Old and New Friends

Well it’s still VERY warm … the last four days have brought cloud cover and the occasional glimpse of potential rain clouds but, at this point, there is still no rain! Eighteen months ago they planted a little box hedge outside the front of our house, in the shape of H & K. Sadly, like the rest of H&K, it too is distinctly wilted and withering. Today Terry took to his bed for the morning because he woke up with dizzy spells and looked half-drunk as he walked across the compound to the latrines (which is a shame because he’s been pretty much tea-total for the last 13 years.) We also have two male members of staff off sick with malaria, Enoch our janitor and Joseph our carpenter. Joseph, in particular, is a conscientious, strong and fit man so it’s a serious indication of the strength of this particular malaria for him to be laid low and not make it to work. Millie our social worker probably shouldn’t be here either but ‘she’s a woman and a mother’ so she is soldiering on, sticking to desk duties ….. currently covering dozens of new textbooks for the upper school.

It still feels like a drought. We have now used up nearly all 47,000 litres of rain water from our roof harvest tanks and even the bore hole has to be pumped for shorter periods of time as the sensor at the bottom of the hole has indicated that it is not being replenished as quickly as it normally would. Just watering the kale that we harvest and eat, on almost a daily basis, is becoming a serious challenge. We appreciate  there’s a lot of people back home desperate to see the rain disappear but we are also desperate for it to make a reappearance here!

However, on a more positive note we have enjoyed the reappearance of our friends and fellow missionaries, Ian and Hilda, McMillan. Over the last six years they have come to H&K eight times, the first time in June 2007 for just 48 hours and on the last three occasions for stays of up to eight months. During their time here they have worked in a very supportive role with our church pastors  Kennedy and Dorine and spent a lot of time visiting the homes of our church members. They have also made themselves available, during the long evenings, to the children who live in the Home - to help them experience more of a ‘normal’ family life …. spending time in small groups sharing board and card games, doing creative crafts, simply watching a film or preparing a Saturday supper or making a treat to share with everyone - like popcorn or welsh cakes. As you can probably imagine, everyone is very happy to see them back again. In fact, on their first night, Hilda treated everyone to a supper of sausage butties (you can’t buy them locally and we don’t have a fridge so you have to buy them and cook them the same day) and genuine Scottish shortbread to eat with their chai (tea)! Sadly, this time, Ian and Hilda are here for only 3 months. The reason they will leave so soon is because they will be returning to Paisley before the end of May, in anticipation of a very special and exciting event, the arrival of their first grandchild. We are all very happy for them but will need to make sure that we make the most of appreciating them whilst they are still here!

In about three hours’ time we will be welcoming brand new visitors to Hope and Kindness, Robin and Janet Fenner and their 17 yr old daughter Kyla. Robin is a Bible College teacher and Janet has excellent IT skills to share. Their daughter is also doing a long distance IT course. They have been in Nairobi for the last month but today they are doing the long, hot and, in places, very, very dusty and bumpy road journey to Kosele. Kosele doesn’t have very much in common with Nairobi apart from the fact that they are both in the country of Kenya! I’m not sure how much they know about us here or what they are expecting to find, but they are visiting for at least a month and we are really looking forward to having them stay. We hope that it will be a time of mutual blessings for all of us … in just the way God always planned His Kingdom to be. Will close now as we always want to look our best when visitors first arrive …    Continuing to pray for all of you there and for an imminent reversal in all our weather forecasts!