Friday Saturday Sunday

Today was the first day where we did not have to work on the bridge. We had a couple of things we would have liked to get accomplished but, if they were not done, no problem (hacuna mutate). We had a leisurely morning. Mark, Mike and my Dad were headed into town to work in the fabrication shop. My Dad was cutting the wood that will be used as the bridge deck, while Mike was to help Ben with the bridge fabrication. Doug, Chris and I were to hang back at the training center and try to survey the new secondary school site for the architect in Sacramento. We also wanted to take a walk down to the log bridge. The log bridge is just that, a bridge across the (I can't remember the name) river that flows into the Kipkaren River that consists of a 24-inch diameter log that goes 80-feet from bank to bank. Every year several people die trying to cross the bridge when the water is high. This year twin boys were swept off the log and were found dead a couple miles down river.

Before Doug and I set out on the 30 minute walk to take some measurements and think of some ways in which a safer bridge could be constructed, we went over to the Children’s home to distribute the 30 or so pairs of soccer cleats we brought from the US for the kids. We also had some toothbrushes and other supplies. When we arrived Mr. Bushmai (sp) had the all boys who like to play soccer lined up outside. We went in, arranged the cleats by size, and had a couple kids come in at a time to find a pair that fit. For the kids that could not find their size we had t-shirts. I wish you could have seen the looks on the boy’s faces when they put the shoes on. They where looking at the bottoms of the shoes standing there staring at their feet. Once we distributed them all, they sprinted out to get a ball and try out their new stuff. We had a lot of smaller sizes too that fit the girls. Every year the kids from Kipkaren play against the kids from Ilula, the other ELI children’s home down near Eldoret. This year the Kipkaren boys lost, but the girls were triumphant against Ilula.

After we finished Doug and I headed out to the log bridge. We started walking down the dirt road from the training center, past the school and around the bend. We headed off the main road and onto a smaller trail. There are children everywhere around hear. They come out of the bushes and wave to you, their big smiles lighting up the sky. We pass homestead after homestead on our way. This area of Kenya has endless land divided up into small farms and homesteads. Dirt paths and small roads connect them all. Car traffic off the main road is non-existent. Everybody either walks or rides a bike. The bikes hear are all 1950’s era English commuters, and they are everywhere. There must be millions of them all the same style. The Kenyans have personalized them to their own taste with colored tape, fenders, and mud flaps. In the cities, they have made them into bicycle taxis called Bodo Bodo. They put a decorated pad on the rack over the rear wheel and the passenger travels by just jumping on and holding tight. Some have music so the passenger can relax while swerving in and out of the crazy traffic in the city. For mast people, if they don’t have a bike, they walk. To get to the main towns like Eldoret, you would walk to the main road, and jump in a Mutatu (Moo ta too), a small mini van/taxi. These things are everywhere, and they cram as many people in them as they can. It is not uncommon to see 20 people crammed into a 10 passenger van.

Anyway, Doug and I turn off the main road, down a small dirt path with chickens wandering about. Then take a right onto a smaller trail and head down to the river where we come to the log bridge. The water is low right now, so the log sits about ten feet above the water. It is 12-inches wide on one end and about 24-inches wide on the other. Last year Mica ran a cable across to aid people in crossing, but people still do fall off once the water gets too high and makes the log slippery. We took some pictures, sketched out the site and came up with some ideas about how to construct a replacement that would be safer. As we are sitting there a father comes walking across with two kids, 18-months and 7 years old. He crosses the bridge with the baby on his shoulders a bag of maze in one hand with his seven year old in the other. That site would freak out most western mothers. Another woman comes loaded with a couple of baskets on her head, and she slowly makes her way across. You have to remember, none of the Kenyans know how to swim, so if they go in, the will surly drown.

We made our way back and get picked up by Nelson, who is just happening to be traveling with the crane operator from Eldoret. We needed him to come down to the site to asses the situation and identify the most appropriate location for the crane to lift the bridge into place. This is a critical aspect of the construction, if he says he can’t do it, we will be scrambling to find a solution. We walk over to the other side of the bridge and we locate where we would need to place the crane. The operator says it looks good and that it should not be a problem, but if the rains come, we would need a bulldozer to get the crane out of the river bottom. Therefore, we need to pray for good weather in order for this thing to happen.

We head back to the training center and take a badly needed nap, the days have been very hot and we are all starting to get very tired, so the break in the work has been very welcome. After the nap, Doug and I head over to the site where the community is going to build a secondary school. We spend a couple of hours surveying the site and head back to camp. I scheduled a Skype call with Tracy and the boys for 6:30, so we had a couple of hours and we walked over to the Medical Clinic. ELI originally build the clinic about six or seven years ago and has been expanding it ever since. The have an HIV/Aids testing and education center, maternity and post partum care, chemist (Pharmacy), and they just added an eye doctor. They whole thing is very primitive compared to western standards, but it is very good considering the only other medical care is in Eldoret. Which is an hour and twenty minutes by car, assuming you have access to a car. While we were there we were given a private tour by Oscar and she (Yes Oscar is a woman) showed us around and too us to their newest building, which houses the home care office and some other rooms. That is where we met, Baby Michele. About two months before we arrived on of the local mothers was having trouble delivering and she dyed on the way to the clinic. The nurses were able to save the baby and now the staff is caring her for, before she is adopted by one of the families at the Children’s Home. They family waited to take her to the clinic because they didn’t have insurance. Do you know who much health insurance cost in Kenya? Six dollars. We were speaking to David, the Bishop of the area, and he was pleading that something needs to be done, that people should not be dying over six dollars. She lived on the other side of the bridge and her family had carry her over the old bridge before the ambulance (a 1980’s Toyota Land Cruiser with some benches in the back) could pick her up. Once the new bridge is constructed, the Ambulance will be able to drive across the bridge.

We say thank you to Oscar and head back so I can make my Skype appointment with Tracy. It is amazing what technology can do. Here I was in the middle of the back roads of Kenya video calling with Tracy and kids over a satellite connection free. Skype is awesome.

That night it rained very hard. The wind blew and it came down in buckets.

Saturday we headed into town to see the Children’s Home in Ilula, and visit with John Rono and his family. John is a freshman civil engineering student and Moi University and came to visit the US back in June. He stayed for 6 weeks and got to see tons of things in California. He visited a bunch of engineering firms and stayed for two weeks at the International House at UC Berkeley.

It was great to see John and visit with his family. He took us out to Moi University and showed us where he goes to school. Getting out to Moi U was interesting. The road out there had to be, by far the worst road I, or any body else on the team have been on in our lives. It is so bad that you don’t even drive on the road, most people just drive on the shoulder. The University was very sad. That is the thing about Kenya, everybody complains about how corrupt the government is, and the public facilities are run down dumps. Jon lives in a brand new dorm, completed last year and the place looks like it has been around for 50 years and nobody has been taking care of it. We walked down the hall, the faucet in the bathroom is broken, and water is flooding the hall. The flooring is coming up and there are broken windows. The place looks like a refugee camp. This is one of the largest Universities in Kenya.

We head out and make our way back to Eldoret where we have a date to have dinner and Soren and Brigetta Peterson’s house. Soren and Brigetta are from Holland and have been in Kenya for over 13 years. Soren runs a fabrication shop and he builds churches and other facilities for missionary groups and the churches in Kenya. They are an amazing couple and have quite the story to tell about how they got to where they are and how their faith in the Lord has led them to where they are today. This is not your ordinary couple by any means. Over the course of a couple of hours, Soren laid out their story. It is hard to put into words the incredible things they have been through, life and death, fighting the political establishment and putting their faith in God so many times when the end seemed near. Listening to them was truly inspiring. In 2006 they build 187 churches in Kenya. They have four Children, the two oldest go to boarding school in Nairobi.

We made our way back to Kipkaren got a good night sleep and woke up late. We went to Church on Sunday. The three-hour service was filled with wonderful singing, powerful prayer, and a great message from Debbie. It was a little embarrassing when the Bishop asked the bridge team to come up and sing a song. We were all looking at each other trying to think up something we all knew. Finally, we got Alman to lead us in Our God Is an Awesome God. It was perfect, one verse, over and over again. After the song, we told them we were better builders (Fundi) than singers.

Now we wait for Monday to come. The bridge will hopefully be taken out to the site on Tuesday, the four sections welded together on Wednesday and put into place on Thursday (Thanksgiving day). The community is very excited and they are planning a big celebration. We continue to pray that all the pieces will fall into place.

Thanks for reading.

God Bless.