October 22, 2014 - Kericho

All of our locations are named according to the towns they are nearest, or for donors who sponsored them.  Today we were at Kericho Feeding Station, which is near Kericho town in Kericho County.  But really, this place is more properly called Maso, that’s the local area where the feeding station actually is located.  It’s a beautiful area, deep in the heart of tea country.  There are beautiful rolling hills, always green because of the tea and the plentiful rainfall, and beautiful people.  This morning we arrived at the feeding station around 10AM, earlier than they expected us.  It gave us plenty of time to look around and spend time with the children. 

A couple of years ago, we helped the church here buy some land with tea planted on it already.  We bought 1.6 acres about 500 meters down the road from the actual feeding station.  We decided to walk down and see the land this morning, before the rains came.  On the way, we passed near Maso Primary School.  Some of the feeding station kids go to this school, so they were alerted to our presence.  As we passed by, hundreds of kids swarmed out of the school, heedless of their teachers’ cries.  We called out to them to return to the school, and promised to visit on our way back from the tea field.  So we did.

We typically don’t drop into schools, especially government schools, but Francis Chepkwony, our local director, assured us it would be fine.  He went in ahead of us to get permission from the head teacher, and they welcomed us in.  We just stayed for a few minutes to greet the children, many of whom had never seen mzungu (white people) before.  I’m told this is a typical public primary school, both in construction and size.  We were really struck with the primitive nature of the place.  There were about 15 classrooms, no dining hall or kitchen facilities, limited latrines, no computers or play equipment, and lots and lots of kids.  Francis said there were about 1,000 and after they all gathered I believe his estimate.  There were only 12 teachers.

When we are in the rural areas of Kenya, we really stand out.  There are very few white people here, (read: none).  We are used to children calling our, “Mzungu! How are you!” from the road, but this was another level entirely.  We now know what it feels like to be a rock star. They were all shouting and clamoring to get close to us, though none ever touched us.  They were surprised and amazed by the flash on our camera.  They followed our every move, even after our greetings and short prayer as we left the place to walk back to the feeding station.  It was a surreal experience.  They were attracted to us, simply because we were white.

Afterwards we had some lunch and enjoyed the songs and greetings from the kids and the church members.  This place has always been very friendly, even by Kenyan standards.  As we were ready to leave, everyone lined up to get their Susie hugs, which turned into a general hug-festival.  For those of you who have experienced this kind of hospitality, you know how moving it is.  To see people, living in incredible poverty, some on the edge of starvation, exhibit such unbelievable joy at our mere presence was absolutely incredible.  I never tire of this.  It recharges my spirit in a way that nothing else can.   It’s the greatest and really only gift these people can give to us, and it’s absolutely priceless.

After we left, we drove back through Kericho town, were we met up with the Mbuvis, along with Stephen and Wilson Kiptoo.  They were fresh from Nairobi, where they were supposed to have their visa appointment at the U.S. embassy.  There was some administrative mix-up, so they had to be rescheduled, but we should have time to get it all done before our trip home.  If all goes well, we will be bringing four Kenyans back to America with us on November 4.

Tonight we are back at the VTC, to get ready for the annual meeting of our KWO directors on Friday.  Be blessed.

October 21 - Londiani and Chesyliot

It takes about 1.5 hours to get to Londiani from Nakuru.  On my first trip here in 2008, it took three hours.  The roads here have improved so much, its hard to believe.  When we arrived at Londiani Orphanage we were greeted by all the kids, who were home for the Heroes Day Holiday.  After a bit, David Koech, our director here, told me he had in-laws in town and needed to make a quick visit a few minutes away.  Stephen volunteered to go with him, so Susie and I thought we were left with the orphanage kids.  After a few minutes we realized that most of them walked over too, so we were kind of alone.  That was a bit weird.  But we made the most of it, walking around the area, seeing the nearby river, and enjoying the amazing view.  We even ran into Andrew, the man who donated the land for the orphanage. He lives in Nairobi now, but was home for a few days.

Soon, everyone returned and Susie and I spen more than an hour and a half answering their questions about America, and our lives.  We both really enjoy this time, it gives so many “teachable moments” when you can sense the meaning behind their questions.  As we walked out of the dining hall, we saw that a massive fog had rolled in over the Great Rift Valley. Londaini is situated on a ridge with a million-dollar view, and last night it was worth a billion. After dinner we had evening devotional; awesome as usual.

This morning after some quality time with David, we made the very short driveo over to Chesyliot Feeding Station.  This place is run by Richard Koeach, David’s brother.  The people here are always so welcoming.  The widows gave Susie an amazing purse as a gift.  There were many kids I recognized, especially a little girl called Joylene.  She is about 6 and reminds me so much of my daughter, Morgan. (If Morgan was African!)  She’s not afraid of anything and smiles and laughs at the drop of a hat.  She reminds me that behind all of the statistics of how many orphans we are assisting, there are real kids with unique personalities and amazing potential. 

After lunch we departed for Kericho, where we made a supply run and settled into toe Tea Hotel for the night.

Tomorrow, Kericho Feeding Station.  Be Blessed!

Kikitemo

We got a pretty early start leaving from Narok this morning, but it was still after 11 when we made it to Kikitemo Feeding Station for church.  John Kariuki met us there, along with about a dozen students from the VTC.  Many of them came to be baptized, along with some of the kids from the feeding station.  We did that first, which I appreciate since it removes any possibility of my preaching getting the credit!  The baptistery here is really nice, which is good since there were 18 who were ready to give their lives to Christ!  Talk about a good start !

Afterwards we had a regular Kenyan church service (2.5 hours) with plenty of singing, testimonies, and some fairly average preaching by me.  I preached on forgiveness, which is hard to do when your audience is made up of people who have had some pretty horrific experiences in their life.  No matter what I said, or how much I believe what I was saying, I found it hard to get over the fact that I have never been in a position to forgive near as much as these people.

Most of them are IDP’s (Internally Displaced Persons) from the 2007 post-election violence. Some watched their husbands and children hacked or burned to death before their eyes. Many lost parents and property to the hands of some very evil people.  Their lives today are a great testimony to the power of God, expressed through his church, to bring hope and healing to some very bad situations.  When I am around them, I feel so humbled.

After church we shared a meal in Grace’s home, and then toured the place.  The site looked good, even though there has been a terrible drought in this area.  It has only rained once this season, and all the crops they planted in the neighboring fields were lost months ago.  If not for our continuing support, many would have been lost to starvation.  Thank you KWO donors, your faithfulness will be rewarded.

This site needs only two dorms and a $1,000 month commitment to be converted into a full orphanage.

By 3 pm, it was time to go.  We are staying at the Kunste in Nakuru , and we enjoyed a nice meal at the Java House tonight.  Tomorrow, Londiani!

Homa Bay

We slept well at Tobias’ house in Ongoro, and by 7, the drillers were back at work, preforming another flush and then setting up for the flow test.  To measure the depth of the water, they use an electronic water depth gauge, basically a water sensor on a very long cable.  Unfortunately the one they had was faulty.  They had a spare, but it was also acting up, so I got out my tools and got to work.  I found a broken wire on the lead, and repaired that, and after a bit more tinkering I got it to work.  The spare was taken into town and another fundi was able to repair that one as well, so they were not delayed too badly.  They finally got water flowing around 12:30, so finally we were able to take some pictures and leave.

The drive to Homa Bay took about 1.5 hours.  This is Stephen’s home church, and was the first church started by Alfayo Bodi back in the day.  They have a new feeding station here with a new dining hall / church building that we helped with.  They are feeding 45 kids here.  They sang for us and thanked us a lot.  One girl got up to give her testimony, but when she started talking about her parents she fell apart.  It was tough to watch.  Although all of the orphans we see have lost parents, usually they are quite stoic, even happy.  Her pain affected us all.

We ate a quick lunch at a church member’s house, before heading out for Kisii.  We stopped to see another soapstone seller called Amos, and bought a few items that we will have at Kick for Kenya.

Tomorrow, Chebaraa.

Ongoro

We traveled safely from Kisii to our orphanage at Ongoro.  In the local area, “Ongoro” means “dry place.  Indeed the place is far from surface water and wells are very scarce.  The soil is very sandy and the water table is deep, so we have struggled to dig wells here in the past.  But not today.  Healing Hands International, in cooperation with Christian Relief Fund have partnered with us to drill a deep well here to serve the orphanage and the community.  They arrived Tuesday and began drilling.  When we arrived, they had reached the water table and were installing casing for the new, 110 meter deep well.

Soon we were joined by Ebenezer and Tom Opondo from Healing Hands, who had come to check on the progress of the new well.  We had a nice visit with them and discussed ways we that may be able to partner with them in the future.  They are a great organization, which has helped us with a well at Londiani and has conducted agriculture training at several of our sites, as well as distributed food aid to some of our more remote locations.

At Ongoro, we also got to see the progress of our expansion project.  We will be adding an additional 64 orphans and widows here soon, and Tobias is hard at work building a new dining hall to replace the smaller hall that will be converted into a dorm.  He is also building two new latrines and doing some kitchen upgrades.  It wont be long before this place is bursting with 154 souls, making it our largest Orphanage.

We got to spend some good time with the kids, as well.  We kicked the soccer ball around and played, while most of the kids were transfixed by the well drilling operation.  Things really got exciting when the drillers began purging the well, causing a vast stream of water to shoot into the sky!  It was a momentous day.

As darkness fell, Susie went to the hall to answer questions from the kids, while I took care of the pictures and blogging.  Soon we will have dinner and the evening devotional.  We will be staying here tonight and hope to see the flow test from the new well tomorrow morning before we leave.

Be blessed.

Uriri

We had an easy journey over to our orphanage at Uriri.  There we met Kennedy Chandi, the director for this area, and Joseph, the manager at Uriri.  Everything looked very good here, and we enjoyed spending a few hours with them.  We enjoyed a great lunch a Kennedy’s house and then toured the place.

Uriri us in sugar cane country, and they have a small scale cane-crushing operation here that really helps with supplementing the income for this place.  Recently, their business has suffered because the lorry (big truck) that they had suffered a blown engine.  Rather that replace the engine in a very old (1970’s) vehicle, we were able to replace it with a newer one, thanks to a generous donation from one of our donors.  The lorry should be delivered soon.

We discussed the new medical program with Kennedy and evaluated the current clinic and nurse.  The old clinic is very small and not really suitable for our upgrades, so we will be building a new one here very soon.

Too soon, it was time to depart for Kisii and the Dados hotel.  We had time for a nice rest before dinner.  At dinner, Susie and I ordered chicken and chips (fries).  Our food came quickly, because we have learned that the secret to ordering here is first to ask what they have.  Angton, Stephen, and Jackie didn’t do that, however.  They ordered goat, and the waiter dutifully turned in the order.  The restaurant didn’t have goat, but they didn’t tell our diners.  Instead, they sent to the market for some goat to cook.  Our people waited three hours and dinner never came, so they just gave up. Welcome to Kenya!

Tomorrow, Ongoro.

October 14, 2014 - Ndhiwa

This morning Susie, Angton, Stephen, Jacklyn and I packed up and left the VTC. The Coulstons followed us in their vehicle.  We were bound for Ndhiwa but had a couple of stops to make along the way. 

 

First was Nakumat, to renew our supplies of water and other supplies.  Then we visited our old friend Daniel who owns Kisac Fair Trade, our soapstone sculpture connection.  We ordered the medals and trophies that we will give out at Kick for Kenya next month and shopped for unique items to sell to the crowds on that day.  As always, Daniel displayed his great hospitality and we took tea and bread with him, while he told us of the new work he is doing.  Daniel is a ward representative to the county government.  He is the first politician that I have ever liked.  He seems to be doing a very good work, trying to empower women, encourage the area youth, and inspire his constituents to acts of kindness.  I’m glad that Charles and Darlene got to meet him.

 

Then we parted company with the Coulstons.  They were planning on visiting a former street kid that went through their program at Made In The Streets who is now serving deaf orphans by teaching woodworking skills at an orphanage called Sam’s Place.  The rest of us were headed for Ndhiwa and our old friend Alfayo Bodi.

 

We arrived in time for lunch and then toured the place, paying close attention to the clinic there and the other needs that they have.  Then the rains came.  We took shelter in the dining hall for a while and then in Alfayo’s home.  At 7 o’clock, we went down for the evening devotional with the orphans of Ndhiwa.  They inspired us with their love and joy, and I like to think we inspired them a bit too with our words of encouragement.  When we were done, Susie demanded a hug from each of them before they could leave the hall, and I joined her. It was a beautiful moment, especially poignant for me because of my history with that very spot.

 

Six years ago, I stood in that same door way and took a photograph of a tiny girl in a taffeta dress.  Her name was Lavenda, although I didn’t know it at the time.  Her mother, a widow, was serving as a cook in this orphanage.  Both Lavenda and her mother were HIV+.  Lavenda was probably about six years old then, but she was painfully small and frail.  As I took the photo, she looked up at me with beautiful eyes and a vulnerable expression. My heart melted.

 

I was her exact opposite.  I was a son of a privileged nation, grown into a spoiled man. On that day, I was questioning many of the things I thought I knew; surrounded by a sea of poverty that I was seeing for the first time.  My worldview was crumbling around me as I witnessed both the worst and the best that this world has to offer.  Hundreds of orphaned children had passed before my eyes and camera lens in the preceding days.  I saw their terrible circumstances but I saw their incredible happiness too.  My expression was probably not vulnerable like Lavenda’s; masks are so hard to take off. 

 

I will never know what she was thinking in that moment.  We were separated then by language and culture.  Now we are separated by that thin veil that divides this world of sin and death from the new, redeemed world that God is building.  Lavenda died in 2011 of a cancer that her weakened body was powerless to stop.  She beat me to eternity, but her short life was full of God’s purpose.  She has become, for me, a symbol of hope and redemption.  Her life, and then her death inspired me to take a different path, and I can’t wait for the day I can hug her at last and thank her for all she has done for me.

 

But today I did the next, best thing.  I stood in the same doorway where she once stood, and, inspired by my faithful wife, hugged all of her brothers and sisters - all 140 of them.  We hugged with the warmth of Christian fellowship, with the Love of the father binding us together.  It was a moment of sublime joy; my heart was full to bursting.  It was a great day.

 

Tomorrow, Uriri.