Last Sunday, because no one knew what time Mass would be, we decided we should just be ready for a 7 am Mass as is usually scheduled (but doesn’t start at) when school is in session, which it is since the Form 4 (Seniors) girls are doing exams in the coming weeks.  In hindsight, we should have driven to one of the Outstations where Fr. David had Mass.  We were ready by 6:30 am and figured the girls would probably be standing by the back gate by 6:45 am but no girls ever came by 7 am and the Sisters next door were busy cooking Sunday dinner as you could hear the banging of pots and pans.  So, we thought maybe it would be 8 am but that time came and went and so did 9 am.  Finally, at 9:25 am we could hear mic checks being done though the checks were louder than usual which meant the Mass would most likely be outside.  After another ten minutes passed by, we could hear the choir practicing and could still hear the banging of pots and pans at the Sisters next door, which led us to believe that Mass would probably start in the next hour.  Around 9:45 am, we heard the voice of Fr. Henri, who is the pastor here at Gekano, over the loudspeaker which meant Mass had started so we booked it out of the Mission house and as we were walking out into the front yard, Sr. Stella Principal was also making a beeline for the church.  Since there are three Sr. Stella’s here, we designate them as Principal, Bursar, and Nurse to keep them straight.  Kathy made the comment to Sr. Stella Principal that “we are late” to which Sr. Stella said, “God knows we wanted to be on time but no communication around here” and we couldn’t agree with her more!  Kathy told Sister we would follow her to the church grounds where Mass had already started as it wouldn’t look so bad for the mzungu coming to church late if she was also late!  Sr. Stella made the comment that “the Christians were here earlier but no Mass so went home and now are coming back”.  It makes no sense to us that no one knows when Mass starts except the priest but it will probably not change any time soon.  From Sr. Stella Principal’s reaction, she was just as frustrated as we were with not knowing when Mass would start.  Every week it is sort of a guessing game!  Back home, if this happened, there would probably be no one coming to church but that does not happen here.  People just accept that this is the way it is or at least that is the way it is here at Gekano.  It was not that way in Nairobi at Consolata or when we go to the Cathedral in Kisii.  We continue to learn that patience is a virtue and, in the end, there is nothing we can do about it so we have to learn to not fret about it.  Mass lasted about two hours though it was cloudy and cooler than normal, so sitting outside wasn’t too bad.

In the past week, we held Water with Blessings follow ups on three different days with five different groups of women at Enchoro, Nyanturago and Mosobeti.  We also gave out twenty-three blankets to the women at Enchoro after the last group’s follow up.  Enchoro is the place that sits high on the mountain and has spectacular views.  The women receive a wool blanket if they attend five of the six follow ups – this is something that the Mission does and is not part of the Water with Blessings program based out of Kentucky.  The blankets are given as an appreciation for their time and effort to come once a month and at the same time, it is a gift that they can really use.  The women were very appreciative of the blankets and were singing and dancing after they received them.  Something we will miss a lot are the children we have come to know such as James, who loved watching videos on Wes’s phone and others.  When we came to the first follow ups, most of the children were apprehensive or maybe even cried at the sight of us, but after a month or two and an ample supply of sweets (lollipops), they warmed up to us and would readily come up to us to shake hands or give us a fist bump with some wanting to stay beside us until the hour session was over.  But, as we go to new places, we will meet more children.  The children really do touch one’s heart and you hope and pray that one day, they will make it in this world since there are plenty of things going against them. 

On Wednesday of this past week, a truckload of mattresses arrived and we, along with Fr. David, Rogers, Robert, and a few other people helped to unload 180 of them here at the Mission office.  We then drove to Ichuni to unload the remaining 70 mattresses.  Every Christmas, the orphans are given a gift in addition to the cooking oil, flour, soda and loaf of bread.  The gifts are rotated every three years between solar lamps, wool blankets, and mattresses and this is the year for mattresses.  It is quite a job to get them unloaded and to find room to store them since the Mission office is not very big.  Therefore, Sister Stella Nurse at the clinic let us use another room for temporary storage.  We will distribute mattresses at Mission Saturday for the next three Saturdays starting December 10 along with the ration of maize and monthly stipend.  One mattress is given for every two boys or two girls in the family.  For example:  if there are three girls and two boys, they would get a total of three mattresses with the girls getting two and the boys getting one. 

We have not received much rain this week as we are starting to come into the dry season.  For this week, we received less than one inch.  For the month of November, it rained on twenty-five of the thirty days and we received a total of 14.65 inches!   

Shamba Update:  the shamba is moving along and in the past week the concrete forms for the footings were completed and the stones for the foundation were put in place.  All the dirt that had been dug out (by hand) for the foundation has now been backfilled around the foundation.  This coming week they will prepare the ground level floor by placing large rocks in the dirt, filling the space between these large rocks with dirt and then packing it down.  Joe, the architect told us that even though we don’t have termites here in the Gekano area yet, they will put down a type of anti-termite repellant as a preventive measure since things like door frames are made of wood.  Walls, floors, and some cabinets are made of concrete with tile laid on top for some areas such as the bathroom and kitchen.  Joe mentioned that there never used to be termites in the Kisii area but they now have them due to global warming.  Kisii is only about fifteen miles away though at a slightly lower elevation. They will then put a layer of plastic down to prevent moisture from seeping up through the floor and finally the concrete will be poured for the ground floor.  We watch with amazement at the human machines that do all the back-breaking labor with just a few tools. 

In the photo album are some pictures that need a brief explanation so decided to add them to this week’s blog:
Shoes:  it seems like a strange subject to address but one we find interesting and specifically, the shoes we are talking about are the ones we see the school children wear.  These are the big, black, clunky, but durable Bata shoes.  What is intriguing is that these shoes are way too big for the children and we often wonder how they can walk much less run in them.  We are pretty sure we could put one to two of our fingers between the heel or side of the foot and the shoe itself.  We asked Lilian and Emma about the shoes and they both said the same thing:  the shoes are so expensive – Ksh 2000 ($16.50) - so they have to get them bigger so the children can wear them for a couple of years!  Lilian has a son named Ivan who just finished Grade 1.  She relayed how, after buying the shoes for Ivan in Kindergarten and putting two pairs of thick socks on him to make the shoes fit tighter, he complained and said, “but mommy, I cannot run in them they are so heavy!”  If you saw Ivan, you might think the shoes weigh more than he does!  Lilian made the comment that children will outgrow the shoes before they ever wear them out.

Makeshift hazard signs:  when a truck breaks down alongside the road, they tend to take tree branches and lay them on the road as a way of alerting other drivers to the hazard ahead.    One day when traveling to a WWB training, a group of pikipiki drivers at the boda boda stand (where the pikipiki drivers congregate) alerted us to the branches on the road that we were to travel.  In this case, it was to alert us that a truck, further down the road and out of sight to us, was stuck and the road was impassible so we needed to find another route.  We have also seen cut off banana branches placed in a five-gallon bucket in the middle of the road to alert one that there is a matanga (funeral) ahead, or maybe a procession going on where they are bringing the body to the home or maybe because they are working on the road, etc.

Mounds of gravel alongside tarmac (highway) for sale:  on the way to Kisii are a few rock/gravel pits.  As a way to make a living, men, though we have seen a few women, will sit all day and pound on the rocks with hammers to break them into different sizes and then sell them.  Rogers says this is not the best gravel because it can have a lot of dirt in it but for some of the small projects, it must work just fine.  Rock and gravel used on the new shamba did not come from roadside sellers like the ones we see on the way to Kisii; rather they came from quarries where the rock is much cleaner due to the process used.  

Babies and breastfeeding:  we have been asked if the babies here are all breastfed because they look so healthy.  It is true when you think about all the pictures of the babies we have taken – we have never seen a skinny one!  We assume that most babies are breastfed and according to Lilian, they are because not many can afford the cost of formula when most people make less than $5 per day.  Breastfeeding of the babies here is no big deal and Wes has gotten used to mamas at the Water with Blessings trainings not thinking twice and in the middle of anything, breastfeed their baby!  We have seen mamas in lots of different places breastfeeding babies – even out in the tea field!  There are a couple of pictures in the album showing some of the brands of infant formulas we have seen in the grocery store.

Please know that we keep you in our prayers and ask that you keep us, the Mission, and those we serve in yours.  Mungu Akubariki!


https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-12-4-22