Day 17 - Preparing to Leave Again

It’s Tuesday evening and we are sitting in front of the fireplace staring at the burning coals and enjoying our last night in Sibanga this trip. It has been a very blessed day.


We began by introducing three ladies from the Kimoson Visionary Woman’s Group to two ladies from the Liberty Illuminate Christian Ministries group to discuss tabletop banking. Edith, Alice and Esther have such a passion for this type of micro-financing because they have seen it work first-hand among their own groups of women, so it was inspirational to listen to them share their passion with all of us. They have a saying: “Empower a woman and you empower her community.” We saw evidence of this as we listened to them and reflected on the meeting we attended with them last Friday.

We then met with one of three potential architects and walked the land which we are in the process of purchasing. He told us he has a very big vision for what he will do, and we watched him and his assistant measure off the dimensions of the property. He is already roughing up sketches of where buildings will be constructed.

Samwel Wafula brought the architect to us in Sibanga and was gracious enough to allow us to ride back into Kitale with them where we had arranged a meeting with Patricia to look at the beadwork she had created after making a trip to Nairobi to purchase supplies. We had expected her to present us with one or two samples but instead, we are bringing home around 24 necklaces and 50 bracelets which we will try to sell for them in the United States and then re-invest the money with her on our next visit. Hope you all have not finished your Christmas shopping!

So as we sprawl out on the sofas in front of the fire this evening, there is a feeling of contentment settling over both of us. This trip has had God’s handiwork written all over it and we are eager to see what He has in store for us next!

Our driver has arrived safely in Kitale and will be picking us up tomorrow at Zippy’s shamba by 9:00AM. We expect to arrive in Nairobi around 5:00PM and get settled into the guesthouse so that we can prepare for our final couple of days in Nairobi before returning to the States in time for Christmas.