Day 8 Kakamega May 16, 2011

Greetings from Kakamega

Today was a light day.  Hezron and I started out the day on the terrace here at the guest house.  I was showing him some things on the computer.  Hezron has a lap top that was donated to him from a previous missionary but he does not know how to use it very well.  He has very limited time to learn because he has no electricity in his home so he has to run on battery power and when he runs low he has to take it to a local battery charging store to get his battery charged.  He also has to do this with his and Melissa’s phones as well.  Virtually everyone in Kenya has a cell phone but very few have electricity to charge them up.  Here is a picture of a typical battery charging store.

Hezron and I visited quite a few different shops and stores today.  Only the large box stores have both a generator and a refrigerator for sale.  Otherwise you must go to the stores that sell generators and the stores that sell refrigerators and freezers.  The large stores will not negotiate but the small mom and pops will.  When I was on my own the other day and went into the Nakumatt the cheapest generator was about $300.  Well today was a different story we saw some generators that were about the same size as the Nakumatt generators but were as low as $60 once we started to negotiate.  The most expensive generators were still cheaper then the smaller ones at Nakumatt.  The smallest generator will supply enough voltage to run a refrigerator and possibly the yogurt machine.  I am not sure if it can run both until I get the yogurt machine wattage requirements.  If it’s going to take a year to get power from the pole 30 feet to the building a generator is going to be needed.  I told Hezron that running a refrigerator from a generator is going to take some management.  The temperature in Kakamega is about 75 to 80 degrees every day of the year.  Some days are a little hotter and some a little cooler.  The nights here the temperature can drop into the low 50’s.  So if they can find a cool dark place to store the refrigerator they will not have to run it all the time as long as they do not open it too much.  Hopefully we can locate a yogurt machine that is not too expensive.  I should know this by Thursday or Friday.

I guess it never crossed my mind before but Kenya does have a sales tax.  I never really looked at the detail of a receipt before today.  Food is 16% and lodging is 18%.  I assume that some other items have other tax rates.  I kept wondering why people would give me a second look when I asked for a receipt.  Well come to find out most Kenyans do not ask for receipts.  I think I know why.  In the states when we go to ask the rate of a room the clerk will give an amount and then add the tax to the room rate.  This is the same with groceries, clothing, car rentals and just about everything except gasoline.  Not so in Kenya.  Here when you agree upon a rate lets say 1000 Ksh (80 Ksh = $1) for a room that is the amount the consumer is going to pay no tax will be added.  Ask for a receipt and the clerk goes to this little government registered machine and presto you have a receipt for the 1000 Ksh minus 18% that the merchant must remove from the 1000 Ksh to pay the tax.  Today I paid for another 2 nights lodging for 2000 Ksh.  I got a receipt for 2000 Ksh.  Looking at the little machine print out I saw that the cash sale was 2000 Ksh, sub total taxable 1694.92 Ksh, total VAT % 18, tax 305.08 Ksh.  First I get them to take 500 Ksh per night off the room rate then I ask for a receipt and the government gets 18 %.  No wonder the Kenyans have an Mzungu (visitor or white person) rate and a Kenyan rate.  We keep asking for receipts.

In the morning it is off to Makanda to visit Freedom Ministries Kenyan Headquarters that is under construction and has been for quite some time.  Hezron can only build when there are funds available to allow him to construct a little bit.  Also on the site is a small nursery school for Kindergarten age children.  If time allows we will also visit a home based orphanage.  Hezron an orphan himself has a real passion for orphans and since he does not have any permanent facilities he places them up to 10 or 11 children in people’s homes.

Thank you, take care and God bless

Dave