Virtual Tour of Kisumu Home

Welcome to our new home in Kisumu, Kenya. Since you aren't able to visit us, we thought we could 'bring' our home to you through these pictures. So enjoy! This first picture is looking out our front gate; perhaps you can see the cows munching on the grass just outside. It is common practice for the livestock to roam the roadsides for food. We live at the end of a culdesac.
This is what the building we live in looks like from just outside the gate. Under the carport is 'Dobie" the 4 wheel drive Nissan truck the church provides us. To the left front of the truck is the guard shack. We have a guard who stays on the premises from 6 pm to 6 am seven days a week' I really doubt he spends much time in the shack. We live on the 'ground' floor; the 'first' floor has classrooms for church and the 'second' floor is open on the sides and we hold sacrament meeting there. The church is renting the building. Let's see what we get for paying about $5-600 a month.

There are four main rooms (plus bath and kitchen); here we have the living room; the furnishings were provided by the mission.

And this is the rest of the living room. It has a door to the outside, but we don't use it; there are actually three doors, all of which have their own locks. Note the curtains; we had the local Nakumatt (Walmart wantabe) make them.

This is what we refer to as the office. If you are curious about the pink wall covering in front of Sister Fox at the computer, it is a mattress standing on end. We don't have any other place to store it, and there may be times when other missionary couples will be passing through this way and need a place to stay.

This is the office looking the other direction. The door in the middle is our official front door; it is actually two lockable doors. The curtains again are from Nakumatt. All the rooms were repainted prior to our arrival. This is the floor that was sanded (by hand) and restained; it took about four weeks to dry.

This is a look at the bedroom from the doorway that leads into the kitchen. The fan on the right is more for white noise. And just what is that white thing hanging from the ceiling? It is a misquito net - we have not had the need to use it yet. So far the misquitoes have not bothered us. Besides, we just found out that the net is for a twin bed, so it would be a tight fit. We have Morrice looking for an affordable bedframe since we currently don't have one. There are many wood shops at the market, but that is another blog story.

Here is the reverse shot of the bedroom. Note the windows; the kitchen is on the opposite side. We do have limited closet space; good thing we don't have many clothes!

The bathroom is off the bedroom. The tank in the upper left is the water heater; at least at one time it was. It doesn't work now. The only hot water in the house is at the shower head, which has an electric heater attached to it and instantly heats the water as it comes out. Make sure you turn the water on first and then turn on the heater switch; otherwise it will burn out the element. Sorry, I did not include a picture of it this time.

And this is the rest of the bathroom. The windows straight ahead look out onto a fenced patio in back. The wooden thing on the right is actually a headboard; but since it doesn't fit anything else, we 'hid' it in the bathroom. You will notice the vent in the top center of the picture; they are at the top of the ten foot ceilings to allow air movement between rooms, and to the exterior. As with all the windows, they are covered with screens. They make it real handy to add electrical lines; since the walls are solid concrete, you just run the wires up the walls and through the vents into the other rooms as needed.

This the dining room; the bedroom is opposite the window. Note the location of the refrigerator. This floor, as well as the kitchen and bath, are terrazo and look really nice.

The kitchen could use some updating, but it is functional. In the right corner of the counter is the triple water filtration system that provides us our drinking water (it must work, I haven't gotten sick from drinking that water yet!). To the left of the microwave is the 1.7 liter water heater that boils water in about five minutes. That is our hot water source for dishes and morning/evening face washing. One of our more valuable assets here! The walls, like the bathroom, are tiled.

The stove is has two electric and two propane burners. The oven is electric. The propane burners do have electronic ignition. Note the outlet above the open stove cover. It has a switch so you can turn the power on/off. The propane tank is a little larger than the US 20 pound ones and it sits to the right of the stove, just out of sight in this photo.

There is also a pantry accessed by a door off the kitchen, but it is narrow and was too hard to photograph; sorry. It has a countertop and lots of cupboards. We hid all the odds and ends in there. This is our home and we love it! Hope you enjoyed the tour.