Special Tribute

Of all my blog posts over the years, this one will be the easiest. I am writing this as a thank you and as a tribute to Bill and Chat Coble. I know that this is not something they seek or desire, but I'm doing it anyway.  I've known them now for about seven years and have worked hand-in-hand with them and Start With One Kenya (SWOK) the last six summers in Kenya, so I have first-hand perspective on their lives and ministry. 

I think you have to have a unique personality and flexibility of spirit to be a missionary. I've heard new Christians say that they struggled with issues before coming to Christ, often with "but what if God calls me to become a missionary in Africa!" For Bill & Chat, they wouldn't be human if they hadn't struggled with similar thoughts when they felt the Lord calling them there, but for some reason, I don't think they struggled too hard with that calling. They make it look easy. It has been obvious since I first met them that the Lord has called them to this and that they are only interested in being in the center of God's will. 

At no time in the last six years has the impact they are having in Kenya been more evident to me than last Friday morning. Among the piers of emphasis in Bill & Chat's work in Kenya is education (as well as "clean water" and "building").  In Kenya, secondary education is not free, and a lot of kids can't attend because of scarce resources. A lot of kids are orphaned or abandoned and live on the streets, and their futures are tenuous at best. Not only have Bill and Chat been instrumental in the vision and creating the school at Gituamba (The Jeanette Keyton Connolly Memorial Primary School), but they have also promoted the education of students into secondary schools by finding sponsors to pay the education costs. I can tell you first hand that these kids are excelling, and it is in no small way because of Bill and Chat. I don't know how many students Bill and Chat have found sponsors for, but there are thirty of them at the P.C.E.A. Jitegemea High School that is up the hill and on the grounds of the Tumaini Conference Center where we stay while in Nakuru. Their school term finished last Friday, and a group from our team went with Chat to walk them down to spend time with us at Tumaini before being taken to where they would stay until the next school term. We got to interact with them, help them write letters of thanks to their sponsors and to spend time with kids some of us on our team individually sponsor. But the most amazing thing to watch was their interaction with Chat and Bill.  Chat is truly "mama" to every one of them. Each one individually brought their report card for Chat to review, and the love and respect in both directions was palpable. There were often tears of joy on both sides.  There is no question in the mind of any of these students that Chat is their biggest fan (and that each one of them is her favorite!). And I have no doubt that the love and adoration from Mama Chat is the reason they want to excel. And they do! The grades and the improvement from term to term are consistent for every student. I'm a firm believer that the future of a country is a direct link to the quality of the education of the students they produce. This is one more area where Bill and Chat are guaranteeing the future success of Kenya. 

We have had many opportunities to be involved in SWOK's clean water efforts. Back home here, we have limited opportunities to save someone's life. Oh sure, you might get a chance to save a drowning victim, put out a deadly car fire, or perform some other heroic act. And we certainly have opportunities to impact others' lives. But with Bill and Chat, we have the real opportunity to join them in saving lives every time we do a Uzima water filter distribution. As Americans, we really can't relate to the water situation in Kenya (as well as many under-developed countries around the world). We take water for granted. Even if you stay at a two-star hotel in the US, you wouldn't question whether you could drink the tap water.  In Kenya, if you stayed at the best of hotels, you'd ALWAYS ask if the water is safe to drink. Because almost everywhere, it's not! And if you drink tainted water in Kenya, chances are it could kill you. Three of the top five causes of death in Kenya are waterborne illnesses (cholera, typhoid and dysentery). This year, our team had the blessing to be involved in distributing filters that will provide about 7500 people with clean water. And since they started this initiative in 2010, SWOK has now surpassed the 250,000 person mark with clean water.  They are on target to pass the one million mark by 2020.  It's a thrill to be a part of this. 

The "Building" pier of SWOK's platform is probably the one I can best relate to since construction is my profession. Every year, Bill and Chat have given us the chance to be involved in construction projects, whether building a church with rudimentary local materials, building a church with concrete and steel, building a state-of-the-art (by local standards) steel and concrete house, building a school or dining hall or a brick outhouse or putting an unheard-of purified piped water system in a school.  Every project has been a challenge and a blessing as well as evidence that Bill and Chat are following the Lord's will. Bill is truly a visionary, but he knows it's not his vision. His vision comes from the Lord. He truly seeks it and is lead by it. And he is undaunted by the size of it! He recognizes that if God has directed and ordained the vision, He will provide the means and resources to get it done. And He has done amazing things through Bill, Chat and SWOK!  And I thank the Lord that I have had the opportunity to play a tiny part in that.  I also know that the Lord is continuing to reveal his plans through SWOK, and they're huge! And I know that he has the right couple picked to carry them forward. Thank you, Bill and Chat, for all that you do! We love you!

A day of goodbyes.

With our flight not leaving Jomo Kenyatta International Airport until 11:30 pm, we had a leisurely day. We had an early breakfast so we could spend time with the sponsored students from the boarding school up the hill on the same property as the conference center. They just ended their school term this morning and we're heading home. Several of these students are sponsored in this school by members of our team (and by team members from prior years), so it was great to spend time with them and help them write thank you letters to their other sponsors. The kids also brought their report cards to Mama Chat, who has an amazingly special relationship with each one of them. Their school scores (and improvement over prior terms) was amazing. It is obvious the tremendous influence that Chat and Bill have on these students and their encouragement to succeed. They are thriving, and it was a blessing to see the results of Chat's encouraging and nurturing. These kids are rising to their highest potential. 

We said our goodbyes to those SWOK interns remaining behind and headed for Nairobi, with a lunch stop at the Sunbird Lodge overlooking Lake Elementaita. It is a beautiful setting and a nice treat for our last day. From there, we drove on to Nairobi and our late flight home. We've cleared immigration and are waiting to board. Next stop, Heathrow tomorrow morning. 

Final water filter distribution

Today marked our last day of activities from our base in Nakuru. We travelled again further north up the A104 and across back country roads to get to Rongai, where we prepared for another water filter distribution. We were set up in an old railroad building across the unused tracks from the train station. It looked like a station from a movie set, and ev n had an old Morse Code apparatus in it. 

We prepared and handed out over 800 water filter kits. This represents over 4000 additional people that tonight for the first time have clean water to drink. So far, since SWOK began distributing water filters, over a quarter of a million people in Kenya now have daily access to clean water.  That is an amazing accomplishment. And their goal is to have that number pass one million by 2020!  And I have no doubt in my mind that this goal will be reached. It has been an amazing blessing for our team to be a part of this project, and we look forward to continuing to be involved in future years. 

On the return trip from Rongai, we stopped for a special late lunch at a roadside restaurant called "The Hygenic Highway Butchery" for roast goat, chicken and vegetables! It was a great meal, especially for the carnivores among us! It was also a good time of fellowship with our team, drivers and other Kenyan friends. A quick trip to the Java House capped off a great day. Tomorrow will be a morning of packing, spending time with the SWOK students from the Tumaini boarding school and then off for the ride back to Nairobi for an 11:30 pm flight back to Heathrow and on to home. It will be a sad time of parting with our friends till the same time next year. 

Final workday for this trip

It's hard for us to believe, but our two-week team mission is nearing the end. We have been hard at work on so many construction projects at Gituamba and tomorrow is another day of water filter distribution.  Then it's off to Nairobi and the flights home.  But we made this a constructive final workday. 

The painting team finished painting anything that wasn't moving and some things that were! They went through more than 40 gallons of paint and did a great job of putting the finishing touches on the school. Windows, doors, playground tires, fences, gates and anything else ,teal got primed and painted with two finished coats. The school shines! 

A last minute painting project was done beautifully by Kailee, Laura and Oksana. They planned the design, sketched it on the school entry gates and painted it, all in one day, and it makes an awesome inviting entrance.  

The team working on the new classroom building did a great job and have it ready for the finishing touches. The only thing that didn't get done was one gable, since they worked till they ran out of materials. This building will be the most modern and spacious classrooms in the school. 

The playground area is coming along well, with the addition today of a painted tire mountain for access to two plastic slides brought from the states. The team did a great job moving and maneuvering painted truck tires into position and filling the tire mountain with gravel. With the other structures already completed and still planned, it will be the best playground in Kenya. 

The plumbing of th kitchen and dining hall is completed, with the addition today of five faucets in the kitchen for hand washing, food preparation and plate and utensil washing and rinsing. Bases and sinks were installed (and painted, of course!).  This is probably the most complete school kitchen and a model for Kenyan schools. 

The school day is over at 3:30 each day, but you'd never know it based on the number of students hanging around until we left. It's a testimony to how much of an influence the team has on them, and they on us. It's great to return here each year and build on relationships that have been established. After six years of working here, we feel like Gituamba has become a part of us and a second home. We look forward to returning next year. 

Another great Gituamba workday

Great progress was made again today with the full team back at Gituamba. And the weather the whole time we have been here has been perfect for doing the mix of inside and outside work we've needed to do. Days have been in the mid 70's with nighttime temperatures in the high 50's, with no rain since getting to Nakuru. It is starting to get a little dry and they really could use some rain for the crops. The rains they had in May and June did result in the lush green vegetation and crops that are healthier than we have seen on any previous trip. 

Teams were split up working on multiple projects today in Gituamba. The full partition wall in the new classroom building was completed up to the roof. Tomorrow will see the panels cut to prepare the walls for windows. Crews again worked on painting any exterior metal, including the main entry doors to the school, tires for the playground, fencing, more window frames and anything else they could find. 

Another crew took on the task of cutting and installing plexiglass panels into the painted window frames. This will help to keep out the ever-present dust and noise. 

Another crew worked on completion of the water piping and storage tanks. A new 10000 liter tank was lifted into place on an elevated concrete base, and the three tanks were interconnected with valves and underground piping. These collect the rain from the gutters and provide a total of ten thousand gallons of water to feed the UZima filter system as it enters the kitchen and piping system. The purified water taps for the students were used today for the first time, and they loved them. 

A portion of the team had the opportunity to distribute tee shirts to the boys and skirt dresses to the girls in Class 8. They were thrilled with them. Cindy Wolff had the opportunity to challenge the class and offer a blessing over them.

Another crew began installing the sound-reducing panels in the rafters of the main school building (the former barn). It's construction presents some challenges for installation, but I'm sure that with Bill's ingenuity, it'll get worked out fine. And another group worked on building the exterior wall of the area that will be built as a library. 

We'll be back tomorrow for our last workday and we hope to get these various projects all wrapped up.