God is good!

I had a pretty good idea that today was going to be a good day.  Yesterday, on our way to Nakuru, we met Thomas in Sondu and picked up some supplies for the Kikitemo IDP camp.  We lashed them on our LandCruiser and sped off to our hotel.  This morning, it was time to deliver.   

We had told John Karauke, our WBS worker who discovered these people, to meet us at the camp.  We did not tell him why, he assumed it was for some new visitors.  When we arrived, he was holding church out under the trees.  We joined him and listened to the singing.  These people are some of the most poor you will ever see or hear about.  They live in huts made of sticks and plastic bags, yet they were worshipping God with all they had.

The excitement built as John invited us to speak.  We talked of God’s love, and how he answers prayer.  Grace retold the story of her prayer to God for the orphan’s food and how God answered that through John.  She told us that when the orphans got their first meal from us, they all went out in the field in a circle and prayed for all the donors that were helping them. She said they stayed there for a long time just thanking God for sparing their lives.  I was starring into the eyes of those same children, with no shoes and dirty beyond belief and just wept. When it was my turn, I spoke of some small gifts we had brought.  Maureen spoke of God’s faithfulness.  In the distance they could see our vehicle, loaded with something covered with a tarp.  You could tell they were getting excited.  Finally, after some more worship, we broke to unload the vehicle.

As we began to pull tarps and blankets out of the inside of the truck the singing began again.  With each new parcel added to the pile in the ground in front of them, their fervor grew.  Then we climbed the vehicle and took off the tarp revealing a hundred more blankets in bales.  Now their few men joined us in bringing the massive bundles to the ground and the singing hit a fever pitch.  They were singing in Swahili, but Maureen told me the chant was, “You have brought us blankets, God is good!”

As we finished the unloading, some of the older kids came out in makeshift costumes performing a comedy of some kind.  The people were eating it up.  They were laughing and clapping like you couldn’t believe.  Finally, John said a few words about how just yesterday they were talking about the weather change and how there would be sickness from the rains and cold.  He said God has spoken to the visitors, telling them what to bring.  I think he was right, but God didn’t need to speak miraculously to me on our last visit to see that there was insufficient shelter and blankets, it was obvious.  Usually the needs of others are right in front of us, we just have to look.  

I have to tell you, that whole experience for me was one of the most amazing things that I have ever been a part of.  You know at times that you are doing God’s will, but most of the time I think we just wander around hoping we are doing okay.  At a time like this, there is a purity about the joy and satisfaction that you feel that is amazing.  It’s like looking into the face of God and knowing, I mean absolutely knowing, that he is pleased.  There is nothing to rival that.

After we left, as we were climbing the hill on the highway out of the Rift Valley, I glanced up to see the front of a Mutatu (the private busses here) coming toward us in the opposite lane.  The name of the bus was, “God is Good.”

Later, we went to Barclay’s to do the monthly banking and then to Nairobi Java House for lunch, but that really doesn’t compare with the morning.  I’m not sure that anything ever will.

Kikitemo and Java House

Ongoro

Today was our last day based at the Dados Hotel in Kisii.  We checked out with a bang. Susie’s shower ended in a rain of sparks as the electric shower head mounted water heater died a brilliant death.  There is nothing scarier than standing under a stream of water and seeing an electric arc come from the shower head, I assure you.  To her credit, she did not curse (I would have) but calmly asked me to ‘turn off the switch, please.’  The heater was fried, and so she finished in coldness.  What a woman.

Ongoro looked really good.  After an orphanage has been open for a few years, this one in 2008, they have a different feel.  The kids know each other very well, the widows know the kids, and you can tell you are coming into the home of a family.  It’s like the difference between teaching a class of students on the first day of school, as opposed to the last.  We toured the place and saw what was new.  The latrine had been replaced; the old one caved in during heavy rains, fortunately while no one was in it, and the posho mill has been relocated to the front gate.  We advised Tobias how moving the fence line a little would allow the public better access to the clinic and posho, hopefully increasing their use and revenue.

We met with the local orphan’s board.  Tobias has done well selecting the members of his board.  There is an area counselor (administrator), members of the land board, a widow, two students, and the director.  They were a sharp group, and they assured us that they are very much involved with the kid’s lives.  They seemed to care a great deal about what happens to them.  They were telling us how proud the community is of this facility and how many people have come to believe that God is real because of the actions of his church.  Isn’t that a great lesson for us? People will believe God is real because of your good works; that should be in the bible, somewhere…

God’s blessings really stand out here.  When you stand in the dark and light a candle, it’s amazingly bright.  When you stand in a lit room and light a candle, it’s harder to know.  That’s why God’s word tells us to light a candle in the darkness so that the whole world can know He is real.

After lunch we set out to meet Thomas at Sondu.  Thomas had purchased some blankets and tarps for us to distribute to the IDP camp orphans and widows we met last week.  We loaded nine bales of blankets and 20 tarps into and onto our crowded LandCruiser and thanked Thomas for his great work.  Tonight we are at the Kunste Hotel in Nakuru.  Tomorrow it’s only a short ride to the IDP camp on our way to Nairobi to do some banking.  The bank wire filled with God’s blessings from all of you great people in the US has arrived and needs to be distributed. 

Ongoro

Uriri and Glasscock

We kinda needed an easy day.  Unfortunately we didn’t get it.  This kind of work, seeing orphanages and loving on kids may not seem all that hard, but those who have been here will attest to how physically draining it is just riding in a vehicle over roads like this.  The road to Uriri wasn’t bad, but we did a 45 minute torture test to the Glasscock feeding station that belonged in a “Toyota Tundra” commercial!  The old van would never have made it, thank God for the new LandCruiser.

Uriri is a great place.  They have 90 orphans and 5 widows here, well 4 now.  Unfortunately one of their widows who had been sick passed away yesterday.  That cast a somber note over the whole day, but the kids were still happy and healthy.  There is something about a well run orphanage that you can just “tell”.  I’m not saying it was perfect, but the way questions are answered, the casual easy confidence of people who know each other well and have nothing to hide is obvious.

Uriri is in sugar cane country.  Some time ago we bought them a cane crusher to help make some money to offset the orphanage costs.  They have proven to be very successful and resourceful people.  Earlier this year, a generous donation allowed us to buy them a lorry (truck), and it has enabled them to double their profits.  There are great pics of this operation in the album below.  

Uriri and Glasscock

We met with their board, which had great things to tell us.  They didn’t just name off requests for money one after the other, they were full of praise and good ideas.  Afterwards we set out for the new Nanna Glasscock Feeding Station.  We took Kennedy Chandi, our WBS worker for this area, to guide us.  I knew we were in for an adventure when he said to Francis, “turn left here”, and there was no road, just a path between two cane fields!  We wound around so many times I didn’t know which way was up.  Eventually we came to a clearing and there was a feeding station, clear as day.

There were really great people there; the whole church turned up.  With the orphans and other community folks there were well over 100.  We prayed together, ate lunch (again), and took pictures.  They even gave me a really great hat.  I’m saving it for Gary Glasscock; it looks like him.  On the way back to Kisii we stopped and bought soapstone souvenirs at our usual place.  Susie really loaded up, I can’t imagine how we will get it all home.  Oh well, if I told you how little we spent on well over 50 lbs of these handmade pieces, you wouldn’t believe it.

Tomorrow we hit Ongoro, and depart for Nakuru for the night.  Thursday we are planning on dropping back by the IDP camp with some gifts.  That should be really fun!

Manning and Nyango

What a long day.  Our first stop was at the brand new Manning Orphanage Home named for Tom Manning, whose family donated the funds to build this home in his honor.  Prior to the construction of the orphanage, this was the Ototo feeding station.  Ototo is the family home of Alfayo’s parents, and we met Joseph Bodi again today.  He is a church member, and donated the land for the orphanage.  The buildings are mostly complete; they were still working on the clinic and office building and the manager’s home.

  

The kids are in, consisting of the 50 orphans that received meals from the feeding program plus 10 more.  The two original widows are supplemented with two more to share the burden of cooking, cleaning, and mothering these beautiful kids.  We met with the kids, and the board and ate a hearty luch of Ugale (corn mush), Sukuma (greens), rice, beef and chicken. As usual, it is some of the best meals we get on these trips, much better than the hotel’s food.  After lunch we had to head out to find the Nyango feeding station.  Getting there was an adventure.  We drove our vehicle down a cow trail for about 2km and then walked the last kilometer through the bush.

Nyango, like many of these locations, owes it’s existence to a WBS student, Joseph, who was visited by a follow up worker and baptized.  He walked 30 km every Sunday to attend a church of Christ.  After a year of this, and his own evangelizing of his community, he started a new church with the help of Alfayo at Nyango. Like many churches his was touched by the need to care for so many orphans in their area.  He contacted Alfayo, who told the story to John DeFore, who told the story in Midland, and funds were provided for a new feeding station.  They have built a nice widows dorm, kitchen, latrine and dining hall.

The most touching part of these visits is meeting the widows for the first time.  All of them are unique individuals but their stories are similar. The interview goes something like this. “How long have you been a widow?”  “Eight years.”  “How old are your children?”  “Twelve, ten, and four.”  “How did you come to have the youngest one?” Tears.  Shame.  Fear.  It’s hard to watch but she needs to say it so there can be understanding, and she can know she is loved no matter what has happened. “During the post-election violence, I was raped.”  Sometimes it’s, “I was inherited.”  It doesn’t matter.  Women have so few options here, there is rarely any blame for her, but even if there is, we love them, forgive them, and accept them as Christ’s workers in the kingdom, no different that you or me.  They cry. We cry. Redemption.

We left under the threat of rain, but were spared any moisture.  We decided to head down the road to Homa Bay and see Lake Victoria, which we had never seen.  We were surprised to find the lake filled with floating plants called water hyacinths.  There were introduced to the lake about 30 years ago and have grown out of control.  They interfere with transportation, fishing, and thrive off the pollution from the cities that line the lake.  It’s interesting but really a shame.  Alfayo showed us the Nile Perch processing plant where he used to work and we met some of the leaders from the church at Homa Bay.  All in all an interesting side trip, but it made for a long day.  Tomorrow we head to Uriri!

Manning and Nyango

Ndhiwa

Since today was Sunday, that means church, of course.  This time I honored a request that was made to me last March and came to worship at our orphanage at Ndhiwa.  Alfayo had learned in our previous meetings that I was a minister who had never preached; a foreign concept in Africa.  So I became a preacher, at least for today.  I adapted a sermon Charlton gave a few weeks ago about Ruth.  I told the story of a widow, with little money or hope but great faith and love, who God elevates to be the ancestor of both Davis and Jesus.  With a room full of widows and orphans who have been redeemed by Christ’s love, it seemed a perfect fit.  I’m sure I delivered it inadequately, but the expected response was there and at least two orphans fell asleep.  I now feel complete.

Ndhiwa was our second orphanage, and is led by the very capable Alfayo Bodi.  Alfayo is a big man, really big for a Kenyan.  I always try to bring him shirts or a jacket from the US when I come because you can’t find 2XL in Kenya.  Ndhiwa is 130 kids compressed into ½ an acre.  They have little room to move, but they make the best of it.  Like all of our facilities, Ndhiwa is sporting new water filters.  These filters are made in Kenya of a design that uses slow sand filtration to achieve up to 95% purity from contaminants in a self cleaning, maintenance free filter.  The widows we spoke to were adamant that they always use the filters and the water tastes much better.  I took samples for testing so we can be sure they work as well as they were supposed to.

We met with the secondary school students who had to go and take end-of-term exams today.  We encouraged them to do their best and answered their questions as best we could.  They were open and frank about their concerns, yet they were typical teenagers also; struggling to adapt to adult life that looms in front of them.  Hopefully we didn’t scare them too badly.

We met also with the primary school kids.  They were full of energy but politely asked us dozens of questions about America, including some great questions about American government.  Can you name the US Chief Justice? I’m glad I remembered.  We did our best to encourage them to study hard and look out for their large extended family at the orphanage.

By far the most interesting meeting of the day was with the orphan’s board.  This is a group of adults who live in the area that volunteer to serve to advise Alfyao on how best to care for the children.  Alfayo has done excellent work in choosing his board members.  He has a teacher, a pastor, a District Children’s Officer, an Area Chief, a widow from the orphanage, a church member, and the director of the orphanage.  Later he will add two secondary students (male and female) to make sure the orphans are represented.  They had great questions and some good ideas to consider.  It was refreshing to say the least to know that others are worrying about the same things we are back on the orphan’s board in the US.

Alas, rain showers and fear of getting stranded on a really bad road forced us to leave somewhat abruptly, but we’ll see Alfayo again tomorrow as we head to the brand new, Tom Manning Orphanage at Ototo.  Here are some pics from today’s visit. 

Ndhiwa

Keep the comments coming; they are like fresh water to us here in Kenya.

Meeting Day

Today we stayed in Kisii at the new hotel Maureen found called Dados.  It’s much nicer than the Mash Park where we used to stay.  John Cherry and Cherie Creech can attest to the charms of the Mash Park.  We had our meeting today to discuss the various issues of the orphanage work.

What I was struck by today is how similar we are to the Kenyans in some key ways.  They also see that this work is vital, and that it is part of God’s plan for the redemption of the world.  Of course it’s more real for them than us; they live with the reality of death and despair every day.  But they struggle with the same dilemmas that we do with regards to this work.  It is far easier, and cheaper, to just provide food for those orphans who have none.  Housing them, educating them, and providing medical care triples the cost.  We struggle with how much care to provide the orphanage kids, knowing that it costs the outsiders dearly.  They struggle with it too.

We talked of ways to help the Kenyans raise money on their own.  Some of them are very entrepreneurial, and some aren’t.  Just like in America.  It’s kind of fun for me to be able to throw in a quick lesson on economics; I was surprised how much I remembered from those macro and micro classes when I was a business major.  Our workers are eager students.

The biggest blessing I discovered today however is the one that I have had for 21 years, Susie.  Today, she sat in our meeting, contributing some explanations when mine were lacking, and took pages of notes of the meeting on her laptop.  I can’t tell you how valuable that is when my memory is so bad.  She has also been keeping up with the money and receipts; no easy task here.  I know that John and the GCR bookkeeping staff will appreciate her work.  Imagine balancing an expense account with three currencies!  Susie’s role on this trip will really be shown in the next few days as we begin our orphanage visits.  She has the ability to bond quickly with the widows at these locations.  She loves them deeply, and they seem to return her affection.

Tomorrow we head to Ndhiwa to see their orphanage and worship with them.  I’ll be preaching one of Charlton’s excellent sermons about Ruth.  It struck me when I heard that sermon how much Ruth’s story fit with the widows at our orphanages.  God uses the weakest, most marginalized, broken people to do his most amazing work.  He even includes them in the redemption of the world.  Without Ruth, there is no Jesus!

Safari

On Wednesday we were picked up by three vans from the travel agency and driven to the Masai Mara Game Preserve on the edge of the Serengeti International Park.  There are dozens of lodges and camps in the Masai Mara that cater to foreigners who want to see wild animals in their native element.  Our lodge, Mara Simba, is a “Luxury” hotel, by African standards, which means the facility was much like a Holiday Inn, only with an African tribal theme, and lots more workers.  It had hot and cold running water in the shower, not the usual electric water heater shower head that most other African hotels have.

The purpose of this trip was team-building.  This is a place where the average Kenyan will never get to go because of the cost.  We took all the orphanage workers, Maureen and Francis, Risper from the WBS office and Susie and I.  We took time on Thursday to meet together about education needs, but otherwise it was all rest and relaxation.

When we arrived, we were served lunch; the food is excellent, by any standard.  Then at 4pm they took us on our first of four game drives that we experienced this week.  They have these vans that the top comes up on.  You can stand up or sit as you prefer.  The drivers have radios so they can communicate a “find” to the others.  They do a great job of finding the animals you came to see, though the terrain is very bumpy. 

 

We were able to see lions, mostly females but a couple of males, and cubs.  We saw a rhino on our first day from a distance and then Thursday, we were able to get amazingly close.  We found a cheetah, which are amazingly beautiful creatures, though we did not get to see her run.  There were wildebeests aplenty as well has hundreds of zebras.  Yesterday, Simon Karanja, who was riding in our van, spotted three lionesses sleeping in the sun that the driver had missed.  We were able to get to them and have them basically all to ourselves, though the driver was nervous because they were a little “off the track.”

We had a great time each evening socializing and kidding each other over dinner and after.  I think the workers really got along well together.  This morning we did our last game drive on the way out of the park.  It was ok, but a little late in the day for great animal spotting.  After we left the park, we did have two animal encounters that were memorable.  

Along the side of the road, near a Masai village, we spotted a couple of dozen Kenyans looking at a large carcass.  As we approached I was saddened to see that it was an elephant, killed by the poisoned arrows of poachers, and with its entire face hacked off to get the ivory.  It was awful to see such a mighty beast slaughtered for nothing more than a human’s greed.  Ivory is tremendously valuable and the poachers use of poisoned arrows ruins the meat of the animal so very little can be salvaged.  I won’t be posting the pictures as they are pretty disturbing.

After a little more driving we came across two giraffes “necking.”  This is a type of fighting that two males do to determine the leader of the herd.  We scared them off, however and the fled back to the herd who numbered at least twenty.  They are amazingly large, not at all like the cartoon figures you are used to.  Very elegant runners; almost like slow-motion.

Tomorrow we’ll have another meeting with the workers and then bid them farewell back to their homes.  We’ll be seeing most of them again this trip as we begin to visit the orphanages Sunday with Ndhiwa. Below is a web album of the safari pix.

Kenyan Safari 2010