Tuesday, February 01, 2011 - Planning for Water at HOREC

Today was a busy day of working on our several projects, interrupted only by a visit from the staff of Living Waters International (pictured at left). It was exciting to hear John and Mindy talk with us about a kiosk and cistern water tower that would be built by the entrance to HOREC. The two would be about 3-4 meters in the air and include a submersed pump that would pump water into the cistern then gravity would carry the water through pipes to the boy’s dorm, the girl’s dorm, the kitchen as well as be used for irrigation. Living Waters can build all of these as well as drill the well that would most likely need to go 100-150 meters deep. They then provide health and hygiene training for the staff and children at the orphanage. This setup will also allow HOREC to sell waters to the neighbors (the reason for the kiosk being by the road and security guard shack—so people don’t have to come inside the orphanage grounds) and provide a much needed source of income. We agreed to have First United Methodist Church in Durango send a check to Living Waters this week and that they would then begin the process by getting a geological survey and applying for the permit from the Kenyan government. John Baker is the main contact here in Kenya with Living Waters and he has a long history in the country, having started an orphanage himself in Nairobi more than 15 years ago which continues to serve children.

Our day of work included finishing painting the boy’s dorm in preparation for putting the beds and dressers in the rooms Thursday and blessing the room so they can begin to use it by Friday. My son Thomas’ class at Miller Middle School raised some money before we left that we hope to use to get electricity run into the boy’s dorm as right now they have none. We’ll find out tomorrow if that can be done at a reasonable cost. Part of our team went through all the dressers in the girl’s dorm and found most of the drawers broke and in need of repair so we are looking into purchasing new ones that we hope can be delivered on Thursday before we leave. Each child gets just one drawer to keep all of their earthly belongings so you can imagine they get full and stuffed to the brim. Another part of our team painted the new kitchen that was recently added and we’ll be helping the staff at HOREC move in and stock the cabinets. Currently, all cooking is done in a small wood and tin shack outside the walls of the main building so it will be nice to have this kitchen usable which is directly next to the dining hall. Our last work crew continued making tables and storage boxes and repairing playground equipment.

At the end our work time we spent 30 minutes with Philip, one of our drivers, who shared how blessed he has felt to get to work with us. Both of our drivers don’t just sit in the vehicles while we work but join us in our efforts, even though they are not paid to do so. Philip was grateful that we did not just come and leave money but that we spent time with the kids and actually got our hands and clothes dirty. He said something profound that I really appreciated, and that is that the kids at HOREC don’t seem like orphans when you compare them to other kids in Kenya. It’s as though they have parents because they have us and each other. They are clearly loved and it shows. What a great testimony about the power of HOREC and its impact of the lives of these children.

Well, I think that sums up the day pretty well. Tomorrow we have a fun day as we take the children to the Kenyan National Elephant Orphanage and then the Giraffe Center where they can feed the giraffes. We will have a wonderful late lunch together at Medusa’s, a restaurant owned and operated by the sister of a church member at First United Methodist Church in Durango…small work, hey!

We greatly appreciate your prayers and know that all of you are with us in spirit. Grace and Peace, Jeff