October 22nd - Etago

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

We are staying in a place called the Zonic Hotel in Kisii. This is a pretty large hotel (for Africa) with more than seven floors and about 12 rooms on each floor. The rooms varied in size with single beds, double beds, and multiple single beds. Russ and I shared a room on the third floor with two single beds and a bathroom and Bruce had another room with a double bed next door. The rooms had a sliding glass door that went out onto a small balcony overlooking the main road below. The bathroom was small with a toilet, sink, and bathtub. There was hot water but it was a unique Africa set up. You flip a switch on the wall which has a cord that goes to the shower head. It works like hot water on demand. No hot water from the sink or the tub spout. Also there was no toilet seat and no shower curtain! As we looked around the hotel we saw door handles that were missing, water damaged ceiling tiles, missing floor tiles, and all kinds of other maintenance problems. It looked like the hotel was built in a decade (or even centuries) ago. To our astonishment we found out that the hotel was built in 2002! We even saw a stone set into the front of the hotel with the date carved into it. Unbelievable!

We were supposed to leave at around 8:30 but because of delays didn’t get on the road until about 9:30. Pastor Enosh came to town because it had rained the night before and the road was under construction, so he wanted to make sure we found our way there. We also decided to buy gifts for the children of the school. Russ was in charge of buying the children Christmas presents from KINSHIP. So Russ, Charles and Enosh went to the store to buy 136 tootbrushes and tubes of toothpaste. You can imagine how long that would take!

After that was finished we left Kisii for the 30 mile journey to the church and orphan school in Etago. Believe it or not, it took us over two hours to cover that distance! The roads were wretched! There would be short sections of blacktop but the rest were heavily rutted mud, dirt and rock! Even the short sections of blacktop were full of potholes. Our poor little Toyota sure took a beating! The majority of the trip was at about 10 kilometers per hour or less! Part of the road was under construction, so hopefully it will be much better next year!

When we arrived at the school the orphans were all outside singing: “Welcome, welcome to our visitors!” They were all lined up in two lines, singing their hearts out! Greetings were shared with all the other church leaders and the teachers, and we were ushered through the singing children into the church to begin the festivities. Introductions were made, Pastor Fred gave a brief devotion, and the children began their program. They sang, danced, and even put on short skits for us. When they were finished we greeted them and passed out Christmas cards from the school children in Mankato, Minnesota, and the Christmas presents from KINSHIP. It was a long process for that many children!

Finally (about two hours later) the children were released for a very late lunch and we prepared for a meeting with the church leaders. We talked about matters going on in the church and found out how things were going with the two Etago students who are currently finishing up their first year at St. Peter’s seminary in Tanzania. It seems they are having some difficulty adjusting because of being Kenyan rather than Tanzanian like the other students. We plan to follow up with that when we get to Tanzania to make sure they are doing well. There were also some concerns raised about the leadership in the church. As we heard more about the situation we found that the churches here were really not following their constitution, which meant that things were not being run by the church but rather by certain leaders within the church. So we are going to look into this more and address the concerns of the members and work on establishing a working constitution for the congregations to follow so that the work of the church is carried out in an orderly way.

Because of the long trip back to Kisii, we had to make sure that we were on the road back to Kisii by 4:00pm so that we would be back by dark. Bruce and I had talked about taking turns staying in Etago staying with Enosh or someone else to have some time to spend with them. Bruce had come ready to stay tonight, but we decided it might be better if I stay so that I could talk with Enosh about this situation and work on preparing a solution. So Charles took Bruce and Russ back to Kisii, and I stayed in Etago. We walked to Enosh’s house which was a short walk down the road from the church building and school. We spent the next couple of hours talking about things as he showed me his land. He owns about three acres on which he grows tea, corn, bananas, and some pineapple, potatoes and onions. He also has three cows of different ages, a number of chickens and a small cat. His house is made up of two buildings. One serves as the living quarters with a living room/dining room area with tables and chairs, and two bedrooms. The other building serves as the kitchen where all the cooking and cleaning is done. The buildings are made with a wooden frame which is then filled with mud and coated with a glaze. The roof is covered with metal sheets. There are wooden door and window frames built into the walls with doors and windows made of wood. It isn’t quite like home but it’s much more comfortable than camping in a tent! By the way, there is no running water. That means no bathroom. They use a third building for that!

There is no electricity in Etago. They are working to get power line out there, but there is nothing yet. Most people, if they want to work after dark (which is at about 6:30pm to 6:00am) need to use kerosene lamps or flashlights. But Enosh has used the money from his crops to buy a small solar panel which he uses to charge a battery during the day. Then he uses the battery to recharge cell phone batteries, and at night it is used to run small florescent lights in both buildings. It is a small panel but it works very well! Enosh’s wife Elizabeth fixed a wonderful beef stew for supper and I had a great time playing with his four children (ages 11-3). At about 9:30pm everyone went to bed and by 5:30am everyone was up again. It was nice to be able to stay with them and very enjoyable, but I felt like I was putting them out with 6 people already in their small home.

Staying in a place like Etago, even for one night, sure makes one sit back and think about all the things we have in our country that we take for granted on a daily basis. We could do with so much less than we have!

In Christ,

Nathanael