The Borehole is Unveiled

For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground: I will pour my spirit upon thy seed, and my blessing upon thine offspring.

Isaiah 44:3

In my last installment of my Kenyan travel series here, I mentioned that we were on our way to a community borehole. I don't actually know the name of the village where the borehole is located but I had been there years before (and it is several hours by dirt road to the west of Marigat). In my first visit about 5 years ago, the missionary at the mission station took me on a tour of this arid area and told me of his hopes and dreams for building a borehole and a new church as well. I didn't have the funds myself or the contacts for helping but I said I would commit this matter to prayer.

It took another year or more but through God's grace he led me to a Christian humanitarian group that promised to visit Kenya and see what they could do to help. Though it took them another year or so they did make good on their promise to visit Kenya. Once they saw this arid place for themselves, they committed to raising funds for the borehole. Now a borehole has been built but the community still has no water. The area has been terribly plagued by drought and some of the hostilities that have arisen have resulted in huge tensions in the surrounding area and even led to loss of life.

What is needed now are significantly more funds and a pump by which the water can be transported over large distances to the people who need it. I'm told that the humanitarian group hopes to make another visit late this summer or early Fall. I pray that they will make it and that they will indeed be able to raise the funds required. This would surely be a huge blessing to the people. In my most recent trip to Kenya, I just had to see the borehole for myself and recollect just how much has gone into the state of things as they are currently.  There have been other changes since I first visited,  including a new missionary to this village.  Thank God for people who are willing to go and minister in areas like this.

This road goes through a more densely populated part of the village where we were visiting for the day.

It led us to this road which I love as it has an umbrella of trees making it look like a pretty country road.

Despite the significant drought that has affected this area, the children are like children anywhere...

...laughing and playing and alternately confident and bashful with visitors.

Here I pose with some of the leaders in the community as well as the children in the neighbouring area. We are posing with the honoured guest, the reason for our trip, the borehole.  The clouds look like they are about to burst open with raindrops and drench the parched ground. But it wasn't to be.  Before long, the sky was clear once again and the heat remained.

Here is the borehole. It represents lots of prayer, struggle, ups and downs, anguish and dashed hopes. It also represents the hope that is still there for clear and pure water for this community of people.

It was very hot and dry in the area. These mud huts are the traditional abode of the people and I was invited into one. The adults were not home but some local men let me in.

I could not believe how absolutely cool it was inside and what a welcome relief!  The newspapers that hang from the rafters are cut into pretty shapes to decorate the inside.

The laundry flutters in the small breeze.

It was a blessing to visit this village again and now I continue to pray for their water needs. Would you join me in praying that this well could indeed be completed so that the children, the elders and the people in general can have some clean water to drink? 

God bless you.

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Refrigerator Pickles

Ingredients

6 small to medium whole beets (use similar size beets so they cook at the same time)
2 small onions
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil
sprinkle of cinnamon

Directions

Wash and rinse the beets until all traces of dirt are gone.  Place beets in large heavy pan and cover with water over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to medium.  Cover and cook until fork tender (about 30-40 minutes depending on the size of your beets).  Remove from heat and drain. Let beets cool then peel or slice off the skin after removing the ends of the beets.  Slice the onions too and mix beets and onions together in a bowl.

I love the deep colour of beets. This is the colour of the water after you've boiled the beets. Be careful about spilling the water on anything you don't want stained.

In a cup add the sugar and pour in vinegar until the cup is half full. I've estimated the amount. Next pour in the oil until all the sugar and the liquids measure about 3/4 of a cup. Stir well and sprinkle with cinnamon. Just a few dashes will be enough. Now taste the mixture. You can add more sugar, vinegar and/or oil to taste. Pour liquid mixture over the beets and onions and mix well.

Store in the refrigerator overnight. This will let the beets and onions "pickle" and become flavoured before eating.  It is best to use an old pickle jar to marinate these pickles so you can shake them every now and then to make sure they marinate well. I didn't have an old pickle jar so I'm using a glass container with a seal proof lid.  These won't keep long so eat and enjoy!

This container isn't quite large enough for my beet mixture but it has a seal proof cover and I will be able to shake the vinegar mixture around from time to time to marinate the beets and onions.

This recipe is a variation of my mom's quick pickles.  Sometimes she would whip these up at Christmas but mostly she would make them when she wanted a sweet - sour taste with wild meat. I know most beet pickle recipes call for a boiled brine.  I recommend finding a recipe with a boiled brine if you want to keep your pickles in the refrigerator for a few months. This recipe is good if you hope to eat up your pickles quickly or you don't have any pickles on hand and you are craving for some!

Interesting Formation in the Sky

I thought this was an interesting submission for Skywatch because of the interesting cloud "circle" on the right of the photo (just above the trees).

Please click on the badge above to see more wonderful skies from around the world.

The Rush Toward the Reading Challenge

One of my goals for 2011 is to read 24 books and I track my books on Goodreads along with others who participate in self-defined goals for the reading year.  While this may not seem like a lot of books to read, one can quickly fall behind in the goal unless plans are made and time is set aside to read throughout the week.  I've actually done a fair bit of reading since the Fall but some of them were rather lengthy.  A few of them were about 1000 pages (Pillars of the Earth and Anna Karenina) each and that also impacted on my goal of reading two books per month.

I've decided I must make real progress on the number of books read before the summer is out.  The sooner I do that, the sooner I can also give my books to someone else to enjoy.  That will help me in another goal for 2011; to fully declutter the condo.

This week, I'd like to share some of my recently read books with you. I don't go in for writing extensive reviews of the content of books and highlighting especially interesting or meaningful passages. I prefer to enjoy reading my books and give short summaries or impressions of what I've read. 

French Fried
Written by an American in Paris. It is charmingly written with anecdotes about the author's life in Paris and her forays into learning how to cook as well as learning the art and beauty of the French approach to eating and living. I've always been fascinated by France and French living. I enjoyed the book because of insights into the culture as contrasted with American culture.

Teacher Man
Written by Irish American author Frank McCourt of Angele's Ashes fame. I found this book very interesting because I too have a background in teaching.  I enjoyed Mr. McCourt's recounting of his early teaching days and what he had to say about his fears, hopes and experiences during his teaching career in New York.

Joshua's Bible
Written by  Shelly Leanne this thrift store find turned out to be a very pleasant and interesting read. Set in the mid-1930s, it is a book about a Black American preacher sent to South Africa by his "white" missions group to "civilize and christianize" the Africans. Movingly written it takes us through the joys and sorrows of the young preacher, Reverend Clay, and his experiences with the tribal peoples of South Africa. Over his period of two years he opens his eyes to the truth of the African experience and history and their hopes for emancipation and equality.  Despite what sounds like a heavy book, I found this to be a pleasant read with a nice rhythm to it.

Leaning Into God, When Life is Pushing You Away
I won this book through a giveaway and I will need to write a proper review of it as my "payment" for receiving the book for free.  Written by Reverend Robert Anthony Schuller, this book explores the various ways in which individuals lose or experience interference with their connection to God.  The author explains how emotions such as shame, regret, fear, and disappointment can stand in the way of our intimacy with God.  Reverend Schuller leads the reader through ways to reconnect with God and after each chapter asks incisive questions for us to consider and to help draw out our understanding of what causes our disconnect/connections with God.

Autism's Hidden Blessings: Discovering god's Promises for autistic Children & Their Families
This is another book I received in a giveaway and for which I need to draft a proper review. The book was written by Kelly Langston, a mother of an autistic son. This book was somewhat different than I anticipated. I had thought it would be more of memoir of a mother dealing with an autistic son. Instead it turned out to be a good bible study on turning to God as a source of help in dealing with an autistic child.  The book is also sprinkled with good discussion points, summary points and anecdotes about the Langston family experiences in raising an autistic child.  I was highly interested in reading this book because my family raised an autistic child in the days before there was little available as helps for families and next to nothing known about autism.

I'm currently reading, The Shackled Continent:  African's Past, Present and Future by Robert Guest and Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

I purchased this book at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport in Nairobi. It's a great read so far in terms of helping my understanding of Africa.

After this week, I will still be 3 books shy of my goal of 14 books for the first 7 months of this year. But  I am feeling well on my way to reaching my goal if I can keep up the momentum.

What about you? Are you reading a lot this year? Do you have any reading goals for yourself or any great books to recommend?

Click here to leave your thoughts about reading biographies.

Peeping Eyes

Hippos wading in Lake Baringo, Kenya.

If you like this scene, you might enjoy these.