Day 45 Kakamega June 22, 2011

Greetings

It’s like clockwork I am writing this blog in the dark again.  I had to go to the office again and get two more candles.  I hope I can get this done before the computer runs out of juice.  This time the power did not go out until about 3 hours after the storm had passed.  At least we got to eat before the power went out.

Yesterday we went to the bank in Mumias and we got great news on the micro-finance venture and the ability to control the funds from the states.  I still had some questions so I went to the Equity bank here in Kakamega and talked with the branch manager here.  He answered all the questions he told me no problem everything can be controlled by one signatory from the states the money can flow back and forth with no problem.  We would have one main account and the signatory would release the money to associated second accounts such as a ministry or church.  Once the money starts to be repaid back it goes into the main account and the signatory can either take it back to the states or transfer it again as another loan.  I think all the bases are covered.  Once I got all my questions out of the way I felt we were ready to go to the next step.  I asked the branch manager what I would need to do to have our signatory(s) open the account.  He then told me to stay in his office and he would get the supervisor of accounts to give me the information I needed to proceed.

The accounts supervisor comes in and we tell him what we want to do and how the process is going to work.  He tells us it can work.  Then he starts to ask questions.  First he wants to know if the signatory is a Kenyan.  I said no.  Then he asked if the signatory had a work permit.  I said no.  He then told me we had a problem.  I then asked him if there was anything I could do short of bringing the signatory to Kenya.  He called Nairobi and they seemed to concur with him that the signatory needs to be in Kenya with a work permit or be a Kenyan citizen.  I called Robert at Wamula and he just happened to be in Mumias and he went back into the branch in Mumias and they told him the same story as yesterday.  They gave Robert the information he needed to make this legal and allow the signatory to be in the states and control the money.  Robert is holding an emergency board meeting tomorrow morning to perform the tasks required by the bank to the board and add the signatories to their board of directors.  You know I am anxious to get this going but how can two different branches of the same bank have two different policies concerning signatories.  Something is rotten in Denmark.  No offense to my two readers in Denmark.  It’s just a saying I heard when I was younger.  I was telling Hezron yesterday on the way back from Mumias that things were going just to well and that Satan was going to do something big to slow this down.  Today I told Hezron that there is a big boulder in the road and not to worry we will go around it.

The day was not at all bad news.  The orchard is completely planted and the sticks for the vines are in place.  Everything is tied up ready to grow.  We have planted a total of 169 seedlings.  During transport we damaged a few and replaced them in the holes.  There are also about 4 that do not look healthy and there are another 14 that we need to keep an eye on.  We still have the five extras that we could not plant plus another 19 left over that Pastor Robert gave us for free.  They were not meant to be put in the trunk of a car for transport but we used what we had.  I made a chart of the 18 I want Pastor John to watch while I am away in Maralal.  Once I get back in a week or so I should be able to tell if the vines are going to survive the transplant.  We have extra seedlings just in case.  It is now up to the widows to keep this going.  We have a three day seminar set up starting on July 11, 2011 for the widows and some of the future local farmers on proper care of the orchard.  When I come back later this year I want to see some purple fruit or close to it.  Just before I was going to take a picture the daily storm came in and we went inside the house to ride it out.  There was a break in the storm so we quickly left and went to Pastor Morris’s home to measure his plot for another orchard.  It looks like we have 8 plots for a total of about 3 acres that I would like to have planted by September here in Kakamega.  I hope to get a picture tomorrow and give you the before and after of this plot.

Bishop Moses from Freedom Ministries in Uganda came to visit today since my schedule probably will not allow me to go to Uganda.  If we can plant passion fruit for widow’s we can do the same with orphans.  My assignment for Bishop Moses when I left a year ago was to get me an idea of what it would take to get an orphanage for 300 kids.  I believe his ministry in Uganda has over 500 orphans scattered all over the country in people’s homes and churches.  After the orchard we headed back to the guest house had dinner and discussed what he had done.  He gave me a paper report of what he has done and I will review it tonight after I finish this blog by candle light.

Tomorrow it is back to the bank to open an account for the micro-finance portion of Freedom Ministries.  I told Hezron that this account should be separate from his regular Freedom Ministries account so we will open another one.  I do want to pay another visit to the orchard to make sure that these storms are not doing any damage to the plants.  Yesterday’s storm had some serious size hail coming down.  They were so big they were like mini snowballs splattering on the windshield.  I am not sure if I am going to Lumakanda or not.  Bishop Hezron is having pastoral training for 4 days and has invited me to come and speak with some of the pastors assembled.  Some days I am not sure what my priorities are.  I am just trying to follow the way the Lord directs.  If the door opens I usually go through.  On Friday I might want to meet with Pastor Robert again to try and figure out what to do about the signatories of the micro-finance operation.  I will be heading to Eldama Ravine on Saturday morning to meet up with Ken and Susan Black for a week or so in Maralal to finish some of what we started back in March.

Why is it the power comes on just as I finish typing?  I still had about 10 minutes on my computer.

Take care and God bless

Dave