2012 KAFAKUMBA NEWS

Snails!

With the rainy season in full swing, we need to watch where we're walking. Each morning, the snails come out and make their way across the paths. We always feel bad when we don't pay attention and suddenly hear "crunch!"

Wildlife

A flock of cattle egrets has started hanging around Kafakumba. Their pristine white feathers make a beautiful contrast with all the greenery around us during this rainy season. It's too bad that the reason they're here is because they're attracted to all the bugs and flies that come with the tons of fresh chicken manure that have been deposited here to fertilize the aloe! There is also a new fragrance around the area.

New Uniforms

The workers at Kafakumba recently received new uniforms. Here is one proud group standing near the woodshop.

Sewing Class

Cassie Bauson has started a new sewing class with a small group of women. Her goal is to teach the women how to read sewing patterns and concentrate on detail and quality. Later the women will be able to teach others these skills.

Rainy Season

Baboon spider

Rainy season is in full swing now. That means the grass is growing fast, the mangoes are ripening, and the farmers are busy planting. Also, the snails and big bugs are emerging and we have to watch out for snakes. A big cobra was on Pastor Kilembo's doorstep, standing up and weaving back and forth!

Large moth

Center Improvements

The Mall	New bamboo fence
Dorm 5 storm damage	More storm damage

We've had several recent improvements to the center:

• A new bamboo fence around the guest houses improves security and privacy.
• The “mall” in the center is greening up and we’re almost done with our Methodist Flame fountain.
• The new “Upper Room” guesthouse has been completed.

However, we've also had a setback: a storm came through on December 17 and ripped the new roof off of Dorm 5. It also knocked down a couple of trees. We're thankful that nobody was hurt.

New Borehole

At the end of the last dry season, our water situation was pretty miserable. Every time a large group came to the Center for a conference, we would run out of water by the second day of the conference. Thanks to a generous donation, a new borehole has been drilled on the Center grounds. Additional donations are coming in to help us fund new water tanks and plumbing. By next dry season, we hope to have plenty of water for the conference attendees and the Center residents.

Help from our Visitors

Luke Raymond installing an antenna	Angus Ramsay teaching computers
Warren Tranter on the water tower	New water level meter
Len Kerswill

Several visitors to Kafakumba over the past several months have helped make Kafakumba a better place. Here are some of the highlights:

• Visitors Luke Raymond (USA) and Angus Ramsay (New Zealand) helped us set up a bigger wireless network and a file server. Now the whole center has wireless internet. Angus also taught PC classes.
• Visitor John Taller (USA) helped get several machines running in the woodshop.
• Visitors Warren Tranter (UK) and Len Kerswill (UK) made a meter to show how much water is in our holding tanks (they were empty a lot during dry season).
• Visitor Steven Morgan (USA) has been helping with God's Kids and is teaching the computer class each week.