Since we last heard from them, our intrepid band of students and teachers from Ireland’s Moate and Killinarden Community Schools visiting Kenya on the Friends of Londiani Easter Harambee really have got their hands dirty with some stove building — but from work rather than smoke. The stoves these youngsters are working on are smoke-free and will do a lot to reduce expenditure on firewood and time spent collecting it. The students and teachers have also learned a little about local crafts, working in groups — and Kenyan tea! Now read on… We are having a great time here in Kenya so far. There are a lot of new things to see and people to meet. We have visited our Link school, learned lots about local life here in Londiani, learned about local crafts and had a visit from Father Martin and Father Con, who are the priests here in Saint Kizitos. Every day is a good one. Today was our last day of making stoves. Altogether we have made 15 stoves over the last few days. We divided into four groups every day so that we would get the most work done possible. Each group took a few hours to build one stove. There was a community health worker with our group helping us to make the stove. The community health worker offered advice and showed us how to make the stove — and in fact, did lots of the building too, but we were there to help. When the stove was finished the owner of the house invited us in for tea and popcorn. The tea here is very sweet but nice. The people are really lovely here. At the moment, we are washing our clothes in basins and eating fresh mandazis. They are a local speciality and are very tasty. Tonight, we are having dinner at 7pm, and Helen and Jenny have organised a surprise for us. I hope it is a good one.