A day of rest and fun

Today was a day of rest and easier for the team. We were able to sleep in, get a later-than-normal breakfast and attend church at Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru.  This is a church that was started two years ago by Adam Mosley and his wife Melody to minister to the missionary community in and around Nakuru. They are doing a phenomenal job and we had an awesome time of praise and worship, communion and a great message. This congregation is approximately 2/3 Kenyan. This was a real treat for us, and they are providing a valuable service to the community. 

After a lunch at the Midland hotel, most of the team went on a local safari to Lake Nakuru National Park for an afternoon game drive. Some of us who had been ion safari on prior trips stayed back to prepare for our work tomorrow, which will be a day of assembling meal kits for SERV International. Here is a sampling of pictures of the day from various individuals. 

Third day of construction at Gituamba

We got off to a relatively late start this morning for our third day of construction at Gituamba. We split into several task groups, with some working on cleaning classrooms in the school and repairing desks (since it is Saturday, the rooms were not being used), some worked on preparing the stone for concrete pouring at the church site, some began construction of steel framing for building a house for a woman (Wanshakae) who is homeless, and others poured two additional large sections of concrete for the dining hall.  It was a great day with progress shown on all fronts.  Here is our day in pictures.  I realized when we again returned to Tumaini after dark that we have not yet been back to home base in the evening before dark to get and post a picture! We have had some long days!  Tomorrow will be a more relaxed day, with church at Trinity Vineyard Church Nakuru followed by lunch and a game drive at Lake Nakuru National Park.  I'll try to take some pictures of our home for these two weeks at Tumaini and post them. 

Water filter distribution in Lanet

It's been a really long but amazing day, and it's 11:25 pm as I start to compose this, so it will be a short report. Please don't interpret that as meaning that it wasn't a significant day! We had the opportunity to be a part of the final phase of hygiene training and water filter distribution to the entire population of the governmental district of Lanet.  This area encompasses approximately 12000 family units. The work that SWOK has done here is of historical proportions.  With the distribution we did today of 900 water filters, it completes this entire area, affecting well over 60,000 total people.  These people for the first time in their lives will have clean water to drink. When we have done filter distributions prior years, we have had people tell us that because of having clean water, they won't have to bury any more of their children from waterborne disease! This project is literally changing folks lives in many ways. Three of the top killers in Kenya are waterborne diseases, including Cholera, dysentery and Thyphoid.  There are several other benefits that are less significant but also of great impact.  Some of these are decrease in medical costs, fewer lost workdays if they are fortunate enough to have a job, fewer days lost from school for children, less cost for purchasing bottled water, etc.  The savings impact for a family is significant, particularly when you consider how little money they have to begin with. 

Today, we divided up into three teams to do distributions in three different areas of Lanet. It started off as a day of pouring down rain.  People waited patiently under umbrellas or out standing getting wet, making it obvious the value they place on the filter kit they were to be given. They were excited to receive their filter and graciously communicated their thankfulness to those who have provided these filters. I know many of you reading this have made contributions of funds specifically for these filters. You are making a significant contribution to changing (and saving!) lives.  Thank you for allowing us to be a messenger for you to participate in this life-changing work.  I know that there are a lot of good organizations that are out drilling wells and participating in clean water efforts.  But no one before SWOK has done such a concentrated effort to affect 100% of the population on such a large scale. 

Since its late, I'll end there and put up a bunch of pictures from today. Unfortunately, I only was able to get pictures from two of the three groups. 

One final observation from one of the youth on the team hit me hard. We were all sort of drowned rats by the end of the distribution in the rain, but she observed that we at least would be able to get hot showers back at our conference center accommodations. But many of these folks have probably NEVER had the opportunity to have a hot shower! Once again, this was an opportunity to focus on how incredibly blessed I am and to vow to never take the blessings the Lord gives me for granted.

Second day of construction at Gituamba

As beat up as we were after a long day of construction work yesterday, we were up bright and early with wheels up and headed for Gituamba again by 8:30. The day was filled with more of the same activities as yesterday. In addition, part of our team had the opportunity to distribute dresses, made by the ladies of our church, to the kindergarten through third grade girls. To see the smiles on their faces, you'd think you had given them the best gift ever!  

I am continuously amazed by the energy of the members of our team! They NEVER slow down! I used to call my Kenyan brother Rufus the "energizer bunny", but our team is full of them! And it doesn't matter the age: from the youngest to the oldest, they just never stop! They pour all of themselves into their work. And our Kenyan hosts and the residents of the community for whom and with whom we're working are so appreciative, it makes you want to work even harder. One of the women, Joyce, made us chapati (one of my favorite Kenyan treats) for our group as a "thank you"!  It was awesome!  But after a day like today, it's a good thing tomorrow will be a little easier. We will be doing a hygiene training and water filter distribution to 1000 people in the town of Lanet. It will be a mentally challenging day but not quite so physically taxing. The thing I am always blessed by on these days is the opportunity to be involved in something so significant in changing people's lives for the better. Now, I plan to be blessed by a hot shower!