Hundreds of books have been bought and backed, three hundred of those at a book-backing ‘party’ at Alfie and Emily’s school Kiorori, in a model of efficiency boosted by an Adam Smith style division of labour, and fuelled by packets of Kenyan Chevda (Kenyan equivalent of Bombay Mix). At Riagumo, Nicole and Alan have echoed the work of Old Testament profits by bringing forth water (from a bore hole) where none flowed before. At St Dominic Rusinga, Elaine and Chrissy have erected towering shelves, and layered the lab tables with durable formica. At Amaiko, Claire and Amy brought light where there was formerly darkness with their electricity project.
And yet, the work is not yet done! The reddish afternoon sun has not yet set!
Still planned are Nyamburumbasi’s education days, which seem destined to whip the local community into a frenzy of support and enthusiasm for education! Yet to be constructed is the guttering at Nyamakorobo, to allow rain water to flow into the newly acquired tank like a majestic river! And on Monday at Nyanko there will be a dramatic performance event, which will soften hearts and broaden minds, as the sum total of human knowledge ever increases. Not yet, not yet. All in good time: all in the next ten days, in fact!
And in amongst this, your dutiful summer team have been galloping between school visits like spooked horses, filling in so many data collection forms they are gradually acquiring a rare form of repetitive strain injury in their wrists, being so generously welcomed and fed so much chai that last year’s Kenyappropriate shirts are getting a little tight, pausing whenever possible to support and encourage the project workers through each ultimate task: one more speaker for an education day, the last painstaking round of bargaining to save the school an extra hundred bob, to back that final, unbacked book.
Yes! Quite a summer!