Quick Update

I am back from the Village in Kitui. After a month and a half, volunteers are given the opportunity to return to Karen (Nairobi) for a little R & R. A hot shower, good food, soft bed - sounds great. I will be here for about a week depending on when there is a truck going back to Kitui. For the next few days I have a small agenda: read a good book, relax, secure funding for a couple of projects, write thank you notes (emails) and update the blog with some pictures on Flickr. I am hoping to get to a faster Internet connection in downtown Nairobi soon to update pics. Here is a little update:

The library computers are humming along thanks to your donations for the solar unit that is now installed. What a great thing! The students are so excited. They get to school at about 6:45 and wait for me to open the door. I have one grade each morning from 6:50 - 8:15. Students have a break to run some time in between. Everyone runs laps in the morning for exercise and then back to class. There is a pile of shows left in the dirt and they take off in traditional, beautiful Kenyan strides. I have classes in the morning and then pick up the other grades from 3:00 - 4:00. I have also been teaching some English, some Math and had an opportunity to play guitar for some. I continue to tutor Benard (14 yrs) and some others in the evenings. I was able to spend some days working in the shamba, or field, but now spend a great deal of time at school. There are three projects I am working on and attempting to fund.

1.) Baskets - made by the grandmothers to support the orphans in their houses. I'll be shipping 120 baskets to IHM for sale. Thank you!

2.) Solar in the Clinic and Administration Building - With the coming of more children, some who are positive for HIV, comes the needs for refrigeration of medications. I am hoping to equip the building with power for lights and refrigeration ASAP.

3.) Harvesting rain water - I am hoping to make the Guest House, my home, a model for the collection of rain water. It rained the night before last and we believe it is the beginning of the rainy season. The water in the Village is undrinkable for white guys like me. It is high in saline and fluoride. It is also not the best for watering crops. We need to purchase and install gutters, downspouts and a holding tank on each of the 26 houses. The Guest House will be the first.

So - those are my projects and I hope to complete some groundwork here in Nairbobi before I return to the Village.

I'll write much more very soon. I have so much in my head and heart. I want to share it with you - just not today. Today I rest and sleep and thank God for the first 6 weeks in Africa and for you. Peace.

To come:

The rain, the moon, the sunsets, Benard, the goat who gave his life, the fire, the coffin, volunteers from Spain, Australia and Chicago, impromptu dancing and drumming, insects,snakes, etc. Trust me - it is all good.