Saturday, October 6, 2012

Adingo Opanga, Glasscock, Uriri

Adingo has been a feeding station for several years, but in all my trips to Kenya, I have never been here.  It’s a bit remote, tucked in the same hills that Dirubi and Lee McGraw are in, and not too far from Ongoro.  It’s full name is Adingo Opanga.  Tobias accompanied us, and we met Thomas along the way.  It’s a small church, but one with a big heart.  They have quietly been serving orphans here since 2008.  They greeted us with tea and mandazi, and then we had worship.

 

It was a fairly typical Kenyan service, singing in choruses and congregational style, preaching for the contribution, preaching for theLord’s supper, and the just plain preaching.  I did the last part.  I think I did better this time, certainly it was longer, which the Kenyan’s like, and I was getting some good vibes from the church members.  Afterward, Thomas invited church members to speak and respond to the sermon.  I thought that was a really good idea, one that we could adopt if we weren’t so concerned with ending our services in time for the football games.

 

One of the visitors was Tobias’ primary school teacher.  Seems that Tobias lived in this area as a kid.  He was a neat guy that spoke excellent English.  He coached a competitive walking team for the school that Tobias was on.  Another visitor was the area Chief.  The chief is an appointed political office for the Kenyan government.  The chief’s job is to implement the governments policies in the local area as best he can.  He was a nice guy, and he spoke about how the church is doing the real work of helping the people, even more than the government.  It was refreshing to hear that take on things.

 

After church it was time for lunch, (yes, church lasted 3 hours).  Again the local dignitaries joined us, and the asked me all kinds of questions about America, Obama, and how I liked Kenya.  For a guy like me who finds great joy in taking apart my home theatre system and putting it back together, it seems weird to enjoy local Kenyan small-talk, but I did.  God moves in mysterious ways.

 

After we left Adingo Opanga, we drove in to Kisii for a night at the Dados, a western style hotel.  Electricity and hot showers are the chief attraction, but the very fast internet was a welcome treat as well. 

 

This morning, we loaded up to visit the Nana GlasscockFeeding Station, which is under construction to convert it into a full orphanage.  The drive in was very difficult, since there is no proper road.  We traveled on the edge of sugar cane and maize farms, down cow paths and over rocker washouts.  I was glad to have such a good vehicle to make the journey.  Every time we use it on terrain like this I say a little prayer for John Cherry and the others who contributed to buy it for us.

 

Glasscock is coming along well.  They have almost completed the dorms, and by the end of this month the children will be in.  Then they will build the new dining hall, clinic and office.  You can see from the pictures on Facebook that they are doing a first-class job with it.  We renewed our friendship with Elly, the former WBS student that donated the land for this site and who will act as the manager.  He’s a quiet, unassuming man who loves these kids like his very own.  When the kids came back from school for lunch, they sang for us and we met with the church leaders.  I praised them for allowing God to use them to serve the kids in this way and encouraged them to continue to support the orphanage as time goes by.  We met in their old, mud church building that we will be tearing down once the dininghall is complete.  I will never see that building again, but it has been home to some amazing acts of love and sacrifice, so I will miss it.

 

After our visit, we drove on to Uriri Orphanage, one of our oldest and largest.  Kennedy is doing a great job here.  While we were touring the place, Kennedy introduced my to a 10 year old boy named Tyson.  He is an orphan, but not one that lives in the home.  His mom died of some kind of brain disorder, and his Dad died last year, probably of AIDS.  Tyson is blind since birth and his shosho, (grandmother) had brought him to us to plead for someone to be able to pay his school fees at the boarding school for the blind that he attended until hisfather died.  Now there is no one to pay the fees.  If you are interested in sponsoring him, the cost is about $4,000 per year.

 

We are staying here at Uriri tonight, and tomorrow we are off to see the Grace House orphanage that has been under construction and is now complete.  Should be a great time.

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