Kipsenende

I planned this day to be light and easy.  Only one site to visit, our feeding station at  the Kipsenende Church of Christ.  This is another church started by Bernard Kibet, and they really love their kids here.  This church was caring for orphans from their very beginning, and we partnered with them to do even more.  We built a widow’s dorm, dining hall, kitchen and latrine here, and the church just keeps doing more.  They raised money to buy a tea field to raise money for the orphans, and we added to it.  They wanted to expand the site, so they raised some money and we added to that.  Their 70 members have been giving sacrificially so it was only right that we helped them out.

After meeting the kids, we toured the small site and then the various projects.  We walked into the tea field owned by the church and watched the church members picking tea.  Kibet gave us an economics lesson in tea growing and we learned how to pick from the harvesters.  This 1.2 acre plot yields about 400 kgs of tea each weekly harvest and each kg sells for about 20 shillings.  That’s 32,000ksh per month, minus the harvesters share yields a tidy sum for the church.  This field has been in production with the same shrubs since the late 60’s. 

Some of the kids wanted to show us the river, and since we had a short day we walked down with them.  We were all amazed at the beauty of the countryside, and were able to witness a slice of life in this part of the world.  Along the way we met Kenyan long distance runners training on the hills and a woman who had come down to do her laundry in the river.  Kibet showed us the spot where he has baptized many new Christians and Doris stuck her feet into the cool water.  It was very relaxing and I realized how much the Kenyans depend on God through nature to supply their daily needs.  I took a panoramic picture from the tea fields, check it out below:

As we returned to the feeding station, we were ready for lunch and were able to eat it with the kids.  Jeff even joined in washing their hands before we ate.  Afterwards, I met with the church elders while the others played with the kids and Pam honored the widows.  All in all it was a very enjoyable stay.

On the way back to Eldoret , we decided to check out a sign we saw on the road on the way out that directed us 1.5km down a road to see a waterfall.  The road was bad, but when we arrived we found a newly designated tourist site, still under construction, around an amazing set of falls on the Kipkaren river.  The site is called Chipkiit Waterfalls and it was incredibly beautiful.  We explored for a while, taking lots of pictures that you can see below.

3 Oct

So here we sit, in the Hotel Sirikwa for the last time.  Tomorrow we will dirve to Nairobi and prepare for my meetings with the WBS worlers Wednesday through Friday.  Michael and Dorris are staying here an extra day before headed west into Uganda to continue their East African adventure.  Jeff and Pam will spend a day at Made in the Streets, before leaving for the U.S. Thursday night.  Arnold leaves us Wednesday for his home in Ghana.  What an exciting couple of weeks he has had.  I may not blog tomorrow, as I prepare for the meetings.  Be blessed.