Wednesday March 16
Yesterday our team visited the construction site of our new orphanage and today we are working. Last year when we laid the foundation stones the site was a corn patch and a grove of trees; now there are piles of stones, sand and gravel everywhere. The trenches have all been dug for the foundations and are presently being filled with cement.

Yesterday I learned something from the foreman on the site that I never knew before. The government does not allow heavy equipment (bulldozers, backhoes, jackhammers, cranes, etc.) on building sites. Everything must be done by hand. They do this in order to create jobs for Kenyans. The work of one backhoe is done by 20 or 25 Kenyans. Mountains of earth are being moved with hand shovels and wheelbarrows.

All the concrete is mixed on the ground and brought by wheel barrow to the foundation site. As I write this, six members of our team are moving a mountain of 50 pound rocks from one place to another. There is no water on the site! All the water is carried on the heads of Kenyan women from a kilometer away. There is a steady stream of women going back and forth and dumping water into a cement water tank that they just built last week.

As primitive as this all sounds, it is working very well and the job is getting done. I knew this building would be big but I am still surprised by the enormity of the footprint before me. In my mind’s eye I can visualize the 22,000 square foot building that will be the future home of 80 to 100 orphans.
A word about our team! This team is something special. From the moment we met we have been a fun family. Hardly a moment passes that we are not laughing. Now that the work has begun we ask you to earnestly pray for us. We are definitely not used to this kind of labor and by the end of the day everyone could hardly walk. Thank the Lord for Advil!

It is such a joy to be working alongside of your average Kenyan Construction worker. Many of them have never worked alongside of a white man, so this is fun for them as well. We have done a lot of things here in Kenya but this is a first and it is so special.
Sorry I haven’t been able to communicate every day. We have had some major internet server problems and most of our mail was coming back to us. We have now solved that problem by routing our communications through our team back home.

We’d love to have you respond to our communications. It’s a great encouragement. If you would like to respond send your emails to rvicknair

Love you all
Richard