Colin and Mo's visit to Kenya 7/5/10 to 15/5/10

This was no safari. From Nairobi we went of for an hour by plane, then for 2 hours in a creaky old bus along a mostly dirt road into the countryside. Our destination was two orphanges run by the Nasio Trust a charity we had long supported with our Two a Part choir. One of our members, John Cornelius, had for several years been taking tear-away youngsters with everything to meet good children with nothing. He lead the group very ably and all went smoothly.

The vegetation was rich and lush with lots of heavy rain (regularly in late afternoon). Mumias lies in Kenya's "Sugar belt" and it was indeed growing everywhere. All roads were laden with cane sugar transporters taking their cargo to the sugar factory in whose hostel we stayed. This was a lush oasis of civilisation although, slightly sadly, had a big fence with an armed guard and it was thought too dangerous to go anywhere at night.

Our first day was Sunday and we were off in our trusty old bus to the large breeze-block "Cathedral", filled with worshippers. The children from the orphanages sang beautifully for us, and we did some songs in return. An electronic organ was played with gusto by Stephen who we soon met, who was a fine musician. Our Dorchester Abbey pastor Sue had the pleasure of a 5 minute musical build-up before her sermon!

Our next visit on Monday was to the "Noah's Ark" orphanage. The children looked surprisingly smart in their school uniforms, with their cardigans on even in the tropical heat. They were looked after by three teachers. I joined Elizabeth's class which was surprisingly conducted all in English. There was excellent discipline and much solid rote learning. We have much to learn from them!

The children get a good meal at lunchtime, often the only one! We were pleased to have ours there too. The food was traditional and delicious. It was cooked outside on a real fire. They had a particular knack of making cabbage delicious by chopping it up and frying it in its own juices with a little oil.

Soon we were back in our old bus and on the road to "St Irene's", the second orphange supported by the Nasio Trust. The school had no electricity at all. When I gave my talk on solar evergy there, I asked if any of the pupils had electricity. They did not, nor did their teachers. With African help I installed a Photo-Voltaic cell and light in the room of Boniface, the headmaster.

The charity works by donors sponsoring children and the Headmistress Bettty found for us a family of Alice (9), Hellen (7) and Teresa (5). We went to see their house, illustrated at the top. They were almost well off with their own maize plot, 3 banana trees and a water well a mere 200 yards away! The children wrote us lovely letters just recently.