A leaky bucket will leak wherever you put it

I am sat on the terrace at Sunset, looking out across the lush colourful gardens with their shady trees and neat borders. There’s a very welcome cooling breeze providing respite from the late afternoon sun.

Small, green, iridescent sunbirds flit from flower to flower in the Jacarandas overhead and a dozen or more small doves are wondering on the lawn, amongst the scattered lilac petals of fallen flowers.

A couple of vervet monkeys run down the path, their long tails waving behind them. Another appears from behind the long grass and soon a small family have disappeared into the treetops.

I don’t know what it is about monkeys, but they always look like they are up to mischief!

I am enjoying a cup of tea on the terrace after a long day of meetings. To be honest, I really think I deserve it! We have been talking rent and leases and disputes and all manner of things.

Our landlady, Leah, died last year and ever since there has been a dispute about who we should be paying rent to. As the tenants we are caught in the middle, with seemingly few rights.

I had arranged for Moses to pick me up at 9:00, so that we would have some time to prepare for the meeting at 10:00.

Sure enough, on the dot of 10:15 Anton picked me up.

I arrived at Kibos to find the house empty, except for Moses and Tatu. I asked Moses about the delay and he explained that the family we were meeting had also invited one of the village elders and also the ex-chief of the area. This was to be a serious meeting.

The system of local chiefs and village eldership seems to work well in Kenya. The elders know the villages and communities well and are able to mediate in disputes with a degree of elderly wisdom.

I took the time before the family arrived to talk with Francis, one of the older boys, who was home for a couple of days over half term.

Francis joined the program just as we moved into this house in Kibos in 2004. He had gone all through primary school with us and is now in Form 2 at Hobunaka Secondary School in Western Province. He was really happy with how things were and had just called back at Kibos to get some spare parts for his bike.

Francis is a good example of the Trust’s exit program.

It is all well and good to keep on taking children in, but sooner or later you have to think about their future. In some homes that future is all tied up with the orphanage, children never really claim their independence and expect the home to look after them well after they are grown up. But Moses has always pursued a different policy. For every child we take in we try to find the right place and the right time to resettle them at their rural home, so they understand their land rights and inheritance and are reunited with their roots.

For Francis this has meant going back to live with the brother of his grandfather. I wondered if this was the best thing for him, but I needn’t because he is genuinely happy. His grandfathers brother welcomed him home warmly, not judging him for the time that he spent on the streets. That acceptance meant a lot to him.

Francis started in a good boarding school, his marks at primary were excellent, but he wanted to spend time at home too, so he opted for a day school near to his home and we moved his studies to there.

He said that Moses talked with him about the move. He recalled a proverb (“Pastor Moses likes to use proverbs” he said).

“If a bucket has leaks, then it doesn’t matter where you take it, you can take it to Western, to Central, to Rift Valley or even to Mombasa, but it will still leak. But if the bucket is strong then it will be strong wherever it is.”

He said that his aim is to be a strong bucket of knowledge, to achieve the aim he has had since class 2 in primary school, to be an electrical engineer.

I believe he can make it.

As we finished talking our visitors arrived.

We sat and listened to them talk about Leah, about her husband, Jeremiah, whom we never met and about the cultural claims to the land and the property. We listened for a long time and found we were in agreement with much of what was said.

We agreed that we would meet this afternoon with Kennedy, our lawyer, and the family would make their case to him.

Our appointment was at 2:30.

On the dot of 3pm we walked into Kennedy’s office, having called at the families rural home to pay our respects at the graves of Leah and Jeremiah. Thankfully Kennedy was also running late, having spent the morning in the high court.

We talked again. This time in Luo, one of the more elusive tribal tongues and native to Nyanza province. I sat attentively, nodding and smiling at the appropriate points, but not understanding a word.

Fortunately Ken is patient and wise. He summarised for me in English and talked authoritatively to the family. After an hour or two we reached an agreement that we are all happy with. For the moment, at least, we do not need to leave Kibos.

As we turned to leave the wood panelled offices, I thanked Kennedy for his time and patience. His is not the front facing, child raising face of the Trust, but he is a good friend and we would not be where we are without him.

As I drank my tea and reflected on the day I was thankful to Francis, for the reminder of what happens when we get things right. We took on the house in Kibos because it was much bigger than where we had previously been and we wanted to take more children. Francis was the very first of those street boys to enter the house and now, 8 years later, he returned to the place where he grew up, to share about his new life back home with his family.

Many more boys have passed through this place and I hope and pray that more will yet come.

I pray they will be buckets of knowledge for their school years and the electrical engineers, lawyers, soldiers or social workers of the future.

I might toast that with a Tusker later, but for now a very English cup of tea will have to do.