Mud "Boggsing" in Kenya

Greetings from Lango Baya Mission,

I pray you are all well and that God is unfolding a beautiful spring season for you.

We are well in Lango Baya. Still hot and sticky, but the work is going smoothly,
thanks to your prayers. Please continue to lift us up to our loving Lord.

We have completed two major accomplishments:
1. We traveled through the villages for two days meeting with many of the local
people who are engaged in small business, i.e. basket making, bicycle repair,
tailoring, small roadside markets, fruit growing, etc. This survey gives us a good
sense of the level of business knowledge and competence of the participants. So, we
find that most of them don't keep any written records and therefore are not sure if
they make a profit or not. For this project we are working with Ajema Kikuyu and
Ngumba Kagu from Nairobi. I think I mentioned them to you. Now we can write up a
"model" for doing small business development. Today we met with two Sisters and a
third man in the Diocese office and they are interested in partnering with us in
launching a small business start up project.
2. Saturday, we spent the day driving out to the farms of those who had been trained
in Farming God's Way to see their progress. It is both encouraging and frustrating.
Some are doing well and most are in need of ongoing follow-up training, so we spent
a lot of time "reteaching" what was taught at the initial trainings. It takes time
for them to move to the higher standard of cultivating that we are pushing them
toward. But with this growing season we should see some good results from what they
have implemented. In time we are confident the increased yields will attract more
farmers.

(Forgive me if I repeat myself a little. Memory is not my strong point.)

This week I will be registering orphans in the two villages that we have not yet
registered, Girimacha and Malanga. Pray that we can find them all and that the
families are home when we come to see them. We will meet with the Village
Coordinators this week who oversee our orphan program to refine and adjust where it
may be necessary and to understand how they are doing in their duties. They each
have agreed to get a plot of land and show the children how to grow maize using
Farming God's Way methods. This will be a great project for the orphan children.
They can sell their corn and raise some money for their group. Teaching the young
people more about self-sufficiency is one of our goals.

I still need to get aroung to visit more of the orphan caregivers and children who
have already been registered. I will try to do more of that this week. The days are
getting full and I only have one week left. We are delivering the letters that you
have sent to your orphans as we visit the villages. They are very happy to receive
them, and your gifts also. And on Wednesday evening we will meet with the local
Rotary Club to discuss our six village water project.

I sit in the shade on the patio outside the internet cafe writing this note to you,
as the clatter of tuk-tuks (three wheel Piaggio taxis) moves incesantly up and down
the street. Poorly maintained cars and buses belch smoke into the air and people
walk and ride bikes eveywhere. It is warm and humid but there is a nice breeze
blowing swaying the big trees overhead and providing a break from the heat of the
day. It is fun to be in Malindi for short periods, I can get a snack of yogurt here
which we don't keep in the frig "at home". I think I would die without an occasional
yogurt fix. Driving back out to Lango Baya in the evening at sunset moves one into
the quiet, slow pace of the rural setting that I love. Fr. Pedro has some chickens
and roosters, so I am up by 6 AM and into my prayer time. The day unfolds, sometimes
with the typical "African surprises" of changed plans and missed appointments, or
appointments one didn't expect. But we are accomplishing
most of what God has laid on our hearts to do. So, praise his name, all is well in
Kenya.

Attached photos: Children love to smile and laugh, even though they may be hungry.
And you'll see where I got the truck stuck in the mud on the way to Mkondoni Village
after a big rain storm. Da, you'd think I'd know how to drive on these back roads by
now. :-)

Peace and love to you,
Doug