Muhoroni

This morning we left Kapsabet behind, but before I move on to Muhoroni, I want to say something more about the Kapsabet area.  Last year we started a new project here, a secondary school.  We had the goal of helping our orphans improve their prospects with a better education, while possibly saving some money on school fees.  It’s a longer-term investment than I had originally hoped in terms of money, but in terms of education, I think it’s really going to pay off.  Three students came up to me individually on this trip to thank me for the new school.  They say it is much better equipped than their previous one and the teachers care a lot more.  When the form four students take their exams this fall we will have some quantitative results to look at, but so far it’s looking pretty good.

The trip down to Muhoroni from Kapsabet took just over an hour, but the change in scenery was dramatic.  Kapsabet is in tea country, highlands that are cool and wet.  Muhoroni is in sugar country, lower and hotter by far.  It’s also quite a bit poorer than the tea country, so the orphan’s needs are greater.  Here they also have no good income generating projects, and the church members are not as well off as up north.  We are building a nice clinic here, with the hope that it will improve our orphans’ health and make some income that they can use to supplement the support that KWO gives.  They have just started the foundation, as you can see in the pictures in the Facebook album on the KWO page 

The kids are still in school here, except for a few primary students, so the place felt a little vacant.  The facility looks good, however.  Thomas Alwala has really taken this place under his wing and done a good job of improving the look and feel of the place.  Healing Hands has helped recently with a drip irrigation farming project, and their little shamba (garden) looks very nice.  We left some boxes of food, again from Healing Hands International and got back on the road to Kericho.

Along the way there was a lot of road construction, and we came upon our first accident scene of this trip.  A 24-wheeled semi-truck rolled over after getting his wheels off the road.  It didn’t look like anyone was hurt, the speeds there are very slow because of the road work.  We made it to Kerich just fine and I thought we were haded for the Tea Hotel, but I found out that Mauryn had booked us at the Sunshine Hotel, a newer place in town.  It lacks the massive gardens of the Tea Hotel, but the rooms are new and nice, it has wifi and we will be trying out the restaurant in a few minutes.

Tomorrow, Londiani!