Blog 9 I hope ...

BLOG 9 16th Feb.




Fantastic ! I slept for eight undisturbed hours of sleep last night. It has made all the difference.



This morning, to the workshop. Evans is learning how to make joints. It is obvious more tools are needed. Evans was trying to cut slots before chiselling them out, using a very blunt and bent Chinese tenon saw. The quality of Chinese tools is dreadful compared to British ones. They have Stanley planes in the workshop, and obviously know how to sharpen them properly. I think the men helping with the school desks are impressed that I, a mere woman, knows how to use a plane and saws and chisels and how to sharpen them properly ! I tell them my father was a carpenter and he taught me well !



Fish eagles calling over by the lake … I must walk down there one morning before I leave.



Paul and I walked up to the main road, and took a matatu into town. A matatu is a taxi which has seats for 8 plus the driver … I counted 12 people and assorted babies ! 'Always room for one more' in a matatu ! We walked from the bus park into the main part of town (boy, was it hot and I didn't have my hat) … and went to the bank. I have had money from HATW locked in my room for days, and wanted to get it in the PALUOC bank account, so we paid it in, and I got a receipt to take back with me to the office at home.



Then to the Guardian coach office to book my bus back to Nairobi next week. Then back to the market area to try and find where the buses to Eldoret go from … I need to get the Whispers Coach on Monday; 3 ½ hour trip, cost 400 K.Sh. I'm staying the night with Norma, a lady I met in Nairobi who knows MamaPat. A bit more walking, sun beating down, until we found another matatu to drop me at Mega City, and Paul back at the workshop.



After lunch (lemon chicken, chappati's, chips and vegetable stew, with pears and choc pud to follow … diet time as soon as I get home … I met up with Joan to talk with Mary, a local child counsellor.



There are at present 12 trained counsellors working with children out of Pandipieri, mostly children who have lost one or both parents, or whose parents are dying. The counsellors help the children and remaining (or dying) parents to make a memory book for the child, so that they will know about their parents and background before or soon after they are orphaned, so that family memories are preserved. Counselling is often carried out with the help of puppets. Many grandmothers are getting help too, because they are often bereaved themselves when a son or daughter dies, and they are left to look after one or more usually, several orphans, just when they thought their days of child rearing were over.



That little bit of rain we had on Sunday has brought out flowers in the guest house garden. There are pink lilies, one to a stem, and a sort of red amaryllis, with multiple flowers to a stem. Its amazing how quickly they respond to a little water.



Later … just back from a meeting of the trustees of PALUOC. Paul arranged for me to be collected at 4.30 and taken to the venue … and by five, no-one had come ! African time … yay ! So I called him and he said 5.15 … so I sat outside and did two sudoku while waiting … five to six a tuk-tuk arrived ! We held the meeting in the Public Services Club … which was a sort of pub but we had a room to ourselves, and ordered cokes and so on. One of the trustees was Josephine, a lovely lady who taught dress-making (and Lucy's sister) I had got to know last year. Big hugs !



Instinct told me this should be a Christian meeting, and I was right … we started with a Bible reading about it being OK to have faith but being wrong by not doing deeds to back up that faith. Then we had a prayer … and started the meeting. I think it set the right tone … in fact, I'm sure it did. I started by telling the group how HATW is suffering the recession just as businesses around the world are, and that we have had to lay off two people and take on unpaid volunteers instead. I explained the huge amount of work that we do into researching and appealing to charitable trusts, often with no response. I think it made them realise that Europeans aren't a bottomless well of money for Africa ! So then we went on to discuss 'accountability' and how reporting slow, steady progress back to HATW will increase the chances of us getting them funding.



They explained their most urgent needs for the project … work benches and tool boxes and lockable tool store. Paul now has enough money for this I think. I emphasised that the workshop must look tidy and efficient for possible local sponsors to visit and for them to feel this is a project worth supporting. I might buy them a broom so they can sweep up every day !



I also tackled the question of trying to get money from the Lions Club; last year Mr B. said he could help with some funding if Paul could match it … BUT the usual thing; they would need paperwork. Here the problem is that Africans and Asians don't mix socially, and Africans just don't deal with Asians, and Asians tend to look down on Africans. The same thing just doesn't happen any more with the African/European mix … With the money Paul now has banked today, he ought to be able to go to see Mr B. of the Lions, and show him he has match funding ready … its up to the team here for now.



The group walked me home through the dark streets of Milimani, for which I was grateful. Being on the street and hearing a lion roaring close by is a little un-nerving !