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Mission to Kenya ~ Fall 2007

Katie McLain and I have return to Kenya to work on the library we helped build. Our mission team of 2 is organized by the United Methodist Church's Volunteers In Mission and our work is planned by the Kaaga Methodist Church and the Miriam Kanana Mubichi Foundation. We will stay in the home of Steven and Florence Mubichi along with their daughters Fridah and Ravena. Fridah's phone number in Kenya is 011254723083267. Katie's phone in Kenya is 011254728525281. Find additional contact information at the bottom of this blog.

This is MY blog but Katie also has a great blog written from a 21-year old's perspective. Her blog is located at http://kenyakatie.livejournal.com/

REMEMBER: This is a blog, ie a travel journal, and the most RECENT entry is at the top.
To start at the beginning, scroll to the bottom and read UP.

Our Library In Meru: The "Advanced Readers" Area

Above, Fridah is visiting with our wonderful "librarian" Joskim. He knows every child who uses the library - by name. We will need to replace him one of these days, though, as we are hoping he will be heading of for college soon.

Our Library in Meru: The "Easy Books" Room

Nov 23: Katie and Steven Arrive in OKC

Katie McLain and Steven Mubichi arrived in Oklahoma City at 11:25 PM on Friday, November 23rd. Katie's mother, Nan, joined Florence Mubichi and Jean Warner in welcoming them. Steven hadn't slept for 30 hours and was pretty beat. Katie managed to catch some winks on the 3-phased trip (Nairobi to London, London to Chicago, Chicago to Oklahoma City). Above they are gathering hugs and luggage. They are noth suffering from serious Munchie withdrawal.

Touring Thiiri Center in Meru

On Saturday, we visited with Marilyn Brenchley and toured the Thiiri Center she is helping Bishop Imathiu build in Meru.

At the Foundation Office

Following our meeting with the Board of Governors of the Kaaga School for Hearing Impaired Children, Wilson, Chris, Fridah, Katie and I returned to the foundation office to review and regroup.

with District Superintendent

With Charity in Lay Preachers' Library

Fight HIV/AIDS

World Neighbors, based in Oklahoma City, has a generous donor who has established a matching gift fund and will contribute $1 for every $5 they receive up to $81,000!

Click here to make your secure online donation and have your gift matched!

These new funds will help World Neigbors expand their already significant HIV/AIDS programs in 18 countries throughout Asia, Africa and Latin America - including Kenya.

Wed, October 31, 2007

How amazingly blessed we have been to have a cable connection to the Internet while we are in Kenya. Most people in this area of the nation have to settle for a dial-up service which is a long distance charge to Nairobi - i.e., expensive. We suspect the Mubichi home is one of only a handful (maybe less) in Meru to have cable service at this time. It is because (1.) we are on a hill and the computer service people have installed a tower in our yard; (2.) Fridah worked for Dell in OKC and we give the crew good feedback; and (3.) Steven's brother, Lawi Imathiu - the former Bishop of the Methodist Church in Kenya, is putting in a Community Center that will feature a computer lab. But all is not perfect as my dear old Dad would say. Throughout my stay, we have had difficulty uploading and down loading data (pictures, podcasts, music, etc) much of the time. Fortunately, we HAVE been able to upload pictures through Blogger and Liver Journal -- but not today. So I have only words to offer you tonight.

It is been awhile since I posted. The Foundation staff (i.e., Fridah, Kate and I) have been busy getting ready for the followup board meeting we scheduled last Sunday and which took place at 6 pm this evening. We got minutes drawn up of the Sunday board meeting and are sending handouts and minutes out to everyone.

Today Kate, Fridah and I met with Superintendent Minister Kiogora to discuss (1) the current status and future operation of the library at the school for deaf children, (2.) ditto for the Preachers' library we constructed to the Superintendent Minister's headquarters (which is on the grounds of Kaaga Methodist Church, and (3.) plans for John Boster's mission team coming in January of 2008. While we were there, we also had a lovely chat with Charity the librarian. She was grateful I gave her permission to throw away the odd books in the collection. She also has a long wish list of special requests starting with Bible dictionaries and Bibles in various translations. I kicked myself for not bringing a Eugene Peterson and the NSRV. Oh well.

Rev Kiogora sits (and represents the Methodist Church) on the Board of Governors of the Kaaga School for Hearing Impaired Children. He was very interested to hear our assessment of how the library is working out - as well as some of the issues we would like to see resolved.

If we had known before we broke ground what sorts of issues would crop up, we'd have prepared a Memorandum of Understanding between the school, the church and the foundation way back then. But it was a new venture for all of us. Now we think a Memorandum of Understanding is needed and he is most supportive.

Indeed, this evening, while our Foundation board was meeting to consider what might go into such a document, the Rev. called to say we are invited to send 4 representatives to the meeting Friday of the school's Board of Governors.

We had a wonderful board meeting tonight - excellent turnout and lots and lots of good discussion (and food - we had tea/coffee/hot chocolate and two kinds of samosas).

We think it might be prudent to organize a coordinating committee composed of representatives from all three entities to resolve management issues (who pays the electricity when it finally gets turned on? who will oversee and pay for any modifications to the building? if we install a copier that generates revenue, who collects the fees? etc).

We decided to send 5 people to the meeting Friday: me, Fridah, Wilson Kinoti and Chris Kinyua plus Kate (who will be our secretary and just take notes - although she certainly didn't stay quiet in tonight's meeting; I was terribly proud of her).

I like the Foundation's board very much and especially enjoy visiting with the younger members. We talk politics (it is Presidential campaign season here) and culture. I think Kenya is changing very fast thanks to this younger generation of well educated business leaders. It is an exciting time to be here. (We did note that while we like Kibaki and want to see him re-elected, he is 75 years old already and his running mate is 80; there is a need for young Kenyans to step forward as Presidential candidates!)

I have wanted for some time to gather up all my income and expense records associated with our involvement in Kenya. Frankly, when I started raising funds for a library in 2005 and then led a team here in January of 2006 to build the library, I had no idea it would be such a large building or that it would be so - not complicated but multifaceted. There was the building and the mural and exterior and the books. But then we needed to fill the gap between the walls and the roof (which is not normally done here) to keep moisture and birds out. And the ground shifted a tad during the rainy season and one wall developed a bit of a crack that needed patching. And then we needed shelves and tables and chairs - and they needed to be small for primary school students and large for older users. And then we hired a librarian who works for a song and a smile. And we needed to catalogue the books and get them sorted and shelved.

And all our wonderful donors have been amazing -- but it has added up. If I had known when it all began that it would grow into such a wonderful but multifaceted project, I'd have been much more conscientious about saving all my receipts and writing down amounts of money whenever one of us made a contribution to the project. So I have done my best to reconstruct our spending and tomorrow, God willing, I will reconcile my records with the Foundation's and, hopefully, be able to put an approximate value on what we have brought to Meru both for the library and in the way of gifts for children and institutions including the church and the School for Mentally Challenged Children as well as the School for the Hearing Impaired plus the local economy (White Star Hotel, etc). And that includes both monetary contributions and in kind (all those baby dolls and school supplies and wheel chairs and who knows what else we tucked into every nook and cranny we could find in the 20 foot shipping container we shipped back in December 2005 or carried to Kenya in our suitcases).

It is late (1 am) and every once in a while I will hear a terrible squealing just outside the living room window. It is the guard dogs getting into a fight. Again, I wish Cesar Millan was around to work with this pack of dogs. I have 79 emails to read but they will wait until the morning.

Love and God's blessings to you all from Kenya.

Mubichi Foundation Board Meeting

Sunday, October 28, 2007

Great day. We attended service at Mwaneka Methodist Church. Marilyn Brenchly was preaching and she made Fridah, Kate, Joann e Dolman (a volunteer at The Meru Children's Home), and me stand up at the front of the church and sing. It was truly pitiful. We came home, grabbed our materials and went to The White Star for lunch. (Kate had to have her Masala chips). Then across the street to the wonderful MKM Foundation offices. We had a nice turnout of supportive board members. After a tour of the office, we had a ribbon cutting ceremony -- only we used Makena wool instead! Then we went to the conference room at The White Star and had an excellent board meeting. Home for a late dinner. I'm beat. More - with pictures - tomorrow.

Alexia Standing

Today was our final work day before the Board of Governor's meeting tomorrow and we are ready. Members of the board have been invited. We will gather at 3 PM Sunday at the new office and, when everyone is there, we will hold an official ribbon cutting ceremony. Then we will walk across the street to the White Star Hotel and hold the board meeting in the Lounge and the hotel will serve tea and refreshments.

It is 11:30 PM and poor Katie is sitting at her computer churning out 10 copies of our handouts -- Agenda; Project Categories for Accounting Purposes; Proposed Budget for This Fiscal Year; Jean's Recommendations to the Board; and the (proposed) Annual Report.

The final thing I have to do is prepare my remarks on what to do about the library; I'll be laying out a range of options from turn the library over to the School for Hearing Impaired Children to continue operating the library and negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding with the school.

And, on another note, yes the child is standing. On her own. For minutes at a time. and you should see her do sit ups, We push her back on a pillow and whoop - she bounces right back up. We set her on the couch and she sits up for 20 minutes looking around, gurgling and laughing. I am amazed at the changes I have seen in just a little over 2 weeks.

It has been such a joy having Katie here to assist me. She is so gracious and observant and perceptive. She has been a huge help!

For Grandma Florence

Friday, October 26 Noon

It just poured rain all night and it was still pouring at breakfast. Ever since I arrived, I have been harping about the Russian Rule of Shopping (circa 1980): “If you see it and like it, buy it. You never know what will be available tomorrow!” (Fridah always wants to check 3 other stores to see if she can save 5 shillings- the equivalent of 75 cents US.) So this morning I was thinking, “I should have done my running around chores yesterday as it will rain all day and I’ve missed my chance.”

Every morning, Jackie throws open all the windows in the house. It never gets over around 78 degrees. There are almost no bugs (I have seen 2 or 3 flies, 6 fruit flies and a cricket in the house in the two weeks I have been here although Katie tells me to give my clothes and shoes a little shake when dressing to be sure there are no little spiders sleeping in them). All the windows are covered with sheer curtains that serve as screens and the door to the back yard is often left open (although there is a heavy, bolted gate so no one can let themselves in the house – IF they could get past the 5 or 6 employees who live and work on the grounds and the famous gaggle of “watch geese” who roam the yard).

Now it is nearly 11 AM and the sun is trying very hard to come out. Every time it peaks out from behind the clouds, all the roosters in the neighborhood crow! The birds are chirping. The two cows in the back yard who give us milk every day are mooing. The goats must be eating because they are NOT currently crying like unhappy human infants. (More than once, I have gotten up to check on Munchie only to realize it isn’t the baby crying but one of those silly goats. When one raises a racket when Steven is around, he smiles and says, “THAT goat is the next one we eat!”) The “watch geese” are making happy clucks and there are several golden retriever-like dogs roaming the back yard – covered in mud and utterly happy. (They make up part of the Daytime Dog Pack versus the night watchdogs who are penned up during the day, let out at night and very mean/dangerous. I.e., once they are out in the evening we would never try to “walk” our inside dog Spikey – also known as Sparky and Kiki and “You!” (Steven addresses Spikey as “YOU!” and the poor dog slinks out of the room! I’d give anything to get Cesar Milan to make a call at this house but that is another matter!)

I suspect in another hour we’ll be able to phone or text message Ravena and she’ll come take us to Nakumatt to stock up on those various and sundry things we are running low on. I am falling behind on my promise to send Florence a picture of her grandbaby every day, so here is Alexia with Jackie in the front room.

1 AM on Thursday, October 26

Yesterday morning, Steven, Ravena and Alexia Kanana Mubichi (aka Munchie) left early in the morning for an appointment with a pediatrician in Nairobi. They took the red SUV for the 4+ hour ride (Steven prefers his fancy pickup truck but it doesn't transport a baby's car seat very well). The doctor gave Munchie a good check up and declared her great but asked that she be seen by an eye doctor in the morning because one eye tends to tear. So they spent the night at the Methodist Guest House and saw the second doctor this morning. Then they headed back to Meru. It may be that one of Munchie's tear ducts isn't opening so she'll get litttle cheek massages for awhile. Needless to say, the house was sure quiet with those three gone. We were overjoyed to welcome them back this evening.

Munchie is happily oblivious -- laughing and gurgling and cooing. But Steven and Ravena have to get back to problem solving tomorrow. One of Steven's huge hauling trucks is stuck due to all this rain because - of all things - it has an overly sensitive sensor on it that makes it stop running when the surface is wet! Meaniwhile, Ravena has a truck loaded with stone that needs to get delivered and I am sure the renters at their apartment building have a list of things needing her attention.

Poor Katie; I am working her terribly hard because we have much to accomplish before the recently reorganized board meets here at the Mubichi's home on Sunday afternoon . She's getting mini lectures on how nonprofits work and the basic principles of a well run organization. We have come up with a set of foundation project categories (Literacy, Health & Nutrition, Resource Management and Other) and sub-categories (library, reading barazas, book donations, scholarships, etc) for accounting purposes. We have all the foundation expenditures since late 2005 when they began projects in an Excel spreadsheet and coded by category and subcategory. Based on all the projects they have done, we are recommending a new mission statement for the board's consideration. We have put together a proposed budget for the current fiscal year for the board to adopt. We have also lined out some recommendations for the board that cover governance, financial management and openness that - if adopted - will make their transition from a community based organization to a full fledged nongovernmental organization (CBO to NGO) much easier. And I am working out several options to propose to the board on what to do about the library we built at the School for Hearing Impaired Children. We need to draw up a Memorandum of Understanding with the board of governors of the deaf school but before we begin negotiations I want our board to think through the various options. (It is the old adage "Be careful what you wish for; you might just get it!")

After the board meets here Sunday we will all ride over to the newly established foundation office which now has furniture, a printer to go with Fridah's laptop computer, curtains, bookshelves, beautifully organized files - thanks to Katie -- and more. I have the expenses side of the financial report completed and will tackle income in the morning. Meanwhile Katie is doing a wonderful job writing the balance of what will be the foundation's first ever Annual Report. So, we are getting there.

Tonight, after telling us funny stories about goats (he says they can't walk backwards; I never know when to believe him and when he is just telling us a story versus a teaching parable), Steven anounced that we need some recreation to offset all our hard work. So we decided that next Sunday we will worship at the Methodist church of Biship and Grace Imathiu and a week from Saturday we will go on an overnight safari at the National Park nearby. It is hard to realize I fly home in just 11 days! Love to all. Pray that we manage to avoid malaria and floods and wild things!
:-)

In Praise of Jackie (who also has malaria)

We are so spoiled here. We roll out of bed to find a delicious meal on the table every morning. Around 4 in the afternoon, a tray containing hot Kenyan tea, a bowl of course brown sugar, cups and demitasse spoons appears on the coffee table in the den. Around 7 or 7:30 we get called to a wonderful dinner. The house is spotless because every floor is washed down daily including the outside walkways. And, if we throw clothes in the hamper, they arive back on our beds washed and beautifully folded. All this pampering because the Mubichi's employ a young woman named Jackie who lives in a room behind the kitchen and cooks and cleans and feeds the baby and does all sorts of other wonderful things. If I sleep in, I wake to the sound of her scrubbing the walk outside my window (see above). I got the second shot when Jackie was taking down her laundry in the pouring rain under a collapsed umbrella but still smiling! Jackie walked to the hospital yesterday morning and returned to report that she, too, has malaria. Today we tried to pamper her a little but she went right on with her duties inspite of a bad head ache, aches and fatigue.