Back and Forth

Aug 8, 2024

3 min read

08-07-2024 Kenya update:

The protests in Kenya continue and have expanded to additional days which makes travel back and forth to the village more challenging.

We traveled on Friday July 26th to the village and were looking forward to seeing the completed work that took place in our absence. While in Nairobi another of Enos’s friends passed away, a young wife who was a loyal AFC Leopards soccer club member. Her funeral will be held on August 3rd in her home village about an hour and a half from the village of Bukura. We’ll be attending. We were able to pray with and for her husband, Grahams. We continue to lift him up asking God for His peace and comfort.

During our time in Nairobi, we also visited Enos sister Gill who opened a small restaurant/lunch place named Agape. She serves inexpensive, filling meals to construction workers who are putting up new homesteads in the suburbs.

When we arrived back in the village, many of the items that were to be completed in the house weren’t quite finished yet.

The correct solar panels were installed for the well pump, so we are now able to fill the 10.000-liter tank on the rooftop that supplies water to the house.
Starlink Satellite internet was installed on the day of our arrival. I’m beginning to understand that time moves much slower here than I’m used to or expect.

The cultural differences are very noticeable, especially in the village. We spent about a week and a half in the village and were able to complete many projects. After many plumbing issues were corrected, the washer/dryer is now hooked up and operating.

We still have some other plumbing issues left in a couple of the bathrooms as some toilets or sinks are not operational. The carpenter finished all the closets in every bedroom and the pantry has one wall left to be finished with shelves. Door trims and molding are next on the list. Most, if not all, of the houseware items can only be purchased in Nairobi. The plates and tableware have multiple sales stickers on each of them! The goo was not coming off well until Ray found Kenya’s version of WD-40. It worked great so now they don’t stick to our hands anymore!

We visited Esther’s farm a couple of times and were put to work shelling peanuts by hand for planting.

On Friday August 2nd, we were invited to the retirement party of the head teacher at the primary school which Enos graduated. Parties in Kenya are very elaborate and include many speeches and dancing and as in this case a farewell gift of a cow!

On August 3rd we traveled the 90-minute distance to attend Irene’s funeral. I was glad I wore a big hat because the sun was out, and I was in it. The funerals here are celebrations of life. The custom is to be buried on your family’s land no matter where you live or die. While in the village, again another of Enos’s friends mother passed away, so we visited him as well. We heard about the long life of his mother and the influence she had on her family. Ray mentioned to Enos that maybe we need to add some weddings to our gatherings, so we have some variety in our celebrations.

On Saturday, the night before we left to return to Nairobi, we hosted a movie night at the house and introduced a group of neighbors and friends of Enos to hot dogs and potato chips. The movie was the Jesus film, the most widely distributed film worldwide, which tells the story of his life. The DVD is in several languages and has a kid version that is narrated by kids. Approx. 20 people, believers, Muslims, Catholics and other denominations were represented.

We returned to Nairobi on Sunday. Today Wednesday Aug 7th, we showed the Jesus film to approx. 60+ children at the Amson primary school in the Mathare slums. Enos is the founder and administrator of this primary school. (for more information on Amson, see link under the resources tab on the website).

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