Uriri

This morning, Steven and I set out for Uriri.  We stopped at our soapstone friends on the way out of town.  I had a scare because I had locked the keys in the truck, but fortunately, Steven did not know how to lock his door so we were saved!  This was the easiest drive I have had.  It was a pretty good paved (they say tarmac) road almost all of the way, and the dirt road was not bad.

We toured the place and saw all that Kenedy has been working on.  The new girls dorm, built to ease overcrowding is coming along nicely.  It was good to see it in place, near the widows dorm and the first girls dorm.  When we added orphans to this place the girls were very small.  Now that they have grown, they needed the extra space.  Kenedy as almost 100 people here, so they needed it badly.

We saw all of his profit making ventures, including the fish farm, brick making operation, (they are using their own bricks on the girls dorm) and the cane crusher.  The lorry is out on a job.  Kenedy is keen to make improvements and he loves new projects to make money.  He has a real nose for it.  But by far the biggest improvement is in the kitchen. 

Kenedy’s improved flue system for his stoves is working very well.  I watched the widows cook lunch for half an hour and there was hardly any smoke in the place.  I watched the widows cook ugali, and the little dagga fish that they like and it was very enlightening.  I had always thought that cooking ugali took a long time, but really it is very quick.  The longest part is boiling the water, after that it’s just left to add the maize flour to make a thick mass.

Later, during our conversation with the widows, the ladies were all very happy with the improvements.  They only asked if there was any way to speed the cooking process.  I asked them if any of them had ever cooked with gas, and three said they had.  I asked them if they were afraid of it, and they all said no.  We agreed to try a pilot project here to try a propane cooker for them.  They were very happy to try.

We attempted this at another orphanage a couple of years ago and found there that the widows were afraid of the gas and did not want to try it.  This is another example of how having the extra time to have an extended conversation with the widows has paid off.  On a normal visit, there would be little time to discuss such possibilities, but we are staying here tonight so we have time to chat.

This evening we had evening fellowship with the orphans, another great time of singing and teaching.  I’m enjoying getting to do these mini-sermons for the kids, yet another unknown passion that I have discovered.  Weird how things work out…

Uriri