kapsoit, where Peter (Bible College teacher) lives and oversees a church.  The school children were doing exams and we waited for them in the church, Linda was outside speaking to local children, she started with six, by the time we left she had about twenty in her tribe, and they all came in and listened to the short service we had. There were about two hundred plus children at the school, plus Linda’s tribe and they all wanted to shake our hands on the way out, it was hard work. They were all waving to her as she left and running behind the vehicle. She had the same effect when we visited Peter’s home by the time we left all the village children were following her and wanting to shake her hand – she doesn’t even have to play a pipe!

I don’t have the same effect, can’t imagine why. While they were waiting for ’Her Majesty’ I did try and speak to them, they didn’t speak English so option two was to run through all the Swahili words I could remember from the Lion King:  Simba, Hakuna Matata, Pumbaa, I even tried pointing at the fields and saying Simba but they looked at me blankly. Fortunately at that stage Her Majesty arrived with her ensemble in tow and was able to engage with them by waving and shaking hands – I just got in the car.

It took a few days to recover from the stomach issues, although I am on dried toast for breakfast and have avoided food during the day at the college and then just eaten in the evening. The choice of toilets at the college make not eating a better alternative. We did get some local medication which has assisted and I have started to recover my strength. On Thursday I went back to teaching at the college with Linda assisting me. She was meant to go to Homa Bay, a trip of 2 ½ hours each way to see Samuel again and visit another prison but she decided not to go as she didn’t want to leave me that long, and if I needed to go back to the hotel I couldn’t as our driver would be with her. Although disappointing it was the right decision and there is always next year. I struggled through Thursday and taught all day and we covered some good material, the students are slowly engaging. It is different from previous years, they don’t seem to ask so many questions which can make it hard work.

On Thursday evening we had a miraculous discovery, a café in Kericho that actually does cappuccino and latte. There is a new mall called Green Square Mall where Nakumatt is and we had to go there to get some items for the students and we saw a new café advertised. We were both tired and couldn’t really be bothered but I said ‘lets go an see what they have’ and I saw they had a proper coffee machine, so we went in and sat down outside, with a lovely view of the main road. They did proper coffee, it was lovely and re-vitalised us. Linda had a latte which came in a 1/2pint mug but it tasted lovely. They were very nice in there, and we have been back everyday since! The drinks tend to come quite quickly, but the food is very slow and takes about ½ hour to come, even if you want a simple sandwich. On Saturday Linda wanted me to eat something, so I ordered a beef sandwich and after waiting the stipulated time (and they weren’t very busy) a sandwich arrived, unfortunately minus the beef. The chef had decided to do a vegetable sandwich even though the order said beef, so they took it back and said they would make me another one, so had to wait another half an hour.....

However, as we were waiting Linda managed to make another friend, a little boy who kept coming over to show her his balloon, then he dropped it and Linda pushed it over the edge, although she maintains she was trying to stop it going over. She felt sorry for him, so she went down to the ground floor to collect it for him and bring it back, only to find he had a whole bag of balloons at this table! However, for the rest of the time he was backwards and forwards to see Linda to show her his other balloons.

On Friday we both went to the college as it was assessment day and I had set them a preaching task in their groups. Each group had three persons who would deliver between them the introduction, middle part and conclusion of a sermon on the Bible readings I had set. The other two groups had not only to listen but to evaluate their peers and provide feedback. It was an opportunity for them to try out some of the strategies we had suggested. It went well and although they have been a challenging group to teach, it was evident they have obviously been listening and taking on board our advice.

They had definitely been listening to Linda on the manner of their delivery and if she didn’t pick up any nuances their peers certainly did. In fact some gave them a hard time. They certainly learnt more than if I had just set a written exam. Having been visiting here for over 10 years it is interesting to see how the students are changing and reflect society. Time keeping has never been their greatest forte but it appears to be getting worse and now they have mobile phones, they have become a distraction, Linda on several occasions had to pass comment. The Principal has asked Linda to come back next year and teach her own class. They have asked me to help them write new material as I have access to better resources than they do.

Stanley, one of our old students, arrived just in time for lunch by his watch, late by mine. We were meant to be going to his school, where he is a chaplain, but it is too far to travel with a dodgy stomach, so we had to cancel until next time.  We had a chat and caught up on family news, then the customarily photos and a bag of gifts for him. 

The bags have been reducing slowly and we have given away most of our items. While visiting the prison she gave them knitted blankets, knitted baby jackets, balls, puppets, wool, knitting machine books and a spare part for their knitting machine.  We are down to three bags now which makes life easier. I had managed to pack two left shoes, so need to wear walking shoes with my suit, not that anyone notices out here. They are also better in the mud as I don’t slide everywhere.

The weather is warm but we have showers and thunder storms most days and even overnight. We are in our t-shirts and they are all walking around with jumpers and coats on complaining about the cold. We visited Peter’s home in the village and met his family, he is getting married in April and had to provide his future in laws with a dowry. He had to provide 6 cows, 3 goats and cash plus he pays for the wedding.  This is in addition to building a house for them on his parents land - poor bloke (literally!).

Rain stopped Preaching

On Saturday we were up early to go to Africa Inland Church Nyandiwa which is about 90 minutes in the car. We met my former students Peter and Samuel and their families.  I was leading a seminar on Christian Leadership for the local churches. In normal African style the time it was due to start was different from the time it actually started and people drifted in during the day, surprisingly the most people arrived around lunch time! We started with 4 and ended up with around 48. Lunch was chicken, rice and local vegetables, the chicken had been happily wandering around the compound prior to lunch....so at least the meat was fresh and free range. They cooked the meal on small fires in the pastors house. The afternoon session was going well till it rained, and then it was rain stop speaking. With corrugated iron roofs the rain thunders down and so you cannot hear the speaker, so we had to sit and wait for the storm to pass. 

It hasn’t rained here for months and then we arrive and it rains so the people are pleased, even if we preferred the sunshine. It certainly made getting back to the main road interesting as the mud roads were now very muddy so we slid our way back. We did stop at Samuel’s house on the way back and met his father, who was 93. He was recently baptised at a youth camp that Samuel had organised.

We arrived back at Kericho and they hadn’t had any rain, until we arrived and the skies opened. It was so fierce we couldn’t sit on the balcony and the rain started coming in the room. At one stage there were large hail stones but it was entertaining.

On Sunday I was preaching back at the church and so we had the long journey again. They had a problem when we arrived, someone had lost the keys to the padlock securing the door at the pastor’s house and needed to gain entry to prepare the fires and food. I therefore had to give technical advice on door entry methods to gain access and it worked. According to the programme that we had the service started at 0930, but as usual it was nearer 1030 before we started. The service lasts several hours as everyone takes part, there is a lot of singing, mainly in the local Dhulou language, we did have a hymn book but the words were in Dholou so we just sang along making ‘a joyful noise unto the Lord’. I preached on the parable of the talents to link in with the previous days teaching. Following the service there was a time of thanks for our visit and we were given some gifts, including some local craft, some nuts and a big bag of bananas – we will eat some and pass the rest on to the college.

We came back to Kericho and arrived as usual just before the rain did. Before lunch I went for a run and did some hill repeats, only to find out there was no water on my return to the hotel. There was a problem with the system.  I had to wash in a bowl and was a bit smelly for the evening meal. I had fresh fish with chapatti, Linda had eggs and rice.

Monday was our first day at the college and I was lecturing on homiletics. Linda was in charge of organising the photocopying. I have about 25 in my class, although some seem to dip in and out, some had been away for the weekend and so were only joining us the next day,  but that is life here. The day went well, I had the students doing some group work and then delivering feedback to the class, some of the girls are very shy.  Linda went to see the Prison Chief Superintendent to organise a visit to the women’s prison the next day and to collect the photocopying. She succeeded on arranging the visit, but failed on the photocopying. The shops had all closed for a rally to protest against the business rates increase so she couldn’t get our materials. There was a problem with the water again when we got back to the  hotel, we have none again, but they are trying to fix it.

On Tuesday I woke up with a high fever and ‘Kericho trots’ so was confined to bed. We didn't have any water so had to use another room, till that ran out. They said they are going to call a plumber today. Linda went off to the prison where she spent two and a half hours with 15 female prisoners teaching them craft which included how to make caterpillar cards and bunting. The prisoners enjoyed it and she had two guards with her. She popped back to the hotel to see how I was, which was not good, I had a high temperature and was quite poorly. However, she did not stay long, as she now had to go to the college to deputise for me and take the afternoon lessons. The students had been given homework which was to prepare a 3 minute talk and Linda evaluated their delivery. The feedback from the teachers was that it went well and they enjoyed it. I had briefed Linda on the running plan before she left and so she had the students out in the grounds warming up and then doing some speed work around the field before warming down, which they enjoyed.

In the evening Linda had to have dinner on her own as I was still ill and not eating, we still didn't have any water, but it was being fixed and the good news was by late evening we had some. Linda went for a shower in case it disappeared again.

On Wednesday I was still too ill to go to college, although improving as I managed to get out of bed today. I ate some rice cakes to keep me going. I had given Linda the material that I was going to teach today at the college and she again deputised for me, very ably I hear. She  enjoyed doing it and engaging with the students and covered all the material. 

Due to the slow internet I cannot upload any photos at this time.