Tea & Cookies for 82

Judy wanted to make the end-of-the-semester celebration special for Phil's 82 Daystar students, so she baked 40 dozen cookies. She did this over a 3-day period as her small oven could only bake 1 dozen at a time. Fortunately, her little freezer was almost empty so the first batches were quickly frozen. We had the tea in the lab room just off of the classroom. The students were most thankful and helped Judy clean up afterwards. It was delightful to hear their speeches of appreciation for Phil's teaching and Judy's cookies. Several of the students asked for the cookie recipes.

Happy Daystar Students

These 8 students are celebrating the last regular class session of Phil's Electricity & Magnetism course. We had just finished reviewing for their final examination which will be on the 5th of May. Most of the students in this class are sophomore Computer Science majors.

Zebra Sentinel & Your Dollars at Work

The most abundant animals in the area near the Daystar Athi River campus are zebras and wildebeest. They are a bit elusive, especially when they see us on foot, but we were able to get rather close to this fine specimen.

We thought you'd like to know how some of the people and projects here in Kenya have benefitted by the donated funds which you gave to the Pearce Church Kenyan Missions Team.

1) Three students (David, Michael, and Simon) in Phil's Electricity and Magnetism class have been given one-time scholarships.

2) A one-time gift was given to Ruth--a woman who is trying to establish her own small food business in the Daystar area.

3) A financial gift was given to help purchase a keyboard for St. John's Anglican Church.

4) A financial gift was given to help another local church purchase a PA system.

5) A financial gift was given to help send Lucy to a youth camp.

6) A one-time gift was given to Amos (a South African whom Judy worked with in the past). He is currently in the U.S. finishing a doctorate degree. He needed some financial help as his wife had to be treated in the hospital.

7) A financial gift was given to Jennifer. She is a single mother who also supports her sister and mother. She is a Daystar employee who has been very helpful to Phil and Judy.

All these folks say THANK YOU!

Giraffes & Rain

This past Thursday Phil and Judy came across 6 giraffes on their "walk-ing safari". Just look at this amazing African sky as the backdrop to photographing one of God's curious creations.

We were so thankful that the Athi River region received three good rain falls this week. The reservoirs are beginning to fill and grass is starting to turn green again. Of course we need much more rain--but this is a great start.

Superb Starlings & HEART Report

We saw these beautiful birds on the dirt road in front of our flat. They are called Superb Starlings.

HEART Report -- Remember back in January when Judy began work on the Freedom for Girls pamphlet? This teaching pamphlet will be sent out with the sanitary pads and panties packages being donated by Proctor & Gamble. It is exciting that the final version of this pamphlet is now at the printers.

Also, after working for many hours, Judy has handed over the computer draft version of a HEART gift catalogue. One of the HEART employees has now been designated to take over this project. It will be rewarding to see this project completed in the next several months.

Over the past month, HEART has raised $26,000 in the U.S., for the purpose of taking food and water to those areas of Kenya hardest hit by the drought and famine. We plan to make a donation to this need from the Pearce Church fund, when we go to the HEART office to say good-bye on May 8.

Gazelle

We are fairly sure that this is a Grant's Gazelle. Now that there are just 3 weeks left to our time here in Africa, we went out into nature twice this week. The first was for another 6-mile walk in the savannah at Athi River--many people would call this a "walking safari". We are still thrilled to see all kinds of wildlife. We have heard that some folks have seen lions or leopards while driving in their cars, but we are just as glad that we haven't spotted any of those animals on our walking excursions. Our second hike was to the top of the ridge of the Lukenya Hills.

Updates

1) Baby Jason at Tenwek -- On April 9, Dr Russ removed the stomach feeding tube from Jason. He is taking milk by mouth and doing very well. Interestingly enough they encourage mothers to feed their babies by cup instead of bottle here in Kenya. They say it's easier to wash a cup than a bottle.

2) Josephine and the twins -- Remember the HEART Women's director that had twins about 2 months ago? One of the twins was born with spina bifida. Well, that twin--the little girl--has had two surgeries and is doing very well. In fact, we hear that she is very active and is able to move her legs.

3) Our small Anglican Church was packed this morning when Judy was privileged to preach. The topic they had requested was "The Power of the Holy Spirit." Judy enjoyed several weeks of study preparation for this sermon. The people were very attentive and receptive to the message. Eight of those in attendance raised their hands to indicate that they were choosing to have a closer walk with Jesus through the Holy Spirit.

WHY is Judy on a motor bike? Well, Phil and Judy couldn't resist the adventure of using one of the motor taxis for the 3-mile transport back to campus from Mombasa Road. Judy's ride was actually quite comfortable, but Phil had to sit on the hard rack in back of the cushioned seat. The driver drove slowly--for the comfort of his older passengers. At the end of the ride Phil asked the amount of the charge and the driver said Ksh 100 ($1.25). Judy told him she knew the rate is Ksh 40 per person, and that they had intended to give him a tip anyway; so, he didn't have to make the charge larger. He had a large grin on his face as he knew he'd been caught.

Have you been praying for us this week? Well, we really needed it physically. Last week Judy had caught a cold which turned into a sinus and bronchial infection--which triggered the asthma. Fortunately, we'd brought prednisone and antibiotics along on the trip. Judy is feeling better now--but Phil has the sniffles. Thank you for being our partners in prayer!

Phil & Judy at Primarosa

We thought to give you a diversion from our usual type of postings. Hope you enjoy! A couple of weeks ago Phil and Judy took a tour of Primarosa, a business located about 3 1/2 miles from Daystar Athi River. This business employs 700 people from the area in growing rose bushes and long-stemmed rose blossoms. All the roses are grown in greenhouses so that the growing conditioning and pests can be controlled. The roses are planted in shredded coconut husk materials purchased from Sri Lanka. A slow-drip tube hose irrigation system is used for watering. There are several pump buildings operated by computers. With this they are able to control the amount of fertilizer and pH level in the water. We were told that 23% of the gross national product of Kenya is horticulture. This includes maize and other crops, besides these roses.

What do you think is the most popular color of roses sold? It is pink and the least popular is red (except for Valentines Day). In fact, we saw a large wagon load of red roses being thrown out because they couldn't be sold. Judy wanted to take the roses home with her :-)

Grafting for New Rose Bushes

In addition to selling long-stemmed rose blossoms, Primarosa also sells rose plants. They use a method of grafting to create the spectacular roses for which they are known. We saw a whole room full of women performing this grafting. The process is to take a type of rose which is very hardy, but not so beautiful, and graft a beautiful rose stem onto the hardy rose stem (which has the root shoots). You can see the small plastic wrapper that is placed around the grafted area of the new plant. These plants are then placed in a small cup of soil and put into a room that is VERY humid. After about a week, the plants are moved into a cooler room and eventually planted into larger containers ready for shipment.

Breeding New Roses

Primarosa invites people who enjoy breeding roses to bring some of their new varieties into a greenhouse designated for this purpose. As you can see on this sign, the name of the breeder, the variety, the date of planting and the number of plants are listed. If the new roses are healthy, do well, and are liked by the customers, these roses are then planted into the vast stock of roses at Primarosa. When the roses are sold, the breeder receives royalty payment. When a new rose bush is first planted, it begins to blossom after 3 months. The rose bush then continues to produce for 5 years.

Women Hand Grading Roses

When the roses are first cut in the greenhouse and brought to the processing area by wagonloads, they are placed in bundles in a large room cooler, in buckets of water with plant food, for about 24 hours. This is to help them endure all the handling that will come. When brought out of the cooler, a person places the bottom part of a bundle in a deshreding machine to remove the bottom leaves. Next they are either sent to a group of women who hand grade the roses (by stem length), or they are sent to the grading machine (next post).

Grading Machine

This wonder of a machine grades roses according to the length of stem. The longer the stem, the more valuable the rose. On the opposite side of the machine, a worker clips the roses, one at a time, onto a revolving belt that then goes inside the machine where the rose is looked at by an automatic eye. The rose is then sent to the proper section of the machine and spit out into the bin (still according to stem length). These roses are then bundled and put into a plastic sleeve with a packet of plant food. Cardboard is wrapped around the plastic sleeve of dozen roses. Finally, they are placed into shipment boxes--ready for their airflight to the market. The #1 customer destination for these roses is Holland. Other destinations include the UK and Australia. Some are also taken to Dubai to a gigantic flower auction.

Vase Life Room

If you enlarge the photo (by a right click) you will see a sign that reads "Vase Life Room." Before a shipment of roses leaves Primarosa, one rose is removed from the lot, tagged, and placed in a vase for tracking. The purpose is to show how long that particular shipment of roses should have lasted. Most of the roses can last 20 days. It takes about 3 days for processing; 2 days for shipping; they reach the market in 5 days. Most roses have been cut about a week by the time they reach the customer. It is projected that the roses will still live another week. If you've ever wondered why many roses you buy at the florist don't have a wonderful smell, it is because the roses that smell the best have the shortest shelf life.

Easter Lilies?

Although we missed being with our children and grand- children, seeing Easter lilies, Easter baskets with candy, painting colored eggs, and going to Easter sunrise breakfast with our family and friends, we enjoyed the core of the Easter celebration--which is the church rejoicing in the resurrection of our Lord.

We began with a Good Friday service at our local Anglican Church. The service featured the 7 last phrases of Christ on the cross. Each segment included a hymn (African style) with a scripture reading and homily.

Apparently, one of the Easter traditions introduced by the British is hot cross buns. Phil and Judy purchased theirs in Nairobi to have for Easter breakfast.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, we went in to Nairobi with friends and participated in a fine Easter worship service at the Kilileshwa Covenant Community Church. This is a contemporary, urban Kenyan church. Praise music by Keith Green, Dallas Holm, and Hillsong was prominent.

Following the service, we had lunch at an Ethopian restaurant. This was our first time to experience Ethopian food--but it won't be our last. We ordered 2 large platters of food. There were 8 to 10 items per platter. Individually we had no plates or flatware. Each person first took one of the rolls (which was a flat, spongy, crepe-type bread rolled rectangularly). The idea was to tear off a portion of your roll and use it to pick up whatever you wanted off of the platter. The food included goat meat, cabbage, red beets, various beans, etc. All was finely seasoned. The whole finger-eating process was rather messy, but the food was great.

And the rose? Well, we'll tell you about that in a later post :-)

Traffic on Mombasa Road

This photo was taken a few days ago through the windshield of the Daystar bus. This is a typical scene on the Mombasa Road between Nairobi and Athi River. Notice the crumbling pavement on the right-hand side of the photo. The driver has three major concerns: One is to find a route that is less rough than others in order to avoid slowing more than necessary; a second is to find a way to get past the large number of slow-moving trucks; a third concern, of course, is to avoid oncoming vehicles.

Construction has been moving ahead on this road and we are able to see improvements in sections, but it will be years before it is complete.

Traveling is an Adventure

Sometimes, the traffic on the Mombasa Road becomes so congested, many of the drivers choose to leave the main roads and seek an alternate route through the maze of dirt side roads. Here you see a safari-type vehicle ahead of us on one of these secondary roads. This is a vehicle used by the Kenyans for long-distance traveling.

A few days ago, we left the Nairobi campus at 5:10 p.m. on the Daystar bus, to return home to Athi River. Because there was an accident and extensive traffic delays we were an hour behind schedule. Our driver, who seems to enjoy adventure, chose to leave the main road. There were 2 times when it looked like the bus might get hung up, or scrape bottom, or topple over. The first time the bus was nose down at a 45-degree angle. People on the bus got out to help. The second time the car ahead of us got hung up on a bump. Our driver and several of our passengers got out and pushed and lifted the car to get it over the barrier. We then had many people giving our driver guidance as we proceeded very slowly over the same hazard. After getting off the bus at the Athi River campus, in the dark, we had about 50 lbs. of groceries to carry half-a-mile up to our flat--arriving at 7:25 p.m. Our trip to Nairobi for some errands and groceries was an 8-hour adventure.

At this point we think about our decision to live at Athi River instead of Nairobi and need to remind ourselves of why we made that decision--better interaction with the students. For example, on Wednesday Phil got a phone call asking if he could help a student with a homework problem. He agreed to meet with her in 2 hours. To his surprise, 11 students gathered at the appointed place and he had an enjoyable and profitable study session. If we weren't living at the campus where he is teaching, this probably wouldn't happen, or at least not as easily.

Lukenya Hills

Several days ago we took a refreshing hike up into the Lukenya Hills above the campus. This is a view of the lower portion of the hike leading up to a small granite quarry.

Judy on the Rocks

Judy was very careful to look for snakes among the granite boulders near the quarry. Though there were numerous geckos, we didn't see any snakes.

Phil on the Rocks

Safari Phil (the hat was a birthday gift from Judy) climbs up over some of the rocks at the edge of the quarry. Notice the dry, dusty area in the background. The shiny areas may look like water, but they are roofs of buildings. We are still praying for rain and for famine relief for many areas in Kenya. Please continue to pray with us. Thus far, we have had a total of about 30 minutes of rain here at Athi River.

Phil's Ankle is Great

We wanted to let you know that Phil's ankle was healed within 24 hours of posting the prayer request. Monday night when we posted the request, his ankle was swollen and throbbing with pain. He slept with it elevated and ice bags on it, and of course we (and you) prayed. When he woke up Tuesday morning, the pain and swelling were gone. He has done much walking with no problems since then. Thank you for your prayers.

Several of you have mentioned that you have had problems trying to post comments. We need to let you know that we monitor the comments--meaning that they aren't posted until Phil or I look at them. We haven't rejected any yet--but this does account for the time delay.

According to our emails, we understand that many of you are faithfully following the blog, even though you aren't official "followers." That is an encouragement to us!! --Judy

Tenwek Hospital Sign

Tenwek Hospital was founded in 1959 by the World Gospel Mission. It is near Bomet, located on the map of Kenya shown on this sign. It was a 4-hour drive from Nairobi, for us, and 6 hours from Athi River. Tenwek is a 300-bed hospital--the largest mission hospital in Kenya. Dr. Russ White is medical superintendent (since July, 2008) and head surgeon. He is a graduate of Roberts Wesleyan College, where he studied physics, as an undergraduate, with Phil. Beth, the wife of Russ, was also a student there. In addition to his work at Tenwek, Dr. White is on the medical research faculty at Brown University.

We were amazed at the facilties and donated equipment, which allow quite complicated treatments and surgeries to take place. Tenwek is also a teaching hospital. They have trained many Kenyans; some of which are employed at Tenwek. There are currently 15 medical missionaries at Tenwek and a constant flow of short-term medical missionaries (2 weeks to 6 months) from other countries.

Russ & Beth at Waterfall

A small river flows through the valley below the hospital. Several years ago, the mission built a dam upstream from this beautiful waterfall. They installed a hydroelectric power plant that is just out of the picture on the left. The pool below the falls is a popular swimming area for the Whites and other mission families. This pool is also used as a bathing area for the local Kenyans. The short hike with Russ and Beth down to the river on Sunday afternoon was a very pleasant outing for us.

Anna with Chameleon

Anna, the youngest White child, was born in Kenya. In fact, Dr. White, performed the C-section for her birth. She is now 4 years old. Having four older brothers--Adam (17), Andrew (14), Peter (13) and James (9)--has introduced Anna to the thrill of keeping geckos and chameleons as pets. The Kenyan people do not like geckos, chameleons or snakes and marvel at the White children's fascination with these critters.

Shryock Building & Courtyard

Patients and family members wait in this courtyard. In the background is the Shryock Building which houses X-ray facilities and examining rooms. This building is named for Trudy Shryock, a distant relative of Phil's, who was a nurse at Tenwek for many years. After Aunt Trudy retired in Idaho she married a widower, Joe Root, who was Phil's great-uncle.

The Baby Jason

When this baby was 2 days old, Dr. White gave him a two-part operation. First, he reconnected the esophagus to his stomach; when he was born, the esophagus was connected to his lungs. Second, he gave him a colonostomy. On this photo the baby is 6 days old. He is doing well, though still fighting pneumonia--which was produced from the esophagus transferring fluid to the lungs before the operation. He will eventually need several other operations, including an opening in the rectum for the large colon to empty there.

This baby was born with the same syndrome that Judy's child, Jason, had been born with in January, 1978. Judy's child's first surgery had also been on the esophagus; but, Jason died when he was 2 days old.

When Dr. White realized this child at Tenwek Hospital was born with the same syndrome, he asked if he could name him Jason, after Judy's deceased child. The parents of the child had asked Dr. White to give the child a name.

Please pray for baby Jason.

Kipsigis House

This is a typical Kipsigis house and farm on a steep hillside across the valley from Tenwek Hospital. The lush green countryside in the western highlands of Kenya was a welcome change for us from the dry, dusty area where we are living.