One week

We arrived in Nairobi a week ago (Sunday) after a delay in London because of a fault with the wing de-icer. It sounded odd to be concerned with that when we would be landing at the Equator, but figured it was better to fix it.
We had to buy a visa on entry because we were lacking the famous 're-entry stamp' in our passports, although we had our work permit renewals. No point in arguing with Kenyan bureaucracy! We went to Immigration on Monday and received our passport stamps and the re-entry visa.
Our friend Bibiana met us when we arrived and we stayed with her daughter in Nairobi. Bibiana returned to Kakamega on the bus on Monday night and took our 6 big bags with her. We have learned that there is a small 'puddle jumper' plane that now flies into the Kakamega airstrip from Nairobi. Great for commuting, although there are likely serious restrictions on luggage. We'll certainly look into that when we go away at Christmas.
On Tuesday we met our 'daughter' Isabella, who now has a job and on Wednesday we flew back to Kisumu because our vehicle had remained there while we were away for some maintenance. Our mechanic met us, we shopped at Nakumatt supermarket and by noon were in Kakamega. We took the long way round through Maseno and Emuhaya because the Kakamega-Kisumu road is reportedly even worse than when we left. In town the intersection at the road leading to the town centre and the Golf hotel has lost its surface and is all mud puddles.
Our apartment was in good shape, although a little dusty. We spent the next couple of days unpacking and sorting. Still some office work to do with files and documents that we brought back. Our phones work and our computer modems were re-activated with no trouble. It was a remarkably smooth arrival.
Friday night our business and micro-finance teacher came up from Kisumu to talk about sessions for the women's groups. Alex is on the video on our web site. He works for an NGO in Kisumu but is aiming at branching out on his own, so working with us is good experience and exposure for him. It also allows us to use his Kenyan expertise at low cost. We have organized some follow-up sessions for the groups he met earlier this year and tentatively set up a new programme for no-till farming.
On Saturday I helped with a Virtues workshop, which I found a bit tiring since the jet lag is still hovering, but the group was enthusiastic and a joy to teach. Alex also participated since we want as many people as possible who work with our groups to be Virtues trained. (For more about the Virtues in Kenya go to www.virtuesinkenya.blogspot.com. You can also see a video of Bibiana and Richard, two of our Kenyan facilitators on You Tube. www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4Roxd_BM4g)
Tomorrow morning I have a meeting scheduled with the Provincial Director of Education. I want to give him the outline for Read for the Top which a Rotary grant will put into ten classrooms, consult him on the proposal to run seminars for teachers in January with volunteers from the US and Canada. I also need to attend the next meeting of the Directors of Education to alert them to these projects and the Virtues possibilities.
On Monday we shall be interviewing a potential University student for funding through Tembo and on Tuesday I shall be starting the new study session with clergy. I'm hoping they will bring the registrations for schools to participate in Read for the Top, since we must start the first batch of schools as soon as possible.
We shall then meet up with the community in Emmaloba for the continuing of their Rotary project, which includes computers, tree nursery and a poultry project.
I'll keep you updated on all these activities with some pictures if possible. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Tembo Board and AGM

Tembo Kenya Board Standing: Peter Kerr, PatriciaCrossley, Helen Goodchild

Seated: Wendy Reimer, Rod Crossley, Nancy Carson, Don Reimer

The Tembo board held the Annual General Meeting in Victoria,BC on September 8 2010. There was a lively exchange of information and attendees applauded the announcement that Tembo should receive its Canadian charitable status by the end of the month.
The meeting approved the installation of Don and Wendy Reimer as new board members. All Board members were introduced individually. (This information will appear on the web site shortly.) The new web site http://www.tembokenya.org/ should be launched this weekend. Patricia gave an overview of last year's activities and the projects planned for October 2010 to March 2011.


Expect an occasional newsletter put together by Don and Wendy Reimer and a Facebook page started by Tanya Harmon.


Nancy Carson announced that she has nominated Patricia for recognition in Champions of Change, sponsored by CBC and ManuLife Canada. If Patricia is one of the ten finalists (in the category of Education-Community-International) then Canadians will be asked to vote. Stay tuned for information.

Looking for teachers!

We are hoping to run seminars in January 2011 for our Kenyan teachers in English Language Arts (elementary) and Math (secondary) . If you have skills and are interested in volunteering in rural Africa for about three weeks, please contact Mary Higbee at jim.higbee(at) yahoo.com

Preparing to return

We will leave Canada on September 24 to return to Kenya. We know we will be busy.

- the well at Imulama where we were blasting collapsed and had to be filled. We will be looking for an alternative solution to supply clean water to this dispensary that serves about 600 people a month.
- we will be administering the remainder of the Rotary International grant for Emmaloba, partnering with Maseno Rotary Club. We will supply computers for the school and help the community with a poultry project, adult literacy, Virtues training and a tree nursery.
- we have received a district Rotary grant to conduct Read for the Top in ten more classrooms
- Virtues training for the clergy will continue.
- in November and February we plan to run seminars on domestic and sexual violence in communities.

We have received generous donations which will help us with water projects, Virtues and business training for women. We are still hoping for continuing donations for education and job training.

Please check our web site at http://www.tembokenya.org/ for details of projects and how you can donate.
We expect to receive charitable status from the Canada Revenue Agency before we leave.

Building Community in Kenya

Please note that our web site is now functional at www.tembokenya.org. Thank you for visiting

Costs--a reminder

Tunashukuru sana --Thank you so much

Anything you could give will help someone. All money donated goes directly to support the work in Kenya.

It costs:
$2500 to put in a well in a village

$ 500 to protect a spring in a community

$ 500 per year for 4 years to send a student to High School and approximately the same amount for some post-secondary programmes

$200 per session to conduct Virtues training in Conflict Resolution and Restorative Justice in schools and communities for up to 40 people

$200 for a woman to receive microloans ranging from $15 to $150

$500 to provide an eyetest & glasses for 100 people

Between $100 and $200 to provide triaining for a trade job such as carpentry, tailoring or commercial driving.

This does not include the many people we help with personal and family difficulties throughout the year.

Home in Canada

We are safely home in Canada and have joyfully reunited with friends and family. Our taxes are done and some speaking engagements already settled. We will speak at the Victoria Rotary Club meeting on April 28, the ACW women's conference on May 4 and briefly at the Virtues Mentors conference at the end of May. We are always happy to accept invitations to present our work.

Fund raising is going to be one of our major preoccupations over the next few months. As soon as possible we'll have a web site running and have some new ideas for it.

We want to continue supplying clean water, education and, if possible, some basic simple housing for the homeless. Two of our Kenyan committee will be looking into the logistics of this while we are away.

We have been offered some land to use for a training centre where we could centralise Virtues teaching as well as instruction for small business. We will need about $2000 for buildings.


We have made a video summary of our work over the last 6 months. It lasts about 20 minutes. If you would like to help spread the word about the work of Tembo Kenya, we can give you the disc with a DVD format. Please let us know at kenyatembo@gmail.com and we will be happy to send you a copy.


We will post from time to time while we are in Canada to let you know what we are planning for our return to Africa next fall.