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Friday morning 8:30 am found us stumbling down a steep embankment and across large clumps of red soil. It was another beautiful bright day.
We had left the house early and had made our way to Maggie’s where a group of our ladies have a co-op garden. Co-op gardens were started to help Voice of Hope women who either do not have a shamba of their own, or only a very small one. We had arrived to give our women a hand with the second plowing and to give us a little bit of an experience of what it’s like to eke out your living...by hand...with primitive tools. The first plowing had been done earlier.
We were greeted with jambos (hello) and given a jembe. A jembe is a short handled wide, long hoe. Hacking away at the large clumps to break them up we quickly worked up a sweat. It’s humbling to think that we gave up after an hour. The other women had a long job ahead of them, and had no option but to work till done.
On the embankment above us was a youth who should have been in school. When asked why he wasn’t he said he was ill. He had sliced his food open with a machete. He was using a stick to get around. Jolande was dispatched to check on his wound and was able to clean the oozing stitches and rebandage it.
How thankful we were to get back to the house to shower and change!
Jolande had been given a generous supply of wound care products which we brought to the ICO clinic. It’s the clinic where dr. Isaac, who looks after our widows’ medical needs, works. It was so gratefully received.
From the clinic our faithful driver Tom ferried us over to Kakamega for some ladies day food supplies. It’s always a pleasure for us women to shop in a different country and continent! From the city we headed over to the first of the widows we planned to visit. Four visits later we made it back to the house just as darkness fell.
A busy but fulfilling day. We pray that our visits will prove to be a blessing to our women and ultimately give glory to our God.
