Journal: Mission Trip to Meru Kenya Feb 3-17, 2007

Eight dedicated Volunteer in Mission members met at Will Rogers Airport, Oklahoma City at 2 p.m., February 3, 2007 to begin a mission to Meru, Kenya in Africa. An inauspicious beginning of a snow and ice storm delayed the proposed flight two and a half days. But this made the team all the more eager to get on with our objectives of putting the Kaaga School for the Hearing Impaired Library into operation.

Jean Warner, 61, OKC VIM coordinator of the project had been assisted by Florence Mubichi of OKC and Meru in this project. Florence and her family of Meru: husband Stephen and daughters Fridah, 32, and Ravena, 27, established this project as part of a memorial to honor their middle daughter Kanana, who was tragically killed in an auto accident four years ago. Jean recruited volunteers, raised monies to build, equip and supply materials for this library. Now, in its second year, with the building in place and books on site, the team aimed to do as much as possible to stamp, catalog, card and arrange books so as to make the library operational. Also, shorter shelves were needed to serve the youngest library users.

Members of the team were: Jean, with a PhD in political science and an interest in women’s empowerment; Neal Baumwart, 69, retired Methodist minister and counselor at Integris Medical Center, OKC; Kathy Baumwart, 66, retired professor of Early Childhood Development at Rose State College, OKC; Bob Macemon, 51, electrical engineer with RS Information Services, Norman, which works with weather radar and choir director of UMC of the Good Shepherd, Yukon; Margaret Macemon, 52, Media Assistant at Mustang Trails Elementary School; Katelyn McLain, 20, part-time college student, Edmond; Nicole Winters, currently a stay-at-home mother of a 2-year old daughter and former teacher and librarian, Broken Bow; and Nan Lacy, 76, semi-retired librarian, former library science teacher, Madill.

Team members had volunteered to take on various responsibilities including: Kathy – snack coordinator, hotel menu coordinator and name tag distributor; Neal – team banker/bill payer, devotion leader and head organizer of the religious library that last year’s Oklahoma VIM team donated to the MCK Kaaga Church; Nan – journal keeper and co-director of book sorting and cataloging; Bob – carpentry supplies overseer, music director and overseer of the construction of eight low wooden book shelves for the beginner reading room; Margaret – bottled water supply monitor and co-director of book sorting and cataloging; Katelyn – weblog mistress and (because she had picked up some sign language and the children adored her) liaison to the deaf children; Jean – mission and logistics coordinator and occasional speech giver; and Nicole – luggage manager, official team photographer and co-director of book sorting and cataloging.

On arriving at the airport, there was considerable shifting of materials as team members worked to fill each of their two checked bags to the overseas allowable weight maximum of 50 pound limit. This was quite a project as team members were bringing enough cataloging materials for 5,000 books, gifts for Kenyan friends and dignitaries, more books for the library, supplies for the Mubichi Foundation, snacks, carpentry tools, cameras, binoculars and work clothes, church attire and safari garb for the next 15 days. In spite of her heavy schedule as a doctoral candidate and teacher of nursing at the University of Oklahoma, Florence Mubichi came to the airport to wish us well (and show us how to “really” pack a suitcase to the limit)!

As the first team member tried to check in at the ticket counter, she was questioned about a visa as this was necessary to travel to Kenya…consternation, consternation! Finally, the ticket agent admitted an entry visa could be purchased in Nairobi. Then the clerk said, “There’s no ticket for you!” After explaining that our tickets were scheduled for Thursday but that flight was cancelled due to icy conditions and rescheduled for Saturday, the ticketing agent “found” the ticket reservations and the rest of the group went through much more smoothly.

The layover in Memphis of two hours went fairly smoothly. But the 9-hour flight to Amsterdam was definitely a “longie,” not to mention losing seven hours more through time zone changes. There, the team secured an oval seating arrangement where luggage could be easily secured by minimal persons. The youngest two (Katelyn and Nicole) plus Kathy and Neal set off via trains to visit the Anne Frank Museum. On returning, they were exhilarated by the sights seen: the great number of bicycles and riders, the boats and canals, some of the “red light” district. The rest had eaten, visited the Rijks Museum’s small exhibition in the airport, window shopped and rested. Then there was another 9-hour hop to Nairobi, plus losing two more hours to time changes. Our bodies were getting a bit numb after two full calendar days in transit.

Monday, February 5, 2007

We arrived in Nairobi around 7 am, converted some US dollars into Kenyan shillings in the airport, bought our Kenyan visas, claimed our luggage and passed effortlessly through customs. Daniel Kibe, owner-administrator of Danvelo Tours & Safari, and his drivers Simon and Sammy were there to greet us. We knew the end of our journey was in sight. The vans were loaded with trekkers and our mountain of luggage. Then we were off to the city of Nairobi and points northeast.

We decided Kenya Airways had the best food, KLM was next, with Northwest Airlines last. But all did their best to make our travel time pass as pleasantly as possible. Some of the sights of Nairobi were: The National Museum with its six piece statuary out front, depicting the evolution of humans from Cro-Magnon to modern man, a woman sweeping the street, lovely shrub and flower plantings at street intersections, “Church Corner,” where seven churches are located close together, the intricately carved Indian temples and the many, many carefully dressed workers walking, walking to work. And still the vehicular traffic was quite slow as people made their way to work between 8-9 a.m.

We stopped about 10 a.m. at a lovely lodge with nice plantings and a nearby waterfall. Here, we had fresh fruit and drinks and most had tasty breakfasts in the open air dining room. Neal blessed us with our first devotion. But time was passing, and after an intro to various flora, we loaded up to drive on, stopping only once more for a pottie break before reaching the White Star Hotel in Meru. On the way we passed by the largest open air market in Africa--open year round and located in one specific tribal area. Weary, feeling dirty, we stumbled to our rooms at the one-story clean hotel. There we had less than an hour to shower, change clothes and unpack before being met in the lobby by the Mubichi family.

Stephen, Fridah and Ravena Mubichi whisked us away via a pickup, an SUV and a white sedan to their nearby home. This was enclosed by a high stone wall and guarded by dogs after 7 p.m. A vibrant family with many interests and abilities, they each had one or more cell phones. Stephen has restaurants, farms, does hauling of building materials, among other enterprises. Fridah is CEO of the Mariam Kanana Mubichi Foundation. Quite vocal and knowledgeable with two master degrees from the U.S., she is civic-minded and wants to improve the lot of the Meru citizens, especially women and children, via the foundation. The foundation promotes social economical development and aims to do that by engaging in projects that center around education and literacy, health and nutrition and resource management. They give scholarships to children, have provided a water pipeline that comes from a mountain stream for the Meru School for the Mentally Challenged, and now a library for the Kenya School for Healing Impaired.

Ravena, short, quiet and less outgoing, is said to be great at getting the most for her money. She, apparently, is the best family cook, and is currently working on a degree in microbiology and doing research for various companies, including the Kenyan and German governments. Their welcoming home was well-arranged and attractive, had several couches and pull up tables. We were feted with typical Kenyan food, served buffet style. After dinner we were treated to a tour of their yards which features a wonderful vegetable garden, various trees and plants, including bananas, mangoes, papayas, and Kanana’s grave site which is covered over with many flowering plants. Fridah is an animal lover and speaks fondly of her various dogs, which includes a new litter of seven puppies.

Back at the hotel, Jean offered post cards and stamps as mail was being taken to Nairobi on the morrow. Thus, we could send messages back home. After this, we quickly fell into beds for some sleep. Our time clocks, upset by jet lag, caused some to awaken earlier than wished, but all felt sure that tomorrow would bring clearer thinking as God has taken care of our needs so far.

Tuesday, February 6, 2007

A new day brought renewed energy and excitement. After breakfast, the library supplies and gifts were gathered in the hotel lounge to be sorted: some going back to the rooms, others being packed to go to the library site. A large number of college students were standing outside the library waiting to volunteer their time in order to help us when we arrived. Imagine the situation: Books, dusty and discarded from other libraries, were piled atop most every library shelf and table; time was at a premium; shelves were situated every which way; volunteers, eager to work, awaiting directions; VIM team, two days late, hoping to turn this chaos into an orderly library in five days. Everyone pitched in, doing their best. But frustration did ensue.

some of our wonderful volunteers

Work was accomplished, though not efficiently. But by day’s end, a system did evolve. Some books got sorted by category: E for early readers, F for fiction, B for biography, non-fiction by Dewey Decimal Classification number (without the decimals!). Not having worked with pre-school, Nan tried to classify non-fiction Easy books, but the other librarians said, “Just put an E, plus the first three letters of the author’s last name and send them on their way.” Floors got swept of debris. Tables got cleared and were labeled by the above categories. One table was set aside to receive books, which were dusted. Another person would remove old book pockets, another put in new pockets, another would stamp books, another sorted and distributed them to the various tables where librarians or team members would instruct and guide the volunteers in how to process books.

Meru Teachers College students were a great blessing

Again we went to the Mubichis for dinner where Stephen told of his young manhood. The English recruited likely young candidates and took them to Scotland where they were trained as detectives. Then they were sent out to work as janitors, painters or construction workers in order to infiltrate questionable organizations and gain evidence of wrong-doing. Once the criminals were convicted or evidence was obtained, the detective was moved to a different locale to start over again. He told of Florence getting a scholarship to Oklahoma City University in order to received nurse training. So all the young family of Fridah, 5, Kanana, 4, and Ravena, 2, accompanied Florence for the four years of study. While there, Stephen took care of the girls, got some vocational training and worked. At the Mubichi's home, team members were able to send off a few email messages home. (The picture is of Steven Mubichi and Josephine Mraya who served as our general coordinator on Tuesday - a thankless task to be sure!)

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

Jet laggers got more sleep and were eager to face work day # 2 with a situation geared to use more workers efficiently. And a mission team from Illinois joined us for the morning and were most helpful. They supervised and – after only brief instriuctions – filled many process positions including book sorters, book dusters (a nasty job; next time bring face masks for this task!), pocket removers, pocket and book stampers, and pocket inserters, etc. The work began to flow faster and smoother. Some of the nastiest work involved emptying books off shelves so that they could be moved to better locations (see pictures). At 1 p.m. we stopped for lunch, again at the Mubichis, where we were joined by young student volunteers from an area technical school. (Click on any photo to enlarge it.)

Left: KEMU missionary volunteers (thank you). Right: Geoffrey Mutiga with East African Educational Publishers Ltd (right) donating 500,000 KES (over $8,000) worth of text books and reference books (in boxes).

These student volunteers helped with some of the nastiest tasks - like cutting out the old pockets, stamping the books and sticking the new pockets onto the back cover of each of the library books.

Nan was a wonderful mentor for the students working on non-fiction coding.

Water Line Dedication - School for Mentally Challenged Children

On Wednesday afternoon, we went to the Kaaga School for the Mentally Challenged for a dedication ceremony. Margaret and Nicole volunteered to stay and work at the library and direct the volunteer students in the afternoon. We were told it would be a 1-hour affair and we all promised to be back soon to help. At this school, physical conditions were clean, painted and up-to-date in appearance. The children appeared to range fro 6-18 years of age with problems ranging from hyper-activity to autism, from Down’s Syndrome to mentally deficient.

We toured a number of classrooms. When students were able, they were shown and taught simple life skills such as brushing teeth. One classroom even had a small garden growing in a corner area. Some were taught weaving, sewing, and beadwork. Their modern woodworking shop was turning out furniture. Here we saw some attractively made bed frames. Employed workers were preparing a concrete foundation for two more classroom. The girls were dressed in simple brown-checked dress with two large pockets in front and featured white collars and cuffs. Boys wore short pants and shirts. One fleet-footed boy was being chased after he’d discarded his pants.