Lala Salama - launching the 100 Quilts Project

Lala Salama – launching our 100 quilts project! (22/10/13)

Hello All,

I have copied the blog of my friend Mardi Steere below as she said it beautifully!  We are launching this quilting project - read on and sign up if you are a quilter!

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

Me and Jullie, eMi engineer helping Bethany Kids

As many of you know, construction is underway on our new pediatric wing at the hospital.  Bethany Kids is an organisation that provides the support for all of our pediatric surgical work at the hospital, and our pediatric team couldn't do what we do without them – and now they are building this lovely new wing so we can provide better care for more kids in Kenya.

Bricks and mortar take a lot of planning, design and fundraising, so the interior design hadn't been a priority until recently.  The budget for donated buildings is always incredibly tight, and spending money on an interior design consultant is a luxury that is rarely afforded.  Enter:  Amanda Webster, a dear friend of ours in Florida who happens to be an award-winning interior designer.  She graciously and prayerfully donated her time, asking herself the question:  what kind of theme would fit a place committed to serving the sick and the vulnerable?

And what she came back with is this:  a river of life – teals flowing gently through the entry, halls and nursing stations, to islands of calming greens in the patient bays.  And then Jullie, our engineer with Engineering Ministries International, came up with a lovely idea:  Quilts.  Made by friends and supporters all over the world.  Each quilt in a green palette, with an individual design and character.   Lala salama – literally peaceful sleep, or sweet dreams – for the kids and the mums who share their beds during their stay.  And the Bethany kids team here in Kijabe have wholeheartedly approved the concept – and so now we can make this sweet dream a reality!

If you are a quilter and this resonates with you, we’d be so grateful for your participation in this project of hope.  Here are the specifications!

1. The theme for the wards is “Islands of Hope.” We want to create a feeling of comfort, encouragement and hope in the wards with these quilts.
2. Colors: The color palette is greens and taupes (see the sample below and paint chip details). Please stay away from reds, oranges and pinks. Teal can be used for accents as that is the theme in the common areas that are just outside of each of the wards (see the sample below). Whites should not be used as they may stain easily.
Our green palette is based on the following Benjamine Moore Colors:
Baby fern 2029-20
rosemary green 2029-30
stem green 2029-40
potpourri green 2029-50
pale vista 2029-60
frosty lime 2029-70

Subtle teal accents should be based on the following Sherwin Williams Colors:
Maxi teal SW 6769
Gulf stream SW 6768
Aquarium SW 6767
Mariner SW 6766
Spa SW 6765
Swimming SW 6764

3. Quilt Pattern: Any! This is to be a self expression, so please feel free to do what you please.
4. Fabric Prints: Please be sure not to use anything that may have bugs (even cartoon ones) or other such prints that may scare a child – remember, these are sick, often anxious children who may be far from home. Animals, birds, flowers and butterflies are all OK.
5. Pre Washing: Please pre wash the fabrics to prevent over shrinkage.
6. Fabric Material: Please use 100% cotton for the tops and backs. Fleece can also be used.
7. Batting: Please use 100% cotton as this is easiest to keep clean in a hospital setting. Pre washing is desired so that shrinkage is not an issue. These quilts will be washed a lot! And, it does get cold in Kijabe and there is no central heating.
8. Size: The quilts should be 150 – 165cm (60 – 65inches) by 200 – 210cm (79 – 83inches)
9. Label: Please include a label on the back that says who made it, where it was made and the date (at a minimum). You can also include a scripture or other encouragement.
10. Completion date: We would like to have the quilts by April of 2014. They can be sent by a variety of means. They can be mailed directly to Kijabe Hospital or can be mailed to the BKCC Boards in the United States, Canada or England. If not shipped directly to Kijabe, they will be delivered to someone traveling there soon to be hand carried (see addresses below).

Does that sound like something you’d want to be a part of?  If so, sign up at www.100quilts.blogspot.com 
You can follow all the progress at www.facebook.com/lalasalama100quilts or www.100quilts.blogspot.com – and please, upload pics of what you are doing to inspire us and everyone else who’s quilting!

Please accept our heartfelt thanks for your time and passion for helping us help sick children. We are so excited to be able to tap into the skills of so many wonderful people to contribute to the beauty of this special place.

- M.

_____________________________________

You can read more about Bethany Kids at their website: http://www.bethanykids.org/ You can see the children’s center if you go to “Our Work” then scroll down to “BethanyKids Children’s Centre”.

Finished quilts can be sent to one of the following addresses (if at all possible, we’d prefer straight to Kenya):

Bethany Kids Children’s Center
100 Quilts Project
c/o Justus Marete
PO Box 61
Kijabe, Kenya 00220
(Please note: duty will be paid on the dollar amount given on the customs form. Please value each item at <$20 and in the description put “donated bedding”).

Bethany Kids USA
100 Quilts project
c/o Teresa Davis
PO Box 1297,
Abingdon, VA 24212-1297, USA

Bethany Kids Canada,
100 Quilts project
c/o Ivan Stewart
PO Box 1202,
Kingston, ON K7L 4Y8

Bethany Kids UK
100 Quilts project
c/o Colin Stewart
44a High Street,
Sevenoaks, Kent TN13 1JG

The Masai Mara

Hello All,
We had a wonderful short trip to the Mara over this last Mid Term week end.  Traveling here is not a given.  It is always an adventure!  The roads were pretty bad, the bathroom stop pretty sketchy, and the dust plentiful, but we made it to a beautiful place along a river to stay and renew and refresh.  It was a tented camp but the tents were not like the ones you think about when you go camping!  They had a bathroom on the back side, large beds, and a porch off the front.  It was great.  The kids swam during the day and we went on game drives early in the morning and late in the evening.  The hours you can be out driving are from 6:30am to 6:30pm since those are when the sun is up. You want to go early and late because the rest of the day is so hot all you see is animals laying around in the shade of a tree. Sallie and I even got up at 5:30 one day to go watch the hot air balloons take off at 6:00!  She is now saving up her money to go for a ride.  The Mara is like no other place.  It is an expanse with clear skies and plenty of wildlife.  I am going to throw on a bunch of pictures here.  Just scroll down and enjoy what we saw:

Sallie and Timothy

Sallie and Jim

Trevor playing on the porch

beautiful cheetah

Hyena

saw Mom and two cubs eating

Beautiful!

Sunset over the Mara

Just after sunset from our porch

You call this a tent?

Sallie with a long gone buffalo

Bee Eaters

Impalla

The Sky was amazing

We love Zebras

Crested Cranes all together

Great picnic spot near the crocs

Enjoying the ride

Big Croc!

What you do during the heat of the day

Zebra Butts - love this one!

Guinea Fowl

Lizard

Jim and driver John with the termite mound

River crossing with the hippos nearby

Sallie took this one

Old Buffalo

The Masai wear red

Janet Cat

Cerval cat

Balloons at sunrise

Wart hogs and babies (this is the only time they are cute!)

Jim took this one

Sunset on an different night

We had such a great time and just thank God for the provision!

Spiritual Emphasis Week (SEW) is going on up at RVA right now.  They have an outside speaker and band come for a week to give talks with the kids.  The speaker this year is Bay Forrest.  He is an ex pro basketball player and he has a wonderful way of reaching the kids.  We were talking about how you hear the voice of God.  John 16:13 says, "But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."
NIV
This is something that took me a long time to grasp.  When you walk with Him you are never alone.  The spirit is with you always to guide you.  Sometimes we see the future as daunting.  We want to see how it will all turn out.  We have so much fear that we can't move forward until we know the end game.  God calls us to follow Him and do His work even if we can't make sense of it all.  John 13:12 says, "I have much more to say to you, more than you can now bear."  
NIV
We may not know the outcome, but we need to trust in the spirit to guide us "while we are on the journey."  To me this means doing what He is calling me to do today.  I can't know the future, but as long as I am obedient today, I will be OK.

BKCC project:  The ground floor slab is being poured this week!  This is a huge milestone.  The contractor is moving along with the new Program of Works (schedule) and is really making a effort to stick with it.  We hope to be able to walk from the front to the back on a slab in a few days!

The RVA Arts center:  Things are moving along with this one too.  We should be pouring our lower ground floor slab next week.  I have been having fun using ArchiCad to place all of the equipment and furnishings so that we know where to run electricity and other things.  

Upendo Village:  This project is going along at lightning speed.  They have the second floor poured and the columns up there complete.  We should be seeing walls soon.

The Elementary school librarian passed away last week.  He was a young man in his twenties.  We hear that during his last week he was saying, "Mungu ni njema"  "God is good."  His kidneys failed and it was very tragic.  He was the oldest of 12 in his family and had gotten an education and a good job.  He was the bread winner for them and his parents are very distraught.  Also, as the whole community was at his funeral, Rose's mother had her house broken into and everything was taken.  Please pray for this man's family and also for Rose's family as they try and regain some clothing and household items.  

There are so many other smaller things going on:  SHAK remodel, Sorley's house and problems after moving in, Multi Cultural day and the events going on, Senior Store next week, Benson and Rose's house design, an old friend in town for just 2 weeks, SEW all this week.  Life sure keeps us running here for sure!  Please pray for us that we will have stamina and can manage all that has been put before us!

In His Hands,
Jullie T.

PS - Senior Store is next week so I may be late with my post

Listening to that small inner voice

Hello All,
We have passed through another week, and all is well here. The angst over the terrorist attack is getting better.  I was in town twice this week and the traffic and confusion is as much as ever!  

RVA Projects:  I went with a co worker this week to the other side of Nairobi to see a brick paver making vibrator machine.  It is something we are looking at so that we can make our own pavers to do the parking lots and maybe the roads up at the school.  We needed to go and see it and talk to the sales guys because you just can't get on the phone and get questions answered.  It is quite an anomaly about living here.  So, off we go as early as possible to do this one thing and by the time we get back it is about 3:00 and the day is almost done.  Here are some pictures of what we found:

2 Brick maker

16 Brick maker

bricks - different patterns

Maybe by the time we leave, we will have a parking lot paved??

Sorry I was late today getting this posted.  It was another "have to do one thing in Nairobi, so we are gone all day" kind of thing.  But this time it was for glasses for Trevor.  When we were home this summer, Trevor's glasses broke the first week we were there (way back in July).  We finally got a chance to spend a day and get them replaced.  There is an Indian optometrist in the city that we like to use.  And, we got there early enough that he was able to send them to the lab and get them back about 4 hours later!  Bonus!  So, we wasted some time in traffic and got some errands done and Trevor has new glasses:

looking good!

We went out to our project in Naivasha this week.  The meeting was a bit tense about some issues, but I think we are going to move through that.  These meetings are notorious for being long, but they feed us before hand and these nuns really know how to cook!  We always enjoy the food there.

The crew at the site

Sister Florence looking great

Looking at the columns

I am in a Bible Study with some great ladies.  We are studying "Discerning the Voice of God" by Priscilla Shirer.  Ephesians 1:13-14 says, "When you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation - in Him when you believed - were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.  He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory."  Hearing the small inner voice of the Holy Spirit can be difficult at best.  We get in our own way.  Our conscience comes in, as well as our past as well as our fears.  The Holy Spirit is the 3rd part of the triune God that we have received.  It is truly comforting to know that that Spirit is with us.  The power of God actually lives within us with this gift. That is amazing.  The hard part is giving it all to Him and letting Him guide us through the trials.  He gave us this Holy Spirit because He knew we couldn't do it alone.  But, the key is to obey when He talks.  This is the hard part.  When we trust in Him, the Holy Spirit begins to come in and change the soul (mind, will and emotions).  This may be part of why moving to a country like Kenya was not such a daunting thing for us. He had changed our hearts and minds to want to do this.  It is very comforting to know that God loves us so much that He is willing to give us the desires of our heart which will match the desires of His heart (hopefully)!

We were able to bring back a few inexpensive computers this time and give them to some friends.  Below is a picture of pastor's kids receiving theirs.  They were so excited as were we to be able to do this for them!  

BKCC wing:  They are still with this contractor - Thank God!  But things are still rocky at best.  But, one bright spot, another missionary and I are looking at the interior design (colors) and have moved on an idea.  We have a pallett that may work (I will tell later when it is approved) and we are thinking that we will commission quilters around the world to help this be a welcoming place for these sick children.  Once we have the scheme, we will put together a specification sheet and hand it to as many quilters who are willing to make one!  That should make each ward unique but we will tie it all together with these similar colors.  Tune in a bit later for more information, but get your machines ready and pass the word!

Hope you have a great week.  We are heading to the Maasai Mara next week end, so I will not post next Saturday, but the following Saturday you should see some amazing pictures!  We have never been there and we hope to catch the last of the Wilde beast migration.

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

PS - Here is a picture of our new missionary dog Calvin - poor thing - it took him quite a while to figure out where his new home is!