Last Day

So here we sit in the Nairobi airport, sweating, drinking iced tea (with ICE) at the Java house. Our trip to the airport was somewhat eventful, as the old van took one more swipe at us. We were in sight of the airport when flat tire number 5 got us. Fortunately, armed with our new jack and the fastest tire changing mzungus (white people) in Nairobi we were ready to go within five minutes. But the old van was still resting and wouldn't restart. We pushed it off in no time and were on our way.

The last few days have made us a bit restless. There was little to do and we were ready to be home. We remained civil mostly, but everyone has limits. Overall it was a great trip. We got to see every orphanage and every feeding station except one. We found no significant problems, and we leave Kenya with a profound sense of satisfaction. God is doing a great work here, and we are privileged to be able to participate.

We'll be back in Midland around 6pm Sunday.

Nairobi Pt 2

Okay, now I'm ready to be home. The hardest part of any of my trips to Kenya has been the last day. You always build in some free time on your itinerary in case of car trouble, sickness, or the like. We've had a relatively trouble free trip, so we are left with these days of idleness here at the end.

There's a sense of letdown; shopping in the upper class sections of Nairobi is not as satisfying as holding orphan children. We're also very tired. What surprises me this trip is what I am missing. My wife and kids, of course, and hearing English more often than not. Iced tea is hard to find here, I miss that.

But to me, Kenya doesn't feel as foreign to me. I recognize streets and places I've been before. I feel like I could navigate some places, and some people have called me by name. I won't say it's home, but not another planet either.

I've bought all the souvenirs that I need, and if my flight was tonight I'd be ready. Tomorrow is our very last day. Our flights are around 11pm but we'll have to be there by 5 so Frances can get home before dark.

More later...

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Nairobi Part 1

Today we were tourists. You might say we've been tourists all along in the broadest sense, but we've hardly been to tourist-y destinations until today. We lounged around Kamulu this morning, not even leaving for the city until after 9am. After two quick stops to fix a(nother) flat tire, and get fuel we made our way to a couple of shopping areas and then to Java House.

Java House is a little bit of America in a strange place. Imagine a Starbucks, with a slimmer offering of coffee, but excellent service. Add in an American diner kind of food menu with burgers, chicken strips, and fries and that's Java House. You can get iced tea, with ICE, (at least until the ice machine broke). You'd be surprised how much you miss drinks with ice in them. That was the highlight of our day.

We then went to our second favorite sanctuary, the Nakumat. This is like a Wal-Mart for the third world. They have stores almost everywhere (12 in Nairobi) and almost everything you can think of. We got some essentials and generally felt more like we were at home. Strange the things you find that give you comfort.

Tomorrow, more shopping.

Londiani

I"m writing this on a blackberry in the front seat of the van as we travel to Nairobi. Those of you who know me well no what a miracle that is!

Today we said goodbye to the Tea Hotel in Kericho and set out for Londiani. The road getting there is easily the worst in Kenya. Going 10 km takes almost an hour. Londiani has easily the most beautiful view in the world, at least as far as I have seen. Like all of Africa, the best of times, the worst of times.

The kids at this orphanage are happy and well cared for. We broke into our now familiar routines and set out to discover what we could about the lives of the people there. Their facility is brand new, actually not quite complete, though they do occupy all the buildings.

The biggest challenge here is water. A small stream supplies the entire area, and the orphanage is downstream of a small town. They have a small pump that we proviided to bring water to the compound, but it is too dirty to drink. So they have to go upstream and hand cary water for cooking and drinking.

We are working on a plan to improve water quality at every location and this one will be at the top of our priority list.

Cherie and Francis had a ball playing with the kids and John Cherry is pretty sure he can get Lisa to move here with him for the view alone. It is truly spectacular.

After we left, we decided to push on all the way to Nairobi tonight and try to catch a good dinner at the Safari Park Hotel. It will be good to get the Mbuvis home earlier; two small boys ina van with seven adults for twelve days on Kenyan roads is asking a lot.

I'll post pictures from Londiani as soon as I can, but that probably means tomorrow. Until then...

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Meeting Day

We spent today meeting with the six men we call "Orphanage Workers". This term is a little confusing so I'll explain. Remember that the orphanages grew out of a different work here in Kenya called World Bible School. The premise is this: People around the world can take a correspondence course to learn how to become a christian. The World Bible School organization partners with GCR and other churches to grade these tests, and carry on a student-teacher relationship with interested people around the world, via the mails.

GCR has been assigned Kenya as it's area of operation. Over 10 years ago, John DeFore, our GCR ministry head for WBS, decided that the course was great but that when a student sought baptism, it was difficult to get him in touch with the right people in Kenya. So he began hiring Kenyan preachers to become follow-up workers. These workers would meet with the student, answer any questions, baptism them and get the connected with a church in their area. If there was no church, they planted one. This has been wildly successful. There are now 22 WBS workers in Kenya. Every year over 1,000 students are baptized and dozens of new churches are started.

A few years ago, some of these new churches began to realize that the AIDS epidemic was leaving thousands of orphans to be cared for. Every family had some, and few could adequately care for them. They told their WBS workers, who told John, who told anyone who would listen, and money to care for orphans began to flow. The Holy Spirit is alive and well!

Now there are eight orphanages within the area of responsibility of six WBS workers. These are the men that John and I, and Cherie Creech, and John Cherry (all members of the board of directors for the GCR WBS Orphanage Ministry) met with today. Each of these men is a strong christian, a gifted teacher, and good administrators. There plates are very full. Our time was spent going over changes in structure related to all the growth that we have been having, as well as brainstorminig new ideas, and general encouragement. I'll skip the details; if you are interested, ask me or any of us when we get home.

I've posted pictures of these men on the picassa page, follow the link at the right.

After the meeting we made a leisurely drive to Kericho, once again to lay our heads at the Tea Hotel. Tomorrow we will see our last orphanage, Londiani, and begin the journey to Nairobi. Thanks for listening.

Ndhiwa

OK, we're all officially tired now. The equatorial sun, bad roads, and relentless schedule, have conspired to make me very tired. I can see signs of it in the others as well. So far, still no sickness, or injury, or frayed tempers yet (praise God,) but we're not home yet.

The children at Ndhiwa are not tired, however. They met us at their orphanage with a song and dance train that wound around us for many minutes. Finally they settled down and we each went to our tasks. John with the widows, and me with my cameras and checklists and sketch pad and water test kit. John Cherry followed me around and managed to help some with bringing the firewood to the kitchen. See the links to pictures on Picassa at the right.

Ndhiwa as another well-run place. We saw posted rules and instructions, schedules and menus all over the place. The Director there, a woman named Caroline, seemed quite sharp. They have a feeding station for 100 kids in addition to the 123 orphans in the home itself. They also have a posho mill, and a very impressive water system.

Alfyo, cheerfully showed us around his new water system, which consists of a 45ft hand dug well, and an electric submirsable water pump filling a 12ft elevated 8,000 ltr tank. This tank also keeps two lower tanks filled, giving them a 32,000ltr capacity, all piped together. There are water taps fed from pipes around the compound, and even showers and flush African toilets installed. No other orphanage is so well equipped.

After Ndhiwa, we saw another feeding stations, this one at Ototo. This is Alfyo's home town and we got to meet his father there. The new dining hall is well built and now houses their local church as well. They are in the process of digging a well there also. There was a man in the bottom of it, digging even as we arrived. This site also has a cane crusher, as much sugar cane is grown in the region.

This evening, all the WBS workers who have orphanages are meeting together with us here in Kisii. We'll talk about common issues, introduce some new controls for finances, and try to encourage them as much as possible. Tomorrow, I might not post a blog entry, since meetings are kind of dull, and not much to blog about, but we'll see. Tomorrow afternoon me move our base of operations back to Kericho for one night, inching closer to our last orphanage at Londiani. Then it's Nakuru for one night, on the way back to Nairobi.

Uriri, the "sweetest" of them all

Uriri was our destination today. Set in the rolling hills of sugar cane country, this orphanage is a neat place. Kenedy Chandi is the WBS worker here, and he has done a great job leveraging our dollars to help this orphanage thrive. The kids looked great here, and the facility was first rate.

We arrived in time for a quick inspection and for John to visit the widows before time for worship. All the kids start singing in the hall, about an hour before church actually starts. They are happy, motivated, and loud. Although they couldn't understand a word that was sung, Cherie happily sat ad listened to them until time for worship.

Worship here was similar to Kamulu last week except there was less singing during the service and more preaching. John was invited to give the sermon, and he did a great job. They were a little disappointed that he only went 10 minutes, they are used to 45 or so. So the man doing communion thoughts made up for it, and the Kenedy said another sermon in preparation for the contribution. I was trying to think to myself what would happen if someone stood up at GCR and preached for 30 minutes on giving before the contribution every week. I'm guessing someone would get an "elder call."

After lunch they showed us the "juggery" operation. This is the field refining of sugar cane into raw sugar for later processing. Cane is cut by machete, called a pongo here, and hauled to the site by ox drawn wagons. Then it is fed, a few stalks at a time, into a machine that crushes the stalk and squeezes out the liquid sugar sap. This is collected in buckets and taken to a huge cauldron that is heated by a fire of crushed cane, and boiled to reduce it's volume to a sticky syrup. This is poured into cone shaped, metal forms and cooled to a solid form. These cones are then bagged in 90kg lots and sold to a Saudi Arabian sugar company for further refining into white sugar and molasses.

It's a unique money maker for this orphanage, and they do well with it. It will never yield enough to make the orphanage self sufficient, but every little bit helps. It allows the some of the able bodied, and otherwise unemployed, church members to contribute to the orphans and everyone gains.

We stopped on the way "home" at the curio store where soapstone carvings are made. It's cool to watch them work, but our shopping was cut short by a sudden, fierce rain storm. We managed to make a pretty good dent in their inventory before we left, soaking, for the lovely Mash Park.

Tomorrow, we will head to Ndhiwa, the second-to-last orphanage on our complete tour of this ministry. Tuesday we will meet with all the orphanage workers here at Kisii, and then we will load up and head for Kericho, for another night at the Tea Hotel. We've managed to shave a couple of days off the schedule, so we will have a little time to be tourists in Nairobi, before we get on the plane next Saturday. Thanks for living this with us. Be sure and comment if you can and check out the pics on the Picassa link to the right.

Ongoro in a Fog

Last year when I made this trip, I recognized that after several days in a row visiting orphans, you can get a little numb. I confess that numbness set in today. However, if your going to be a little slow and foggy, Ongoro is an OK place to do it. This place just works.

Last year when we visited here, it was brand new, only open for two months, and we were amazed at how nice it was. It was clean and organized and the children were really happy. I honestly expected that this year it would look and feel older and less clean and organized. Boy was I surprised.

Tobias, who is the WBS follow-up worker in this area, runs a tight ship. They have added a tailoring room with 15 sewing machines for the older orphans and widows, greatly upgraded their water collection system, added a posho mill, and a really nice clinic with space for 6 beds. The original buildings still look great and everyone seems happy.

John spent most of his time with the widows again, making sure that they are satisfied caring for the kids. Cherie spent most of her time with the kids. John Cheery followed me on an inspection tour and then kind of wandered off on his own. I caught up with him later, just hanging out with the older boys. He has a way of putting them at ease and having a real conversation with them. Wish I could do that.

They have also added a feeding station nearby that serves 50 more orphans that they do not have room to house. When we went there, the kids were all waiting for us. It was 10:30am on Saturday and they were all there. I got some of the most amazing pictures there, check them out on Picassa, the link is on the right.

Speaking for all of us, I want to thank you for reading this blog and caring enough to keep up with what we are doing here. God's plan for his church was to do just exactly what we are doing, caring for the helpless, loving the hurting, and being the hands and feet of Christ in this world. May he bless you today.

Africa in the Right of Way

One of the things that's different about Kenya is the proximity of everything to the road. In America we are used to this concept of the right-of-way. It's that 30 feet or so beside the road where nothing can be placed. It's also all that empty space under power lines.

In Kenya the population density is very high, so all space, especially space near a road, is very valuable and is treated like a common. As a result, you can find all varieties of commerce being conducted in the right of way. In the Picassa Web Album to the right you'll find some examples. Note especially the Best Buy employee (on vacation?) and the funeral director's stand. It's just one of those things that makes Kenya unique.

Today we ventured from our palatial estates at the Mash Park Hotel in Kisii, to visit both the oldest and the newest orphanages, Dirubi and Mahana (also called Lee McGraw after Wanda's son who died as a child.) They are about 7 kilometers apart. These are two of the orphanages that our kids worked at this summer.

Dirubi is a big orphanage. It was the first to be established with 45 kids and part time caregivers in three small buildings near the mud walled church building. This is Tomas' home town and these are his people. In addition to the 120 kids and 11 widows, they also have two guards that watch over the place and a nurse.

Tomas is very good at coming up with ways to earn money to offset the orphanage costs. They have added a posho mill, a small community store, and a clinic. Their clinic is very successful. After we gave them some initial money to build the clinic room, they have been able to expand it twice with profits made from treating the community. They also provide low-cost health care to the widows and orphans.

The orphanage at Mahana, which we call Lee McGraw after Wanda and Jack McGraw's son who died as a child, is brand new. They are still doing finish work in some buildings, but it is operational. Tomas' has learned a lot in building Dirubi, and it shows. The kids here were happy but still a little disoriented, given they have only been there three months. We ate with them and gave the some soccer balls, which are always heartily appreciated.

At both places John continued his interviews with the widows. He really wants to be satisfied that there are enough of them to care for the kids, and that their quality of life is as rewarding as we can make it. I continued my facility inspections and water testing with John Cherry, and Cherie loved on as many kids as possible. We're getting good at this orphanage visitin'. Tomorrow, we go to Ongoro.

Thanks for reading this blog. It helps me process the day to write these reports, and I hope they are of some comfort to our families who are living without us as we do this work. I really feel we make a difference in the lives of these people not just with our money, but with our presence and encouragement. We're bringing the Kingdom of Heaven a step closer with every child we save.

Feeding Stations and Rock Breakers

Four things are required for us to start an orphanage in Kenya. First, a WBS follow-up worker. These are men who are payed by GCR to follow up on World Bible School correspondence course students. Second, a church that cares for orphans. These churches are started by the students of the WBS worker, with his help, in the community where thy live. To qualify, they must already be trying to help the orphans in their area. Third, land. This is usually donated by the church members or sometimes by the WBS worker. Fourth, money. It takes about $40,000 to build an orphanage for 60 kids and 4 widows. Before the money comes, we can help the church who is trying to take care of orphans in their area by helping them build a feeding station.

A feeding station usually consists of the church itself, a dining hall (usually open sided), a kitchen, a latrine, and a small dorm for two widows ho cook for the kids. Today we visited three, started by churches under the care of Tomas Alywa.

First at Muhuroni, we saw a great site with plenty of space, and a great new widows dorm and dining hall. The Muhuroni church turned out en masse to great us and thank us for all our help. This is a church who really cares about kids. There are 68 church members helping to care for 32 orphans. We prayed with them and blessed them and moved on to Border.

At Border we saw another great site and again the church was there to meet us. It was lunch time, so the kids were there to eat. I took pictures of every one of them. They were amazing. Happy and shy and polite, those are some of the best pictures I have taken yet. Check them out at the link on the right. A great meal, more prayers of blessing and we moved on to Sondu.

Sondu is a good size town, and this feeding station is actually behind the house of our worker Thomas Alwala. This was the first feeding station we started, and it was done as a first step toward the eventual orphanage that was built at Dirubi, a short distance from Sondu. They feed 91 orphans here, two meals every day.

So a great, but fast moving day. Along the way we saw lots of sugar cane, a processing plant for cane, and rock breakers. These are men, and sometimes children, who sit atop a pile of small rocks that they have made by breaking larger rocks with a hammer. It's hard to imagine, so I managed to get a picture. (No small feat at 50 KPH) The small rocks are used as ballast, or fill rock, in concrete construction. We can't imagine this because our whole economy is built around efficiency of labor. There is no shortage of labor in Africa, so why buy a machine when 100 men can do it for less. Opposite world!

Tomorrow we see Dirubi, and Lee McGraw.

Kapsabet, and a Lecture

On the way to Kapsabet this morning, I saw something that I've only seen in movies. Metal milk cans, set out on the road for home delivery. It reminded me how far we Americans have come, and makes a good allegory for the differences between Kenya and the U.S.

Remember your American history, say 1900; that's the level of development of their infrastructure (roads, etc). Now add a million cars and trucks overnight.

Imagine U.S. culture in the 1950's; that's culture here. Now add HIV/AIDS overnight.

Imagine how many people in America had telephone service to their home in the 1930's; that's where they are. Now add cell phones and the internet overnight.

What we forget is that in the United States, we transplanted a thousand-year-old (British) culture to a new continent, protected from outside influence by two great oceans. We shared a common language with our founding culture and internally. We were able to grow with almost unlimited land and resources. Most importantly, all of that happened way before you and I were born. Kenya has none of those advantages. They are playing catch-up for 150 years of lost history.

Casual observers of Africa may have a feeling of superiority, but try to remember we're ahead mostly because we had a head start. Lecture over, now on to Kapsabet!

Kapsabet was the third orphanage that we opened, and has been expanded several times. It now houses and cares for 112 orphans and 11 widows and operates a food-only program for 91 more. So it's big. As a result of it's age, it's programs are more developed and mature.

They have a nice clinic that serves the residents and the community. Their nurse, Ruth, has a two-year certificate and seems very competent. The pharmacy was well stocked and she knew what everything was for. I was pretty impressed.

John Defore and Cherie spent a lot of time with the widows. Like Ngenymesut, they were generally happy and satisfied with what they had. They were very forthcoming and shared their concerns and thanks freely. Because there are more of them, they are able to share duties more and are moving toward a rotating day off for each of them.

One of my key goals for this trip was to evaluate each site's water systems and test their water for dangerous pathogens. A nice Odessa businessman we met last month gave me a test kit and I am putting it to use. Here in Kapsabet, their water comes from a protected spring, that feeds a 3,000 liter tank downstream. The water is then lifted by electric pump (recently purchased) to a 10,000 liter holding tank near the kitchen.

They were having a little trouble with the pump today, so they were hauling water the African way, up the hill on the heads of women, in five gallon buckets. I dare you to try this. I know they'll get this pump working soon. This is still a good system, way better in quality than many places.

We got to spend some time with the local Orphans Board. This is a small group of adults from the church that volunteer at and provide local leadership for the orphanage. The asked for a few things that we are not able to provide, and thanked us for our generosity toward their community.

The kids here were beautiful and happy. We had a great time playing games with them and asking them questions in the dining hall. They are so happy to be cared for; they can all remember when it was not so. It reminded me of a new Christian, how happy and relieved they are to be freed from their bondage. How quickly we forget.

If you liked it or hated it, please comment below, thanks.

Ngenymesut

This morning, we got on the road by about 8am. We expected that this 45 kilometer trip would take 1 hour and 30 minutes, and it did. In Africa, distances are measured in the time it takes to get there, which is highly variable, depending on the road. In this case some of the road was pretty bad. Check out the pictures on Picassa by using the link to the right.

We saw a lot of interesting things along the way, like distance runners training, and brick makers firing bricks in a clearing. Ngenymesut is in tea country, so tea shrubs grow everywhere. The rolling hills and lush, green, vegetation reminded me of Midland (not)!

We started our time at the orphanage by visiting with the widows. We wanted to know more about their lives and find out if they are over-worked. These four ladies were pretty quiet, but they did manage to convey their deep gratitude to all the donors who helped save their lives. We prayed over them and then took a tour.

This home houses and feeds over 60 people in dorms, one for boys, one for girls, and one widow's quarters. The have a dining hall with attached kitchen that will accomodate about 100 people. The toilet facilities are simple latrines they call a "cho". They also have a clinic with a nurse, and a small library.

In addition to the basic necessities, each orphanage has special projects that they do with the help of local church members to make some money to offset their costs. They have a posho mill, which grinds the maize corn that is grown here into meal, which is used to make ugale, the staple starch here. They also have a chain saw with which to cut their own firewood, some livestock and poultry, and a tailoring shop.

The tailoring shop is where the widows and some older orphans are taught to sew and make clothes for the orphans and the community children. This is a well equipped center, with patterns and samples on display.

They have a great water supply here, tapped from a protected spring up the hill and piped about 500 meters underground by gravity. I took a sample for pathogen screening, but I suspect it is quite clean.

Overall everyone there was happy and healthy and glad to have met us. There were many pictures made, on both sides, and friendships begun. We planted trees in honor of our visit, as we did in March. That's a cool thing.

On the way home, it rained and we had another flat tire, this time John Cherry and I changed it. It was not easy with the crummy jack they had, so we made our first stop in Eldoret at the Nakumat (kind of a walmart/home depot hybrid, but smaller) and bought a better jack. Two tires in two days, we are starting to worry.

Tommorrow, we are going to Kapsabet, which is only 5 kilometers from Ngenymesut, so more bad roads ahead. Tomorrow night we'll be at the tea hotel in Kericho, another pretty place.

Take this thought with you, church: As we were ending the meeting with the widows, John asked them if there was anything else they needed to make their lives better. They couldn't think of a thing. They have a few clothes, a happy (if large) home, food, rewarding work, and the love of the Lord, and so they could not think of anything more to ask. If I asked you, what would your answer be? We like to think we are the givers in this situation, but their example is a greater gift to us, if we choose to accept it.

Long Day on the Road, or "Mbuvi, are we there yet?"

(Pictures that accompany this blog post can be found by clicking on the "Kenya pics on Picassa" link to the right)


This morning we got an early start. Jet lag does weird things to you so we were all up before 6am. Our trip was mostly uneventful; the usual stop for fuel, air pressure, etc. and a harrowing, rush hour drive through Nairobi. John Cherry had only seen it at night on our way in, so he didn't fully understand just how crazy things can get. We saw the aftermath of an accident, a pretty serious track versus mutatu (bus) and lots of close calls in the traffic circles. Cherie Creech slept through it all. Amazing.

At the rift valley overlook, we discovered that we had a flat tire. That is apparently interesting enough that all the curio vendors stood around giving us advice, rather than hawking their wares, so it was actually a blessing. Mbuvi changed the tire like an old pro and we went on down the road.

On this highway, you pass three alkaline lakes, lake Elementita, Lake Niavasha, and Lake Nakuru. We could see that all three lakes were very low. The drought has hit this area particularly hard.

Near Niavasha, we stopped at a roadside shopping center to fix the tire and get lunch. They have a great snack there called a Samosa. It's kind of a cross between an egg roll and a burrito, stuffed with meat and deep fried. Yummy.

Further down the road we were passed by a large bus with Michelle Obama's picture on the back and "The First Lady" painted on the mud flaps. Only in Kenya.

Past Nakuru, we crossed the equator again, this time on the ground (Nairobi is at 3 degrees South latitude), and so we celebrated by stopping for pictures at the big sign. The rest of the drive featured bad roads, beautiful scenery and napping passengers.

We arrived safely at Eldoret and are staying at the Hotel Sirikwa (seer-E-qua) which is nicer than any hotel I have stayed at in Kenya. Clean and well maintained, and dinner was great. At dinner we met with Keith, an Eldoret based missionary supported by a church in Abilene. He married a Kenyan woman some time ago and now is a permanent resident. Neat guy. He's going with us to Nguenymesut tomorrow.

Tomorrow we will be at our first orphanage, and I can't wait. We'll have plenty of time to meet everyone, take pictures, tour the facilities, have private meetings with the widows and generally love on those kids. It took a long time to get to this point, but here we are. I'm pumped. More tomorrow night.

We arrived without incident. After clearing immigration, there is an anxious time when you don't know if your luggage will be there. Nairobi is a long way, and three flights give a lot of opportunity for loss. But all was there and we made the drive to Kamulu. We went strait to bed as most of us had not slept in 30 hours or so.

This morning we worshiped with the Made in the Streets folks here at Kamulu. They are wonderful people here. We renewed friendships with many folks, some WBS students, and others that we had met on previous trips. Larry Johnson was there, the former Odessan who has lived in Kenya for 24 years, it was good to see him.

Francis preached in Swahili, and so they assigned us a made in the streets kid as a translator. John and I shared the services of Titus, a young man that was very polite and helpful. Later they told us that he was one of the wildest kids that they have ever successfully saved from the slums of Nairobi. It reminded me that God works in small ways in people's lives all over the world. We may never know all of the amazing work that His Holy Spirit has been doing across the millennia until His return. Amazing.

We were also visited by Simon, who is our WBS worker in Nairobi. He's a great guy that is fairly new to WBS, but has been indispensable to us during our trials at the orphanage in Gilgil. He sends his greetings to all at GCR and his thanks for supporting the work in Kenya.

Later we'll go see some of the MITS locations here and preview the potential orphanage site that is here. Tomorrow we make the long drive to Eldoret to begin our tour of the orphanages.

Preparing for another trip

Should I feel guilty for not blogging when I'm not traveling? I don't. But since I'm leaving tomorrow for another trip to Kenya, I will try to get in the habit now.

For those who do not know, my church, Golf Course Road Church of Christ, through it's World Bible School ministry, helps fund eight orphanages and feeding stations, feeding over 1,400 orphans in Kenya, East Africa. Twice a year, some of us from GCR travel to Kenya to encourage the workers, meet the widows who care for the orphans, try to lend some technical expertise, and in general try to provide some leadership to those who are doing God's work.

This trip starts tomorrow at 11AM when I depart for 29 hours of travel from Midland to Houston, Amsterdam, and Nairobi. The flights are fun for me. I am an aviation enthusiast, and I like to chill with my ipod and laptop, so there's plenty of time for that. I'm anticipating a smooth trip, but you ever know.

Once in Kenya, we'll stay Sunday in Kamulu, where Mauryn Mbuvi and her husband, Francis live. Mauryn is our WBS coordiator for Kenya and Francis is a leader of the Made in the Streets ministry in Nairobi. Francis will be our driver, and we'll be joined by their two boys, Jay and Jeremy. Rispa, a Kenyan woman who works with Mauryn is coming to help with the boys.

John Defore, John Cherry, and Cherie Creech from GCR will join me for this adventure, and the plans are to visit all eight orphanage locations and all the feeding sites as well. We'll be 12 days in Kenya and 4 days flying.

My goal for this blog is to keep you informed of our progress, and try to impart some of what we experience. Should be fun!

At the Airport

So here we sit I the Nairobi airport waiting for our flight to be called. We're ready to go home. Today we worshiped again at Kamulu, and really enjoyed the service. Their singing style is much more youth-group devo than GCR auditorium. They all sang, clapped, danced, held hands, and generally acted like a group with strong unity. Very cool. There was this one song they sung that had phrases like "if you love the Lord, dance like a Kenyan," or "…like a Lao (a tribe)," they added the line "…like a muzungu (white person)." They all laughed at our blank looks; I caught it, but the Creechs and Seth hadn't heard the term before. Larry Conway preached, he is originally from Odessa and now works at the tip of the spear, sharing the gospel with the street kids in Eastliegh slum.

After worship we finally got to eat the Kenyan staple meal, ugali and skuma. Ugali is maize corn, ground into meal, and boiled until it has a firm, past like consistency. Skuma is what we call kale, boiled with spices. You eat it with your hands, rolling the ugali into a ball and scooping up the skuma. It was surprisingly good. Mauryn does it better than the orphanages that we had it at last year.

Everyone tried it, (all these folks have been great travelers), and Seth said he really liked it.

After lunch we toured the Made in the Streets compound and saw the vocational training building that was recently completed, named for Connor Brown. We took pictures, and looked around, but not too long, since we had to pack. And pack we did. The trip into the airport was uneventful, and we bid farewell to our faithful guide, and all around great person, Francis Mbuvi.

And here we sit, waiting for our flight. This is the fastest internet I have had, so I'm catching up on American news. So that's the trip!

Hope you enjoyed my meager commentary, thanks for all your interest.

Tim

In Awe

Trips are all about new experiences. Traveling to a foreign land,
seeing different cultures, experiencing life from a different
perspective are all things that one expects on a great journey to the
other side of the world. More precious than these are experiences
totally unexpected. Being together in a room with truly great men,
who are doing great works in the name of Jesus Christ, this is utterly
amazing.

Now I've had my share of meetings with men I considered good, even a
few that were great men. I don't want those men in my life to feel
that I am slighting them in any way. But these are men who have
risked it all, and continue to do so every day, to care for those who
can do absolutely nothing for them. Their hearts cannot be measured
by any standard I am aware of.

I met today with the WBS workers that have taken on the additional
responsibility of the orphanages. There are seven of them,
representing nine orphanages that together care for the every need of
750+ souls and provide daily food support for another 500. These guys
come with the chops to sit in the room with any church leader I have
ever met, not because of their words, though some speak quite well,
but because of their actions. Faith becomes sight here.

To a man they care deeply not only about the lives entrusted to them,
but about the money that has been entrusted to them. I have seen them
account for their spending, validate our trust in them, even correct
their brother with a loving hand. True Christianity. These men are
not perfect, but they are walking the walk. What a blessing.

Our travelers returned today from the Masi Mara with hundreds of
pictures, videos and stories. They were all tired but excited for all
the animals and beauty they had seen. Tomorrow we worship again with
the folks at MITS and visit the Connor Brown building at their
vocational compound, then pack and head to the airport. At least,
that's the plan…

How do you blog about a meeting?

It's hard to blog about a day filled with meetings. What to describe?
It's not as interesting as zebras on the road, or seeing orphanages,
or long road trips. But it was interesting to me.

The people I was meeting with are called WBS Follow-up Workers, or
just 'Workers' for short. There are 18 of them and they are from all
over Kenya. Each one is responsible for following up on WBS
correspondence course students as they complete their studies. They
also follow up with churches that have been started by WBS students,
with the help of the worker, in their geographic area. These guys are
what makes the WBS effort in Kenya different from in other countries,
and so successful.

The meetings today were two fold. First, Mauryn led a discussion of
the technical aspects of their job, and then they had to listen to me
trying to be a teacher to men who teach the bible for a living, many
with formal training from bible institutes . For those who know me
well, you are laughing about now as you envision the uber-geek Tim,
playing preacher with a straight face! However my topic was not one
they were prepared for. I doubt any of them has ever taught it as it
would be very unpopular here: women's rights. Now the rest of you are
laughing.

This topic became interesting for a number of reasons. My son Peter
and I have just finished a study called "Becoming a Man." This is a
great short course for teaching God's vision for manhood. In this
study, we learn about God's original intent for Adam, Eve and how the
fall and the curse changed everything. The general thesis is that
men are to lead, but not dominate. That women have an important role
to play in every aspect of life, and that wrong treatment of women by
men is a sin and part of Eve's curse "…and he shall rule over you."
Genesis 3

Another reason this topic is becoming important to me is the impact of
a number of strong women in my life, namely my wife, Susie; my mother;
and my good friend and mentor (is there a feminine form of "mentor"?),
Brenda Sorrells. These women have demonstrated what scripture tells
us that women have equal value in God's eyes and equal, but different
roles in His kingdom.

It's hard to read the expressions of people from a different culture,
particularly one so utterly foreign as this one. But from their
questions and silences, I judge that about six of them heard what I
said with an open mind, the rest were either indifferent or judged
that I was a fool. It doesn't really matter to me. I said it because
I felt God was telling me that it needed to be said. I gave it my
all, and if it falls to the ground, so be it. Who knows, maybe it did
some good.

Seven of these men are also responsible for orphanages in their area.
They will stay behind here in Kamulu to meet tomorrow with me and
Maureen about the orphanage work. The Creechs and Seth return from
Safari tomorrow; Francis will go pick them up without me, as we will
still be meeting. One evening of rest and then Sunday brings worship,
packing and the start of another, long journey home.

Until then…

Lazy Day in Nairobi Town

Today was a quiet day. I went with Francis to take the Chreechs and
Seth to the airport for their 10am flight to the Masi Mara. I'm sure
for them it was an eventful day, but since I won't see them until
Saturday evening, I won't be able to relay anything about them in the
blog.

Francis had some errands to run I Nairobi, and since I was at leisure,
I tagged along. Made in the Streets, the ministry that Francis works
with, has been trying to get a container that was shipped from the US
cleared and delivered here to Kamulu since December. Apparently a
combination of Africa lack of concern about timeliness coupled with a
dock workers strike and mountains of paper work made it a very
difficult process. But today, Francis (who everyone calls Mbuvi) and
I slayed that dragon.

After a quick trip to Barclays, the bank of choice in eastern Africa,
we headed to the Kenyan Customs House near the airport in Nairobi. I
waited in the van for a couple of hours while Francis and his agents
battled the demons of bureaucracy. Then it was a trip across the
compound to the Kenyan port authority, where we waited, refused to
bribe, and finally cajoled a worker to load the container on a truck
for delivery. The container finally made it safely to Kamulu and the
MITS staff was enjoying their new small tractor and other donated
pieces of small machinery for the farm.

That blew most of the day until supper, when the WBS workers began
trickling in from the far reaches of Kenya. I got to meet most of
them before my mazunga legs finally gave out and here I sit. Tomorrow
Maureen and I hold meetings with them and I try my best to get to know
them and what they do. Should be interesting.

Gilgil

Our drive from Nakuru to Gilgil was short but eventful. We
encountered a herd of wild zebras grazing along the highway,
accompanied by a troop of baboons. Apparently this is an everyday
occurrence here, like seeing squished armadillo and deer back home.
To us it was pretty cool so we stopped like tourists and took
pictures. It got the Creechs excited about their and Seth's upcoming
safari.

Gilgil is not a town that anyone would call pretty. It reminded me of
a small west Texas town that everyone forgot about, except this one
was very inhabited. The drought is hitting this area very hard, and
that means that the orphanage workers have to ferry water from the
river in plastic containers to fill the tank. This orphanage, open
since September 2008 is in a town on a lot surrounded by neighbors, so
it has a totally different feel that the other ones.

One constant though is the kids. Here they were very happy to see us,
singing songs and dancing around like happy kids do. When I was here
in October, they were much more subdued having only been there a
month. The Creechs handed out their gifts and we met with the widows
and orphans. We toured their new construction project, a building to
house their clinic, sewing room, library and posho mill.

We left Gilgil behind for unfinished business in Nairobi. We had not
been able to exchange all the cash we wanted to so we headed back to
the Village Market and our friends at the (now open) Forex. Cash in
hand, the Creechs did a little shopping while I finished up my
business with Safaricom, getting the technology pieces in place for
Paul Talley's return to Kenya with a mission trip of 30 people in
July. Dinner at the Java house (man, I love that place), and the
long, hot, smelly drive through the lesser parts of Nairobi and home
(can you call it that?) to Kamulu.

Tomorrow, we split up as most of our party head off to the Little
Governor's camp at the Masi Mara game preserve for a real photographic
safari. I'll remain in Kamulu to meet with the WBS workers and
orphanage workers over the next two days. We'll reunite Saturday
evening for our last day in country before we depart Kenya on Sunday
evening.

Dry, dry , dry

I think the biggest difference from this trip to my last one is the
dryness. In October, everything was green. Now there is much more
brown. This is the planting season. In the fields, there are
workers, women mostly, tilling small plots of land like it has been
done for millennia, by hand with a simple tool. The fields are the
brown of the fertile earth, waiting only the first falls of the rainy
season to spur the people to plant. It should happen soon. It needs
to happen soon. It hasn't rained here for many months. If the corn
crop is not good this summer, the famine will spread. Already the
government estimates that 10 million of the country's 30 million
people are in danger of starvation. The looming catastrophe is
ominous. Lord, send your rains!

The result of all this brown for us was a reminder that West Texas is
not the only dusty land on earth. The dirt roads and aggressive
traffic today conspired to cover us in brown from head to toe by the
end of our day. Both the drive from Kericho to Londiani and the drive
from Londiani to Nakuru were dusty and torturous. But the middle
part, those few brief hours, those were magic!

Arriving after 11, we were greeted with singing and joyous praise. We
shook hands and blessed every soul there, at least 100, before we did
anything else. For me it was a renewing of friendships with David,
Richard, and Andrew, the church elder who donated the land for the
orphanage. For the others, meeting for the first time was a blessing.
The kids were happy, the widows were happy, and the church members
who do all the hard work there were happy as well.

The facility looked very good. Construction was not as far along as I
had thought; only the widow's dorm and the dining hall were occupied.
The girl's dorm was almost finished, and the boy's dorm lacked a
couple of weeks, by my eye. The kids and widows had moved in however
with the girls sleeping with the widows and the boys in the dining
hall. They were working on the foundation for the director's
house/office and the sewing room. They showed me where the clinic
will be but had not started that yet.

It was very interesting for me to see the various stages of
construction from foundation building to finish work. I can't imagine
how it could be more different that in the US. The amount of hand
labor is staggering; the scarcity of pre-manufactured construction
components was a little wierd. The merchants deliver raw timber, cut
stone for the walls, cement, angle iron, nails, and that's all. No
plywood, no sheetrock, no pre-built doors or windows, and no 2x4s. The
builders cut all the lumber to size with a chain saw!

The kids were great, and the widows were happy and grateful. We met
with them all and in groups as well as the church members and leaders.
One of their members is the local Administrative Chief and he has
been a great help to them. He spoke well and was also quite grateful
for our support. They presented a small gift of a hand woven basket
with some marital significance to the Creeches who were moved to
tears. Katelyn showed the kids how to play with the Frisbees they had
brought, but they didn't need any instruction on how to use a soccer
ball!

We left too soon, as always for our dusty drive to Nakuru . Dinner
was grand and not as bad and slow as usual, but we are all feeling the
effects of the fatigue that comes with riding in a hot, old van over
roads that can only be called riverbeds. Tomorrow we head to Gillgil
for a brief stop, as we have to get back to Nairobi in time to
exchange the rest of the money. Then the Creeches head off with Seth
on Thursday morning for their safari adventure and I to prepare for my
meetings. More to come.

The Longest Day

I didn't sleep. Whether it was the time change catching up with me or
something else, I don't know. But I slept fitfully from 11 to 1am and
that was it. After a couple of hours, I gave up and turned to my
trusty ipod to provide a soundtrack for my insomnia. I listened to
some praise music and fell into a long rambling prayer; so much to
pray for, so many things going on. Probably the best insomnia I have
ever had.

When we decided to reverse the order of the orphanages, we knew that
the first day would be the longest. We departed Kamulu at 6am, (a
minor miracle) and headed for Nairobi. Kamulu is on the East side and
our destination was well to the west so we had to brave Nairobi
traffic once again. All was well until we came upon the scene of an
accident. We couldn't get very close but we could see that a van had
lost it's battle with the train, (don't they always?) That set up a
series of detours and traffic jams which put us an hour behind. We
arrived at Ngenymesut, near Kapsabet at about 2pm.

Everything was rushed, since we had a three hour drive ahead of us to
Kericho, but they were ready for us. Bernard has done an excellent
job setting up this orphanage. The buildings are well done, and well
laid out on the site to allow for future expansion. They fed us a
snack and we took many pictures.

I must say that the Creech family was awesome. They jumped right in,
loving on kids and thanking and blessing the widows and other
volunteers. Cherie taught the kids a new concept, group hug. There
were many of those and she said a great prayer over them when it was
time to go. Before we left they had five saplings ready for us to
each plant a tree to commemorate the visit. That was the highlight
for me. Gifts and hugs were exchanged and our ever diligent Mbuvi
rushed us on to spend "no more that 10 minutes" at the Kapsabet
orphanage.

Seth has been incredible, and he proved his worth at this one. Given
the time crunch I could never have gotten so many pictures made. He
was loving on kids and smiling and was a blessing to everyone.

At Kapsabet they are building the new residences for the widows that
run the feeding program. That was interesting for me to see. There
were 10 guys and between them they had one hammer, one shovel, and a
chain saw. But they were getting it done!

More hours passed nodding in the van, getting covered with dust.
Kenya is way dusty this time of year as the rains have not come. The
countryside is more brown than green, that was a surprise to me.
Finally we arriced at Kericho and here i sit in the tea hotel.
Tomorrow we make a short drive to Londiani and then on to the Kunste
Hotel in Nakuru. God is sure doing something on this trip, at least
he's keeping us on our toes!

Sunday Afternoon in Nairobi

So the plan was that we would drive into Nairobi about 3:30 and go to
the Village Market. It's an upscale retail center in the higher end
neighborhood of Nairobi, where the foreign ambassadors and UN types
live. First stop was supposed to be at the Forex to change US
currency for shillings. They are open on Sundays, but guess what:
closed early today. No money. No dinner, no shopping, no bottled
water, etc. Bad news. We tried a couple of other exchange places
nearby but no dice.

So Francis headed for the Spirit Center, a smaller shopping
experience, but again the Forex was not open. So when we were about
to give up, a Kenyan approached us and said he worked for the FOREX,
and they left him with a little cash so he could take care of
customers who were in need. It sounded shady, no uniform or anything,
but he had 70,000 shillings and was willing to give us the same rate
as the FOREX, so we went for it. (Also we outnumbered him, so if he
was a crook we felt we could take him.) All went well. We looked
like a gang of dealers with our cash out, hiding in the alcove but it
was fine. We'll exchange the rest later.

Dinner at the Java House was good; burgers and fries like true
Americans. We picked up some coffee for Francis to make a pot in the
morning. Mauryn makes chai which is great and all, but I needs me
some caffeine!

On the way home we drove to the edge of Eastleigh, Nairobi's second
largest slum. We could see into it from the street. It was like
looking into a great dark sea of humanity, reeking with despair and
poverty. This slum is big, were talking 750,000 people or more, and
it stretched for miles. On the perimeter, as we were, there was a
fair amount of small scale commerce, and people walking everywhere.
This is where Francis and his people go every week to meet homeless
kids who are likely candidates for the Made in the Streets program.
They literally reach into the mouth of the beast and snatch precious
souls out and redeem them. All in Christ's name!

We encountered a true Kenyan traffic jam, caused by a broken down
lorry and you cannot imagine the chaos! Cars and mutatus , (the
colorfully decorated, van-like taxi/busses that are ubiquitous in
Nairobi) moving in starts and stops, on the wrong side of the road,
(even for them) and honking and people moving in between them, what a
glorious mess! In the back of the van, Katelyn Creech is smiling and
waving to everyone, possibly making the traffic jam worse, and her mom
was so tired she fell flat asleep. Terry said that she must be secure
in her salvation to have slept through that! Like Jesus sleeping in
the bow of the boat sleeping through the storm!

So tomorrow we set out for Kapsabet, which is a change in schedule.
We were planning to make our longest drive on the way back, but the
flight for the safari leaves early on Thursday instead of late and we
need to be back in Nairobi Wednesday night. So we'll go see
Ngenymesut and Kapsabet first and work our way back towards home. We
warned Bernard by cell phone, so I'm sure he is scrambling. Sorry,
Bernard.

If tomorrow is as eventful as today, we should have a whale of a time!

Worship, African style

We worshiped with the Mbuvis at the Made in the Streets compound this
morning. Their passion for worship was awesome to see. We sang
songs, mostly in Swahili, but some in English. One song we sang with
a simple repeating line about Jesus' love, was repeated in all their
tribal languages, with a woman from each tribe leading their part.
Then they repeated it in Swahaili, and in English. They said it
reminds them of hoow, though we are different, we are all one in
Christ. Seemed perfect for the way we were feeling.

Later we head back to Nairobi to shop and exchange money. More later.

Return to Kenya

The great adventure continues. We made it fine to Kenya, arriving
this evening. Flights were easy, but long. A couple of us got
showers before the power went off.

I'm really looking forward to the week ahead. Tomorrow we will go to
church with the Mbuvis and later visit The Village Market in Nairobi
to change money and shop.

Got an internet modem that works with my laptop so I should be able to
stay in touch this time

Tim.