KHEC and Tenwek Missions Hospital

Today is Monday.  The 21st.  

Half of our team didn't have water due to a problem in the lines in the main building--an air gap in the gravity-feed system.  The lower building had water.  Then they fixed the issue temporarily only for the upper/main building to lose water quickly again.  Last night no one had water while they were working on filling the tank again.  Sam got a chance to check out the water tank, which is filled regularly by a truck.  

From up there Sam says you can see the tea fields and a nice garden next door.

I got a chance to speak for several minutes with the housekeeper, Judith, about Kericho, her faith, education, and her family.  She was very interested in hearing my English.  And my French and my German.  If you know me, I know very little besides English.  And no fair judging my English by my typing on this little keyboard and the iPhone auto-correct!

We packed up and had breakfast in Kericho at Ivy's Inn today.  This morning the power went out for the whole town of Kericho, planned for most of the day.  They fired up a backup generator so the ladies could finish working on their hair.

Before getting too far out of town, we stopped at Kenya Highlands Evangelical University in Kericho.  Formally, KHEU was KHBC--KH Bible College.  We met with the Vice Chancellor and some of her staff.  We discussed how Heart of Africa has particpated with the university, how the university has grown, and what their current needs are (I have a list).  

The school is competing with larger schools by expanding their degree programs and their facilities.  Formerly a Bible College, as a University recognized by the Kenyan government, more students should be able to attend via a government sending program.

Amy got to meet the school nurse, Anne.

We had tea with Vice Chancellor Lois Semenyay (spelling?), her staff, and the Bishop David Maratim, whom we missed earlier in the trip (when we went to the wrong office location).  He started out as a student at KHBC, has first hand misisons experience in northern Kenya, and now is on the board of the school.  The school has 215 students, but today could handle 600-1000 and they hope to grow beyond that with their expansion plans.  One of their new programs is a computer science degree offering.

While at the school, we got to see how fast an unladen African swallow actually flies, as one swooped into a hallway we were standing in.

We also visited the school's print-shop, and Daniel was excited about that visit and the potential.  That print shop supports a Theological Education by Extension program which has 800 students but sometimes has 1600, and has 73 tutors/ instructors who travel to the students remote locations.

Departing the school, we headed toward Bomet and drove through some beautiful tea plantations and little towns along the way.  It was about 2 hours of driving.  Google appearantly has actually traveled these roads, as they estimated an hour!

See if you can see the tea pickers in this field.  We passed many tea fields and their housing, and the nearby towns that support them.  We also passed many many kids leaving school around 1:30 pm, returning home in their uniforms.  We are definitely the odd sight around these parts.

We arrived at the missions hospital Tenwek, located at Bomet.  We are staying at the Tenwek guest house, and have met with Alene Burget and her team to preview the plan for visiting the prison tomorrow.  Jeff will preach, and Sam will not be able to attend (no one under 18 allowed).  Sam instead will hang with some new friends, a missionary family that his kids his age, stationed here at Tenwek.  That will be fun for him.

Other things:

I briefly met Tim, a guy from Pennsylvania working on the hydroelectric plant that supports the hospital.  That sounds pretty cool to me, and I hope to go check out that project while we are here.

Hazel and Amy plan to visit Kisumu on Wednesday to visit a women's ministry for widows.  By the way, when I mentioned the women's ministry earlier, I didn't know that the ladies on our team had asked Flossie what kind of gift would be encouraging to the widows.  Many of them don't have underwear, and so they pooled some money to buy 60 women 2 pair each.  Flossie was tearful and excited about how much that gift will mean to those women.  

Here we are waiting for dinner while a rainstorm hit.  Daniel isn't in the photo because he took it.

Here are some more brief team member introductions:

Daniel Trautmann has been decades in the print business, working for Kodak, and now works for Bethany's printing division in a disruptive innovation branch--he's globally marketing an ink-jet based publishing technology that can drastically change how small-job and remote printing needs are met.  I think I discussed that briefly in a previous post.  Daniel is from Minnesota, and has two sons.

Am Richards is a registered nurse in Augusta, Maine, and is here (with Hazel) to check out where missions opportunities are in Kenya and Uganda.  They've previously been involved in that in South Sudan, but that country is now closed.  They are involved in Sudanese communities in Maine.

One reason we are here at Tenwek is a "Spiritual Life Week" evening conference, which kicked off tonight with Mike speaking.  He did a great job talking about the ladder of faithfulness.

Oh, one other thing I wanted to comment on.  You may have noticed titles like "Vice Chancellor" and "Bishop" or "Canon".  Some I haven't mentioned but our team has talked about are "the Venerable...".  Mike has explained that the only president is the president of Kenya, so the head college administrator is a "Vice Chancellor".  I think it sounds like something from Star Wars.  :)  The religious titles are foriegn to my ear, and almost offensive to an American evangelical, but I'm learning a lot about different cultures, and I am mostly learning to not be offended by silly things like that.  The titles are not silly to those with them, and here they actually convey important things.  I'm thinking of them as an expansion of "Mr.", "Mrs", or "Captain".  I think that as I learn more I'll be embarrassed at even my current understanding, and I'll want to come back and edit this paragraph!

You'll likely get this post delayed due to internet issues right now.  Good night.

  

P.S. 

Sam and I have been slowly opening cards and treats from home (they were secretly sent along in our luggage).  I have one more, from Grace, and I'm looking forward to it.  I don't know how long I can hold out.