Culture, Thoughts and Reflections...

It has been a busy couple of weeks, with much to do to finish the Neema school. The realization that time for this stay is running out, has caused a lot of reflections and realizations. This project which I had originally thought would be simple and completed in a few months time, turned out to be a much larger challenge taking much more time then i had anticipated. This is Africa and I know that the only thing that can be planned is that things will not go as planned.
A few weeks ago the acting foreman said that he would be leaving to get rich doing work for the government in Nairobi. Since he left about two weeks have gone by, and I have been learning from the other guys at the site why this was a more challenging project then I thought that it would be. The foreman had been taking the instructions that I had given him and then told the guys to do things different. He would then play the workers against me and vice versa.
Unfortunately do to the culture here fear is always present in a Kenyans life, which is one of the reasons that corruption is able to run rampant. Everyone is in fear, if it is a fear of confrontation or just the fear of a person in authority.  This fear is instilled in a Kenyans life at a very young age, if it doesn't start at home then it starts when the child goes to school.  In school children can be cained for the most ridiculous reasons, such as having a scuffed shoe, or messy hair. As i have come to understand it doesn't matter if its a public or private school, instead of right or wrong all that I have seen being taught is fear and memorization.
This is the reason that the men i work with never came to tell me of any problems, they were afraid of the foreman, who had warned them not to talk to me. From the beginning of the project I had told the guys that this project was for them and their community. To give them work and for them to be a part of building a school that would help girls from their village to be able to learn skills and how to use that new skill to provide for themselves and their families.
All things aside things have been getting accomplished. The floors have now been finished, the electrical work was completed on Friday, ceiling boards have been finished in the offices, and the interior door has been hung although its door handle still needs to be fitted. Next week most of the painting should be under way and if things go well the fascia boards will be started.
The ground has been broken for the dorm which I am really hoping to be able to get a roof and slab completed for before my visa expires in just less then a month. I know that its not possible for me to finish on my own or even with the help of my Kenyan team but I know that all things are possible through God whom gives us strength. It has started to cross my mind to get a ticket to Ethiopia just to stay there for a few days so that I would then legally be allowed to enter back into Kenya and get a new visa in order to finish what has been started.
The perception here is that "mzungu's," which is the Swahili word for European or white person, just have unlimited money, they all live in mansions and drive fancy cars, and never have to work. Of course this stereotype that has come from what is seen in movies. To a lot of Kenyans its like a free pass to raise the price of goods or services for the mzungu. Sometimes its understandable and within reason and other times it blatant robbery, so while here its best to always be aware. The other place that this type of mentality has reached the people here is that missionaries come here and without establishing a relationship with a group or a person give to them financially. Which is thought to be a good and noble deed, but often it is done out of guilt to get a street beggar to leave them alone. The financial gift only reinforces their behavior of begging and not working, which really just robs them of their self worth. They get the mentality that they don't need to do anything because someone will come along and give whatever is demanded of them, but this will only meet the short term need without ever solving the problem.
Amos lives close to where I am staying and I would often to see him on my walk home. We have had many conversations but an interesting conversation came up one day, after he found out that I wasn't getting paid for the work I was doing and that I was doing it to help the community. He told me that there were some pastors in a church that he was a member of (not at the church that he is part of now) that would take pictures of children in the congregation and say that they were orphans in need of sponsoring, then take that money that came from abroad for themselves. He wanted to know how we could still be doing missions when there are people like that taking advantage of the generosity of people and churches. I told him that I have found it very important to build relationships with the people or group, otherwise it could very well be a scam like the one his former pastor ran. Criminals always take advantage of peoples mercy, weakness or ignorance.
One day I met a kid in town while getting passport photos to extend my visa his name was George. He asked me if I was new to town and if I would buy him some chi, and give him some money. I told him that I wasn't new that I had been in town for a few months. After I had gotten my photos I walked and talked with George. He told me his parents had died and that he was living on the streets. I asked if he went to school at Oasis, which is a free school for street kids. He said he didn't because when he went the kids would beat him and take his money. This seemed odd to me because he speaks really good English, or English really well, maybe better then me. Anyway later on that night or maybe the next as a group of us were walking Shawn and Meredeth home I heard George yelling, when I asked if that was him he shouted F* you. The next time I had to go into in town to get some things from the hardware I bumped into George again, I confronted him about living in Milimani which is a really nice part of town to live in, and a look of shame crossed his face but he wouldn't answer the question. I told him that he had a filthy mouth, and that I was disappointed with him. He continued to walk with me saying that I had promised him that I would by him chi. So I asked him if he went to school, he wanted to know if he could tell me the truth. I simply responded that it would be great if he was capable of it. With a smile he said yeah I go to school but we are on break now and I do live with my parents. He then told me that he was going to go bath in the river. I didn't see him after that my guess is that he goes to a private boarding school, and comes from a family that is very well off here. Yet he puts on some ratty clothes to go into town to get some extra spending money because it is very easy. This is just one example of why it is important to build a relationship with those that are asking of handouts.
On the flip-side in the time that I have been here I have found that there are a number of organizations and people that are doing great things. They have a needs for expansion, or just help with some maintenance but don't have the time to make sure that things are being done right, and honestly. Construction here is a problem, there have been numerous buildings that have collapsed in Nairobi, even here in Kitale there was a school that crumbled. I hearing the Lord say “who will go?”
Here I am Lord, but will I stay? I know that if it cant be worked out to stay now if its in Gods will I would like to return very soon, to finish what has been started and continue to follow the needs of the widows and orphans, and to live the life that God calls us to. Glory and praise belong to God!

Plaster

Sorry for the length of time since the last update.  The progress has been continuing but not all that visual over the past two weeks, while bricking up the gables but inside and out and filling the gaps between the trusses.  This week the interior walls have finished being plastered and are ready for paint!

Offices

Classroom back wall

Front wall

Fascia  boards have started to be primed today by a few of the TI interns and will be ready to go up soon.

We are looking forward to getting the classrooms finished so that the girls can start using the facility.  As this project is coming to a finish I can see God starting to turn the wheels on the next project which is the dorms that will be attached to these class rooms to house the girls.

The Roof is Up and On!

The last few weeks have been long and frustrating.  The communication barrier has been more of a challenge this year then it was last, and one of the biggest challenges of the past few weeks. The most frustrating thing to deal with, is one day having a conversation with someone whom understand sand speaks perfect English. Then the next day they no longer know how to speak or understand a thing being said to them.  To me it seems like a case of selective linguistics.   All things considered the progress is moving along and the project will soon be complete far above most standards here, and there will be new class rooms to teach a larger group of girls important skills to improve their lives.

Standing trusses

setting perlins

roofing!

The last piece of ridging in place!

The electrical conduit and boxes have been put into place, all the window glasses have been cut and are on site. All that remains is to plaster, pour floor slabs, put up fascia boards, install window panes, do electrical wiring, and hopefully Paint.

Ringbeam

Upward

Last week the pace slowed down a bit without the extra help from the team, and lost time due to rainy weather.  The brick work reached ring beam height by end of the week.

This week the focus was on forms for the columns and getting the concrete poured into them. We lost a day of work this week due to the truck that was going to deliver gravel Friday broke down with troubles to the gear box, and was still not fixed by Monday. Tried to get another truck to deliver by Tuesday but this is Africa, the guys were given the day off.  The delivery didn't make it till well after three and wasn't unloaded till about six because it got stuck, not surprising.

The columns were all poured and ring beam forms have been started.

Community

Its been a great week with the team from Providence church in Pennsylvania staying on the TI compound. They were working with the Neema and Shimo girls, and helping with the construction of the new classrooms which they had done the fund raising for. Thanks to the extra help that came from the team all the windows have been set and the walls are almost up to the ring beam. The lumber for the trusses is now on site and they will start to be made soon.

Its unbelievable how close the relationships with people can become in such a short time when living in a close community. Sharing devotions in the morning, experiences of the day in the evening and all the laughs while breaking bread together. I see this type of community working as the body of Christ, so much more then the institutional church that we are all familiar with, the ones that are attended once a week for about an hour. I think that the when the early church developed it would have interacted in a similar manner, which we see when reading Acts. In a discussion today it was mentioned that there could be a much larger link between the relationship that we have with one-another and the relationship that we have with God then we usually give thought to. Jesus taught that we should love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

Honestly I'm a person that enjoys being alone in quiet, or just in small groups, but am learning that in a proper community the size of the group to some extent doesn't seem to matter. Its amazing that after just a short amount of time together with this larger group that the goodbye was still like having a part of the body being ripped from the flesh. This is something that I had experienced last year while here and there were teams that came and left every other week. Although it was made a little easier knowing that there was a new team that would be substituted for the one that was leaving.

Today the PA team headed back to Nairobi, and after an overnight there and a short safari tomorrow they will be flying back Stateside. There they will face the the struggle of being away from the community that had become more like home then home in some ways. Another challenge that they might be faced with when arriving back in the states is reverse culture shock. Something I have struggled with for years and am not sure that I will ever be able to wrap my head around, is how it is possible for people that are just barely surviving with minimal subsistence are still able to be so full of joy and happiness, while people who have been given everything they wanted from the time they were children so miserable and depressed? Sometimes I feel as Americans we can become so caught up in trying to achieve the so called American dream that we become enslaved to our possessions, status and things we think we are entitled to that we lose site of whats actually important. I know that this was something that I had struggled with for most of my life and in some cases still do.

Moving Forward

 

Another week and things have finally started moving at a better pace. The water lines were fixed on Saturday although when we arrived on Monday the water tank on the tower wasn't filled so water pressure was low and it took a long time to keep up with the demand of the house and construction.

The doors were made over the weekend and were ready to pickup on Tuesday. It was interesting leaving the site during the day going to town, finding a pickup truck to carry the doors back to the site. I was lucky enough to pick the most decrepit one around, it had a column shift that could barley make it into reverse. Whenever it had been shifted into third gear it would just slow down as if it was being choked out. It was hard not to chuckle at how ridiculous this vehicle was, but after about twice as long as it should of taken to get to the site and with a stop at three different gas stations along the way but the doors finally made it.

All the interior elevations were leveled out after two days of jembe work wheeling it from the high end to the low. Now the floor slab now has a good level base and be ready to go. Also worked on some landscaping to help the water flow away and around the building and not back toward it. Which was good because Thursday we got about three inches of rain in one hour and it was handled pretty well and it helped pack down all the soil, and even made some quicksand, but gave a good trial run to see how the rain water would be flowing.

 

Friday the team from Pennsylvania came to the site, they are also staying at TI, and will be helping out for the next week.

Monday was a day of great accomplishment with the six from PA things really got moving. I had the local masons start the morning preparing corners so that when the team got to the site they could fill in between. The doors were set after lunch and I headed to town to pick up the windows which were done and ready on Friday if I could of made it to pick them up, but with the new team working they needed the proper training before left alone.