Africa Brush

[ccpastork]

In May of last year @CigarSmoka made and PIF’ed me a brush handle to serve as a reminder of my five trips to Uganda.

I had planned to take it to Uganda this year, however, plans changed and I am now headed to Kenya...with this handsome brush:

It is now sporting a 24mm TGN Finest Badger knot which was used for the first time this morning. Having spent time on the Upper Nile, the Nacet blades seemed appropriate and the colors of the Duck Sauce soap complimented the brush.

A fantastic brush and one I will cherish...thank you Jay.

 

[pork]

Beautiful brush!

 

[SpeedyPC]

In May of last year @CigarSmoka made and PIF’ed me a brush handle to serve as a reminder of my five trips to Uganda.
View attachment 872975

I had planned to take it to Uganda this year, however, plans changed and I am now headed to Kenya...with this handsome brush:
View attachment 872977
It is now sporting a 24mm TGN Finest Badger knot which was used for the first time this morning. Having spent time on the Upper Nile, the Nacet blades seemed appropriate and the colors of the Duck Sauce soap complimented the brush.

A fantastic brush and one I will cherish...thank you Jay.

The brush handle style reminds of an Aboriginal Australian flag

 

[Hoka Hey]

Very nice Kevin!

A Cigarsmoka brush is a special thing.

 

[GearNoir]

In May of last year @CigarSmoka made and PIF’ed me a brush handle to serve as a reminder of my five trips to Uganda.
View attachment 872975

I had planned to take it to Uganda this year, however, plans changed and I am now headed to Kenya...with this handsome brush:
View attachment 872977
It is now sporting a 24mm TGN Finest Badger knot which was used for the first time this morning. Having spent time on the Upper Nile, the Nacet blades seemed appropriate and the colors of the Duck Sauce soap complimented the brush.

A fantastic brush and one I will cherish...thank you Jay.

Good stuff! Enjoy and safe travels!

 

[malocchio]

Beautiful handle!!.....Have fun in Kenya, but be careful, it's different than Uganda.

 

[jesseix]

Very cool! I actually had a thought of getting something made to commemorate a trip to South Africa which was the most amazing trip of my life (so far), your brush is a great muse thank you for sharing.
And I hope you have a great trip, travel safely.

 

[BigJ]

Great handle! Enjoy your trip (should be memorable)!

 

[sandstone]

A beautiful brush, congrats!!

 

[ccpastork]

Thank you gentlemen, I am looking forward to the new experiences and the Kenyan culture. Most of my shaves will be with cold water and limited light, so it will be 2 pass shaves to limit the chance of creating an opening for nasty bacteria.

This will be my last post until I return, thank you again for the well wishes. I’ll poat a few pictures when I return.

 

[Graydog]

Kevin whats in Kenya for you ?

 

[CigarSmoka]

Good to see you got a knot in it and are enjoying the brush, the TGN finest is a favorite of mine. It also seems a bit ironic that Nacet is one of my favorite blades AND you’re using soap from an artisan maker that I’ve become friends with and is just an all around great guy. Have a safe trip and hope to hear some great stories when you return.

@SpeedyPC - I actually made the handle to resemble the flag of Uganda, where Kevin did humanitarian work.

 

[ccpastork]

Hello Gentlemen,
I have returned from Oyugis, Kenya and the trip was more than I could have hoped for. With a 50/50 mixture of Kenyan and US team members, we were able to see 460 patients over the course of six days while prescribing over 400 pairs of glasses. We were also able to connect with MANY people in the community and build relationships that will increase our effectiveness for our next trip. Our time with our friends\family in Oyugis provided them with much needed encouragement and refreshment.
In addition to the eye glass clinic we assisted with rebuilding the back half of the Omondi’s rustic cafe, Dendo Cafe, with the goal of providing a stable and self sustaining income.

First clinic day; teamates Wayne and Eugenia with a bother of one of our other Kenyan teamates. This 10yo could not see the school blackboards. He was smiling so big because he could now see 20/20. Eugenea sight was 20/100, but now is 20/20.

Her screening exam revealed that she could not see beyond 8 feet; her vision was limited to a smear of colors. This pair of donated glasses from a young girl in Washington State allowed her to see 20/30.

This elderly gentlemen was blind in one eye and was listed as CS(can’t see) in the other...the joy on his face made me cry. All he wanted was to be able to see his grandchildren and read his Bible....20/40 vision with his good eye was an unexpected and immeasurable blessing. Yes, those are donated, 1970’s glasses.


There is so much more I could report on, but I will keep this fairly brief.

Shaving...I managed only one shave with my DE. The water where we were staying was a bit suspect, lighting was not one 40 watt bulb for the room and I was too exhausted at the end of each day to want to take the time. The days started at 5am and ended at 9pm; shaving in the morning was a luxury I could not spare. Fortunately, I had the wherewithal to bring an old Braun electric which served to knock down the stubble to a socially acceptable level...there was a reason I stopped shaving with that thing. I did manage to enjoy a long hot shower (the only one) and a relaxing DE shave in Nairobi the night before our flight home. After sixteen days of cold water showers and electric shaves, this felt like 30 minutes at a luxury barber shop.

Post War Fat Handle Tech, Nacet blade, La Toja stick and the amazing CigarSmoka brush.

Looking out the bathroom window of the house we stayed at our last night in Nairobi, Kenya. It is faint, but you might be able to see the banana tree with bananas in the background.

 

[Hoka Hey]

Awesome!

 

[GearNoir]

Wonderful humanitarian work! The smiles on everyone’s faces are priceless!

 

[ackvil]

Thanks for posting the photos. Love all those smiles.

Glad to see you took that mission trip. Our church helps support an orphanage in Humura Kenya. The stories we hear are so heart warming..

 

[DCRIII]

Welcome back Kevin!
It's awesome that you helped all of those people!

 

[StuMcB]

Wonderful humanitarian work! The smiles on everyone’s faces are priceless!

Simply heart warming.

 

[Tokyospike]

Thank you so much for your work in Africa, and for sharing these great pics.

 

[ccpastork]

Thank you fellas, this was definitely a team effort. 11 US team members, 15 Kenyan team members and a couple hundred financial and prayer team members.
I am very grateful to be one of those who is sent each year.