When cameras roll out in Pokot

In terms of media coverage, Pokot receives so little attention, perhaps for the most part, due to it's isolation and inaccessibility from the capital, Nairobi. However, whenever the mainstream Kenyan media make an expedition to any part of Pokot, they definitely comeback to their parent media houses with a breathtakingly high-voltage news report. And when their stations come alive, the whole country comes to terms with the sorry state of villages tucked away in the far-flung fringes of the country.

Often times, some of the viewers who succumb to a state of denial  can be forgiven, for indeed it is so hard for them to imagine that what they are watching on TV is actually emanating from one part of the same country they belong to called Kenya. However, it is what it is.....Pokot is quite another world, inhabited by nomads herding cattle and roaming the hilly plains of the Cherangani hills albeit with a ton of very harsh environmental  social and economic realties.

In the following short TV bulletins aired out in the recent months, Pokot is put in the limelight, at it were,  as the cameras of the investigative journalists rolled out in focus. Check them out ( please note that The Daylight Children's Center and School is located in the region highlighted by the TV news reports here on), and let me know your take, won't you?

Water scarcity is a huge problem to the people here.....

...and this,

With food shortages rampant....diseases and hunger related ailments can easily spin out of control and the toll is that of village proportions

....and then this,

Cattle-rustling ( ie cow-jacking) is a longstanding nightmare among the Pokot and the fellow nomad counterparts in the region. In this video clip, Nation TV crew attends one peace meeting organized between Pokot and Turkana warriors aimed at enhancing peace and understanding in the area.

Today, please pray for the people in these villages, and pray also for the children who were rescued from these villages, and who are being sheltered, educated, and cared for at the Daylight Center and School in Kapenguria, West Pokot, Kenya. Thank you for your time.Amen!

Children say prayers for Michael

Today, at around mid-morning, the children interrupted their routine activities briefly to say prayers for me (i.e Michael Kimpur, their Director). Though I wasn't feeling like getting into so much of a rigorous physical activity during during the day, our staff on duty insisted, all the same, that I show up at the playing ground for the kids had a thing or two for me. "What was it?", I wondered....

At 10 am in the morning, I  was at the play ground which is adjacent to the chapel. And alas, children were already out at the venue, and from the look of things, indeed, there were every indications that they were ready for something, for some of the kids were arranged in rows, at least from a distance I could clearly see two groups overlooking each other. At the center of was a chair. As I approached, one of the staff immediately motioned at me to take up the seat.

 The kids were aware of the accident I was involved in last week. Besides letting them know about the incident, I wasn't sure what else they could do about that. In fact, as I looked at their bright faces and curious eyes, I got a feeling of calm and assurance - the God who got them out of  their respective past difficult situations, did protect me last fateful Wednesday.....

 I am so thankful to God for His protection....and these children whose eyes all beamed in my  direction were to me an embodiment of God's saving grace in our lives....it's because of His grace that we are to do what we do....nothing less.

Apparently, we were all thankful to God for each other.We have grown to be one big indispensably family - that is DAYLIGHT.

 While all these were racing through my mind, the prayer moment began in earnest. The little children said a prayer for me. Fervently. They said it not by way of big words but plain simple ones....a poem....a song.... lots of jumping.....and a dance...in prayers and thanksgiving to Him! 

The following picture and videos were captured during the prayer session, please check them out - 

The kids and I singing and clapping together

Ongoing Construction of The Margie Smith House, part two

My earlier report on the construction of our family house,  which we have named "The Margie Smith House" in honor of the beloved friend and praying Daylight partner and supporter who put up the initial seed funds, did cover on the construction work up to the slab level of the foundation. We have since made significant progress as the following pictorial sequence show. Check it out: 

......with the foundation slab firmly in place, everything is ready for the next stage - that is walling going up 

it all starts with the setting of the corners by way of measuring the angles, and Giddy, our lead mason was in control

with the right angles corners determined, the critical bricks are squarely put in place by the mason himself.....everyone in the crew will have to take cue from that....

onto the next corner, all corners of the house have to be in perfect measurement, right angles...

laying down the bricks is in top gear, and as you can see it is  beginning to look like it....as it were

   day in, day out and  brick by brick work has gone this far.....

in some days, we  had to work overtime, late into the evening.....we just couldn't help it

....this young man was part of the crew for a moment....and apparently he made it obvious what team he supported....hmmm, when is their next big game?

Construction crew member Megan at it 

Kasule, one of the most funny guy on the site who is able to crack a joke while working all at the same time...

filling it up....all the way up

Little Chesang holding the line with a smile as crew members set the bricks in place...this was after all fun...

Ben cutting timber to set up the wall-plate mold to hold the concrete

Kibet making the wall-plate mold ready for concrete....

getting the concrete ready to fill up the wall-plate mold to create the rim beam

filling that mold with concrete all the way round the perimeter wall.....it will take lots of concrete, nerve and  muscle

Drogba in action....he was very particular on the consistency of the concrete...

....so much ground covere

                ....here we are....and the walling activity got over with the completion of the rim beam...

At this rate, we could get this work through and the house ready by October. However, we have ran into some tricky challenge, the materials have ran out, as it were,  and the funds we got from Margie Smith together with tremendous local support we received has got us this far - to the wall-plate. Yes, local villagers came in handy, and they helped us a lot. We did receive significant help and support in kind from the locals, and it is what gave this construction work a huge boost and momentum. The value of the work that has been done is way more than $5000. All things considered, may be two-fold in value already and counting... 

The next stage is roofing. And to do that we need several running feet of timber of different sizes, nails, roofing iron sheets, and the like. We do not have those materials in sight yet but we are trusting Him. However, in the meantime,  we might have to fold up for a while until there is a change of the status quo. Pray with us that this work continue like it has been, and that my family can move in by October or December this year. We can't stop imagining celebrating this coming Christmas in this new found home taking shaping....

Again, let your prayers ring.....amen!