Last Sunday, we attended 7 am Mass here at Gekano.  Since Fr. David was the celebrant, Mass started on time!  After Mass, we went for a walk as it had been some time since we were able to go.  It had rained 0.40 inches of rain during the night so the air was fresh and because it was cloudy out, it made for good walking weather.  The temps this week have been almost 30 degrees cooler which made Kathy happy though Wes and Fr. David had to put on jackets or a sweatshirt in the house as they were baridi (cold)! During our walk, we went by the shamba where Amos lives.  Amos is the little boy who used to scream at the sight of us but now we are buddies.  It is amazing what sweets can do to make friends with the little ones!

Wednesday and Thursday were spent conducting Water with Blessings follow ups.  Between the two days, we were at 5 different locations for 9 different groups totaling around 130 women.  On Wednesday, the women from Kenyerere - the place we delivered water drums to in January - requested we come back to their area as they wanted to give us gifts for the water filters, blankets and drums.  The women presented us with bags of wimbee (millet), maize, mboga (greens) and a kuku (chicken)!  We gave the food items to Lilian and Emma and also told Lilian to take the kuku for her son Ivan to add to his flock and so now he has three kuku – one rooster and two hens.  The first kuku we gave him was the rooster, a gift from a woman late last year in appreciation for the bucket and filter.  The second kuku, a hen, was given to Ivan by Fr. David, a gift to Fr. David from one of the parishes he celebrated Mass at on Christmas day.  Lilian and Ivan decided they wanted to raise kuku and had high hopes of the hen laying some eggs.  It took the hen about a month before she laid one egg but since the beginning of February has been much more productive – the only problem is she won’t sit on them to incubate them!  So, Plan B was to buy another hen but after receiving the hen from the women this past week, Lilian and Ivan are hoping they got a hen who will lay on the eggs and in the near future will have some baby chicks running around on their shamba!  On Thursday, Lilian was not able to make it to the follow ups because the dirt roads in her area were quite muddy due to on-going construction and a heavy rainfall the night before.  Because the follow ups were already scheduled, we came up with Plan B on the way to the follow ups, dropping Emma off at Nyantaro while we went to Nyaborabu.  Kathy had remembered from the follow up in February, there was a woman at Nyaborabu who spoke English well and fortunately for us, she came to the follow up.  The lady’s name was Nora and she was more than happy to be the interpreter and translator, roles she took seriously.  She led the group in prayer and because she knew we are not very good with our Kiswahili, she said the prayers mostly in English.  Her words were touching as they were totally from her heart.  She asked God to “bless the wazungu and their families back in America”, to “bless the people of Bismarck”, to “bless the wazungu for leaving their families to come and help our children have a better life”, and that “one day all of us that gathered today will be together someday in heaven”.  The one petition that made us chuckle was when she said, “and God help them to arrive safely in their…their machine”!  What she meant was for God to bless us in our travels as we drove the Hilux!  The Hilux doesn’t look like a car or truck to her so she wasn’t sure what word to use and therefore called it a machine!    

On Wednesday, Bishop Joseph of the Kisii Diocese was here for a big celebration put on by the school.  In January, the school found out that all of the F4 (Senior in high school) girls had good enough grades on their KCSE exam to earn direct entry into college/university.  This was a big deal so they had a big celebration.  Early in the week in preparation for the celebration, the girls and workers on the compound were busy as bees sprucing up the grounds, cleaning and scrubbing, etc.  The girls were also practicing their dances, songs, and those who were Scouts were marching around the school grounds trying to get their timing down.  We had to laugh as the leader of the troupe, who is also a cook at the school, was marching with the girls and shouting commands with his chef’s hat on…wish we could have gotten a picture of it!  Because we were at WWB follow ups we were not able to attend though Fr. David did.  He thought there were around 750 people at the celebration which included the students currently attending school here, the faculty, the Bishop and his entourage as well as the girls who had graduated in December and scored well on their KSCE exam.  In addition, the parents of the current students were invited along with political leaders.  We have gone to two funerals now where the political leaders are in attendance and they like to talk!  Political leaders that came to the celebration included the Village Chief, members of the County Assembly (MCA), a Member of Parliament (M.P.), a Women Rep of the County and the Deputy Governor (Kenya has 53 counties and each one has a Governor and Deputy Governor).  The Mass was supposed to start at 10 am but the Bishop didn’t arrive until noon.  At the end of Mass, many people spoke including the political leaders.  Around 2:30 pm, Fr. David decided it was time to leave since it started raining along with a few close lightning strikes!  Sitting under a tent that was held up by steel poles as well as the electrical wires leading to the large speakers in the surrounding area wasn’t exactly the place he cared to be with the rain and lightning. 

We were beginning to think that we must have given up rain and electricity for Lent as we haven’t had much of either.  Finally, this week we started to get some rains while the electricity has been off more than it has been on.  Since school was not in session starting on Thursday after the big celebration, the Sisters didn’t turn the generator on when the electricity went out except for maybe 1 ½ hours one evening.  We received 6 inches of rain this week which was something to be excited about though on Thursday afternoon with the much-needed rains came hail, damaging some crops and setting them back.  Wes measured the water level in the cistern at the end of last week and per his weekly measurements, the cistern gained almost 2 feet of water from the 6 inches of rain we received.  Until the cistern gets to a level we are comfortable with, we will continue to collect rain water that comes off the Sister’s roof to use for dishes, laundry, cleaning, and filling the toilet tank.  One morning we woke up to having had 2 inches of rain during the night so it was a little muddy but no one is complaining.  Kathy has decided she will take mud over dust and rain over having electricity…funny how your priorities change when confronted with situations.  The dry season has made us much more aware of needs vs wants - water is very much needed while electricity seems to be more of a want in the grand scheme of things though it is nice to have electricity.  We do have a few small solar panels which help to generate enough power to charge our phones and run the internet.  But, to be honest, we are all looking forward to the new shamba where there will be a generator that we can turn off and on whenever we need to and there will be a supply of water since there is a deep well on the shamba.  We will still collect rain water but won’t have to be as dependent on it especially during the dry season which we are hopefully coming out of. 

On Friday, Robert brought his family to the Mission house here on the school compound to introduce them to Fr. David and us.  We have never met his family as they live on their shamba in a different village some distance away.  Robert, who was an orphan and supported by the Mission during his younger years, currently helps with Mission Saturday and eventually will be the caretaker at the new shamba.  The second reason for bringing his family was so we could take them to see the house they will live in at the new shamba.  It was a delight to meet Freda, Robert’s wife, and his two children – Chris, a third grader and Mary who is 2 ½ years old.  Robert mentioned that Chris and Mary have never seen a mzungu (white person) and on Friday, they saw wazungu watatu (3 white people) all at once!  They kept their distance especially Mary but poor Mary had just woke up from a nap when they arrived at the Mission house...can you imagine having never seen a white person before and then you wake up from a nap and see three of them?!  We have enjoyed getting to know Robert through the work he does with and for the Mission and now we will be able to get to know his family once we are all living at the new shamba – something we look forward to.  It will also be fun to have some little ones running around the compound. 

On Saturday, we held Mission Saturday at Manga and here at Gekano distributing maize, the monthly stipend and visiting with the orphans.  A new school year started in January and at the beginning of each new school year, the Mission gives the orphans an allowance to purchase new uniforms of the school they are attending.  The Mission requires them to wear their uniforms to Mission Saturday for a number of reasons and if they don’t, they are given only half of their allowance that month.  The children looked quite “smart” as they say here which means they looked good in their new uniforms. 

Shamba update:  this past week, the mason fundis (skilled laborers) laid the brick and stone for the inside and outside walls of the second floor. The electrician and his workers were installing the conduit for the electrical wiring, and the windows were starting to be set in place.  The windows are very large and heavy as they are made of steel and will be bolted in place before the walls are mudded. The house is making good progress and hopefully we will be in by mid-summer or possibly before.

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!

See photos from this week in the album section by clicking on the link below.  Note:  If unable to view the photos using the link below, you can still view them by going to St. Joseph’s Parish website and scrolling down to the section titled Kenya Mission – photo album.  The website:  stjparish.com

https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-3-19-23