A Brief Change in Weather

Thank you to all who took the time to comment on my last post here and say you would offer prayers. It is very much appreciated on behalf of the young boy in Nairobi hospital and for Jonah and John, who are recovering from the after effects of snake bites.

This week we've had very hot weather. It seemed to go from cold to hot virtually overnight. It was a nice change but given how hot it was I am a bit concerned that it might become overly hot and dry like last summer.  In fact, it was so hot and dry and we had so little rain that we had months of heavy duty water restrictions.

Having said that, it is nice to feel the warm of the sun. It has allowed me a bit of time to get out and try and prepare the garden despite it not being my favourite thing to do.  There is still much more to do before it will be finished but with the help of a good friend, the hardest parts are done.  I have to pace myself as I'm still recovering from illness which seems to have gone on plenty long enough.  As I read different blogs I see that there are many suffering too. I hope and pray that you all recover well from the colds and flu bugs.  Where my mom lives there has been an outbreak of the flu and a quarantine has been in place for some weeks. Just when they contain one area, there is an outbreak in another area. Unfortunately it affects the visitation for the residents but what can you do?  I digress.

The sunny and hot weather was short lived.  Tonight there is a change in the air and in the skies.  I see that there is also an 80% chance of rain tomorrow. I don't actually mind because the soil in my garden could do with a good watering before I finish working on it.

Early in the week I shared this beautiful sky

The next photos were taken after garden clean up tonight.

The rain is only expected to last one day and it is expected to be light rain.

I actually hope it rains a little harder than expected :-)

Today I am linking up with the good hosts at Skywatch Friday
and
Friday Foto Friends with Debbie.

Thank you for your visit and your comments.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Updates & A Walk

Hello dear readers,

I hope you are all doing fine and enjoying the Spring if you are in the Northern Hemisphere.  I know my friends in different countries in Africa are now moving into their cooler weather while we are just gearing up for gardening season where I live in Canada.

The weather has been quite nice for awhile now though every few days it is cloudy and sometimes raining. Some of you know that I've been trying to recover from a bad bout of bronchitis so I haven't been on line as much as usual. It means I haven't been blogging as consistently as usual or visiting your blogs.

Anyway, without further ado I wanted to provide an update you on a few missions efforts in Kenya. Someone asked me to keep them updated about the young man I wrote about in my  last post here.  I also wanted to update about the current condition of  the Pokot man who had been bitten by the black mamba snake early in the new year.  Finally I wanted to share a few photos I took on Monday as it seems like forever since I posted any new pics.

The young man I wrote about last time is an orphan who has been brought up by an aunt.  They have been trying to raise the funds to travel from a village near Narok, Kenya to some place where the young man can get treatment for the cancerous tumour on his face and neck.  They asked for prayers to meet all their financial needs.  After learning about this man's predicament and seeing how large the tumour was getting,  I decided I would help this young man get to Nairobi and ensure he didn't have to wait any longer for treatment.

Within a week he travelled to Nairobi with a medical escort, a member of his extended family.  A friend based in Kenya and I put our heads together to make a plan.  A private car had to be hired to drive these two men to the City of Nairobi. Due to the man's disfigured face he was not allowed in public transport which was our original plan.  We also ran into difficulties in finding a place to billet the young men.  Parents were reluctant to open their homes because their children might understandably be frightened.  Thankfully we were able to find accommodation through a young student I met some time ago in Kericho, Kenya.  He is now studying in Nairobi  and was only too happy to help. I remember long ago holding this very same student in my arms as he was crying and offering him chocolates as a way to make him happy. It is amazing to me how the story has come back to him.

Once the young patient and his escort arrived in Nairobi we ensured they were able to purchase bedding (mattress and blankets), towels, toiletries and some food.  The accommodations where they are staying are simple and the host is a student who is obviously on limited income. After getting settled, the pair of young men immediately went to hospital where they were expected by doctors for assessment. Surgery is scheduled for tomorrow (Wednesday Nairobi time).  After that I expect that chemotherapy will be administered.  I  have no idea how long they will need to stay in Nairobi but I expect it will be too expensive go to back and forth from village to Nairobi for treatment.

Please continue to pray that the surgery would go well and that all the remaining needs for medical care would be met.

Some of you will remember that I also wrote about a man from Pokot (northwestern Kenya) and my friend Jonah; both of whom were bitten by black mamba snakes in late 2015. Since then both men have gone through enormous challenges in recovery and the cost of medical treatment has been very high.

Made in January 2016

Jonah has been in and out of hospital but seems to be doing fine now. The other man, John, has been in hospital with no release since his admittance.  That is almost 4 months!  During that time he almost died twice due to not having the funds to get proper treatment. Thankfully we were able to get him the most urgent of help on these occasions and I'm happy to report that he seems to be doing fine now.  He cannot leave hospital until his bill is fully paid.  We are trying to make arrangements for the county government to assist John so he can go home to his family.

Made in April 2016

Here at home, I've been very busy this week.  Though not fully recovered, I've been well enough to do some sewing in anticipation of a visit to mom.  This time I made one dress (purple animal print) and 3 slips (turquoise, mauve and olive green). I just made several slips not so terribly long ago.  But  one has been ruined when someone on staff tried to cut it to modify it. It now looks like a rag.  Another slip was bleached out by the laundry department. I hope these new slips will last for awhile but I probably still need to make at least one or two in a fabric that will stand up better to hot water washing.  I'm thinking a light t-shirt material would be best because it stretches and bends with movement. It would also do much better in the laundry. In January I made 3 dresses.  At the time mom requested a purple dress. The pink/purple/black/white combo (in the photo above, far right) was the closest I could come to her request. Now I found a nice purple print (photo above, left). I hope she likes it!

I had an  nice outing the other day after being cooped up for so long indoors. Oh my, the weather was very hot! I met my friend in a coffee shop which was ice cold with the air conditioning going. We came outside shivering after 2 hours and were greeted by the balmy weather.  I captured these photos on my return home.

Joining in with Our World Tuesday.

Thank you for your visit and your comments.