Anniversary Celebrations ... with a Cobra

So Tim and I celebrated 16 years of marriage on Friday! We are so thankful for these years which have been amazingly full, with plenty of adventures! We celebrated by heading an hour or so up around the Lake, to a beautiful spot called Papa's. As a charity for orphaned and abandoned girls, they house and school children and as part of the project manage sustainable agriculture and run a restaurant and accommodation. After a very busy time here and also following the long time apart and then little time alone together, Tim and I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity there just to rest and be together. (Kind friends had Amisadai and Louisa staying for the night.) The hours passed all too quickly, but we returned refreshed on Saturday afternoon!

We had a bit of excitement during our evening meal on Friday... there was a commotion not far from the restaurant veranda. Cries of "SNAKE" and sounds of much hitting ensued. Then the power suddenly cut out. We sat in the darkness with our chicken and fish as the commotion intensified and waited for the generator to kick back in. Then I ventured out to the commotion. Victorious cheers as the Maasai defeated the cobra. A quick photo. And then back to finish my dinner.

The dead cobra

The Maasai who attacked the cobra!

We did manage a walk to the top of the hill!

A view of Papas from the top of the hill

The Restaurant is the large shelter on the right,

there are two small bandas on the left - ours was the one on the right!

Back in Kayenze

We were so delighted to be back with the church in Kayenze on Sunday! We received such a warm welcome after our long absence! It was a much longer service than normal with the sermon running over an hour and half and then lots of singing and announcements after that! Pastor Amon is doing such a great job as the church takes the lead with running the agriculture project in Kayenze and surrounding villages. Amon is encouraging farmers and has done much of the new teaching with Peter and will take responsibility for refresher training for the existing groups in the villages.

Choir singing for the Offering

Working with Many New Farmers!

Peter has been very busy these past few weeks. He has been training new groups starting in the conservation agriculture project. Many people are interested and excited! About 60 new farmers have been trained so far this season in the new villages. This week he is doing some of the short refresher training with existing groups. And preparations are underway with all the farmers for planting, which we should be able to start soon. We are all praying for good rains this year!

Peter demonstrating with the farmers

Pastor Amon doing some practical teaching

Upendo wa Mama

Exciting steps forward with the Mamas Group! We met last week for a thorough cleaning of the garage at Standing Voice which we will be using as a workshop. Phew! What a crazy, dirty job! But we did well and prepared it for painting which was supposed to start on Saturday, but will now be tomorrow!

Stepping up for Sewing!

Also last week I picked up a sewing machine for the mamas, after some confusion when they went for sewing training in May at Mwanza Sewing Training Centre. Incredible to see the ancient machines they are able to fix up for a new life!

Fitting our machine with a motor so it is able to run as a treadle machine or with electricity!

A beautiful old machine sitting next to me while our machine was worked on!

There seems so much more to say as there is rather a lot happening at the moment! A rural island health update is needed and the girls need to update on goats and baby bunnies! Next time ...