Faraha Siku ya Mama (Happy Mother’s Day)!  According to our sources, Mother’s Day is not an official holiday in Kenya but most people do observe it as a day to show their love, respect, and honor towards mothers just as we do back home.  We have seen very many mamas in our short time in Kenya and we know that these women work very hard to provide for their families and care for their homes.  To all mothers everywhere, we wish you a most blessed day!

In last week’s blog it was mentioned that we have been doing some deep cleaning in the mission house.  We took two more days this past week to finish this project.  We washed all the windows inside and outside, moved every piece of furniture including couches, beds, tables, the refrigerator and stove and scrubbed the floors in every room of the mission house.  Needless to say, we were a little tired by Tuesday evening!  Houses here are not sealed as well as they are back home thus things can get quite dusty and now with the rainy season, there is a little more mud to contend with but we are happy for the rain.

We had two Water with Blessings (WWB) events this week – one was a normal follow-up as we have been doing almost every week and the other was Graduation Day for the Mama Maji (Water Woman)!  We have had numerous questions about the WWB program from people who have been reading the blogs and so we thought we would take this opportunity to briefly explain what it is.  Water with Blessings is a program started by a non-profit organization out of Kentucky.  We brought the program here as a pilot project in 2018 with its purpose to teach women to become a Mama Maji (Water Woman).  The beauty of the program is that it requires very simple equipment – a bucket and a Sawyer Water Filter.  Women who receive a bucket and filter are trained on how to use and properly clean the filter which in turn provides purified water for cooking, drinking, and bathing small children.  These women also agree to filter water not just for their family but for three other families for at least six months - water is a blessing and gift from God and it is meant to be shared.  The focus of the project is mothers with small children or grandparents caring for orphans, the elderly, and the sick. If the filter is cared for properly, it will last for 10 years and filter approximately 1 million gallons of water.  This is where Lilian comes in.  She coordinates all the trainings and follow-ups.  At the trainings, Lilian will teach approximately fifteen women in Ekegusii, their tribal language, to use, properly clean and care for the filter.  After their initial training and as part of receiving the filter, the women are asked to come once a month for one hour for a total of six months – this is known as the WWB Follow-Up that has been referred to in the blogs.  At these sessions, the women are given a coloring book.  We have had questions asking “why are the women coloring in books”?  Some women are able to read whereas others are not but regardless of the ability to read, it is through the pictures on the pages they color which help to reinforce what they learned in their training– it is a teaching tool not only for them but their family as well. These sessions also give the women an opportunity to ask questions, get answers and provide additional training if needed.  Lilian will also ask them how the children are doing since receiving the filter and most report that their children no longer have stomach issues due to the dirty and contaminated water which is very gratifying to hear.  This past Wednesday (Graduation Day event), the women came for what was considered a seventh follow-up session.  Unknown to the women, they would be receiving a blanket (provided they had attended five of the six follow-ups).  This blanket is not part of the WWB program based out of Kentucky – it is something that Fr. David and Lilian have implemented.  It is a sacrifice for the women to come to these follow-ups for several reasons and in the end, it is a reward for making that sacrifice…plus they can really use the blanket.  The cost of a blanket is around Ksh 350 ($3.50) which is a lot of money for these people who make less than Ksh 500 ($5.00) per day.  On Wednesday we went to two different places to hand out blankets and ended up giving out forty blankets which meant a lot of women made the sacrifice to come to the follow-ups.  We did give a blanket to one of the women who had missed two sessions with one of them due to the death of her child…another hardship in their lives.  The first village we went to was called Nyamakoroto and there we gave away twenty-five blankets.  When the women saw the blankets, they were very happy.  The smiles on their faces and the gratitude expressed for this simple gift was humbling.  They thanked us and the people of Bismarck multiple times for the filters as well.  While we were presenting the blankets to these women, a leader of the group was collecting Kenyan Shillings (Ksh) which we thought was for some project they had though we soon found out why the collection had taken place (if we had understood Kiswahili better, we would have figured it out sooner).  One of the ladies left for a short time (unknown to us) making a quick dash to a nearby duka (shop) and purchased two kitambaa.  A kitambaa or leso is the large colorful cloth we have seen them wrap around their waist to use as a skirt or around their shoulders as a shawl.  Two of the ladies came up to Kathy and stated “this is our tradition” and proceeded to wrap the cloth around her waist and as they wrapped the cloth, the entire group starting singing and dancing.   They then did the same for Lilian.  It was very touching and made Kathy’s eyes a little watery not because of the gift itself but because of the sacrifice that went into that gift.  The kitambaa cost around Ksh 600 ($6.00) and with their children having just started school in the past week there was tuition, uniforms, and other school fees to be paid, the increased costs of maize and cooking oil, etc., a kitambaa for a Mzungu (European, white person) was probably not a planned expense but they gave one each to Lilian and Kathy…they gave generously from their poverty which made this gift for Kathy all the more meaningful. 

One other question that has been asked a lot is about the orphans and the orphanage the mission runs.  To clarify, the diocese does not run an orphanage.  Rather, the orphans in the program have been taken in by extended family which is often grandparents, possibly an older sibling, or aunts and uncles.  These orphans are “total orphans” having lost both their mother and father though there can be and have been exceptions which are rare and made on a case-by-case basis.  The mission seeks to assist the orphans and their families by having the orphans living within the family setting.  The assistance given to these orphans includes payment of school fees, a monthly ration of maize, a monthly monetary allowance and school uniform fees.  Students attending any primary or secondary school whether public or private must wear the uniform of their school.   The orphan education program is at the heart of the diocese’s mission efforts.  Education helps with the overall formation of the individual and helps to keep people from falling into extreme poverty.  The monthly allowances for maize and the stipend assist the orphan’s family with food and monies for school and household expenses associated with having one, two, three, four and sometimes five “extra” people in the home.  The orphans enrolled in the program have a responsibility as well.  They must attend school and wear their uniforms to school and mission gatherings.  They must provide receipts for school and other fees paid by the Mission and they must bring their report cards to be reviewed by Fr. David at the end of each school term to see how they are progressing in school.  These orphans are given hope and an opportunity to succeed in life because of the generosity of the people who support the African Mission. 

The Mission serves over 450 orphans every month at three different parishes:  Gekano, Ichuni, and Manga.  This past week we, along with Emma, painted two offices that we use when seeing orphans at Manga Parish.  While painting, we had a captive audience for a period of time - the children on their recess break. At this parish, they operate a playschool (children three years of age), and then two ages of primary preschool or baby school as we have heard it called.  The children, as they peeked through the open windows, were fascinated by the Muzungu painting the walls and would shout kupaka rangi which in Swahili means to paint colors.  They were excited to have their pictures taken and they definitely enjoy seeing themselves especially in a video!  The laughter and giggles we heard were priceless.  We engaged in conversation with them and it was great because we were able to speak more on their level with regard to Kiswahili! 

A couple of odds and ends this week worth mentioning (see pictures in the photo album section):

1.  Mbuzi (goat) riding a Pikipiki:  as stated in last week’s blog, we have seen up to five people riding on a Pikipiki all at the same time.  We have also seen many other items being transported such as Napier grass (forage for animals especially cows), couches and other furniture, stacks of chairs, rebar, wood, chickens in cages stacked four to five high, milk crates containing various items that are stacked three to four high and two to three wide, mattresses, and then this week, while Wes was driving, we saw something we could not believe!  A goat was riding on a PikiPiki!  It was stationed between the driver and a guy who held onto the goat by one of its horns.  The goat was very calm…must not have been his first ride!  It was during a downpour so couldn’t get the best pictures but there are few in the photo album…we still laugh about it! When we mentioned this to Lilian, she laughed and said that she has seen two goats being transported on a Pikipiki…we can’t wait to take that picture!
2. Watoto Wengi (many children):  With the start of school this week, we have seen very many children walking along the roads.  Some of them are very young (preschool and kindergarten) and walking alone…something we are convinced of that would not happen back home as it just doesn’t seem very safe.  Here there are few school buses and children walk to school.  If they are not served lunch at school, they walk home to eat and then turn around and walk back for the afternoon session.  Some of these children walk several miles to get to school.  We always get smiles and waves when out traveling on the roads to our various destinations…there are children everywhere.  Out of curiosity, we looked up the school age population of the Nyamira County – the county the Mission is located.  For 2020 (most up to date information we found), the total population of this county was 632,000.  The number of children in school (pre-school through 12^th grade) was 303,000….no wonder we see children everywhere!  If Wes did his math correctly, Williams County is approximately 2100 square miles whereas Nyamira county is 352 square miles!

We hope the power has been restored to the people back home.  When it had finally been restored to our home, we received a text from our son, Nathan.  He had been without power for five days.  The text and picture he sent came through around 2 am our time here in Kenya.  The picture was of a room in the house and the light was on.  The caption read “And on the 5^th day God said let there be light in the Pepple household”!  We had a good laugh in the middle of the night.  Again, we were most grateful to those who reached out to offer help and check in on how he was doing.

We keep you in our prayers and ask that you keep us and the Mission in yours.  Mungu Akubariki!

See photos from this week in the album section: 

https://stjparish.com/photoalbums/kenya-5-8-2022