Fine Mike, here is a blog... I know it's been a while but nothing exceptionally fun or exciting has been happening. That's the problem with living in the same place and not moving around a lot, sooner or later life becomes routine.
I've been working on the business plan for Wezesha By Grace. They incorporated in 2006 and this is the first business plan they've ever written. It's a lot of work and I'm not usually with Grace and getting her to sit still long enough to ask her a laundry list of questions is unbelievably difficult. For example, we were supposed to meet at 1 p.m. today. I called her at 12:50 to see where she was and she asked me to give her another 40 minutes because she had something else to do. So now it's nearly 2 p.m. and we have a few hours of work to do together... and I'm betting she hasn't budgeted that kind of time for me today.
I went to get my hair cut on Thursday (the first time since a week before Christmas, so you can image how short it was as I usually get it cut every four weeks) and my hairdresser Freddie, who I was sure was gay, asked if I wanted to eat Nyama Choma with him on Sunday. (He lives in Ong'ata Rongai where Judie goes to school). So I met him in Rongai... with his cousin Newton and we went to his house where these two 20-something men proceeded to cook the best Nyama I've ever eaten! Talk about being treated like a princess. It was lovely! Then they took me to see Judie, who was overjoyed as she forgot I had planned to come that particular Sunday.
On Monday I went to Nairobi to turn in what I hope is the very last form we have to take to the Kenyan NGO Board. The board requires a name search to make sure the name you have picked for your organizations is not being used elsewhere. I arrived early around 9:30 and was told I could return around 2:30 in the afternoon to pick "the results." So I had a lot of time to kill. I went to see my friend Frances (Grace's nephew) and picked up some copies of the electric bill because Grace has been unhappily wondering why it has been increasing steadly.
I went back to pick the results at 2:30 and at 3:15 after about six rounds of questions and explaining that we had already done all the things they were asking me to do... I was successful. Our name was found to be okay and "reserved." Whatever that means. The Kenyan NGO board will meet sometime in March to decide whether we can change our name. We have jumped through all the hoops so I see no reason for them to not approve the change... but this is Kenya. So we will pray and cross our fingers and whatever else we think might be helpful.
On Wednesday, I went to get a quote to build a choo (latrine) for a Masai boy whose legs have been amputated. He also has no control of his bodily functions. GUW wants to get him prostethics but they also need to deal with his bowel control issues. He lives in a mud hut in what I loving refer to as the bush. In the many years I have been visiting him at this home there has never been a choo. His sponsor came with the most recent group of GUW volunteers and it was decided one of the most immediate ways to help him would be to build a choo. The commode was built and now sits in my living room, and as rainy season is right around the corner the choo needs to be built soon. After running around with a fundi most of Wednesday, visiting the site (Joseph's house) and my house to see the commode and the hardware store and the lumberyard and the stone/sand/ballast/truck place and telling everyone we would start promptly Thursday morning, I emailed the quote to GUW, who promptly told me that the sponsor had not left that amount of money and I would have to build it with 10,000 Kenyan shillings (KSH) less. The fundi the hardware store had found for me basically didn't speak English so I called the fundi I'd used in Ilkiloret. We knocked off about 4,000 (KSH) but we are still 6,000 KSH (that's about $90) short of the money needed to build the latrine. Now, I'm not trying to be contradictory here... but why did no one ask for the quote before the donor gave the money?
Anyway, I'll let you know if the choo is ever built. In the meantime if you want to admire a nice commode, your welcome to my living room!
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