“Mudahut” What?

Saturday we were scheduled to mud a hut. Say it fast – it’s fun! MudaHut!

Each year, the mission team works with members of the community to mud a hut. Basically we “build” the walls of someone’s house. When we got here earlier in the week, Mama Lorna told us that we would be mudding a hut for a homeless family with 6 children. Both mother and father were orphans, they are extremely poor and living on the streets of Kisumu. The mother had already sent 3 of her children to live with others because she was unable to care for them. The mother, Josephine, came out to the Point of Grace area, sought out Mama Lorna, and asked if her small children could attend school. It eventually was discovered that Josephine was here alone with 3 of her children and temporarily staying with a relative. The older children were the ones with others. Through discussions with pastor Meeker and Lorna, it was decided that the husband, David, would reunite with his family, 2 of the children would return, and through donations made by the congregation at Grace Lutheran, a mud hut would be built to house the family. Additionally, 7 members of the family were baptized on Sunday!

The team went to the site of the hut. The frame had been built (with branches) and the metal roof was in place. We arrived at a little after 8am and there were already about 2 dozen men and women from the community there and working. The process had several different aspects. Some of the men collected rocks of varying sizes and placed them near the walls. Other men made mud with water that was brought up in jugs from the village by a boy on a motorcycle. The rest of us alternated between rocks and mud and worked our way up sections of the wall from both the inside and outside. The local women taught us how to properly mud the hut. Somehow, they stayed relatively clean, while we had mud all over our clothes, on our faces, and in our hair! I think we gave them a pretty good laugh, although it was all in good fun.

Pastor Meeker sat with the children ranging from the ages of 5 to 15, some from the family and some from the village. He talked to them about Jesus and answered the many questions that they had. He truly takes advantage of every opportunity to spread the word of God.

With so many helping hands, the work was completed quickly. The locals broke into traditional song and dance, singing and laughing with each other. We were finished by 11:30 and the women served tea and bean that some of the women prepared over a fire while we were mudding. The members of the team did not actually eat the same food because our systems would not be able to tolerate food prepared with the water from the village.

Once the mud dries, there will be another layer of mud added. Then there will be a layer of cement smooth the walls. This is the first hut finished with cement. Most huts are finished with a layer of cow dung – they tell us even that will help the mud hut last 25 years!

The hut consists of 3 rooms. There is no electricity, no plumbing, and no running water. They still have to figure out how to transport water from the village to the house. This family is happy with their new home, however. They have more today than they have had in a long time, if ever. In addition to a new home, they are part of a community, and their children will attend a school where they are cared for and loved, learning and growing academically, emotionally, and spiritually under the Meekers care.

At dinner, we served the student at Point of Grace. We served 461 children a dinner of chicken, rice, potato, cabbage, and bread in the span of 1 hour. After the children were all served, we sat to eat in their dining hall. There was a devotional led by Pastor Edwin after which we went back to the guest house and we’re ready to collapse!