Second construction day / Second day of clinic at Bahati

Today was another day of great accomplishment. The construction crew worked again at Gituamba, this time working on the church installing windows and doing additional concrete work to construct the raised alter area. This was the church we have worked on for several years, first doing foundation preparation in 2016 and wall panels and window frames and concrete in 2017. It’s nice to see some finishing touches on this building we have helped with from the ground up.

The vision team went back for a second day of clinic at the hospital in Bahati. We arrived at 9:15 with an overflow crowd of folks already waiting for us. We had an intensive day again, evaluating 222 patients, dispensing 97 pair of prescription glasses and 75 pair of readers. We finally had to cut the line off and promise we would be back Monday to evaluate all who had been in line when we shut down today. It was very dark when we finished the last patient at 7:30 and packed to head back to Tumaini. We were exhausted but also pumped by the experience. We had seen many patients with serious issues and had been able to refer them to get further help. And we brought better vision to nearly 180 people today. And once again, our team was blessed by the camaraderie we shared with our team from Rotary and Rotaract, and their translation help was invaluable.

Tomorrow is an easier day, with church at Trinity Vineyard and lunch out and maybe even some free time (the first yet!) in the afternoon.

Second vision clinic / first construction day

Today was a first for me: our team divided into two groups, with five members going to Gituamba to work on a construction project and eleven going to the Bahati Sub-County to do a vision clinic. And I didn’t choose construction! For those of you who don’t know, my everyday job is a general contractor, so it’s what I’m comfortable with. I’m also not overly social, to be honest, so it’s somewhat of a way to escape. I know in some prior year trips, I have recognized after the fact that I have missed out on some special opportunities because I chose the “safe” construction jobs. But this year was different: because of my involvement in setting up the vision ministry and my personal experience with having my vision saved because of others, I chose to watch the construction from afar today.

At our wrap-up meeting tonight, I got to hear the construction team’s experience of a great day. They were able to work on saving and expanding the home of an elderly, ill man in Gituamba whose stick and mud Home was in significant danger of collapsing due to termites. Others had previously started replacing heavy mud walls with corrugated iron sheet over a steel frame. From the description of the labor involved, I think I might have made the wiser choice today! That team wore themselves out hauling away the old walls and building new. I’m disappointed but I have to do a vision clinic again tomorrow 😂.

The vision clinic was done at a local hospital in Bahati. This was done in conjunction with the local Rotary group and the Rotaract Club of Bahati as part of Rotary International Kenya Eyecare Project 2019. They worked side by side with us in screening patients for prescription and fitting them with either distance glasses and or reading glasses if necessary. We saw 203 patients, dispensed 128 pairs of prescription glasses and issued 46 pair of reading glasses. To say that we had some satisfied customers is gross understatement. A common comment was “ I’ll be able to read my Bible again”! Those of us who have experienced vision issues know how precious sight is and we get doubly blessed seeing others have their sight improved. It was a joy to work alongside our Rotary and Rotaract friends and benefit from their enthusiasm and ability to act as interpreters. It was absolutely a great joint effort for almost 8 straight hours. And we get to do it all again tomorrow. We had hundreds of people wait in line for hours and have already registered 70 for tomorrow. It’s going to be another great day!

First day of water filter distribution

We were up and out after breakfast today (Thursday) and headed to the Solai area we visited last year after the big flood. We set up and did a hygiene training and water filter distribution inside the shell of a church being built.  We were warmly welcomed and had a very orderly process. It’s always encouraging to recognize that the SWOK effort you are involved with is changing lives by providing clean water. We provided filters today that will bring clean water to more than 300 families.

After a late afternoon lunch, we drove about ten miles to the equator through beautiful country of coffee and tea plantations and acacia trees.

Tonight after dinner, we will regroup and do a training session for those who will be involved in our second vision clinic we’ll conduct tomorrow.  We’ll be doing this as a joint effort with a local Rotary club as team members and translators. It will surely be another great day!