Return to Gituamba

It’s always special when we get to go back and work at Gituamba. We began working there in 2013 and have been back there to work on projects every year since. This community was originally a camp for displaced persons after the 2008 presidential election. A lot of the “losers” had been slaughtered, their homes burned and been displaced by the political “winners”. Refugees were housed in tents in many encampments for several years while the government tried to figure out what to do with them. The government ultimately purchased property and allowed displaced persons to homestead and ultimately be able to live on 2 1/2 acres of land if they stayed there for seven years. This was a diverse group of people from many tribes with the sole commonality being that they were forced from their original land. One of those tent encampments was Gituamba. Start with One Kenya was involved very early on with bringing clean water to these displaced people in many of the encampments around Kenya. But they took a very personal interest in the Gituamba encampment and have worked with that community continuously for the last 15 years. With government permission, they took over an old stone barn that was worthy of a bulldozer in my eyes, but fortunately Bill and Chat’s ability to see the Lord’s vision and plan is greater than mine. Over the last 14 years, they have converted it into a school. It’s transformation has been amazing. I will post some old pictures from the first two years when it was inhabited by chickens and a few stray refugees and people camping under sheet metal and canvas. It was a distressing place. Seeing it now is absolutely amazing. There are more than 500 kids who attend this school and it is a thriving environment. Many of the students who are sponsored in the education program beyond eighth grade come from this school. 

I’ll post a bunch of pictures that date to 2013 and 2015 so you can get a sense of how monumental the transformation has been. Our team was involved from the ground up, building mud brick walls, concrete floors, terrazzo floors, the water purification system, additional classrooms and working at various stages throughout the school. We have been involved in enough of the different stages and activities to recognize how monumental the total task has been and how many thousands of hours of other teams and SWOK personnel have dedicated to this project. 

Today was very meaningful for many of our team who have been involved from the start. Those same plastered walls we were painting today conceal the mud brick walls will built in 2014. The original mud floors we poured in concrete now have terrazzo surfaces. It is so encouraging to see the transformation of this campus over the years, all because of the vision the Lord gave Bill and Chat and their dedication and persistence to see it through. And that is one of the reasons we want to come back and work with SWOK every year. Henry Blackaby, in his book “Experiencing God”, premised that God is always actively working around every person, and rather than trying to dream up big plans for God, we should seek to find where God is already working and then go and join ourselves to that work. We have that assurance with Start With One Kenya and that is why we have partnered with them is their ministry. 

In addition to painting work on the plastered walls, a group worked on varnishing seats and backrests that we’ll install next Tuesday on new classroom chairs, and another group worked installing rubber feet and caps on the powder coated chair frames. It was a busy Saturday workday with lots and lots of SWOK kids joining us in the tasks. 

Tomorrow, we get to go back to the Gituamba community but not to the school. We will be at the community church, where we also had a hand in construction of concrete floors, installation of paneled walls and windows. It will be great to now share in their worship service in a community where we have relationships and a history. Stay tuned!!