Chesyliot and Londiani

Last night was our last at the Tea Hotel for this trip.  We had a great stay there this time, with the exception of some questionable internet access.  We rely on the cellular network here for internet, which is usually very good.  We almost always have good cell signal, but the internet connection behind it is sometimes slow to the point of unusable.  When we change cities, it changes.  Kisii was very bad this trip, Eldoret was excellent.  It’s important for Susie and I not only for the blog and pictures, but so Susie can work from here.  Her employer is very patient with her Kenya travel as long as she can work from the road.  But I digress in to my inner geek-ness.

We made the long, painful drive out of Kericho, again enduring the hour long “diversion” on the highway east of Kericho.  Almost every road we have been on is under some kind of construction, and this is a major overhaul.  It’s well overdue, but their technique for detours leaves a lot to be desired. 

We stopped first at Chesyliot Feeding Station, under the care of Richard Koech.  This is a well-run site, with very friendly people and a caring church.  Many of the kids were taking mid-term exams today so they were missing, but it was good to see the widows and little ones.  We walked down to the rented shamba (farm) about 200meters away and saw the good crop of maize that will be ready for harvesting soon.  Richard says they will probably get about 25 sacks of maize from this harvest.  Their site also has two cows, and several goats.  The ladies of the church there presented Charlene and Susie with gifts, and we headed down the (under construction) road to Londiani.

I first saw the Londiani site on the fall of 2008, my very first trip to Kenya.  John was scouting the site for an orphanage and I was trying to wrap my head around everything I was seeing.  I took a picture here on that trip of the kids all standing on the ridgeline that has become very special to many of us involved with the work.  You can see the outlines of it on the KWO website at www.kwoministries.org

The place looked really good, as always.  We met the local church members and also a couple of workers from a nearby flower farm.  Flowers are a major export for Kenya and this area has several farms.  The workers at Finley Farms are part of the fair-trade alliance and so they get a higher wage in the form of premiums paid monthly.  A portion of the premiums are set aside for local community improvement projects and they adopted our orphanage here as their project this year.  They have been bringing them 20 liters of milk a month and last month they surprised them with clothes, shoes, matrasses and blankets.  They are really nice people.

We toured the site, seeing where the orphans and widows live and work.  There were some nice improvements and the place was pretty clean.  They fed us a vast spread for lunch in David’s house, which is right on the site.  I addressed their church and we took a few snaps.  All in all, a very normal visit.  We took some great pics here, both of the kids and the terrain.  Londiani is easily the most picturesque of all of our sites.  Here is a panorama of what you see standing on the ridgeline about 20 meters from the orphanage.

On the way out, we stopped and saw the rented farm that David has, and then returned to the long road to Nakuru and the Kunste Hotel.  This hotel is kind of nice, but the rooms are very small.  We can do anything for one night, though.  Tomorrow we are off to the IDP camp and pour last full day in Kenya.  Pics below:

11 Oct