We last wrote in June to give you an update on Rowley Projects. We wrote about our distanced visits from grandsons and last week , 4
months on, we watched our youngest open his third birthday presents through the car window. We don’t envisage visiting Nyandiwa again until there is a vaccine against Covid 19 (promising news this week) and we feel it is safe to go so hopefully this time next year. Who knows? In the meantime things have changed so much in our small community.
On September 9th we had a text from Ayugi simply saying “My loving wife is gone to be with the Lord just now. I am in mourning.” We were totally shocked. Everline had been unwell for a few weeks with what the doctors at the clinic in Oyugis diagnosed as septicaemia. She had been taken into the main hospital in Kisumu where she died very suddenly. There was no sign of septicaemia and it’s believed the cause was a heart attack although no one told Ayugi and he was too shocked to ask. She died six days before her 50th birthday and leaves Ayugi and his 5 children, 4 grandchildren, 2 adopted daughters, the
Baptist church and the whole community devastated but nonetheless steadfast in their faith. Everline has been buried according to custom behind her home. As western practices creep in we see more graves with permanent memorials rather than being left to grass over.
Our boys – my affectionate name for our ex-students sent messages to say they were busy digging extra latrines ready for the funeral. The question was why when the country was in semi-lockdown. Well, the answer was between 3 and 4,000 people in attendance filling three fields, Ayugi’s compound and the neighbouring church compound with the service boomed through huge loudspeakers. What is amazing is that despite people from every part of Kenya being present and the attendant risk of infection, no one in the Nyandiwa community has contracted the virus.
Education
Some students at Kolweny Kingsway High School and Primary School have been allowed back into school in order to work for exams. That’s Class 4 and 8 in the primary and Form 4 in the high school. Exams are usually in full swing at the beginning of November but they have been postponed to March with the usual two-month Christmas break being worked through.
We have no idea what will happen in January when the new intake should register and we suspect no one else knows either let alone the government whose forward planning is lucky to reach the end of the week. Our students will still require sponsorship so we hope those who kindly sponsor students will continue to do so. I don’t have any photos of course
but these are unprecedented times and we’ll have to make do with last year’s. The new principal who replaced Chris Ogutu in January has had a baptism of fire and now has lost his right-hand man, our wonderful deputy Dom Onditi who has been
promoted to a school out of the area. We shall really miss him as he and Chris had the students’ welfare at heart having been there since the school opened in 2005. Some work has been started on the science lab refurbishment. The students are in there doing practicals so the work won’t be finished just yet. It’s a challenge for me when jobs are left unfinished and rough so hopefully this will be remedied.
Water & Health
Edwin, our health practitioner, had been staying overnight 6 days a week in his new house on the dispensary compound but when Covid 19 broke out he made the decision to stay permanently to be available for the community. As yet there are no Covid 19 cases in our community but patients do come in from further afield and Edwin reports 10 cases with 1 fatality and 2 still in hospital.
Church
Nyandiwa Baptist Church has been the base for distribution of grain.
In June we thanked you for a fabulous collection of £6,000. The
distribution went well and over 1,000 families had 12Kg of grain for their family to last several weeks. Donations continued to arrive plus we had Ayugi and Everline’s flights refunded so we were able to send another £6,000 at the end of August for a second truckload which included cooking oil and soap. Sad to say but climate change is a reality in sub-Saharan Africa and provision of grain each year seems to be becoming a regular necessity. It used to be drought which caused the problems and we’ve looked at water harvesting but now it’s torrential rain and there isn’t much we can
do to alleviate that challenge.
We’re told church services are continuing with social distancing and masks but no evidence here in the youth work! The congregation sends its love and appreciation to everyone here.
Thankyou again for making this work possible by your donations thoughts and prayers.
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