The Grass is Getting Greener

Jan 31st, 2009 – Literally the grass is getting greener. Since our return from Uganda it has rained nearly every day. I noticed today as I strolled to the outhouse how green our yard looked. The dying grass was recovering to a nice shade of green and little green clover like weeds were beginning to spring up. It made me smile.

I wish I could say everything else is ‘greening’ up, but that would be misleading. No, an outright lie. However, the Polytechnic is moving forward, slowly maybe some green is about to sprout. Last I left you we were going to have the first meeting in like 2-1/2 weeks. They had the chance to make uniforms for another school and make a little extra money for the Polytechnic. We met and actually had 2 committee members present. Father Charles and the Manager also attended. It was pouring rain outside, the first big rain we had witness since getting to Mbita. We moved the meeting inside the church and due to the noise of the rain on the metal roof, had to find a secluded corner to hold it. We strategically arranged the benches as to not get dripped on.

Fr C and Manager John presented the idea of making the uniforms. It was decided to do it, only after securing a firm tender from the school and determining the quantity and number that needed to be made. Fr C called and found out that due to them procrastinating and not doing anything for two weeks they had gone else where to get the uniforms.

It was decided to go ahead and purchase the sewing machines anyway and start the Tailoring and Dressmaking course anyway. After the meeting John and I discussed the possibility of buying a few masonry and carpentry tools to start those courses also. So as they were going to the bank to get funds for John to go to Kisii to purchase the machines, we told the idea to Fr C, who thought it was okay and they took out enough funds to acquire a few small tools. No word on when these other courses are planned to be started. John acquired the machines, not the best on the market, but adequate to start. I’ll have to go on Monday to see the kind of receipts he got and make sure it is all documented.

During the process of seeing if we could make the uniforms we discovered that Millicent, the lady selected to be our Dressmaking and Tailoring instructor could not sew trousers. So we had to reconsider. John called four applicants back and using a borrowed machine had each prepare a pair of long pants. Millicent never even started and said she needed 3 days to do it. Two of them, one female and one male, made both trousers and skirts, all in a couple hours time. Both did a very good job. The other two were marginal, with one of them continuously asking the others what to do next. We selected the female, one because she was female and we felt we needed a female on staff as all the other instructors are male. She also had teaching experience.

Breakfast break ……

Found out after breakfast that we will have two or three guests for lunch. They are the owners of the store we frequent regularly. A couple of our kids have also had lunch at their home. The owners have requested that Fr C ask us to pay for their daughter’s college fees. He told them no, but I guess they want to hear it from us. This is part of the ‘They are white, they have money” mentality that Kenyans have. This makes it extremely difficult to do nice, small things for some that you want to but not others. One hears about it and the next thing you know others are coming with requests. A good example is when we handed out the underwear that Maddy had collected for us. Soon after the first distribution which we did in connection to one of the afternoons of planned activity we had during the December break, many other kids showed up to request a pair. Some even came back and said they did not receive any. Some got a second pair, some we caught and didn’t get the second pair. Some tried multiple times to get extra pairs over the next several days. Then we had adults coming to request pairs for their multiple kids. We erred on the side of generosity handing them out. Fortunately Maddy had collected hundreds of pairs so many children did receive a pair.

Back to the Polytechnic – Supposedly Monday John will fire up the Polytechnic and start having students come. This could be an interesting day. Last I heard, we had 8 students interested in the Dressmaking and Tailoring. I’m anxious to see how many come in the first week and how many actually have the fees! I’ll let you know how it goes.

We think our time is about up here in Mbita for awhile. Joyce and I will return at some point to see how the Polytechnic is progressing, but I doubt if any of the kids will be back once they leave. There are various reasons for leaving here. One is that there is not enough to keep two of us busy with the Polytechnic, much less 6. With the Polytechnic moving forward, their will be even less work. Ashley and Travis, and others of us to a lesser extent, have some close ties in Tanzania and want to spend a month or so their. Nick has been pretty antsy since our arrival to do something else and is working up plans for a couple of interesting projects. This has caused some turmoil in us all in the discussing and planning of this exodus. When will we go, who will be together, and how long will people be staying places all need to be talked about. And in the back of our minds is they fact that we have to say goodbye to our kids. This last one is the most troubling for most and causes a lot of emotions to arise when the topic comes up.

While out main stated purpose here to assist in the opening of the Polytechnic, they part that we will remember is the interaction with the kids. We thought it was going to slow down once school started, but soon after school resumed the teachers went on strike and the public schools closed down. The kids and more began to appear. Then Joyce started to play Bingo, with prizes for winners, and the numbers grew more. Each afternoon kids started to hang around waiting for Bingo and the prizes. They would be worked into a frenzy by then end of the Bingo time. Fortunately this was usually at the end of the day and we’d send them home afterwards. Of course a couple of favorites would be told to remain behind and meet us someplace else for an extended visit.

Our kids are not necessarily the best, the friendliest, or the nicest. They just happened to ingratiate themselves to us early on. Mavine is poutie, always thing he deserves what anyone else gets and walks off sulking often. He also flares up some and starts shouting accusations at the others. Sometimes blows and tears result. He has been know to lie to us, or just walk off with something, to get extra of something. But he is grossly entertaining – no one dances like Mavine - and we love him dearly. Eunice is quiet and often hangs around the kitchen helping out. She has been found in tears many times, with the usual story that some other girls have been beating her. She is quite and shy and doesn’t speak much to us. Magdalene is a child lost in her ways. She runs away from home often for days at a time. She is not always kind to others and at times is a trouble maker. Overall they are good kids and many seem to love to help us out with tasks around, such as dish washing, water fetching and laundry. They get occasional compensation, such as sweets, food and an occasional few shillings.

Joyce is happiest when her kids are around. After Uganda, when the rest of us wanted to retreat to our corners and recoup in peace and isolation for awhile, Joyce wanted the kids and welcomed them with open arms. The more that came, the bigger her smile got. She is definitely the happiest in and amongst the kids. She is already grieving them with just the thought of our going on our way to someplace else. She will be the one remembered most by the kids of Mbita.


We have passed the half way point of our Journey by a few days. At time the time has flown by, at others it seems our time must be up by now. When I stop and think of three more months I wonder if I can actually do it. I think it is a combination of not having a definite, or even semi-definite, plan for the time, feeling like I’m wasting time here not having anything productive to work on or towards, and at times being to lazy to motivate myself to do something productive, even if it is interacting with the kids.

I’ve thought to myself often about the decaying structures and infrastructure around in the parish compound, in Mbita and in Kenya in general. I’m being to understand it some. On the small scale, I’m finding myself willing to let the dirt build up on the floor and porch a little longer. I tolerate the smell in the outhouse longer before thinking it needs to be cleaned. I wear my clothes an extra day or so. I see that the yard needs a little care, and the metal roof sheets are bent and leak. I have no desire to pay attention to it today, maybe the ‘tomorrow’ that may never come.

There is a frenzy of kids outside now drawing us pictures with colored pencils. They are knocking on the door as they finish to show someone and giving them to us. This is agitating me as I’m trying to work on this. The second time I headed out to tell them all too just leave them outside in a pile. I got to the door and had a change of heart and looked, asked questions and thanked the boy for the pictures. It did contain a man with a machete over a dead body, which is a little disturbing. I think he said it was because the man had stolen something from somebody else. Makes you wonder why he would draw a picture of such a thing and if he has experienced such a scene in his past.

I need to go and interact with the kids. I do better with small groups, so maybe I can find a couple off doing something I can join in on.

Reporting from Mbita,
Paul