We have told you before how difficult it is here when so many people ask you for help. Jim and I have come up with one little way: We have many ladies that come to the door selling food items (tortillas, samosas (a little meat pie), english muffins, egg rolls) that we have decided to buy what we can and then we give it to the others that come to ask for food. That way we can support the ladies who are making a living selling food and can support the people that need it. It is very inexpensive to buy and we feel we can give it away. People here live on about $2-4 per day. It is amazing. Their rent is usually about $26-30 per month. That would be an apartment with no water and maybe no electricity. One of the doctors told us that even a head neurological nurse that he works with makes only about $120 per month. Many things are in perspective, like rent and some fresh foods, but many things are expensive even to us.
We finally got our diplomas! They were made in Auburn, then sent to Michigan, then sent via DHL to Nairobi. I will not frustrate you with all the details, but they were held up in customs for 2 weeks and we got them yesterday. Lesson learned: If you send anything, it should be $49 or less, the normal postal system should work pretty well as long as it is in an envelope (big or small) and somewhat flat (small boxes should be OK also, but we have heard that envelopes hardly ever have a problem) and make sure everything is listed on the customs form with the prices. They say it takes about 2 weeks for things to arrive in our box. Our address is listed above in the contacts tab. Now we will be moving forward with our applications for work permits. It should take 3-6 months. Our current tourist visas expire on April 26th but we can renew for 3 more months. We just have to pray that we will get our permits before July 26th!
Sallie bought a drum from a Masi lady the other day. She was so proud of it. She spent a whole $3 on it!
Here is a picture:
1. We now have permission to work in ernest on the septic system - Yea! It's a poppy job but someone has to do it!
2. The new CT scan room and Pathology remodel is coming along. We are still in the design phase but we are zooming in on it.
3. The MCH (Mother and Child healthcare) has moved up on the priority list. This is a new building very close to the CT scan/pathology area. We have a design as of this morning (Russ you are amazing!) and will get that going soon.
4. The repairs on our building are getting there. The water system was not built correctly (cross connects everywhere!) so they are completing those with Jim's help.
5. We should have figures back from the 3 prospective Architects tomorrow. So, this week will be the difficult job of chosing one to build the new children's wing!
The kids get out of school next Friday for the month of April. Not sure what I am going to do with them for all that time! They will start term 3 at the end of April and go through the middle of July. They make the breaks bigger because it fits with the Kenyan system and also many of these kids board here so they have to travel long distances to get to their families. We thought about going to Mombasa on the Indian Ocean, but will probably wait on that trip till Aug.
Hope things are well with you and your families. Please email when you can.
jimjulliet@AHC123.com
In HIs Hands,
Jullie T.
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