Bonfire

Bonfire

by Tristan Kenny

I see the smoke rising up to the clouds

Bonfires are the best!

I hear the crackling from the wet wood

Bonfires are the best!

I smell the marshmallows roasting till goo

Bonfires are the best!

I hope you learned what bonfires do

Bonfires are the best!

A late night bonfire in our yard with the poet, himself

Halloween Pics

Oliver Twist

Sharpay from High School Musical

Snow White

Emma and her friends, Mary and Maddy

The whole gang and Jack Sparrow

Clean Water

Ceramic water filter system

Maji Afiya (Healthy Water)

Thanks to the generous support of many individuals and churches, we continue to be able to distribute ceramic water filter systems to vulnerable refugee households living in Eastleigh. Today another 38 Somali and Oromo women took part in a training workshop on the importance, use and maintenance of ceramic water filters. Each household received a filter purchased with funds raised by First Baptist Church, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. We want to share our thanks to the congregation for your generous support of this project! Access to clean water continues to be a major challenge for people throughout Kenya and much of Africa.

As we shared together about the difficulties surrounding water in Eastleigh, the women told us that the city water only comes to Eastleigh sporadically from Friday evening to Sunday. There is absolutely no water available from Monday to Friday. "When the water comes we store it in pails and old cooking oil containers." explained a Somali woman. "We put it where ever we can. There isn't even a glass or mug that we don't fill with water when it comes!" The groups laughs, but soon they the are all sharing about their daily struggle to provide water for their families. Once the city water runs dry, the women walk into Mathare Valley where they can fill a 20 litre used cooking oil container for 20 Kenyan Shillings. Because the water quality is terrible and the women will spend another 20 shillings on a packet of "water guard" a chemical they add to the water to make it potable. On Friday morning, when nearly everyone has run out of their stored water, the price in Mathare jumps to 30 shillings. Worse still, if there is no water available in Mathare, the woman will have to resort to paying 50 shillings or more from local merchants.

While the ceramic filters are able to clean water. Access to water continues to be a major issue for people living in poverty. We pray that the rains will be sufficient to bring a regular flow of water into places like Eastleigh.

Nadhifo and Hani very excited

to be taking their filters home

Kora

Little girls playing the game kora

during their school lunch break

at the Eastleigh Community Centre

The rain has been a blessing in Eastleigh over the past few weeks. Most of Kenya has finally received some rain fall after a dismally short spring rain. We pray that these rains will last and refill the reservoirs and dwindling water table. Throughout Nairobi, we have been on strict water rationing (only receiving water once a week) and many of the city's bore holes have simply run out of water. The recent rains have had a miraculous affect on the grass and plants around us. Seeds that we planted over a month ago have actually come up through the ground over the past few days. The rains have also produced a tangible sense of hope in people, you can see the relief on people's faces.

One of the places that we talk about the importance of rain and water is with the children of the Eastleigh Community Centre. Each day about 320 primary students and about 90 preschool children learn, live and play together within the safety of the community centre.

"Everything is better with the rain," commented one little girl. "I don't like the dust, it bites my eyes." The girls are sitting on a cement walkway gathering stones and bits of broken pottery into circles for a game of Kora. They take turns throwing and catching the rocks as we talk about the weather and the importance of water. "I don't like it when it doesn't rain. Everything is sad." agreed another girl. For most of these children, no rain has meant that there is no water to bath, wash their clothing, and at times even cook their meals. Without access to city water, most families living in slums like Eastleigh and Mathare have had to resort to buying buckets of water often at prices five times that of what we would pay in North America. And the water they are drinking is often of poor quality. In response to my question about how they filter or clean their drinking water, one of the elder girls answered "Sometimes we boil our water or filter it. But you can't do that when you need it right away."

Every Thursday, many of these children take part in a refugee children's program called "The Happy Club". We started the club with two volunteer leaders from the Iftin literacy program. Along with games, songs, and dancing (the kid's three favorite activities) they are able to talk and learn more about issues of heath and wellness. We pray that as these children learn more about the dangers of unclean drinking water, that they will be agents of change in their homes as they put into practice many of the simple behaviours that can protect them and their families from water born diseases.

Despite the bravado of the little boys the girls insist that they are much better at the game!