Planting Aubergines

Hello! We have seen some funny sights since we last blogged, including a herd of bishops (all dressed in various shades of aubergine) planting trees around a church, the same bishops all came together in a brown retro Peugeot, which has amazingly survived years of dirt roads and pot holes. REAP was planting trees as part of the ‘Easter Tree Planting Campaign’, so necessary in a country where rainfall and climate has changed due in large part to deforestation. And trees can have all sorts of wonderful uses such as shade, food and timber, so they are an amazing provision from God…!

The Aubergine Brigade plant their trees

How do bishops get around?

Church planting

Bored Aubergine Bishop

Sam Ouma, one of the REAP staff contemplating

Dr Roger (the man, not our cat) has given me (Emma) part of the REAP showground to display some of the school resources at the end of July, which has given me the incentive to press on with making things out of bottle tops and bamboo and various locally available material/ junk. Have discovered that bamboo takes a lot longer to work with than I expected, spent about 2 hours yesterday trying to make a bamboo xylophone, which is still not finished. Beanbags are also being modified, as filling bags with a good number of edible beans might be too much of a temptation, so we’ll be using seeds from trees.

Emma (trying) to make a bamboo xylophone

Other potential news is that I might be working with some other girls on developing some kind of re-usable sanitary item. We met last night and it seemed quite a surreal discussion, (David looked very uncomfortable and intently watched the football) but undoubtedly, the need for tried and tested sustainable, safe protection is a priority in the more rural areas. Recent interviews and research from the charity the girls are with, the Kenyan Orphans Project, has shown that most girls miss a week of school each month due to lack of suitable items. This amounts to 3 months of education each year, and the knock- on effect on their grades and job prospects is noticeable and alarming. At the moment I’m not really sure how I can help this research or implementation, but I am keen to get involved and think it is a vital area of attention, so we’ll see how it pans out.

We utilized our guests as house- and- kitten- sitters, and went to Nairobi last weekend. It was good to see Mama Jos (Roger’s wife) and stock up on her homemade peanut butter. We met a lovely couple from Reading , Sue and David, who are celebrating David’s 80th birthday with his twin sister (who lives in Nairobi).

The Vails (for once without their veils)

We also visited new friends from the Pioneers conference, who had invited us to stay at the African Theology College (where they work) in Nairobi, and we enjoyed chatting with them, playing with their kids and eating their pancakes for breakfast. David and Ben (the dad, not the mum) spent a good deal of time discussing missionary kid issues together, Ben also having grown up in Zaire (or Congo or whatever you want to call it). Ben’s siblings had various difficulties with their identity (something any potential traveller-type needs to be wary about for their kids…).