This was written by Julie Harrington who works with the Evangelical Church in Kenya and was at Ukunda during construction.
Projects in Kenya go hand in hand with challenges and unexpected ‘things’. But this also results in the greatest and sweetest rewards!
I find that time is a critical factor. In the western world we rely on a timetable and pretty much stick to it; we are linear and everything happens along this time line at a designated place but here in Kenya time is circular. Time goes in circles and events happen when they happen. This is a problem when you are working on a project that involves building or time sensitive events.
And I’m telling you that everything here takes much longer than you think-especially a building project. When the western thought of deadline meets the Kenya thought of it will get done there are problems. The Ukunda Centre was no exception. No one anticipated the fact that almost all the building materials had to be brought across the ferry. This involved using special times and ferries. Supply can also be a problem-it is not like America where Home Depot always has what you need. Things are not always well thought out in advance. There is a tendency to just do it and if we have problems then we will fix them. This happened when they dug the well and wound up re-digging part of it. They had to shore up the tower to hold the tank because they did not properly factor the weight of the tank with water in it….you get the idea.
Julie went on to tell me about the furniture and the tree. That huge tree reduced to this – but out of it – bunk beds for kids.
shavings and finished boards
