Birthday the Kenyan Way!

Hello All,
Remember when I wrote a few weeks ago about the lack of water?  Well, we have plenty of it now, but all outside in the yard!  The long rainy season has started and it sure feels like it.  Every afternoon the thunder starts and the rains come in sometimes continuing through the night.  The hospital is occasionally still out of water (and us too) but it is not quite as bad as it was.  Kijabe does not have a good water collection system, but that will hopefully be addressed with the long term water solutions.  The new water project has a line item for rain water collection.  But, we are still seeking grants to fund the project and that will take some time.

I wanted to give you an update on Yvonne.  She is the granddaughter of our house help, Rose.  Her mother died of a brain tumor 2 years ago now and her father was never in the picture.  Many "friends" of Rose have told her to let Yvonne go, meaning to an orphanage, but she just can't do it.  This time last year, we took a collection from you all and Yvonne is now in an excellent school and doing very well.  She is diligent about getting her homework done and she really likes it.  She was number one in her class for term 2 (Sept - Dec).  There are maybe 36 kids in her class (first grade).  That is a lot!  We still have enough money to get her through 2nd grade and maybe into her first term of 3rd grade.  The school year starts in Jan here so we are talking about enough money through about Dec of 2013.  If you would like to help with this fund, please let me know.  Whether you want to donate now or will just plan on it in the future that would be great.  It works out well to send a check to my mother-in-law and she deposits it into our account and we can access it from there.  This school is a life changing event for her.  If left in the government schools, things would be much different. In Integrity school, she will get computer class starting in second grade.  The public high schools don't even have that advantage!   It breaks down to about $36 a month right now for her tuition and sundries.  She had a birthday last week and we had a nice celebration. Thank you all so much for caring about her.  Her life will be different (in a great way!) because of this!

Yvonne has a great smile

Yvonne (left) and some friends

Rose and Yvonne

Sallie taking pictures of herself!

eating stew and rice and chapatis

The neighborhood kids come out of the woodwork when there is a party!

Yvonne gets a gift

Sallie and Yvonne cutting the cake.

Well, we were expecting our CT scanner to arrive yesterday (Friday) but it never came.  We are now told to look for it next Friday.  It is very difficult to know what is going on so we just wait (not very patiently I may add)!  Below are some pictures of our CT Scanner room and the waiting area of the Mother Child Health section.  The floor should be going in today (Saturday).  We got a sheet laminate product that we are hoping will give the room a warmer feeling.  We plan on using some chalkboard paint on one wall so the kids can draw while waiting.  Anyone have some chalk??

waiting room for MCH

CT Scanner room

They started to pour the concrete pad for the second floor of the palliative care building on Friday.  They had some issues with getting enough concrete (they were out getting more bags as the pour was going on), but they did it.  Great job to the crew out there:

There is a beetle here known as the Nairobi Eye.  It is a pesky little thing!  They are prevalent in the damp weather we are having right now and they come into the house because they are attracted to light (especially fluorescent lights which are most of ours).  They are very colorful and are not harmful if left alone.  The problem comes when you crush it on your skin.  Its body fluids are apparently ounce for ounce more toxic then a cobras venom!  When they get on you, you are supposed to blow them off and not try to brush them like you would a mosquito.  As long as they are whole, they don't bite or cause harm.  Here are some pictures of a few:

Jim got it a week or so ago and the marks boiled up and became like burn marks.  Nasty!

Jim and I have problems with waiting as evidenced by him getting into trouble a few times. I too am not immune to this issue!  Just wanted Jim to not feel alone!  Please pray for us as we continue to muddle our way through the issues.  We are moving forward on things but it is hard work to make any progress!  Jim is planning on updating the project page of the blog today sometime, so go to that tab on the top of the page to see what is going on.

Take Care and we will see you next week!

In His Hands,
Jullie T.