Learning how to "Do School"

Monday John Kariuki and I were able to spend some quality time with members of the Made In The Streets staff.  At this orphanage for street kids in their teens, they conduct skills training in many of the areas that we will at the Training Center.  We learned a lot, especially about getting Kenyan Government certificates for our students after finishing their courses (it just takes a test), student schedules, living arrangements for older kids, and other life skills that they teach.  It was a great time, and very helpful.

Tuesday, our goal was only to drive to Kericho so we would be close to the Training Center for wednesday.  John Kariuki asked us to stop off at the Kikitemo IDP camp, where they have been working with the government on a plan to give them a large plot of land for them to settle in.  We saw the proposed site, only an mile or so away from the camp, and discussed the future.  Some amazing things are happening here, I will be making an announcement soon about our new role with that amazing church/community.  Mbuvi drove us skillfully to Kericho, (I'm saving my strength;) an we arrived without incident Tuesday night.

Today we finally made it to the Training Center.  Here, Thomas Alwala has been working diligently to make sure the center is properly constructed and ready on time.  A friend of mine in the construction industry told me one time that when building, you can have it cheap, well made, or fast, but you can only pick two.  In Kenya you can still pick two, but you don't know which two you have picked until you reach the end.  So apparently we are getting it well made and cheap.  This means that while it looks really good and will be an amazing place for our students, it will not be ready on time.  So we spent the day categorizing the progress, reassessing priorities, and adjusting schedules.  It's going to work out fine, and I'm sure God has a great plan for this place.  Our definition of 'late' doesn't always line up with His.

We had planned to stay the night here, but they were not ready for us, (no septic system, no toilets, no running water) so we returned to the Tea Hotel.  I drove.  It was good.  I promise.  I'll take pictures tomorrow and post them for you to see.  Thanks for reading.

First Days

This is my ninth trip to Kenya, and in many ways it's a whole new kind of trip for me. It's a long trip, but I've done that before. It's a solo trip, I've done that too, but never for this long. What makes it different this time is not the circumstances of the trip, but my circumstances. As I have taken on the role of executive director of KWO and put some of my church responsibilities behind me, I have come to realize that there is still so much I do not know about the work I am involved in.
All of my previous trips have followed the model set by John DeFore on his twenty-something trips. It's a model that works well for visiting, but I needed a new model, one that allows me to get to know my workers better, and understand more fully how our orphans and widows really live. So on this trip I will stay longer at orphanages, often overnight. I will stay fewer nights at hotels and I will drive myself as much as possible. I plan to always have a Kenyan with me, for translation and to act as a guide, but this trip will be more about Tim learning what it means to be Kenyan.
There are some practical goals as well, the Vocational Training Institute is almost ready to open and I will need to put on my manager's hat to finish that project. I know that Thomas will have done a great job with construction, but it's hard to know really how much is done until you are there. There are also two new orphanages that need to be seen, and God celebrated for the healing of His world that will happen there. We will have a workers meeting and cover countless details about orphanage operations, so it will be a busy trip for sure.
The flights over this time have been easy, no delays or problems. Its hard to be confined for 17 hours, but in a way its good. It creates a place in time to punctuate just how far from home you are. A container that separates my American life from my Kenyan life. I always feel the anticipation build especially on this last flight; a whole new world awaits on the other side of that aircraft door.
I'll blog as often as I can, but it probably wont be daily. Time and cell phone network coverage will be the limiting factor.

Sunday Afternoon
Yesterday was a lazy day, as I had planned.  My only goal was to get some driving time in with Mbuvi, so I can feel comfortable behind the wheel in Kenya.  He guided me into Nairobi to the Village Market.  I didn't realize we were going there when we left so I forgot to get money from Maureen.  We both had a little, though so we bought some essentials for Maureen and I drove us back to Kamulu.  I think I did great driving, but Mbuvi said I take the bumps too fast.  We had no annoying passengers to complain on this trip, so maybe he's right.  I have to get used to slowing down for potholes.  I tried to explain to him that Americans aren't afraid of holes, but he wasn't buying it.

Shortly after we got home, the power went out for the rest of the day.  We laid around talking, had dinner and went to bed early.

This morning we worshiped at their new church building they call the "octogon".  It's a cool place; sings really well.  I always enjoy their worship, not because it connects with me necessarily, but because it really connects with the Kenyans.  They worship with all their hearts as those who had been redeemed should.  Not very many back-row card-punchers in Kenyan churches.

Tomorrow we will meet with John Kariuki, the new principal at the training institute and the skills teachers here at Made in the Streets.  They have been teaching some of the subjects that we will for quite a while, so I'm eager to get to see their operation in more detail and ask questions.  Be Blessed!

19 Feb 2012

Final Thoughts

I write this from the refreshingly modern Terminal 5 at London's Heathrow Airport. No matter how much I come to love Africa, it still feels good to return to air-conditioning, clean toilets, and drinkable tap water.

Wednesday night's planned outing to Safari Park Hotel for their dinner show never happened. My mom was not feeling well. She has traveled a long way, and endured a lot for a 70 year old. She's done remarkable well, but Wednesday it caught up to her. Just minor gastrointestinal discomfort, but that is real your ugly when you are far from home. I was a little grateful, to be honest, as I was pretty tired too. Mom is feeling much better today.

We did some more shopping at the triangle market on Wednesday afternoon and Village market on Thursday and the we had dinner at the Cafe Bressiere ArtCafe at the Village. It was really good, future Nairobi visitors should put it on the list.

Overall, it was a good trip. We discovered a few new treasures to explore, saw some beautiful countryside and above all, got to witness what God is doing here close at hand.

I am continually impressed by the way God solves problems. The typical way for American Christians to care for orphans in Africa is to fundraise, go over, buy some land, build some buildings, fundraise, try to find a trustworthy African to oversee it all, fundraise some more, and eventually get it open. Then they might be able to care for 100 kids in a modern African environment that their graduates will never see again in their lives.

God's way is to move one man to faithfully oversee a bible correspondence course ministry and do his very best to allow it to prosper. God uses that small gift of service to draw the lost of Kenya to him, save thousands, and plant dozens of churches, that in turn do what churches have always done, help the poor. So instead of a hundred children helped, it's thousands and counting. Plus all the new Christians that will continue to spread the gospel and change their corner of the world as they have seen us do.

The Kingdom of God is truly upside down, and until we get on our knees and see it the way God does, we will never fully understand how much power we have at our disposal to save the lost and change the world.

Don't forget, Kick for Kenya is November 5 and Kenya Sunday is November 6 at GCR. We will have a ton of new things to talk about and celebrate the way God really works. Be blessed.

IDP Camp and some Drama

Today is our last full day in Kenya, we leave for home tomorrow night.  On our way from Nakuru to Nairobi today we stopped at the Kikitemo IDP camp. These are people that were forced from their homes, some losing fathers and mothers, during the post-election violence in early 2008.  They settled herein 2010 when our WBS worker, John Kariuki found them.  He has organized them into a community of believers with the help of Grace, a widows who is their leader.. We have been helping them with food for the orphans and widows and visiting them since last year.

We arrived earlier than expected, so we ran into two men from the Equity Bank who are teachers in personal finance.  They have been working with the IDPs in the area, teaching them how to save and start small businesses, get micro finance loans, etc.  They were nice guys who came in very handy for us as the morning went on.  We toured the camp, seeing the cow and goat projects, and visiting the widows.  The kids were all at school.  This is the first time we have found them with no kids, since in \the past they could not afford to go to school.

We went to their "office" tent to look at the bags and jewlery they had been making. Grace presented a gift to my mom, a poem written by Grace and some pictures, printed on paper and framed.  I'll read it at church, I suspect soon so I'll not print it here.  My mom was very moved.  It was an unexpected blessing. Then all the ladies came in to show us how they weave the baskets. We got lots of pictures and video.  That's when the trouble started.

There was some yelling and shouting just outside the tent.  At first I was startled, Kenyans are usually quite calm, but there was definite anger in those voices.  I peeked through the closed flap and saw a man and some women, shouting angrily and holding a sign denouncing WBS.  John and Grace urged us to stay inside, and Maureen, Angton, and Grace went out to confront the hecklers.  It turns out that there were eight people who live in the camp, but did not want to work in any of the profit making projects organized by Grace and John.  They were not allowed to share on the profits, (although we are still feeding their kids,) and were upset about it.  They made quite a racket, but were eventually able to be reasoned with and they went away, sulking.

While Maureen was dealing with them, we carried on with Grace and the widows.  We went to their church and sang and prayed.  The bank guys were pressed into service as translators, they were very calm throughout the disruption.  Susie spoke with them later and they said that they work with a lot of the IDP camp residents, but this camp is different.  They are the hardest working he said, and do not have to be showed how to make money.  I would agree.  These are the folks who made all of the jewelry and baskets that we have been selling at Java House on Wednesday nights at GCR.

As usual, we were very impressed with all that we saw at IDP.  The widows there told us that when Satan attacks, you know you are on the right road.  They were not bothered by the disruption, but they were a little embarrassed that it had happened with is there.  We were never in any danger, but id did provide all the drama we needed for today.

After we left we drove into Nairobi and met Francis at Java House.  We said goodbye to Angton and had a snack before heading over to the triagle market to let Susie run wild with gift shopping.  On Susie’s first trip, she had asked Frnacis to show her how to negotiate with the merchants, and he did.  Since then, even Francis agrees that the student has become the master as Susie leaves all the merchants shaking their heads that a mzungu could be such a hard bargainer.  With the dollar to shilling exchange rate so high she scored some serious deals, often getting two for one on top of deep discounts.  Yet another reason I love my wife.

We ate dinner and came back here to Kamulu, where the power is now off.  It happens out here quite often.  Tomorrow we have a lazy departure day, since our flights are at 11:50pm.  We have nothing particular planned, but if the past few days are any guide, there will be some adventure to write about!

Pics below:

12 Oct

Chesyliot and Londiani

Last night was our last at the Tea Hotel for this trip.  We had a great stay there this time, with the exception of some questionable internet access.  We rely on the cellular network here for internet, which is usually very good.  We almost always have good cell signal, but the internet connection behind it is sometimes slow to the point of unusable.  When we change cities, it changes.  Kisii was very bad this trip, Eldoret was excellent.  It’s important for Susie and I not only for the blog and pictures, but so Susie can work from here.  Her employer is very patient with her Kenya travel as long as she can work from the road.  But I digress in to my inner geek-ness.

We made the long, painful drive out of Kericho, again enduring the hour long “diversion” on the highway east of Kericho.  Almost every road we have been on is under some kind of construction, and this is a major overhaul.  It’s well overdue, but their technique for detours leaves a lot to be desired. 

We stopped first at Chesyliot Feeding Station, under the care of Richard Koech.  This is a well-run site, with very friendly people and a caring church.  Many of the kids were taking mid-term exams today so they were missing, but it was good to see the widows and little ones.  We walked down to the rented shamba (farm) about 200meters away and saw the good crop of maize that will be ready for harvesting soon.  Richard says they will probably get about 25 sacks of maize from this harvest.  Their site also has two cows, and several goats.  The ladies of the church there presented Charlene and Susie with gifts, and we headed down the (under construction) road to Londiani.

I first saw the Londiani site on the fall of 2008, my very first trip to Kenya.  John was scouting the site for an orphanage and I was trying to wrap my head around everything I was seeing.  I took a picture here on that trip of the kids all standing on the ridgeline that has become very special to many of us involved with the work.  You can see the outlines of it on the KWO website at www.kwoministries.org

The place looked really good, as always.  We met the local church members and also a couple of workers from a nearby flower farm.  Flowers are a major export for Kenya and this area has several farms.  The workers at Finley Farms are part of the fair-trade alliance and so they get a higher wage in the form of premiums paid monthly.  A portion of the premiums are set aside for local community improvement projects and they adopted our orphanage here as their project this year.  They have been bringing them 20 liters of milk a month and last month they surprised them with clothes, shoes, matrasses and blankets.  They are really nice people.

We toured the site, seeing where the orphans and widows live and work.  There were some nice improvements and the place was pretty clean.  They fed us a vast spread for lunch in David’s house, which is right on the site.  I addressed their church and we took a few snaps.  All in all, a very normal visit.  We took some great pics here, both of the kids and the terrain.  Londiani is easily the most picturesque of all of our sites.  Here is a panorama of what you see standing on the ridgeline about 20 meters from the orphanage.

On the way out, we stopped and saw the rented farm that David has, and then returned to the long road to Nakuru and the Kunste Hotel.  This hotel is kind of nice, but the rooms are very small.  We can do anything for one night, though.  Tomorrow we are off to the IDP camp and pour last full day in Kenya.  Pics below:

11 Oct

Kericho Feeding Station

I planned today to be able to spend a lot of time at Kericho Feeding Station.  They people here have always been kind to us and with my mother here, I thought we would want theextra time.  Boy, was I right.  Usually we are at a location only a short time.  The Kenyans frequently complain that we should come when we can stay longer, like a couple of days.  That's not likely, but several hours here was time well spent.

 

Francis Chepkwony is in charge of the feeding station here and he runs a tight ship.  Everything here was well organized, from the water system to the improved ventilation in the kitchen.  They even had constructed a drying rack for dishes, with it's own drain channel.  The cows, goats, and chickens were doing fine and all the kids looked great. 

 

But it was the sho-shos (grandmothers of the orphans) that were the stars of today.  They all came, about a dozen of them, and sang songs and performed a skit critical of families who abuseorphans.  They really took to my mom who truned out to be the oldest of them all.  They put an award on her and wrapped her in kikois and they all danced around like kids.  They tried to teach her that whoopwhoopwhoop thing they do, but I'm not sure she got it just right.  They were really great to her and it was fun to watch.

 

After we spoke to the kids and had lunch and all of those fun things we do at these visits, one of the church members said that he had a beautiful cave on his land that he would like us to see.  He said it was "not far" (Kenyan for about 20km) and that many people came to visit it.  After we left the feeding site we took him and Francis in the LandCruiser and set off in search of the cave.  When we finally arrived, the cave was marked by a beautiful waterfall.  (This seems to be the trip for waterfalls.)  It was high up on a tall hill, so shosho Charlene stayed with Angton, and the rest of us started up the hill.

 

It was quite a climb, and when we got there, about a dozen kids from the feeding site were already there waiting for us.  Seems it was a lot shorter walk than the 45 minute drive.  We crawled into the cave, duck-walking the first few yards until the ceiling opened up.  The cave must have reached several hundred meters back into the mountain.  It was hard to tell because our flashlights couldn't really reach the walls on the far side.  They guided us to a couple of pools of standing water that were interesting, but hard to call beautiful because of the light.  I took some long exposure pictures at one that really came out well and showed the true colors in the rock and water.

 

At the second pool, Morgan discovered the bats.  They started to move as we got closer to the second pool.  There were hundreds of them, really small and very fast.  One brushed Morgan's face and later Angton told us he heard the scream from all the way down the mountain!  That was when we realized we were not walking on mud so much as bat quano.  Oh, well.  Who knew our trip to a feeding station would end up this way?

 

It just points out to me the value of having enough time to really enjoy a place.  We usually rush from site to site, meeting people and praying that we miss some of the amazing beauty of this country.  From now on I'm going to try to slow down more and enjoy the real Kenya.  Tomorrow, Londiani.

 

Pics below: (The network here at Kericho has been very poor, so we are having trouble getting pictures up.  Please keep checking; maybe it will be better at Nakuru tomorrow night.)

Muhoroni

On the way to Muhoroni Orphanage today, we were reminded of how dangerous it can be to move around in Africa, especially at night.  We came across a bad accident, it looked like two semi’s collided, that spread flour and salt packages all over the highway.  The road was under construction and it was very bad at that spot.  Picture in the album below. This is why we try never to drive at night.

Once we got there however, it was a great day.  We arrived in time for a short tour before church started.  I introduced Thomas Alwala to my mother and reintroduced him to Morgan.    The place is really looking good.  We were wrapping up our tour when a car pulled into the orphanage and out popped Alfayo Bodi, from Ndhiwa orphanage.  He brought with him his wife and two friends from Homa Bay.  He had driven a long way just to meet my mother, Charlene.

Then it was time for church, my mom’s first experience in a Kenyan church.  She loved it, as did I.  They worship with such passion and feeling.  When they thank God for their daily bread they are not just mouthing words, they mean it.  They pray with the assurance of those who actually have been saved from death by the Father’s hand.  Everyone should get to witness this kind of worship. During the service, many small kids drifted up to sit on the laps of the three Neale women, it was very cool to watch.

Another piece of good news accompanied Alfayo’s arrival; he was preaching, not me.  He did a great job, with John from Homa Bay translating.  He preached on stewardship and used my mother as an object lesson for part of his lesson.  He said that we must be good stewards of all that God has entrusted to us, including our kids.  He said he was so glad to get to meet her, because she had obviously been faithful to God in raising me.  My head was swelling, but I was so happy for her to be honored in that way.  Kenyans really respect their elders in a way we do not.

After church as we were walking back into the orphanage, one of the older orphan girls came up to my mom and walked with her.  Her name is Mildred Acheing.  My mom told me about their conversation later.  Mildred said, “I wish I were you.” 

My mom replied, “Oh, no you don’t.  Your life is just beginning and mine is nearly over.  You have so much to live for!”  She turned and looked at her and said, “You are a beautiful girl and you will be a strong woman!  Put your shoulders back and walk tall.  You are a strong woman!”  It’s conversations like that that can change lives.

After lunch, Susie and Maureen presented Pam’s aprons to the two feeding station widows, who were deeply moved.  My mom had brought some assorted sewing supplies that she gave to all the widows.  They were especially happy with the zippers, which are very expensive here.

As rain clouds threatened, we hurried to depart.  Hugs and pictures and handshakes all around, and we were back at the Tea Hotel in no time.  Tomorrow we will see Kericho Feeding Station, another of my favorite places.  Pics below…

9 Oct v2