When I was in Kenya earlier this year with a CRED team, we found ourselves carrying out our programme of activities at the same as a major rebuild of the school was taking place. It certainly made for an interesting insight into their attitude to health and safety; as the children lined up for their morning porridge or lunch-time githeri, foundation blocks of rock, bags of cement, piles of sand and other building materials were delivered into the playground, and the builders worked on the new construction.
The building work being done is phase 1 of what promises to be a wonderful new school facility for the children at Spurgeons Academy in Kibera slum. When it is completed, the children will have classrooms that are big enough to fit everyone into, with proper windows, and walls and a roof that don't have any holes. They will even have proper toilets and adequate hand-washing facilities. They still won't have interactive whiteboards or any of the other fixtures and fittings that are basic expectations in our classrooms nowadays, but they will provide a much better learning environment for the students, and a much more inspiring facility for the teachers, and everyone is very excited about that prospect.
Whilst with the Spurgeons staff on the trip, I asked them about the expected timings for completion of the building, and they quoted end of July 2013. It seemed pretty ambitious to me, but I'm not a builder, so what do I know! However, today I received an e-mail from our Spurgeons contact, Kenyanito, with an update to the building works situation. It didn't make for wonderful reading!
Basically a combination of discovering the need for unexpectedly deep foundations, plus a 36% increase in price on some building materials, plus a significant mis-quote have resulted in a big hole in the budget. And as the 'short rains' are now falling steadily the stability of the construction that has taken place already has been put at risk.
Could be pretty down-heartening reading in one sense. But the e-mail from Kenyanito didn't come across like that. To him, a man of great faith and for whom prayer is always number 1 on the list of action points, the e-mail was just a statement about where things are at for now. It was just a message bringing us up to date with things, and letting us know the reality. Sure there was a comment that if we know of any funds that could help fill the hole then please could we explore them, but it wasn't an e-mail pleading for money.
Instead his closing sentence was this: 'We are trusting God for his divine intervention and am certain sure that he will never leave us not forsake us. The impact that the completion of this rebuild will cause to the kids is huge beyond any measure. As I always say my sister: if it is God's will, then it must be God's bill.'
What a great faith, what an inspiring faith, what a challenge to those of us who say we are of faith. No more hiding behind the excuse that we can't afford to do something; if we sense it is what God is calling us to, then our motto should be: 'if it is God's will, then it must be God's bill'.
He will provide, if we take the risk and step out to let Him.
The building work being done is phase 1 of what promises to be a wonderful new school facility for the children at Spurgeons Academy in Kibera slum. When it is completed, the children will have classrooms that are big enough to fit everyone into, with proper windows, and walls and a roof that don't have any holes. They will even have proper toilets and adequate hand-washing facilities. They still won't have interactive whiteboards or any of the other fixtures and fittings that are basic expectations in our classrooms nowadays, but they will provide a much better learning environment for the students, and a much more inspiring facility for the teachers, and everyone is very excited about that prospect.
Whilst with the Spurgeons staff on the trip, I asked them about the expected timings for completion of the building, and they quoted end of July 2013. It seemed pretty ambitious to me, but I'm not a builder, so what do I know! However, today I received an e-mail from our Spurgeons contact, Kenyanito, with an update to the building works situation. It didn't make for wonderful reading!
Basically a combination of discovering the need for unexpectedly deep foundations, plus a 36% increase in price on some building materials, plus a significant mis-quote have resulted in a big hole in the budget. And as the 'short rains' are now falling steadily the stability of the construction that has taken place already has been put at risk.
Could be pretty down-heartening reading in one sense. But the e-mail from Kenyanito didn't come across like that. To him, a man of great faith and for whom prayer is always number 1 on the list of action points, the e-mail was just a statement about where things are at for now. It was just a message bringing us up to date with things, and letting us know the reality. Sure there was a comment that if we know of any funds that could help fill the hole then please could we explore them, but it wasn't an e-mail pleading for money.
Instead his closing sentence was this: 'We are trusting God for his divine intervention and am certain sure that he will never leave us not forsake us. The impact that the completion of this rebuild will cause to the kids is huge beyond any measure. As I always say my sister: if it is God's will, then it must be God's bill.'
What a great faith, what an inspiring faith, what a challenge to those of us who say we are of faith. No more hiding behind the excuse that we can't afford to do something; if we sense it is what God is calling us to, then our motto should be: 'if it is God's will, then it must be God's bill'.
He will provide, if we take the risk and step out to let Him.
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