One Bright Morning

“That boy is really bright”, said Benjamin, the manager at Standard Bank in Kisumu, “He will go far”.

We smiled and swelled a little with pride.

We were on our way back to the airport for the morning flight to Nairobi, having visited the land at Kibos to check out the completed greenhouse.

We had sweated over the holes for the poles, sweated as we hauled the steel frame into place, sweated as we saw the arches rising tall over the freshly planted banana’s and the newly built tin hut. But we had left the site before the covering was on as the Ackworth group had a safari bus to catch.

But we couldn’t leave without seeing the culmination of our week’s effort, the fine mesh sides gently swaying in the morning breeze and small white egrets stalking gracefully in the grassy perimeter, still wet from the overnight rain.

Kibos is a warm place, but bathed in the morning light, pink and red bougainvillea bursting through the thorny hedges, weaver birds chattering in the acacia trees and the green, stony hills forming a steep backdrop, it takes on a charm of its own.

We opened the door of the greenhouse and wondered inside, surprised to find that the humidity that will so benefit the tomatoes and vegetables that we will grow there was already beginning to rise.

We have much more to do here, the soil inside will need to be dug out and new topsoil, red soil from the fertile hills above Kisumu, will be mixed with fertiliser and laid down to form a nutrient rich bed for our plants. The water tanks will be connected to drip pipes to provide effective irrigation, whatever the weather outside and then, finally the seeds will be planted.

“So will it be done by my next visit?” I asked Moses

“Yes, of course” he replied, “we have a lot of work to do now”

I am already excited to return.

We left Kibos to head for the airport, but we had one last job to do.

I wrote about Collins last year, when I visited him at University. We met him first, many years ago at Kachok, the fellowship by the city dump. He has already come a long way, completing his KCSE and gaining a place at university to study biochemistry.

During the break he found himself an internship at Standard Bank and has been working there for 6 weeks. I talked to him at church on Sunday and promised that we would try our very best to visit him before we left.

We made our way through the busy streets of Kondele and followed the back roads to town, pulling up outside Standard bank at the bottom of the high street. As we walked through the revolving doors the quietness of the bank contrasted with the bustling streets outside. We stood for a moment whilst Moses spoke to a member of staff and we were then ushered through to the Manager’s office.

We stood and talked with the manager for a few minutes. He explained that they had a short term program that needed extra people, so they looked for university students wanting to take up an internship. Collins had been asking around town for that kind of work and he fitted the bill (it is typical of Collins’ attitude that he didn’t wait for the opportunity to come to him, but had been asking if there was anything available)

“I know his background”, said the manager, “and I can say that he is a very bright boy. He is doing really well, I think he can go a long way”

I smiled.

Through this week we have seen more boys like Collins, bright children who just lack opportunity. I hope and pray that we can find the means to support them, to give them hope and a future.

“I know the plans I have for you", says the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”

Jeremiah 29:11

Transformations

We have just said our goodbyes to a wonderful group from Ackworth Boys Brigade and their safari bus, bursting with bags, smiling faces and waving arms has just headed off on the dusty road outside St Anna’s Guest House on the long drive to Narok, just north of the Masai Mara. Over the next day or so they will see more of this beautiful country and hopefully enjoy some of its world famous wildlife.

The short safari is a well deserved end to their trip to Kisumu, where they came to help the work of the Trust in a very practical way.

Our small parcel of land in Kibos, on the outskirts of Kisumu, has been transformed over the past week, by the addition of two 5,000 litre water tanks sited next to our pump, a large greenhouse, a tin house that will serve as sleeping quarters for some of the older boys we look after and the foundations of a banana plantation.

They will leave Kenya with plenty of photographs of its rich wildlife, but they will leave behind something of great value, that will allow our land to prosper, where vegetable can grow all year, not just in the rainy season, irrigated by drip pipes fed from the large water tanks and banana’s that will provide shade, food and income for the Trust.

In ten years time their pictures will be distant memories, but the legacy of the work will continue.

It never ceases to amaze me what determined people can help to achieve. This isn’t a country that lacks ideas, but one that lacks the capital to make a difference.

Over the last few days the group have had emotional highs and lows, challenging their perceptions of what some practical aid can do amongst some of the poorest people they have met. 

Everywhere they have gone they have been warmly welcomed, whether it was our house at Kibos or the church by the rubbish dump in Kachok.

The thing that always comes through strongest for me in the most challenging places is the faith of the people who live there. They have so very little, that their faith cannot just be reserved for Sundays. It is something they live out every moment of every day.

Even more than the legacy that has been left on our land, the group have each formed friendships with the boys at our house and with the people of Kachok.

Accompanying groups of open minded people to the work of the Trust is a great pleasure and this trip has seen great investment and transformation of our land. I think it might also have transformed the hearts and minds of those who have come.

I hope they come again.

I will just be half an hour

“I’m just going to Kondele to get a door made” said Moses, in the sort of matter of fact way that these things happen in Kenya, “I will be back in 30 minutes”.

I am not skilled in the art of door making, but I hazarded a guess that he might be away a little longer and looked around the land for something that we could be doing.

“We can do this” said Joseph, pointing at the couple of dozen banana holes we had dug (to the very prescriptive 3 x 3 x 2.5 described earlier).

“Not more digging!” we cried, “We have done enough”

“No” he said smiling, “we can put the bananas into the ground”

Joseph is the head gardener at Kibos and a man who seems to know a thing or two about growing things. When we arrived he and Cosmas were busy mixing top soil and goat manure into a sizeable pile of banana plant friendly fertiliser, a task that Colin willingly and ably joined in with.

Colin has been a real workhorse this week, leading his boys brigade group by example, always looking for the next task that needs to be done.

“Come on boys” he shouted, “one wheelbarrow full of this in each hole”.

When the first hole had been filled Joseph unwrapped one of the fresh banana stems from its warm grassy covering, made a well in the middle of the fertilizer and buried the base of the stem until it was firmly held.

“What’s that?” said one of the boys, wondering over to the hole.

“It’s a banana plant” came the seemingly obvious reply. We had just spent 2 days digging more than 20 holes the precise dimensions required of the banana, so it would have taken the nerve of a particularly ambitious cuckoo to claim the mulched and spacious resting place for a different species.

“It doesn’t look like a tree?” the boys countered, and it was hard to disagree.

The banana stems are small, fibrous, unpromising looking things that seem to require the patience of a saint and the attention to detail of a remarkably fussy accountant. Once placed into a hole of the right size they will grow to maturity within 12 months, producing a single stem of between 25 and 30 bunches of sweet, ripe yellow fruit. The plant is then chopped down and new suckers, pushed out from its base into the beautifully prepared, soft mulched and fertilised ground will grow up to take its place. The suckers of the banana can then be split and planted separately, thus a large, shady and fruitful arbour can be created within a short time.

We pressed on, planting stem after stem, until each hole was filled, covered with fresh topsoil, watered and covered again with straw and grass to prevent the moisture from evaporating and the ground from drying out.

Two hours after leaving, for his half hour door, Moses had still not returned.

Thankfully, we were not idle, as the engineers had arrived to construct the greenhouse from the selection of metal pieces laid out around the land.

We had had such fun yesterday, digging holes 6 inches across by 2 foot deep (precisely) in order to sink the upright supports for the greenhouse (if anyone ever suggests that you dig 12 holes 2 foot deep, you have my permission to walk the other way). After a long day of preparation though, the holes had been dug and the uprights cemented into the ground.

Now, all our hard work had paid off, as the engineer strode confidently around the plot, nodding approvingly as he inspected our handiwork and moving the large curved roof supports into position.

Then he disappeared.

It transpired that although he and his colleague had arrived to begin construction the necessary nuts and bolts that fix everything together had not come with them (they were on a lorry arriving sometime later from Nairobi).

Working in Kenya makes you philosophical about timekeeping, but it is fair to say that it can be frustrating at times**

Moses appeared shortly after the engineer left, to announce that lunch was served. A beautiful chicken and peanut stew with rice appeared on the tables and was hungrily devoured.

As we savoured the stew and began to pour mugs of steaming tea John came in to say that the engineer had returned and was looking for helpers. Tea in hand we made our way back to the land and to the evening task of securing the greenhouse supports.

“I’m just off to Kondele” said Moses, “I need to repair a puncture”

“So you will be two hours?” I replied

“No!”, Moses laughed, “It will be half an hour”

“Ok”, I said, “but we will see”

We lifted and bolted and screwed and riveted until the sky was nearly dark. With each turn of each nut the greenhouse frame arched ever taller and stronger into the warm evening sky.

“We have to stop now”, said the engineer, “it is too dark”

Dusty, muddy and tired we made our way to the small group of white plastic chairs, huddled under the compact frame of a gazebo, which had provided much needed shelter from the mid afternoon sun.

As we gather our things together Moses drove into the compound.

“It has been two hours”, I said, a little too triumphantly

“Oh”, said Moses, “but there was such a long wait at the puncture repair”.

 “So are we ready to go back to the hotel?” I asked, looking around at the tired faces of the boys brigade,

“Not yet”, Moses replied, “I just need to change the wheel”.

**Please see yesterdays blog for a definition of “African Time”

One banana, two banana, three banana, floor

“How many do you think they will have done?” I asked Moses, as we rattled our way along the bone shaking, pot holed road towards Kibos.

“About five” Moses replied, “they can’t have done more, it is really hard work”

Moses and I had gone to town to do some jobs and, amongst other things, to buy a large water tank to site on our land close to the pump. The tank will be linked up to irrigation pipes and provide a steady stream of vital nutrients to all of the plants in the new greenhouse, which arrives tomorrow (African time**), along with the water tank.

We had left Ackworth Boys Brigade digging holes.

It seemed a little unfair to be honest, setting off in the heat of the day back to town, leaving the Ackworth group slaving away over a hot garden, but we have fifty banana stems to get in and they are very particular about the conditions in which they are planted.

Joseph, the gardener at Kibos, carefully measured each hole that needed to be dug. 3 feet wide by 3 feet long by 2.5 feet deep. It sounded easy. The 3 ft x 3 ft was pretty straight forward, but the x 2.5ft down was to prove more than a little challenging.

The banana stems themselves are small little things, but the conditions they need have to be precise or else the crop will not flourish. Once planted they send out suckers sideways into the ground and in order for them to grow well the ground needs to be soft and full of nutrients – too hard and the suckers will not be able to feed the plant and the banana stems will be small. As a result, a suitable hole needs to be dug, then the banana stems inserted, then the hole is filled in with manure and fertiliser.

There are many parallels between growing bananas and working with street children. Both need space to be themselves, to push out when they need to and to find that there is the support and the help they need to grow. If the conditions aren’t right, then the fruit will not grow well, but when everything comes together there is a wonderful harvest.

My day had started early, as I had been invited to preach at the Nakumatt  staff pre-work 

worship. I was here on Saturday with Moses and really enjoyed it and today we returned with a full worship team.

We arrived at the goods in entrance at 7:25 and went through the shutters to get set up. Amps, microphones, keyboards and guitars in place Moses and the team led an energising morning praise time as workers drifted in to the store. By 8:15 the whole of goods in and the warehouse were clapping, singing and dancing.

Teaching here is a challenge for a Methodist trained preacher used to a 20 minute slot on a Sunday as I had 5 minutes to share something before the warehouse shutters were opened and the lorries queuing patiently outside began unloading their deliveries.

It will be a surprise to many of my Wheatley Lane friends to learn that I managed a very brief illustration of the power of God’s spirit in our lives before we were warmly greeted by all of the staff as they made their way to their assigned stations.

We shared tea and bread with the store manager and reflected on what a difference it makes to the performance of the store when the staff feel like a team and are energised and happy before work begins.

We headed back to St Anna’s to pick up the Ackworth team before setting off down the busy roads to Kibos and their engagement with picks and shovels.

“I think they might have done more than five” I said to Moses confidently, “possibly as many as six”.

The skies blackened overhead and spots of rain on the windscreen told of an impending downpour. We weaved our way in between the matatus that gather on what remains of the road through Kibos market. Once it was a reasonably smooth road, but now it has become a jumble of holes, ruts and crevices, only negotiated with patience and low gears.

We pulled in through the blue metal gates guarding the entrance to our land as the rain fell heavily onto the deep red earth, to find that the Ackworth team were dispersed to the four corners of the field, taking shelter from the elements.

We waited a moment and as the rain eased Moses, Pam and I walked down the land to where the digging had begun with some enthusiasm a few hours earlier.

“It’s been hard”, said Colin, echoing Moses thoughts to me, “but we have managed to do twelve holes”.

Moses looked shocked

“Oh, have you really done twelve holes?” he said, with a hint of disbelief, “Let me see” and he walked off to inspect them.

He looked into each one carefully, inspecting the sides to make sure they were straight, ready to receive a full allocation of bananas and mulch.

“That’s really great” he said, looking up at the group, “I always knew you could do it”.

** the calculation of “African time” is an inexact science, but it is generally accepted that it lies somewhere between one hour and three days after any specific time agreed between two parties for the purposes of a meeting or a delivery.