Maua Workday One

Photos from top:

1) Work in progress at the AIDS Orphan Home.

2) Staff flats at the Maua Methodist Hospital.

3) Melissa and Peter building an exterior wall at the hospital flats.

On our first workday, we began the day with a standing-room-only chapel service. We also toured the hospital grounds and were all surprised at how big the hospital complex is. Our team members who had come several years before were especially amazed at how much they've grown. After our tours and tea break, we started our two main projects and a smaller project at the hospital.

AIDS Orphan Home - Bob, Carleen, Dixie, Early and Tammie, along with the local crew, Charles, Duncan, Frederick and Roy, began work on the home for a grandmother who is raising her grandchildren. The house consists of two rooms that will be about 144 square feet each. Both rooms will have one door and window.

The local crew had completed the foundation before we arrived. On the first workday, we completed the frame, and installed the wood siding on the wall and two exterior walls and began the siding on the third wall. Kenyan wood is not dried like lumber in the US, so when you attempt to drive a nail into it, it tends to bounce. It was quite a workout. Dixie was the circular saw queen, cutting over 100 pieces of siding.

One of the highlights of the day was when the children who will live in the home asked our team to sing them a song. We sang the first songs that came to mind - Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and Mary Had a Little Lamb. Then the team asked the children to sing. They sang "Baby Jesus, Baby Jesus, I love you, I love you, You are my savior, You are my savior, every day, every day." Who's ministering to whom? We need to brush up on our VBS songs!

Hospital Flat - Dave, Gianna, Jennifer, Melissa, Stuart, Tammy and Vicki reported for duty at the construction site where they are building a four-story complex with 16 2-bedroom units for hospital staff. The hospital grounds are large and already include several houses for doctors and staff. Our team was supervised by the Kenyans, George, Peter and Onesimus. We helped them build the exterior wall of one unit and interior walls of another, using large cut stone blocks and cement. I was amazed at the precision of the Kenya crew using string, a plumb bob and masonry hammer. Through the morning, most of the cement I 'threw' to fill in cracks landed on the floor. But by the afternoon, I found my zone. George seemed disappointed that I wouldn't be back the next day. Stuart wasn't sure he was up for two days in a row of moving stone and wheelbarrels of dirt. Now that I think back, I'm grateful we were working on the first floor and not the second, third or fourth.

Janet and Noel prepared some of the walls inside the hospital for painting - scraping and sanding about 20 layers of paint from plastered walls. Janet and Noel just love scraping, sanding and painting on mission trips!