Monday morning, we set out for Uriri. The roads in this part of the country are about average, some potholes, speed bumps, and too many mutatu. We made a stop at the Kisac Fair Trade shop, where we like to buy soapstone. KWO also likes to get our trophies for K4K and the Golf Tournament here, so they have that authentic, Kenyan feel. For the golf tournament, I wanted a soapstone golf club head. Seems easy enough, but no one in this area has ever even seen a golf club. I sent pictures ahead by email, but they were not able to decipher them very well. I had planned to carry one with me when I came from the US, but I just clean forgot.
So there I stood, around all these gifted artisans, trying to explain the pictures, when I had a thought. I asked them to bring me a bar of soap and I tried to carve one as an example. Since I am self conscious about my lack of artistic talent, and sensitive to what people speaking a foreign language around me are saying, you can imagine I was not very comfortable in this situation. The bar was too small, so they were going to have to scale it up, but I think it turned out OK.
They were confused by it; not knowing what in the world it could be used for. I tried to explain, but the allure of golf is not for everyone, I guess. They were skeptical that I would like the finished product, I could tell. Fortunately, our old friend Daniel showed up just then. He had foreseen the difficulty, and somehow found the only golf club in Kisii County, I am sure. It was a metal driver, just what I wanted. Now the artisans were really laughing at my “soap” stone carving. “You wanted this, from this?”
All’s well that ends well, I guess. Tuesday morning I got an email with pictures of the trophies completed from Daniel. They look amazing, and I know the tournament winners will be proud to display them. We said our goodbyes and moved on down the road to Uriri.
Uriri is in sugar cane country. Kennedy Chandi is our director here, and Joseph, who everyone just calls “Brother”, ably assists him. We went around the place, seeing what was new. We also sat down with a widow, Chandi, and Brother and did our nutritional calculations. One of the things that surprises me in doing this project is just how different each place handles food. They all cook in the same ways, but the availability of certain foods varies greatly from orphanages just 40 miles apart. It shows how much transportation costs drive food costs in the developing world. Every trip I learn something new, and this one has certainly been an eye-opener.
After dinner, we showed a movie to the kids. This time it was “MegaMind.” They younger ones loved it, but the older ones were a bit bored, I think. However, they all calmly sat through the entire film, quietly enjoying it. It’s fascinating to me how different the character of the orphan population’s can be at each place. Here the discipline is very good and the kids are very well behaved, even with what seems to my eyes to be very relaxed oversight. At other places, the kids are more rambunctious and harder to keep still. I wonder if the difference is the director, some strong widows, or a combination of factors. Hard to tell without staying for months.
We had planned to visit Nana Glasscock Orphanage on Tuesday, but the rains and the condition of the road into that place made it impossible. Chandi said we could drive to within 3km of the place and then put on gumboots and slog our way in on foot. For me, with this perpetually injured foot, that’s just not an option. Next time I will be here in the drier season and we will get to see these kids again.
Instead we stayed an extra day at Uriri. We took some time in the morning to drive into Migori, the commercial center of this area and see that town. I had never been there, since it is past Uriri a little ways. It’s a typical town, bustling with activity. The tobacco industry is also strong here; we passed two factories on our way to Migori. We stopped and had a soda at a hotel here that was surprisingly nice. I could see us taking rooms here for a mission trip to this area for a night or two.
Back at Uriri, there was time to relax and just enjoy the rhythm of the place. The kids are on holiday from school right now so they are all here. They amused themselves in various ways, after their chores were done, of course. The older kids helped the younger ones, the widows were able to rest a bit and I was able to do some work at y computer. Around five, we gathered the kids for a question and answer session. They were slow to get started, but after I got a blackboard and chalk and drew a map of the US, describing the terrain and the location of the cities, they were full of questions. I really enjoyed it; maybe teaching is still in my future?
After dinner we showed another movie, this time, “Ender’s Game.” They were all into this one, eagerly watching the entire film. The power stayed with us the whole time and around 9:30 we went back to Chandi’s house for a late dinner. Tomorrow we will head out to visit Ndhiwa and Alfayo Bodi. Be blessed!
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