KISII REPORT - TALKING DOLLAR$ AND $HILLINGS

Sometimes it is necessary. In the world which we live, good thoughts are not enough. It take Dollars and Shillings to feed the children, to enroll them and school, and as we know at the present, to build a dormitory so that they have a safe and healthy place to sleep.

When I visited the orphanage in January, the building was up and looking good, but we still lacked several components to bring it to completion. Here is the list that we came up with in conjunction with the Kenyan national health and sanitation department:

   Plastering inside, outside, floor, valandar and labour
                                                   Ksh.200,000=$2,083
   Ceiling, fiscal board and labour ksh.150, 000 =$1,562
   Septic tank, piping and labour.  Ksh.80, 500=$838
   Water tank and installation ksh.12, 000=$1,250
   Glass for windows, doors and labour ksh.70, 000=$729
   Painting and labour ksh.85, 000=$886
   Electricity wiring and labour Ksh.65, 000=$677
            Total =Ksh.770400 =$8,025.

During this entire project, with each step I have been a bit taken aback by the cost of each portion. But the costs are real. They are not inflated.

Nevertheless, I have also been taken aback (in a positive sense) to see how God has supplied for each step. We have looked only to God for provision, and he has put in the hearts of his people to help. This has been heartening to me, because although I write about what is happening at the orphanage, I make no appeals for funding. It has been the Lord who has inspired people to give.

Still, even with all of this, these final expenses seemed difficult since I knew that the rains would soon be starting in Kenya. In addition, for a period of about three weeks after I had returned from Kenya, I received no money to send, and Vivian and I had been tapped out of resources. I don’t know if I would go so far as to say I was beginning to doubt if it could be done, but I should admit that I was not far from doubting.

But of course, none of this was difficult for God. Shortly after this brief financial drought, a friend of mine sent me a check for $200 and told me that at the beginning of April, he would send another $800. Another gave me a check for $250, and another $500. There are two couples who regularly send me $50 per month, another individual who does the same, and one couple who puts $20 in the offering plate almost every Sunday for the children. Then, I received another word from someone else that they will soon be giving $1000. It is beginning to add up.

Then, in the ways of God, he is bringing about a heretofore unknown and unplanned life change for Vivian and me. If all goes as it seems it will, very soon (within the next few months), our son Matthew, his wife Sarah and their two little daughters will be selling their house in eastern Wisconsin and moving into our home here. Although Vivian and I still have some things to arrange, we will be moving into a smaller place.

This move will free up some money for us, money enough that I feel that I can commit to paying the remaining portion of the needs for the dormitory, plus pay the $3000 school bill for the children for this term, plus resupply their food pantry with another healthy stock of food.

I am troubled no more about finishing the dormitory. Just yesterday I sent $2500 so that they can begin, and I am pretty sure we can keep them supplied with funding so that the work can go on steadily until completion.

We still should have a couple of weeks before the rains, and we will pray that God will hold them off until the children have moved safely into their new dormitory.