Workshop Move-In

This week has been a big week for us at James 127 Foundation and Judith&James. After looking long and hard, we finally found a place to move in. By the powerful working of God, the process has gone by very quickly. After housing our workshop in Balozi, a very nice development, our time to move out had come. We are now in large house in the Kasarani/Mwiki area, a location much closer for all of our women. It is a large house, big enough to house the workshops for Imani (the jewelry business hiring church choir members), Judith and James (clothing company), and in April we will start both the jewelry training and sewing training in this house.

Pictured below is the outside of the house we are now occupying.

Upon moving all of things inside the house, we prayed for the move and great work James 127 Foundation is doing with Judith's pastor, Pastor Oscar, who helped us move equipment and provided the moving truck. 

Each of the women are so excited to be in this new workshop. I asked Domaris, one of Judith&James' widow seamstresses why she enjoys the new place. She said it is because of the location and the large size of the house. 

Pictured below is the room for Judith&James workshop, the day after our initial move in. 

Ethiopia trip take two

Last week, I took a short trip to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia for the second time but this trip was by myself. I went to the same two workshops, with the goal of having our Judith&James designed leather bags produced and brought back.

Tewabe, my trusty driver faithfully drove me every day I was there. He is a happy, hard working man who works two taxi driving jobs in order to support his family and cute little two year old son. Tewabe also served as a tour guide, driving me to all the workshops I needed to go, eating Ethiopian food, and searching the city for souvenirs and ATMs. Here he is pictured with the completed signature leather bags we bought from Yami's workshop.

While in Ethiopia, I also decided to play tourist for a little while and went to visit the National Museum of Ethiopia. It is a three story building filled with all sort of various historical findings and collections. It was a mix of rich, cultural history; religious Christ symbols and representations; and Lucy, most famous evolutionary early 'human' ancestor.

And of course while there I had to eat lots of Ethiopian food! The injera (spongy sourdough flatbread made of teff flour) and various Ethiopian dishes are my favorite! One of my favorite parts of visiting Ethiopia is their authentic ethnic food. I've never had it any better in all the world than right in the heart of Addis.

New Guests!

The biggest highlight this past week has been the blessing of new guests staying at our house. We now have a full house! We have received another cute foster baby into the Hyodo household yet again. His name is Prince Joseph (PJ). He was abandoned by his mother at birth, neglected at the hospital. The four month old is now temporarily under our care likely until he can get adopted by a loving family. We have been fostering him for only a week so far and he has already been growing! PJ is such an exciting new addition to our house.

We have also been hosting a team of 6 senior nursing students and 2 professors from Northwest University. They are staying at our house. What a joy it is to house them! I attended college at Northwest University for two years and some of the team have become my good friends. I am so very excited to have them here and to be showing them Nairobi!

I have really enjoyed taking the team to a few places I like to go to. Their first day in Kenya we went to the Huruma slum near our house. We visited New Dawn, a local secondary school in the slum. While there, we visited other projects in the community such as water filter system, a biofuel center, and a neighboring elderly home. It was a neat taste into the Kenyan slum. I look forward to more opportunities to minister alongside them. After Huruma, we went to Village Market, a very nice modern mall that I frequent almost daily. It was interesting to hear how surprised people were at the drastic difference between the slums and the malls, less than a mile distant from each other.

I also had the opportunity to introduce them to the Judith and James workshop, under James127 Foundation. That was neat to bring them to the ministry I am with. I enjoyed showing them the small workshop, letting them see products, and introducing them to the three Judith and James seamstresses. The team also had a chance to see Imani, the jewelry business of James 127 Foundation. A few of the group members loved the jewelry and ministry so much they bought some pieces of jewelry to take back home with them. That is a blessing to James127 and those funds will go directly to the ministry and our women in the slums.

Foster baby Prince Joseph (PJ) pictured above

The student nurses and professors with my mom
and I outside of New Dawn, a high school in the Huruma slum (pictured left)











The happy Northwest University nursing students and two professors at the entrance to our house (pictured right). They are ready to head to local Kenyan hospital

Rainy Season

Here in Nairobi, Kenya the weather is relatively mild throughout the year. Never too hot or too cold, usually in the 60s and 70s. Instead of four distinct seasons throughout the year, we have several rainy seasons. The longest rainy season usually is from March-May. This year, the rainy season evidently has come early. This week it has started to rain hard.

The clip below is a short video I took a few days ago while I was in downtown Nairobi restocking a few supplies. Not exactly the best time to be walking around on foot! As I walked through the main road of Moi Avenue, it started raining and hailing really hard. I had to pause for a few minutes to keep dry for a second. I caved and bought an umbrella on the way to shelter. By the time I got inside, I was drenched. It was just about flooding with waters as high as my knees. From now on, I am going to remember to always bring an umbrella with me.

Matatus and Motorbikes

As I live a little more locally and independently here in Nairobi, I am relying more and more on public transportation. My two main forms of transport have become matatus and boda bodas. Not exactly the safest or always reliable way of transport but evidently what I have come to rely on.

Matatus are the most common Kenyan form of transportation. They are privately owned minibuses used as share taxis. There are typically 14 seats in each matatu but most squeeze in 20 or so passengers. There isn't really a set price on the fare; it just depends how far you are going and if you happen to get a good rate. It is never more than $1 and usually less than that. I try not to get a mzungu (foreigner) high price. I usually use matatus when I need to go downtown for Judith&James supplies.

 

Boda bodas, also called piki pikis, are motorcycle taxis. They are more expensive than matatus but definitely faster! In my experience, I barter down the price to something more reasonable and keep consistently using the boda boda driver for a good fare. These past two weeks, I have accumulated a handful of boda bodas I will use now. I've using boda bodas to travel from my house to work. Below I am pictured with Justice, one of my favorite, trusted boda boda drivers.

Mcedo School

Yesterday I joined my family and friends at the Mcedo School in the Mathare slum. We arrived right at their lunch break so we loved on them. Our awesome friends, Kauleen, Annie, Chelsea, and Alex helped entertained the students, teaching them fun interactive songs. And in return they sang a few songs for us too. We went from classroom to classroom sharing in song. I always love visiting the Mcedo school. Below is a picture of us singing with the baby (preschool) class and a few pictures with the school children.

This is a video of me talking with some of the kids at Mcedo School.

They thought the little Kiswahili I used was so funny.

Judith & James

This past week has been very exciting as I have completed my first week on staff with Judith & James. I have jumped right in to start my work with them. It's all a bit of a blur and I've learned a lot. I am constantly learning daily about life in Kenya and how to make sure to maintain J&J production. Already in one week, I have been restocking supplies of fabric needed, supervising the work of the widows, and keeping daily correspondence with our founder who is currently back in the states making preparations for her second appearance in the New York Fashion Week next weekend.

One of my favorite parts of J&J this week has been getting to know the women better and getting to laugh with them. I love watching their passion come out as they work. I also love getting to eat Kenyan lunch with them every afternoon. Each day the women take turns cooking lunch for the day. Every Friday (today) is a special day because we eat meat (nyama). For the typical Kenyan, meat is a rare treat because it is more expensive to buy. We eat it with ugali (Kenyan staple starch made of maize flour) and sukuma wiki (Kenyan collard greens). Below is a picture I took of my lunch today!

I am very thankful for Zeddy, one of our fabric suppliers. He helps order the fabric we need from Tanzania and hand delivers it right to our workshop. On Thursday he promptly delivered our exact order! Zeddy is pictured below holding a few of the pieces of Tanzanian fabric he sold to us.

Next week, I am looking forward to some guests arriving, including the arrival of the Northwest University's team of 8 senior nursing students and professors who are staying for one month at my family's house with me. My family and I are excited to host them. 

In addition, I am VERY excited for sister organizations: Judith and James and James127 Foundation, as they prepare to be showing at next weekend's New York Fashion Week! 

Join me in praying for preparations for everyone involved in both of these endeavors!