Ongoro

Today was our last day based at the Dados Hotel in Kisii.  We checked out with a bang. Susie’s shower ended in a rain of sparks as the electric shower head mounted water heater died a brilliant death.  There is nothing scarier than standing under a stream of water and seeing an electric arc come from the shower head, I assure you.  To her credit, she did not curse (I would have) but calmly asked me to ‘turn off the switch, please.’  The heater was fried, and so she finished in coldness.  What a woman.

Ongoro looked really good.  After an orphanage has been open for a few years, this one in 2008, they have a different feel.  The kids know each other very well, the widows know the kids, and you can tell you are coming into the home of a family.  It’s like the difference between teaching a class of students on the first day of school, as opposed to the last.  We toured the place and saw what was new.  The latrine had been replaced; the old one caved in during heavy rains, fortunately while no one was in it, and the posho mill has been relocated to the front gate.  We advised Tobias how moving the fence line a little would allow the public better access to the clinic and posho, hopefully increasing their use and revenue.

We met with the local orphan’s board.  Tobias has done well selecting the members of his board.  There is an area counselor (administrator), members of the land board, a widow, two students, and the director.  They were a sharp group, and they assured us that they are very much involved with the kid’s lives.  They seemed to care a great deal about what happens to them.  They were telling us how proud the community is of this facility and how many people have come to believe that God is real because of the actions of his church.  Isn’t that a great lesson for us? People will believe God is real because of your good works; that should be in the bible, somewhere…

God’s blessings really stand out here.  When you stand in the dark and light a candle, it’s amazingly bright.  When you stand in a lit room and light a candle, it’s harder to know.  That’s why God’s word tells us to light a candle in the darkness so that the whole world can know He is real.

After lunch we set out to meet Thomas at Sondu.  Thomas had purchased some blankets and tarps for us to distribute to the IDP camp orphans and widows we met last week.  We loaded nine bales of blankets and 20 tarps into and onto our crowded LandCruiser and thanked Thomas for his great work.  Tonight we are at the Kunste Hotel in Nakuru.  Tomorrow it’s only a short ride to the IDP camp on our way to Nairobi to do some banking.  The bank wire filled with God’s blessings from all of you great people in the US has arrived and needs to be distributed. 

Ongoro