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.