JULY 31, 2013 UPDATE

We are starting to get some rain again and everyone is pleased. The last rainy season ended in mid May, so it’s a little early but welcomed, if it is the start of another season. Of course the road are our hill will be very slippery as no one has delivered any clay soil (morem) to smooth things our and shed the water better. Anyway we had one heavy storm (lightning and 2 inch rain) 2 weeks ago and another nice shower last night, so we shall see. The lightning really did some damage to electrical fixtures including lights and a TV and the hospital X ray machine and both well water pumps. We are waiting for a technician from Nairobi who should arrive today.    

The parts for these repairs was not cheap, but part of life with electricity. Our electrician had to travel 4 hours by bus to Mwanza to find what we needed.  He still cannot find the part we need to repair our new generator which failed after 10 hours of operation and required rewinding the generator. We are still not sure what caused that, but no one warranties anything here you hope these dealer is honest and sells you a good machine. In this case it may have been a used machine, but no way to know.

Our new poly pipe (1 1/2inch plastic) is working well now and no more daily leaks due to the thicker wall. Our new large generator for the school arrived last night. It should be a little more reliable as it was built in the UK and cost a bundle ($15,000). Now we need to unload it from our lorry. They said it took 10 people to load it yesterday in Mwanza. We also got 50 boxes of chocolate cookies and a ton on meds for the hospital. Our driver finally arrived in the rain at 9 pm. He left here at 5 am that morning so he was exhausted.

Today is pay day at the school and the mission, so I will be busy. Fortunately our newest India sister, Sr Marietta, arrived Monday so I had started training her yesterday. She should be a big help today. When I told her I was going home for 5 months in November she about went into shock. She is young, so this really too much job for her just yet. It should be interesting. We now have 4 new sisters in the school and 2 more coming later this year and January from India. Out next project is to change most of the 200+ padlocks around the school. That starts tomorrow. Then we need to start keeping inventory in the school store to see why we are not making any profit. We have big income ($100/day +) but never have any money left after expenses. It goes on and on with need-to-do projects. Well it’s 8 am so I need to get to work.

Tom in Kowak