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. 

Working in multiple directions

Today was the first day our team was split to concentrate on two separate tasks. On Sunday afternoon, the training conference for pastors was begun, lead by pastors Tom Wolff and Mark Specht and assisted by John Heemer.  It was continued after breakfast today, with the rest of the team going back to Gituamba. Twenty three pastors and leaders from as far away as Gituamba and Rongai and some from closer by in Nakuru came to Tumaini for "Gospel Boot Camp" training. It was a great time of learning and fellowship as well as the opportunity for our team to share dinner and breakfast with their members. We had a great time of worship with them last night after dinner, singing praise songs in both English and Swahili. It was awesome! 

The bulk of the team continued on activities started on Friday at Gituamba. The interior partition wall was completed in the new classroom building, with Dale and Lars heading up the work with Happy James and Erastus. The work was complicated by the failure of the diesel generator (and thus also the loss of the welder and the ability to use the grinder). But they got the work done nonetheless. 

A special blessing our team had today was to be joined again by our beloved friend and brother Sam Kariuki.  Sam's mother had passed away a week ago last Saturday, and he had been involved in dealing with the funeral and family obligations and had not been able to be with us until today. It was a great time of reunion to have him with us once again. 

A lot of painting was completed in many different areas including interior panels, steel partitions, window and door frames, and tires in the playground. It seems like all colors in the palette have been purchased and used! And more paint was actually used on these items than on the people doing the painting! 

Piping was also completed to supply water from the overhead storage tank into the UZima filter apparatus and all the interior piping was completed. By late in the afternoon, water was flowing for the first time into the kitchen and to water taps that will be used by the students for drinking water. This represents the accomplishment of a two-year vision by Bill Coble and a big step in progress. It makes Gituamba unique among public schools and sets a standard that the government can follow. There are about five thousand schools that should have similar systems! And SWOK and Gituamba have set the standard!