I thought I would bring over some bits of my blog entries from the blog I kept while I was in Kenya last fall. It was a true adventure, and I was so blessed to be able to be there with my dear friend Kaila.
Thursday, October 28th, 2010
I don’t think I will ever feel justified in complaining about laundry ever again. I know so many people who complain about getting laundry done, or how the laundry piles up from their kids and husband. However, in Kenya laundry is an entirely different concept than it is in North America. First you fill three buckets with water. The first will be for the primary wash, the second is also a wash, and the third is for rinsing. Most people use bar soap for washing the clothes, as detergent is a fair bit more expensive and runs out quickly. Then you scrub each piece of clothing, and in a home with 29 kids, that’s a lot. Most of the older children wash for themselves, every day in fact. They each only have one uniform, and so after school they wash their uniforms and hang them to dry for the next day. However, Mama Linnet, the woman who helps run the home, washes the clothes for all the small kids, 8 and under I believe. But, really, that’s still a lot of clothes to wash. Anyways, all of that to say, I don’t think I will be complaining about doing laundry in Canada for a long time.
There’s a lot of banging going on outside. They are removing the roof of the big water tank that stores all the rainwater. The water that falls on the roof of the dorm is fed down a pipe and then into the big round brick tank. Apparently the tank is beginning to leak, and so they must climb inside and reseal it with a cement/sand mixture. I was told that same mixture will also be making a cement-like platform under the facet for the tank that catches the water from the kitchen and dining hall. I don’t know if you know what it’s like to have to step in deep, sloppy mud --while wearing flip-flops-- every time you want to use some water, but it is VERY exciting to know everyone here will not need to do that for much longer.
There has been a new addition to the home today. A handful of government workers came to check the place out and help start the registration process for the home. They brought a little boy of about 4. The thing about him is that ha can’t walk. He just crawls around on his hands and knees. The government workers claim he was walking fine at the office, so either they are lying (a high possibility) of he was hurt at the office (also a pretty good possibility). He wont talk. Well, wont or can’t, we are all unsure of that. But either way, he has not communicated how his legs were hurt so Kaila and I have given Reah 1000 shillings to take him to the hospital and have him checked by the doctor. He doesn’t seem to be in any pain, so I think the injury is older than just this afternoon, and I am curious to hear what the doctor says.
I realized how different this place is when I wasn’t surprised or really even strongly affected by the state of this little boy. It was almost as if it was normal. And I suppose it is normal here, or at least not abnormal. Poor little guy, he was so scared when he first got here, I hope he will manage to settle in as well as all the other kids have.
The last few days Kaila and I have been praying individually with any of the kids who want us to pray with them. They are so sweet and usually have more prayer requests for other people than themselves. But I can’t shake the final thing Faith asked me to pray for. Healing. I am not sure when Faith was diagnosed as being HIV positive, but I think Mathea had told me about 8 or 9 last time I was here. She is 13 now and is such a lovely girl with the sweetest disposition and an even sweeter singing voice. I had prayed for her when I was here last, two years ago, and to have her ask again for prayer broke my heart. I don’t understand why a 13-year-old girl should have a disease like this, and why God wont just remove it when he is asked. I don’t have a conclusion.
May God give you grace in everything you do today,
Jordan
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