No Electricity – No Water
We are upset if we don’t have electricity or water for a few hours. How would we react if our business had no electricity for over one month? How would we react if we were farmers and due to a severe drought, we could not get enough water onto our fields to grow our crops in the prime growing season? Both of these things happened to our projects in Kendu Bay in January 2023.
The orphanage in Kendu Bay supports 68 orphans + staff + 2 babies and 5 destitute widows living nearby. The orphanage is named Bartholomew Children’s Family in Kendu Bay Kenya, by Lake Victoria. It is directed by Bishop Washington Ayugi (pronounced eye-you-gee). This is the gentleman who began to bring orphans into his home many years ago to give them a safe place to grow and thrive.
Just after Christmas 2022 we were ready to open our gas station and convenience store in a brand new shopping area that was designed as a showplace for progress near two intersecting highways. Then, somehow, the primary electrical transformer for the entire shopping area got ruined, so about 100 stores had no electricity. A few days turned into a couple of weeks, which turned into five weeks with no electricity. You can’t pump gas and keep sodas cold without electricity. Finally a new transformer was installed by the national power company and we can schedule a start date for the gas station. We are going to buy a generator for the gas station to be able to stay in operation due to the frequent power outages. During January we hired a God-inspired artist to paint pictures of Jesus that will be affixed to the convenience store roof, above the name of the store, which is ‘Living Waters Convenience Store.’
When the American Directors of the orphanage, Betty, Avis and her brother Fred got to Kendu Bay in mid-January, they immediately noticed that the recently planted crops were dying due to lack of water. Three men were working diligently to pump water from a pond near the orphanage (because it was closer than Lake Victoria) into the 1500 Liter tank on the tuc-tuc and then transport it to the fields to water the crops. They were literally working from 6AM until well after dark, six days a week. Since a severe drought has not brought any rain to the crops in almost a month, the water from the tuc-tuc has only allowed subsistence farming to occur. We had to dramatically scale down our collard greens production plans because it is simply not possible to get the 15 loads of water per day to the 1 acre collard greens garden via the tuc-tuc. We now realize that as long as the drought continues, we will only get two small crops per year instead of the four robust crops per year with irrigation. Plans are being created to build a large filtered, rain catchment system!
God has sent very knowledgeable business people to develop plans for maximum water retention and train orphanage personnel in our other new businesses. Please pray with us as we’re asking God to give everyone witty ideas and continued favor as we move forward.
God has been giving the orphans favor as a new large multipurpose building (32X15) has just been built. This is for a large sewing room, a soap and body oil business, a secure room for storing chemicals for making soap and a lockable tool room. During February, these rooms will be furnished and sewing classes will begin using the two sewing machines donated in 2022. The first phase is to develop washable sanitary napkins for use by the girls and ladies at the orphanage. When complete, that will result in a savings of about $30 per month, over $300 per year, every year. The second phase is to create an inventory for the convenience store and sell this product at the store. A professional tailor from Nairobi volunteered to come and show us exactly how to do this, in February.
One of Bishop Washington’s sisters, living nearby, is very knowledgeable in the soap and body oil business. In December, funds were donated for starting this business and initial supplies were purchased in January. His sister is coming in February to start teaching this business.
For safety’s sake, a beautiful new fence has been built around the orphanage in January!