HOW NOT TO KILL A COCKROACH!
(Wednesday 4th November 2009)
I am in pain!
I'm sat at home on a papyrus base settee in our sitting cum dining room, with my right hand resting and elevated above my heart, on its arm.
My hand is throbbing!
It needed the wisdom of a surgeon to manipulate (struggle) my 5th metacarple back into the knuckle socket out of which it was so brutally dislocated and broken!
I would like to tell you that it was worth it. I would like to say that I was being heroic and had warded off some dangerous person or animal, or even that a major event required my sacrificial giving ending up in my being injured and 'wowed' at by the masses for my bravery.
Humbly I must confess that none of these highly esteemed feats were the case. To be utterly truthful, the reason for my painful injury couldn't be further from the above.
The truth is, it was caused by a cockroach! Yes, a cockroach. A creature that is harmless.
'A cockroach,' I hear you say?
'Ahah, that's right, a cockroach.'
'Wow, how big was it that it caused such a painful injury to your writing hand?' 'Well, it was not that big. Maybe 3 inches at most, if you include its feelers and hind legs.' I quietly reply.
'Oh. Well tell me what actually happened?' you ask.
Well before I do, let me say that these creatures are mighty fast at scuttling around. They have such a hard shell to protect their body, such that scientists have experimented with what they thought were dead cockroaches only to find that 7 days later they were still alive!
We have never before had a cockroach in our sitting room. That is until Tuesday night this past week at 10.30pm.
I was just coming to the end of playing spider solitaire on my lap-top when out of the corner of my eye I noticed a creature quickly dart past the settee and hide behind the single seater close by. I assumed it was a large gheko which we love to watch walking in the most impossible ways in order to catch a fly or mosquito...but moments later I realised the worst, for approaching me across the blue rug was this massive cockroach...massive compared to an ant!
My mind went into 'destroy' mode!
But how could I with a lap-top on my lap and the 'Doom' spray bottle out of reach. ('Doom' supposedly kills all unwanted insects and displays a dead cockroach lying on its back on the side of the can.) I decided upon seeing the unwanted creature approach that I was left with only one decision...'crush it'. And because of its massive size and its engendering such 'fear' into me I chose to do something that insect lovers would not be able to comprehend, and for which I was about to learn yet another of life's lessons.
The creature stopped right in front of me twitching. Holding the lap-top with my left hand I twisted my body to gain greatest advantage to destroy the encrustation! With a massive wild swing of my clenched right fist, I came thundering down upon the innocent creature...and missed it as it fled...but not the tiled floor! With a crunch on impact and a crack of bone, I felt my knuckle buckle and 5th metacarple break!
My wife had retired to bed half an hour earlier and realised that my moanings and groanings were not normal so came to investigate. The injured hand lay throbbing and increasing in size under a cold water flow in the nearby bathroom. She was comforting and understandingand wanted to help.
A good 10-15 minutes later, with ice pack surrounding the ever swelling hand, we went in search of the cockroach... this time armed with the 'Doom' spray! As we upturned the settee it darted away, but not to safety! We had it trapped in a corner of the room by the outside door!
10 seconds of spray 'doomed' the little creature and the fight was over. And sure enough, there it lay upside down on the floor, just like the picture on the side of the can.

But why hadn't I used a cheaper form of death knell? The heel of my right foot?
Or better and cheaper still, open the door to our veranda and let it escape?
The following day was spent forking out loads of dosh and receiving further painful reconstruction of the injured hand.

Let's hope the 'Doom' really has worked and that it doesn't come alive next Tuesday evening, 7 days from the event!

THE RAWNESS OF KISUMU

Hi Guys!
It's been ages since the last BLOG.
Sorry if you've fallen asleep wondering are we still alive on planet earth, or in Kisumu to be precise? Or anywhere for that matter. We are.
This is written from Wythenshawe, Manchester, as we experience the changeable UK weather...where's the sun gone?!
We are thrilled to be home (UK) experiencing the delights of having just become grand parents! Keziah is absolutely gorgeous. Her parents have done a brilliant job so far. We have also needed this break which will last for 4 weeks. Our previous one in April was quite tiring visiting many friends and family - but so worthwhile.

Kisumu can sap the strength out of you without realising it; day-in day-out commitments to some of the most needy people on planet earth - and yet the most rewarding job God in His great wisdom has given us to be & do.

Since our last BLOG we have attended yet another wedding - called a 'prayer meeting'! As a result we really have said this will be our last one!! Due to start at 11am, it began at 4pm (the time it was meant to end!) and went on till some time after we left at 6pm! It really was a mess and badly planned...that is according to our western bias, culture and prejudice.
You know we can be so 'more godly than thou' and get on our 'high horses' thinking we know it all! How rude and improper. We are in Kenya to serve not to criticise. We are their guests not their lords!!
Crucify colonialism and bigotry.

Every day we say, 'God teach us to be more patient and loving.' And you know what? He gives us loads of challenges to be more patient and loving! Do we stop praying? NO! But, hey Lord it's tough at times...and yet so rewarding - deepening character and appreciating we have so much.
We can escape when the going gets tough - not a reality for 1000's of locals..they all pitch in and make life work & death.
During the 1st 2 weeks of July (when Keziah was born) we were privileged to have 6 fine young people come and serve the poor in the slums of Manyatta. They came from our home church in Fareham, Hants. None had been to Kenya before, two had gone on holiday last year to South Africa.
They came to be practical, to touch and handle, to paint and cuddle and say 'You are worth me coming out to this desperately needy city and embracing your weakness.'
They visited the tiny terraced mud built home (10'x8) of a sponsored child at Simon Newberry School, discovered poverty 1st hand, made music and musical instruments, heard children read, dance and sing rhymes, played football, taught English lessons, art lessons, coaching football skills, did practical tasks on the school grounds, painted a giant mural of the Serengeti, went for a boat trip on Lake Victoria, visited the Equator Line...and held hands with children who need to know that they are loved, and heard them say, 'How are you, I'm fine?!'
They left genuine love behind and took a piece of African reality back to the surreal UK. What this experience will give birth to in their hearts, God only knows...but they certainly aren't the same people they once were.

Life out here in Kisumu can be very raw and heart searching.
And yet it's the very rawness and simplicity of this life that is so appealing and worthwhile serving.

'Simon Newberry School' and 'To Kenya With Love' ministries are doing a brilliant job - we are so impressed with their levels of care, teaching and integrity. Clearly God thinks so too. As the work develops it clearly reflects His heart to the needy - to those imprisoned by the poverty trap.
New building work is going ahead this summer holiday; a second well built permanent classroom, the completion of a permanent toilet block, the digging of a good well - the last attempt was poor! We've learnt now how not to do things and we are pressing on forward with hope in our hearts and faith to believe we serve an awesome and generous Father interested in the minutest detail. Every child precious in His sight - and ours!

Even the poor are affected and suffering from the 'Credit Crunch'. Food today costs 2x what it did last year!!!! The cost of living rises by 30% each month. The average daily wage is around £1 for 1000's. It's not what a family of 5 -10 can easily manage on...try it for a week in UK! Touch reality, even if it's for a limited period. Out here in Kisumu there is no 'limited period' - this is it!!

Monday lunchtime is for us one of the high points of the week at school. All the staff choose to gather together (more like squeeze together) for 1/2 an hour to pray and praise the living God in their lunch-time. They always begin their words of thanks like this..." Thank you God for my life and that I have lived to see another day..." Why? Because life is so fragile out here...every breathe is precious, every day a gift needing to be lived to the full.
Just as we were about to leave for UK last week, our house maid was in tears. Her 21 year old nephew living in Nairobi had fallen down a well and had drowned. They had to wait over 24 hours for help to arrive to take his body out...earlier in the year another nephew of hers in the same family had died of a sudden illness...and the maid had also been asked to take in her 6 year old niece earlier in the year, from another area of Kenya, whose alcoholic father had turned to drink following a coach accident killing his wife.

Life and death situations are having to be faced every day in Kisumu on a much higher scale than in the UK. They can be so raw at times.

Two books we strongly recommend you read if coming out to Kenya/Africa...they set the cultural background and history so clearly...
1. 'The Shadow of the Sun' by the Polish writer & journalist Ryszard Kapuscinski and published by Penguin books
2. 'African Friends and Money Matters' by David Maranz see Amazon books for copies

Please Pray for God's provision and protection of the children and staff at SNS, for the finances to pay staff, feed the children and continue with the building programme.

God is on His throne - He rules and we have much more to learn.
For His Highest
Peter & Paula