“Nothing is easy in Kenya” is a line Fr. David will often say to us.  We found that to be very true when we spent almost two days this week trying to get the applications for our work permits completed on-line.  These work permits are what will allow us to continue to stay in Kenya.  One wouldn’t think this would take two days but it did and that didn’t include the time spent working on this a few weeks ago.  When traveling to Kenya, you apply for an E-Visa which lets you stay in the country for up to three months – we are now applying for a work permit as missionaries which will allow us to stay for three years.  When we started working on this shortly after arriving in Kenya in early December, it was during the application process we discovered we needed documents that we did not have in our possession so our son back in ND had to locate things like college diplomas, professional licenses/certificates, work verification from previous employers, etc., scan and then email them to us.  We weren’t really sure why some of these items were needed nor was Fr. David and his only comment again was “nothing is easy in Kenya”.  On Monday morning, we made numerous attempts to get on the Kenyan Immigration portal to upload those items we now had and to complete the application.  Rather than get frustrated Fr. David suggested we work on something else and try later.  We tried after lunch and into the afternoon and still unable and again after dinner but could not get on…a project that would have to wait until tomorrow.  On Tuesday morning after breakfast, we were able to log on.  We got about eight documents uploaded before we got kicked out of the site.  You can only save your work when done with a section and this was the section that had all the documents thus nothing was saved and would have to be uploaded again once we could get on.  We were starting to think we would have to set an alarm for around 1 am to try to get on the site but God must have known we needed our sleep because around 7:30 pm we were able to log on and get all documents uploaded and applications completed.  Now, we wait until we are notified by the Immigration office and from there will have to appear in person at their office in Nairobi.  Because we will be in Nairobi at language school for three months, we should be able to get this done...hopefully.  Fr. David did mention it took one year for him to obtain his work permit and at that same time repeated what he said earlier “nothing is easy in Kenya”!    

The girls are back at the boarding school as the new term began this week.  The grounds are much more alive when the girls are here.  In Kenya, students go to school for three months at a time and then one month off except for the end of the school year when the last month is exam time for Class 8 (8^th graders) and Form 4 (seniors). These exams will determine where they can go to high school and/or University (college).  Even if they are doing relatively well in school overall, these exams are what determines their scores which is what allows them to attend the high school they want to and/or go to the college they want to further pursue their education.  Because of Covid, students here just as in many parts of the world, were not able to go to school which in turn affected their learning and many fell behind.  After school did start again, there have not been the normal breaks except for their Christmas break as they are trying to get the students back on track. 

Wednesday was another Water with Blessings follow-up at Rianyageme and the scenery along the way was beautiful.  Lilian (young lady who heads up the WWB program here) drove us there and back.  Lilian gets many stares because one, she is a woman AND she is driving the vehicle (not many women have a driver’s license) and two, she is in a vehicle that has mzungu (white person) or in this case wazungu since there are two white people in the vehicle with her!  Anytime there are children out along the road (happens a lot) you can hear them shout “mzungu, mzungu” when we drive by!  The WWB follow-up was held outside in the church courtyard under the shade of the trees which made for a very relaxing “gossip session” as Lilian calls them.   As noted last week, if the women come to 5 of the 6 follow-up sessions, they are given a 210-liter (55 gallons) water container to collect rain water. Each time this drum fills with rain water, it means ten fewer trips to the stream or artesian well to carry water back to their home.  Some women may have to walk up to a half mile carrying 5-gallon buckets to obtain this water so one can come to see how these water containers are a great gift to them.  At the end of the session, the women were asked if their children were having any stomach problems that would be associated with contaminated drinking water and they all reported in unison with an emphatic Hapana (Swahili word for No)!  It is a joy to see their faces and reactions to the water filter and the gift of clean water. They truly understand what a blessing clean water is and it makes us realize even more how much we in America take for granted the gift of clean water coming out of our taps. 

On Thursday, Rogers (Fr. David’s right hand man) drove us to a couple of places to show us aspects of the Heifer and Housing Program.  Again, the views along the way were spectacular.  Every where you look, it is a feast for your eyes…who knew there are that many shades of green!  The first house we stopped at was near the top of the mountain.  We told Rogers that people in America would pay a lot of money for views like this and he said “here we get it for free”! The house is a very simple structure having three rooms.  The frame is built from the branches of trees and the walls are a mixture of mud and straw all packed in by hand.  Where we were at, the water to make the mud was carried a long distance up the mountain.  The roof is made of tin and the outside is a mixture again of mud but also manure and clay to fill in the cracks and form a seal.  These houses will last them for many years provided they reseal the outside with the mud, clay and manure mixture every so often.  The outside finish on the house almost seemed to be what we would call stucco.  We also got to see a couple of the heifers that are part of the Heifer program. This program helps orphans and widows. 

On Saturday, Mission Saturday was held at Ichuni and Gekano for about 150 orphans.  Again, this is where the orphans come to receive their monthly allotment of maize and stipend.  We have now seen some of these children three times so we are getting to know a few names and to remember them! 

On Sunday, Fr. David will be driving us to Nairobi where he will drop us off at language school on Monday.  We will be there for three months with the goal of us being able to read, write, and speak Swahili.  We plan to post weekly blogs but until we get there and know what we have access to, we are not sure.  In the meantime, uwe na wiki njema (have a great week)!  Check out additional photos from this week in the album:  
http://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-1-8-2022