Hoping Jesus comes soon

As I am focusing on our school and management during this visit I haven’t really got out into our community very much. I made a rare foray outside the gates today to see our elderly neighbour who isn’t very well. His wife came round to say that he wanted me to pray with him. I took James, one of our security guards, with me so that he could translate and went to see what the problem was. Our neighbour must be one of the oldest members of the community. Every time I come back to Kosele I am pleasantly surprised to see him. He has looked like he won’t last the night on a number of occasions but so far he has always managed to come round and live for another day. Today he didn’t look too good. He seemed very tired. James and I sat down to have a chat with him and to pray for his health. It’s always hard to know what to pray for in these situations. There is a tendency to pray for miraculous healings as a demonstration of God’s power. I felt it more appropriate to pray that our neighbour would find relief from his suffering.

A few years ago we conducted a survey amongst our church members to find out more about their hopes and plans for the future. The community around Kosele is really very poor. Mostly subsistence farmers eking out a living and waging a constant battle with the climate. One of the elder church members wrote a sentence that I found both moving and challenging. In response to a question about his main desires for the future he wrote “I hope Jesus comes soon”. It is very difficult, as an affluent Westerner, to fully comprehend such an approach to living. It is a very different take on being a Christian to my own, reflecting our vastly differing experiences and life chances.

I don’t know whether our neighbour has the same wish. I could understand it if he did. All of his sons have died and he and his wife have buried grand children and great-grand children. In the ten years since we first came to Kosele he has become much frailer. He finds it hard to raise himself above a sitting position and looks like he would topple over face first if he tried to walk. He is a very dignified man and you can still, occasionally, see a twinkle in his eye when he tells you about his past exploits. I hope he has a comfortable and peaceful night tonight. I hope that his health takes a turn for the better. It’s kind of reassuring seeing him every time I am in Kenya. On the other hand if he really is ready to meet his maker, after a long, hard life, I hope that he enjoys a peaceful end. Like I said, sometimes it’s really hard to know what to pray for.

Day of rest II

Having said that I would try to keep the Sabbath properly, (which sounds old fashioned, obsessively religious and distinctly ‘uncool’), I have, for the first time in ages, managed to have a really great day without having to feel that my to do list has gone down. I’m sure many of you will have read variations on the theme of “all work and no play makes jack a dull boy”. Like most well worn sayings it is true. Without wishing to wax too lyrical about the benefits of stopping, reflecting and catching your breath I really hope to make it a habit. It’s too easy to charge ahead with any number of projects to the point where they control you. If resting on the seventh day was good enough for God it’s got to be right for me. Especially if it means I can ‘do good’ on the other six days.

It looks like we will have to arrange another ‘hospital break’ tomorrow. Last year I wrote about the case of one of our girls who was kept in hospital for some time after she should have been discharged because of an error in processing the paperwork to enable the hospital to reclaim the cost of her treatment from the government health fund. One of our young people who is now boarding at a local high school was admitted to hospital at the beginning of the week with ‘strong’ malaria and typhoid. This is not particularly encouraging as he must have caught them at school. He was due to be discharged from hospital today so we sent one of our staff down to pay the fees and take him back to school. Unfortunately it turned out that the doctor who was to sign the discharge note was not on duty today so the sister on the ward refused to let our patient go. This is doubly frustrating as it means we will have to pay for another fare to Oyugis and back for a member of staff tomorrow and will have to pay for another night’s stay at the hospital for our patient. It looks like we will have to get Mary, our manager, on the case.

I would appreciate it if anybody who is disposed towards praying could offer up a prayer for my wife Judi. She continues to remain amazingly upbeat during her course of treatment for breast cancer. She should have had her fourth chemotherapy session last Thursday. Unfortunately one of her blood counts was too low for the treatment to be given so she is hoping to be up to it tomorrow, (Monday 16^th). My thanks for all the prayer support that Judi and I have received to date. It’s easy to be sceptical about prayer but I know that I start running on empty if I neglect it. The idea that “all things are possible with God” has been so overworked or misapplied that it has become, for many people, a cheesy Christian cliché. Despite this it remains a powerful principle and one that has kept both Judi and I going through the challenges we are currently experiencing. One of my favourite comedians of old, Dave Allen, ended his TV shows with the mischievously oblique phrase “may your God go with you”. I’m very thankful that He promises to, whatever circumstances I find myself in.

Back home

After the usual trip back to Kosele from Kisumu, (good road, slightly worse road, good road, road from hell), we are back home in Kosele and ready to get going again. We picked up another visitor in Kisumu this morning; an old friend called Winnie who lived with us for the year that my family and I spent in Kenya when we first started the work ten years ago. Winnie and my daughter Ellie were close friends during that year and it is nice to have her with us again now. Ellie and her boyfriend Andy are still recovering from a long and frustrating flight to Kenya from the UK but should be better rested by the morning.

Our football team enjoyed another rewarding outing this afternoon, winning on penalties against a team from Kaditonge, (a nearby community). That makes it played three, lost none, won three to date. The penalty shoot out was, as on the previous occasion, a real nail biter. Our victory was sealed by another fantastic save from our goalkeeper Calvince. I think we are developing a reputation as the wrong team to go up against when it comes to penalties. Our supporters got right behind the team today and had a good time cheering the lads on. In true TIA, (this is Africa), fashion we arrived at the stadium a bit late. Play was stopped briefly by rain which created interesting conditions for the two teams once play resumed. About half of the lads on the pitch played in bare feet and we had some impressive slides and tumbles in the second half. I really don’t know how the lads manage to play at all with the minimal amount of proper soccer kit that they have. They fearlessly enter into crunching tackles and sprint the length of the pitch in pursuit of a long pass. I think the soles of their feet are made of a different kind of skin to mine.

Our head teacher Madam Nyangwe set off for a head teachers’ conference in Mombasa this afternoon. The conference programme looks very interesting and I am hoping that she comes back with some inspiring ideas to help us move our school forward. I am really pleased that she has been selected to attend this event. It should give her a real boost at a time when most teachers need it, about half way through the school year.

We will be continuing with one to one tuition for our older students this week, with Ellie and Andy augmenting Dan’s input. I know that Dan has really enjoyed the work that he has done with the students and I am hoping that we will be able to continue with this approach to reinforcing the children’s learning in the future. Having the luxury of extra hands on deck to work with the children on a more personal level gives us a very powerful tool for helping them to improve. More teaching volunteers would be most welcome.

I’m not sure how well the ‘day of rest’ project will go tomorrow. There’s always so much to do. However it goes I am, as our church members would say, “Grateful to God for bringing us this far”.  

Kisumu

It’s nearly midnight and I’m in Kisumu. It’s been a long day. We got off to an early start today to make sure that our visitors Pete and Alex were I Kisumu in plenty of time to catch their flight from Kisumu to Nairobi and from there home. My daughter Ellie and her boyfriend Andy arrived in Kisumu, (eventually), this evening and we will be travelling back to Kosele together tomorrow.

It’s great having Ellie her but not so good that Judi has had to stay at home because of her ongoing cancer treatment. Judi was supposed to be coming on the trip with Ellie and I know she must have had a tougher day than usual today as she was really looking forward to being in Kenya again. To top it all off her chemotherapy was delayed on yesterday due to a low blood count so she will have to wait until least Monday before she can carry on with the treatment. Prayers for Judi’s health and happiness would be much appreciated.

As it’s late I’m heading for bed. I’m hoping that I’m tired enough to sleep in spite of the rousing live music event that has just started very close to my room. I had hoped to get away with a quiet night tonight. The communal howl by the local dogs was mercifully short lived tonight but it sounds like the party is only just getting going outside. 

I guess Friday night is Friday night the world over.

Snap

Our visitors have continued to work very hard and have had a great impact on the children, staff and our work. Pete and Alex will be leaving to go back to England tomorrow so we had the sad task of saying good-bye to them at assembly this morning. (They will be leaving before school starts tomorrow to catch an internal flight from Kisumu to Nairobi hence the early farewell). Many thanks to them for all that they have done during their visit. I really hope that we will be seeing them in Kenya again in the future.

I had a very entertaining meeting today with Madam Nyangwe, (our head teacher), and Mr Isaiah who teaches in our Agriculture College. Like schools all over the world we are trying hard to improve our pupils’ achievements in maths. During our meeting today we took the first steps in planning a training day for all of the teaching staff in developing a more dynamic approach to maths teaching. It was a lot of fun. 

The quantity and quality of resources available free on the internet never fails to amaze me. With the usual uncanny timing I managed to find a Maths Teachers’ Handbook produce by a UK based organisation called VSO, (Voluntary Service Overseas). VSO works a bit like the American Peace Corps and sends volunteers all over the world to work on a variety of projects, including teaching. The Handbook was produced to assist maths teachers in the developing world and is geared towards producing resources for teaching using easily available resources, (like bottle tops, matches, nails and string). It is a mine of useful information, advice and solid teaching practises.

During our meeting we played mathematical snap, based on the children’s card game. There are a number of suggestions about how this can be applied to maths. Our game involved recognising equivalent fractions, decimals and percentages. We played a simpler version of snap using bigger number cards for the younger children and finished off our games session with a paired activity designed to help pupils to accurately estimate and draw angles without using a protractor. During our games we were able to reflect on how the children would play them and the learning points that the teacher could draw out of them, (including cheating!). We had previously identified a need to add more variety to the school’s approach to maths teaching. The Handbook provided a very helpful starting point.We are looking forward to sharing these and other ideas and resources with all the teachers. It should be a good training day.

Men from the ministry

Our work in Kosele is often interrupted by unexpected visitors. This is occasionally irritating but usually interesting and sometimes helpful. A couple of guys turned up today from the water department. They arrived in a nice four wheel drive and said that they were working on a research project to monitor the quality of water coming from boreholes in our area. The senior guy introduced himself and asked if we would sign a MOU, (Memorandum of Understanding), to register as participants in the research. It would have been unreasonable to disagree so Mary, (our manager), signed us up and we went out to the borehole to take and test the relevant samples.

 We started the borehole pump and after running the water though for about five minutes to guarantee a good sample the scientists set to work. Using a couple of multimeters the tests were conducted quickly and efficiently. It has been some time since the borehole water was tested so I was keen to get the results – especially on salinity as this affects the water’s potential for irrigation. Our water is slightly more salty than the other boreholes in the sample but well within safe limits. We could use it for irrigation at a push but it would be inadvisable to use it on our land for long as it would damage the fertility of the soil, (as many farmers in India have found out since adopting deep boreholes for irrigation).

 After the transport frustrations of yesterday it was good to meet a couple of guys who knew what they were doing, explained it well and did a good job. The monitoring program will go on for some time and “action will be taken” to deal with any issues that arise. Quite how this will be accomplished I’m not sure. I am not a hydrologist so I don’t know what can be done to remedy problems that affect the quality of water ninety metres below ground. The men from the ministry seemed very confident about it all though. There is hope yet.

Patience

Today our choir went to take part in a competition in Kisumu and I learnt another TIA, (This Is Africa), lesson. Having a teachable spirit is always an asset out here as there is so much to learn. Today’s lesson was all about keeping it together when everything seems to be in some sort of conspiracy to make you lose it.

The day started well enough. Our girls had been told that their bus would pick them up at 6.30 a.m. so, to be on the safe side most of them got up at 4.00 a.m. to make sure they were ready. Altogether thirty eight girls took part and the girls from the community, (the day scholars), squeezed into the girls’ dorms last night to make sure they could get up early. About half of them had never been to Kisumu before so today’s trip was a really big event for them.

I managed to get out of bed at about 5.45 a.m. to try and offer encouragement and see them off. The morning ticked on. And on and on. No sign of the bus by half past seven. Or eight o’clock. To their credit the girls were very calm about the whole thing, unlike me. It was at this point that I started to lose my patience. Phone calls to Madam Rose, (the teacher accompanying the children), established that the bus had broken down before leaving Oyugis, (our nearest town), and was being fixed. Some talk of a puncture. The morning dragged on and the girls went to their normal classes. Madam Nyangwe, the Head teacher, talked to Madam Rose. Still no progress on the bus. Madam Nyangwe then called the music co-ordinator to ask him to inform the competition organiser that our team would be late and, please, not to disqualify them. At nine o’clock Madam Rose said she could see the bus coming and that she would be with us soon. This prompted frantic rushing around to make sure the choir was ready and, eventually, at about 9.25 the bus hoved into view. The girls climbed in and tried to find a seat. The driver put our equipment into the luggage space, (without a hint of an apology for being late), and then steamed off down the bumpy road towards Kisumu.

The whole “African time” thing absolutely infuriates me. I’m pretty sure Madam Nyangwe found it pretty intolerable today as well. As it turned out the girls got to Kisumu at about 11.30 and were registered for the competition. They must have been exhausted when they finally got the chance to perform and came a creditable 12^th out of seventy five entries. They arrived back at our place at about eight this evening, having had a very enjoyable day, (once it got going).

It’s a moot point whether the ‘Mzungu’, (European), approach to time is any more helpful than the African version. People certainly seem less uptight about punctuality over here. Things seem to happen today, not necessarily at a specific time. My Kenyan friends and colleagues probably have a lower blood pressure than I do. On the other hand it was only really luck that prevented our girls from being disqualified because of the bus problem. Some of the music officials were travelling on the same bus to Kisumu as our choir so were able to help sort the potential problem out. Perhaps, one day, it will be possible to have absolute faith in contracts that you enter into over here. At the moment it seems about as predictable as the Second Coming. It would be great to live to see both things happen.