Playing Catch-up

Wednesday  we all stayed at the Made in the Streets compound in Kamulu near Nairobi.  I met with Maureen and all of our 24 WBS follow-up workers all day.  These workers are the core of what God is doing here.  They visit WBS students to see how they are getting along, answer questions, and baptize them when they are ready.   They also help the new churches established by our students to get started and stay healthy.  Some of them also have responsibilities with the orphanages we have established at the churches in their communities.

Wednesday morning, Pam and Susie went in town to visit the Giraffe Center.  They had a great time.  We also put Arnold on his plane to Ghana, and Jeff worked all day with the kids at Made in the Streets doing automotive work.  Last night we treated everyone to a movie, played from a projector and iPad that I brought, hooked up to a Kenyan sound system.  My skills are still sharp!

Today (Thursday), we wrapped up our meetings this morning and after lunch went in town on the MITS bus to treat our workers to a special surprise.  We drove to the downtown Bata store and bought all of them shoes.  It was so much fun to watch them shop and try on shoes, like kids in a candy store.  Don’t miss the pics below. 

When they were done we dropped them at the bus terminal to make their way home and we messed around Nairobi waiting to take Pam and Jeff to the airport.  Finally, after a meal at Java House, we took them to Jomo Kenyatta International for their flights home.  Later we picked up my mother Charlene, and daughter Morgan, to begin their week long adventure with us.  Tomorrow I will meet with our name-getters while Susie, Charlene and Morgan get to know the kids at Made in the Streets.

6 oct

Kipsenende

I planned this day to be light and easy.  Only one site to visit, our feeding station at  the Kipsenende Church of Christ.  This is another church started by Bernard Kibet, and they really love their kids here.  This church was caring for orphans from their very beginning, and we partnered with them to do even more.  We built a widow’s dorm, dining hall, kitchen and latrine here, and the church just keeps doing more.  They raised money to buy a tea field to raise money for the orphans, and we added to it.  They wanted to expand the site, so they raised some money and we added to that.  Their 70 members have been giving sacrificially so it was only right that we helped them out.

After meeting the kids, we toured the small site and then the various projects.  We walked into the tea field owned by the church and watched the church members picking tea.  Kibet gave us an economics lesson in tea growing and we learned how to pick from the harvesters.  This 1.2 acre plot yields about 400 kgs of tea each weekly harvest and each kg sells for about 20 shillings.  That’s 32,000ksh per month, minus the harvesters share yields a tidy sum for the church.  This field has been in production with the same shrubs since the late 60’s. 

Some of the kids wanted to show us the river, and since we had a short day we walked down with them.  We were all amazed at the beauty of the countryside, and were able to witness a slice of life in this part of the world.  Along the way we met Kenyan long distance runners training on the hills and a woman who had come down to do her laundry in the river.  Kibet showed us the spot where he has baptized many new Christians and Doris stuck her feet into the cool water.  It was very relaxing and I realized how much the Kenyans depend on God through nature to supply their daily needs.  I took a panoramic picture from the tea fields, check it out below:

As we returned to the feeding station, we were ready for lunch and were able to eat it with the kids.  Jeff even joined in washing their hands before we ate.  Afterwards, I met with the church elders while the others played with the kids and Pam honored the widows.  All in all it was a very enjoyable stay.

On the way back to Eldoret , we decided to check out a sign we saw on the road on the way out that directed us 1.5km down a road to see a waterfall.  The road was bad, but when we arrived we found a newly designated tourist site, still under construction, around an amazing set of falls on the Kipkaren river.  The site is called Chipkiit Waterfalls and it was incredibly beautiful.  We explored for a while, taking lots of pictures that you can see below.

3 Oct

So here we sit, in the Hotel Sirikwa for the last time.  Tomorrow we will dirve to Nairobi and prepare for my meetings with the WBS worlers Wednesday through Friday.  Michael and Dorris are staying here an extra day before headed west into Uganda to continue their East African adventure.  Jeff and Pam will spend a day at Made in the Streets, before leaving for the U.S. Thursday night.  Arnold leaves us Wednesday for his home in Ghana.  What an exciting couple of weeks he has had.  I may not blog tomorrow, as I prepare for the meetings.  Be blessed.

Kapsabet and Ngenymesut (Sunday)

I have always been frustrated by how Christians fight with each other over styles of worship.  Even in Kenya, I have heard stories about how churches of Christ divide themselves into camps based on hand-clapping, women in worship, or instrumental music.  Because of this, I am always refreshed to worship at a new church at one of our orphanages and see how different they are from each other.  At some places their worship is somber and traditional; at others it is lively and joyful.  Kapsabet church of Christ enjoys a fine mix of styles that brings me hope.  It seems at places where the kingdom of God is blossoming through the obvious bond they share in caring for orphans, they have no time for fights over worship styles.

Especially joyful was the giving time.  Everyone eagerly lined up to bring his or her offering to the front, dancing and singing.  A special prayer for the offering occurs after, to thank God for his blessings.  Later in the service, they have a special offering so that those who have harvested that week can bring their 10% to the church.  They bring sacks of maize, bananas, and other vegetables, and another special prayer is said for the harvest.  Very cool.

Kapsabet orphanage is our biggest, with 140 souls here.  It is older and the kids seem more comfortable with each other here.  The older kids really look after the young ones, guiding them and leading them in worship.  It feels like a comfortable pair of blue jeans, worn and faded, but still your favorite.  Bernard Kibet, our worker here is a big reason for that.  His leadership style is quiet, but ever present.  I really love him.  Kapsabet looks the same to me, with a few additions, notably the tank that now is filled with water from a municipal water system that recently came to the area.

After worship, I met with the church elders while Pam did her blessing for the widows.  This time there was a unique problem.  It seems that the church here now pays for an additional two widows on their own that we did not know about, so we were two gifts short.  Next time, we know a new question to ask.  It’s great to be at a place where the church is so strong and supportive of the work.  It makes me realize what a true partnership we have here.

We also got to meet with Deborah, the wife of Bernard Langat, our new first choice for principal at the Vocational Training Institute.  I wanted to be sure that both were willing to move and start a new work with us.  We were all very impressed with her as she led parts of the worship, translating from Kalinjin to English and leading some songs.  I think that God has led us to His choice this time.  They are going to do a fine job finishing the education of our orphans as they prepare to enter the world.

After Kapsabet, we made the short drive to Ngenymesut.  It was not a scheduled visit, but sometimes surprises are good.  The kids there looked very good, and we toured the place and played with them until it was time to go.  Tomorrow, Kipsinende Feeding Station.  Don’t forget to check out the pictures from today, below.

2 Oct

Pokot

We had a leisurely day yesterday.  We only needed to get to our hotel in Eldoret, so we slept in and packed and drove north.  Along the way we say more of the beautiful countryside that Kenya is known for, including tea fields and amazing vistas.  We also so a bad accident where a pickup collided with a tractor pulling a cart.  Sharing the road with slow moving vehicles, (tractors, donkey carts, people carts,) is normal here, but Kenyan drivers don’t really slow down for them very often, they just zip around them.  Sometimes there’s another one waiting in the other lane.  We made it safely and had a few hours to look around Eldoret.  It was nice not being in a hurry.

This morning we started early, 6am.  Pokot is a long way from anywhere; Eldoret is just the closest place with a hotel.  We drove northeast to a city named Iten, a city known for it’s long distance runners.  We had breakfast at a nice tea house called the Baraka Tea Room, mandazi and chai, and then got back on the road.  After Iten, we began a 3,500ft descent to the Kerio Valley.  Along the way we saw some of the most breathtaking views you could imagine; the photos do not do them justice, but here is a panorama that is pretty cool.

Once we reached the valley floor, we turned onto a dirt/rock road that we stayed on for two and a half hours.  That is an endurance test, my friend.  There were numerous dry river crossings and hundreds of termite mounds, some soaring over 20ft tall.  We crossed a river just before reaching our destination that changed from wide and slow to narrow and fast right under the steel bridge.  It cut through the igneous rock that underlies the entire valley.  Amazing!  The terrain here is like the surface of Mars, red dirt and rocks, with trees added.

We reached Kinyach around 10am.  Kinyach is the home of a church started by Wilson Kiptoo, our WBS worker in this area.  We have a feeding station here with about 4o kids.  We call the site Pokot, but that is actually the name of the tribe that most of these people come from.  There are actually two feeding sites, this one and Kimnai, about 10 kilometers away.  At both sites they have a kitchen, widows dorm, dining hall and latrine.  At Kinyach they also have several money-making projects like goats, bees, and a newly constructed poultry project.

We were greeted with children’s singing and a brief tour of the site.  We met the widows from both stations and local church members.  Then we drove on to see Kimnai and the projects there, which are similar, with the addition of a camel and it’s calf.  They use camels for transportation of course, but also for milk.  We stopped briefly at Wilson’s house, where the tailoring project is located and then went back to Kinyach for a ceremony with the kids and church members and lunch.

After lunch, Pam did her blessing for the widows, which has become one of my favorite parts of these visits.  The widows really light up when they get their gifts and hugs from Pam and Susie.  We had a little time for playing with the kids and handing out candy, then it was time to depart.  The roads in this part of Kenya are so bad, you really don’t want to be on them after dark.  The drive back was grueling, so very long and hot.  The Forstons opted out of today’s journey just for that reason, but they will be back with us tomorrow, when we visit Kapsabet and Ngenymesut Orphanages.  Don't forget the pictures in the album below.

1 Oct

Easier Day

Today we had an easier day.  When I plan our schedule here, I try to put in some days where we only see one place or just drive to another city, in order to give our minds and spirits some time to process what we have seen.  Today we only saw Ongoro Orphanage.

After yesterday’s mud adventure, I was happy to see that the Ongoro area had not had rain recently, so we made good time there with no incidents.  Our host at Ongoro, Tobias Olweny greeted us warmly, and we toured his facility.  Ongoro opened in 2008, about a month before my first visit to Kenya, so I have been able to watch it mature.  The place looked great!  Subtle changes, like shrubs, a new cho (latrine) and other improvements, gave the impression that the place was becoming more of a home for it’s 90 residents.

Ongoro has piped water from a local NGO that set up a cooperative water district in this area.  Their static tanks are all linked to the main supply and were all brimming full.  Tobias had made the changes to the water filtering system that I had requested in May, so I was glad to see that.  In the kitchen, we found the widows hard at work on lunch.  They had figured out some good techniques for using the stoves to reduce smoke in the kitchen, so ventilation was not as much of a problem as at other sites.

Pam and Mbuvi set out to put suckers on all the orphan’s beds, and we were all pleased with the mosquito nets that Tobias had recently gotten from UNICEF.  All the buildings were very clean and tidy.  Even the chos here were very clean, and everyone commented on it.

The tailoring operation works well here, with their sales of clothing and uniforms to the community paying for a part time instructor for the widows and older girls.  Dorris ordered a dress, to be picked up on the road tomorrow, and Susie and Pam ordered skirts for Tobias to bring to us in Nairobi next week. 

We saw their posho (corn mill) and clinic, now easily accessible to the community, and then the school that Tobias owns across the street.  All of our primary school kids go here tuition free, paid for by the fees of other community students.  Tobias is able to keep the student-teacher ration very low by Kenyan standards at 25 to 1.

Pam did her now familiar presentation of aprons and gifts to the widows and that was really touching to see.  The ladies here have jelled into a large family and their easy familiarity with each other was obvious.  Even the newest widow seemed right at home.

We met the local orphans board and had lunch at Tobias’ house nearby.  As usual it was a big spread of food and a really great fruit salad for desert.  As we waved goodbye to Ongoro, we took our time going down the road, with our ladies hading our candy to the local kids we met along the way.  Someone saod that we were doing exactly what we warned our own kids about, taking candy from strangers, but things are different here. 

We got back to the Dados early, and have had a leisurely afternoon.  Jeff and Arnold returned from Dirubi with stories of working at Evans automotive shop in Sondu and breaking rocks with the masons at the training institute.  They were sorry they missed our big adventure in the mud; I know we could have used their help that day.

Tomorrow we will sleep in and have a leisurely drive to Eldoret, which will be our home base for the next few days while we see Kapsabet, Ngenymesut, Kipsinende, and our feeding stations among the Pokot people.  I may not blog tomorrow, unless something memorable happens, so pray for our safety on our drive, please.

Here are some more pictures:

29 Sept

Sometimes God says, “Slow down.”

We’ve been keeping up a pretty intense schedule, seeing two facilities a day and traveling three to four hours round trip to do it.  It’s tiring, and sometimes it feels like we are just scratching the surface.  Perhaps today, God decided that we needed to slow down.

On the way to Uriri Orphanage, we stopped in Rongo to drop off Michael and Doris with Hilton Merit, an old friend of theirs we just “happened” to run into yesterday.  They spent the day with him, seeing Sam’s Place, a new orphanage for deaf students nearby.  We sped off to Uriri, our orphanage in the heart of the sugar cane region. 

All the kids were there, unusual on this trip because of school, and they looked great.  All the Kenyan orphans I have met are very well behaved, and act like one big family.  I’m sure that they have interpersonal problems, like any family, but they always seem so happy and at ease after they have been in the home for a while.  We hung out with them for a while, saw the facility, and all the new things that Kenedy Chadi has been doing.

Chandi is an entrepreneur at heart; he really knows how to make money for the orphanage, even having a dream of one day being self-sufficient.  Lately he has been dabbling in brick making and fish farming, with our help, and dong well so far.  Their sugar cane crushing operation yields a lot of money for the hoe, and the lorry we bought them is always busy.  Kenedy farms about 15 acres as well in cane, maize, beans and bananas. 

We went so fast at Uriri, we decided to head over to Nana Glasscock feeding station.  There seemed to be plenty of time so Kenedy climbed into our Land Cruiser and we set out.  After 30 minutes of dirt roads, we turned off onto a cart path that wound through some very rocky terrain, and narrow paths through the cane.  We were all marveling on how well the vehicle was performing, climbing over rocks and through small mud puddles with ease.

As we turner a corner near the feeding station we encountered a wet area beside a cane field that had been recently planted.  It was grass, and looked fine, but after a few yards it turned to a deep, black, wet mud.  Soon we were stuck.  We tried pushing; all the orphans and bystanders helped.  We tried putting things under the wheels, all to no avail.  Finally the neighbors all showed up, each with a team of oxen.  We hitched up six of them to the front of the vehicle, but they could not make it move.

Kenedy got on his cell and found a man with a tractor in Awino, the nearby town.  After about an hour he arrived and finally pulled us out.   I guess we had been going to fast and we needed to slow down.  After we got back on the road, we didn’t slow down of course, like all Americans we were in a hurry. 

While we were waiting, I realized that I was the one who was most worried and stressed over our schedule.  I was afraid of  missing our self imposed deadlines and not getting to do something I wanted to do.  The Kenyans were less worried, and not at all concerned about my schedule.  These things happen, just go with the flow.  Hakuna matata.

We picked up Michael and Doris, and still had time to shop for soapstone at Kisi.  We made dinner and got to interview the potential principal for the institute.  Everything got done, but I was not in control of it.  I guess God is trying to tell me something.  “Slow down.”

28 Sept

Ndhiwa and Tom Manning

Today our plans were to visit Ndhiwa Orphanage and if there was time, Tom Manning Orphange.  We made the hour and a half drive with no drama, save another minor “diversion”.  This one was short, however and it reminded me of how much better this road is compared to what it used to be.  Maureen said that when the orphanage at Ndhiwa was new, it took almost three hours to get there because the road was so bad.

At Ndhiwa, we were met by Alfayo Bodi, our worker for this area.  Alfayo has become one of our most trusted men here, overseeing four facilities with 372 lives at stake.  He takes his responsibilities seriously, always trying to do the right thing by his kids and the church.  He is my good friend and my family has come to love and respect him as well. 

Ndhiwa is big, housing 153 widows and orphans, and the feeding station here feeds 103 twice a day.  As usual, it was in great order.  The facility looked great, with details that my eye sees like schedules posted in the dorms for the kids and food budgets and consumption records in the storeroom.  We checked for mosquito nets, they were pretty good, and happy kids that are the sure sign of a well run orphanage.

There was one problem that we saw, and that was the platform supporting their water storage tank had collapsed, ruining the tank, and keeping the facility from having water pressure at their taps and showers.  Fortunately, donations this month have been good, and we will be able to fix it right away.  It will give us the opportunity to relocate our water filters and clean up the system some.

The widows greated us warmly, save for the grieving widow, Eunice Atieno Achar who lost her daughter Lavenda to throat cancer complicated by AIDS two weeks ago.  Lavenda was the girl who’s face captured my heart on my first trip here in 2008, and I have been grieving for her as well. 

As at the other sites we have visited, Pam Hicks has been showing special love to these women who God has redeemed, and who serve these kids so faithfully.  She and her friends have prepared embroidered aprons stuffed with gifts and notes for each of them.  She presents them in a heartfelt ceremony that really blesses the widows.  My Susie also has a special heart for our servant widows, hugging and touching them and kissing their faces.  These ladies have met her before, so they greeted her especially warmly.

After a great lunch in Alfayo’s new house, we set out for Manning Orphanage, about 40 minutes away.  Manning is newer and smaller, but Alfayo’s eye for detail was present here as well.  Some of the kids who have half-day schooling were there to meet us, so Mbuvi and the others had a great time with them.  Manning is at the Ototo Church of Christ on Alfayo’s father’s land that he donated to the church.

Along our way home, we passed scores of kids going home from school and I was again struck at how friendly they are.  They don’t see white people very often at all, but their reaction to us is always positive and friendly.  The kids chase after us, waving and shouting “How are you?” in the cutest British accents.  I was also struck with how most of the people in this area live.  As you drive along a back road in Kenya, it’s like being in the back yards of hundreds of people.  Life happens all around you.  We saw a mother bathing her kids in the muddy water by the side of the road.  Further down was a small boy carrying a sack of maize on his head, his family’s dinner for several days.  We saw a small child crying alone on an embankment, his shirt tattered and torn.  Where will his salvation come from?  Will it come at all?  Nothing motivates me quite like that.

Tomorrow, Uriri.

27 Sept