My World This Week

Hi folks,

I hope you are all having a glorious summer so far.

The past several weeks we've been having a lot of rain. Almost every day has been cloudy or overcast but also the sun does come out too. It has been pretty good from my point of view.  Today the sun is shining brightly and it is expected to be sunny all week before a bit of rain on the weekend.

Sunset shot ~  July 26,2016

I've been busy with missions in Kenya. Two of the young men I know are supposed to graduate this year; one a bit earlier than the other.  As always in Kenya there is a "glitch". The earlier graduand has worked very hard to get to this point. He told me his grade is missing for one class taken 2 years ago even though he wrote the exam! I've heard of this problem before where the university says that a student did not write certain exams (sometimes many exams).  The students then begin a long process of paying to have the problem "sorted". If they can't or won't pay they have to re-do their courses in hopes of graduating. Some cannot afford to re-do and so they lose out on their years of hard fought education.  In the young man's case, his problem is one missing grade.  Many of his fellow classmates are suffering too because they've been told they are missing more than one grade. I'm praying for this man to be vindicated and allowed to graduate as he rightfully should be.

Update: June 28/2016 ~ I am very happy for my student friend. My intelligent young friend managed to outwit (my description, not his) the administration. He found his exam paper (with proper approval) in the university archives and not only that, showed them he had achieved an "A" grade! So he will graduate on time. The other student has been advised and thankfully has all his documents showing all grades received over the years.

In other news, the young man who had cancer tumour removed from his face (see post here) has been undergoing chemotherapy in his small town. He has suffered weight loss and hair loss but otherwise seems to be progressing as expected with his treatment.

Ernest, who has been to the hospital in Nakuru on two separate occasions for liver cancer tumour removal and follow up treatment for sepsis seems to be recovering well at home.

Another older gentleman I helped a bit with hospital costs has succumbed to leukemia and been laid to rest. My friends had to go and escort his body from a hospital in Narok. He leaves behind a wife and several children as well as many friends.

Joseph, laid to rest on Saturday, June 25th, 2016.He fought a good fight.

Another friend completely lost his house after working so hard to build it. The government's contractors recently bulldozed the house along with the houses of many of his neighbours.

My friend's house in rubble

He was also charged a significant sum of money for planting trees.  The trees were planted as a noise barrier to his property which is adjacent to a road. The government is expanding what was once a country road way and paving it so they have expropriated the property of many landowners along the roadway. This process seems to have happened very, very quickly.  Many were caught totally unaware including my friend.  Those that knew right away barely had time to do anything. It takes time and money to have a plan. They had neither.

Trees cut down after being "improperly" planted along the roadway.

I just think of all the loss of funds for electric and water connections and the loss of personal property not to mention the house itself.  Sadly all the neighbours along the roadway also lost homes and possessions.

Roadway being expanded

 
These are not wealthy people.  They have no insurance.

Besides which insurance probably does not cover this kind of thing.  I am not sure if the government will ever compensate them for expropriation of their property. There is always talk of compensating people for this or for that.  Though the intention may be there at upper echelons of government, seldom does the money get to the grassroots people. The funds are eaten up in the scams and scandals in which most government officials are involved. Efforts are being made to tackle corruption but it is still rampant.
One friend is still waiting to be compensated for health expenses incurred last December! He has been told repeatedly to "wait".  Finally last week they told him they must wait until the new budget funds flow.  Even then many of his receipts have been rejected for "rubbish" reasons and so he won't get a significant sum back which we were expecting.

In happier news, my friends assisted a girl's boarding school with getting some new beds. The boarding school has been set up to help impoverished girls get an education and escape horrors such as female genital mutilation (FGM).  They need a lot of things and the beds were a huge blessing to these young girls.

Praying over the gifts.

Someone has contacted me about possibly donating reusable sanitary pads and I'm hoping that I can connect the gift with these young girls who can surely use them.

The needs represented by the lives of the people I've mentioned in Kenya  are multitudinous but God is able to deliver and help. He cares about the people of Kenya as much as he cares for you and I.  The hope we have is what keeps my friends in Kenya, and I, going forward.

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Here at home in Canada, I've also been very busy.  It's time for multiple dental appointments, both for cleaning and for restorative work. It is also time for an annual check up for the surgery for the retinal tear I had two years ago. I'm not sure how long they will monitor it.  I'm also still waiting to hear when I will have my annual diabetic eye specialist check up. Last time I met with the eye specialist we discussed eye surgery.  But for now I still haven't made a decision.  Instead I've decided to get a new pair of glasses.  They will have the progressive lenses and UV protection so I don't need to worry about sunglasses.  They will have anti-glare and transition brown lenses.  I hope they will be fine because the last pair were a dud. I couldn't wear them for more than a few minutes at a time no matter how often they were adjusted. I wear contact lenses and seldom wear glasses but I might wear glasses more often if they were comfortable and fit properly. Fit affects vision when the lenses are progressive.

It was a relief to finally get to the dentist for cleaning and repair work. It has already been a year since a temporary crown was done and in the meantime a front tooth chipped in two places.  I didn't want to wait any longer. The work will be completed during a break between summer guests.

Like many diabetics I have a constant battle to keep the blood glucose numbers under control. Right now they are better than they have been in a long time. My challenge is to try and keep it that way. One key thing I need to work on is getting R-E-S-T and that includes getting to sleep earlier.  It is a work in progress but I am making progress.

I will have company soon.  One guest arrives Friday and leaves before the next guest arrives on July 4th. My second guest will visit for a few weeks and then I will go and pay my mom a visit.  In mid August I have another shorter term guest.

It's a good thing I got my small garden planted early this year otherwise I wouldn't have had time to do it. At least when my guests arrive my garden will have some blooms.

I hope your summer is going well.

Joining with Our World Tuesday