VTC and Dirubi

We slept so well last night.  We had such a great feast and were very tired from our trip and it felt so good to be at our new "home" in Dirubi.  Today we spent a rather lazy day touring the VTC, (Vocational Training Center) and the Dirubi orphanage.  The new students seem eager and the new masonry, carpentry, and sewing programs are off to a good start.  I reviewed the intake of students with John Kariuki and Susie went around taking pictures. 

After lunch we had a good rest time and later went over to see what was new at the Dirubi Orphanage.  Dirubi is the oldest of our orphanages and one of the most compressed.   They have learned to do a lot with a little space there.  We recorded the choir and were also very impressed with their work.  Being an older place, they have a larger proportion of high-school kids so the voices were more mature and deep than most other places.

This evening, the workers began to arrive for our meetings tomorrow.  We shared dinner with them and retires, preparing for a long day of meetings tomorrow.  I will probably not blog again until after we visit Lee McGraw orphanage on Thursday.

Recently all the cell phone carriers began to purge users who had not "registered" their verified identities with the company.  This is in response to a new Kenyan law to help identify those who were using the cell network to commit fraud, and do other bad things.  I thought all of my accounts were registered properly, but apparently not.  Today all of our Safaricom lines stopped working completely.  Now we are using our backup carrier, Orange to get online.  However we don’t have phone service and no email on our iPhones. Just another reminder of how blessed we are in America and how dependent we have become on our smart phones!  This means no pictures can be upladed just yet, but we hope to have it all sorted out by Friday when we move on from here.

Muhoroni

To be honest, last time I was at Muhoroni I was less than thrilled.  I was not aware at the time, but the church was in the middle of a serious dispute, caused by someone connected with the orphanage.  There was distrust and dissension and the tension was evident in the way the place looked and in the eyes of the people there.  Since then, they were able to discover the source of the problems and deal with them effectively.  This time things were a lot better.  The kids were happier, and the place looked wonderful.

We have just invested in some repairs and renovations, things did not get done correctly during construction, and now Muhoroni looks better than it ever has.  Fresh plaster and paint makes a difference in the appearance of the buildings, but it also shows to the orphans and church members that we are serious about this work.  We spent a couple of hours meeting with the church members, discussing the past and the bright future for them.  It was time well spent.

We also recorded the Muhoroni Choir, and we were completely blown away.  Their choir leader, and orphan named Kevin Ogongo, has been rehearsing them diligently and they were spectacular.   I am really excited about this recording project and I think it has given the orphans something worthy to strive for.  I cant wait for you to hear them.  

After lunch we said our goodbyes and drove over to Kisumu.  We don’t have a facility there, but they have a great Nakumatt (Kenyan Walmart), and we needed supplies for our next four nights  staying at the Vocational Center.  We bought our usual needs, plus some chicken and hamburger meat for dinner.  When we arrived at the VTC, it was time to start dinner.  I gave a lesson in propane grilling to Mbuvi, Thomas, and Stephen while Susie got us all unpacked and moved in.  Jouhn Kariuki and his wife joined us for dinner, bringing ugali, scuma, and cabbage for our sides.  It was a great feast.  Tomorrow we will visit with the students here at the VTC and see Dirubi orphanage.  Be blessed.

Sunday at Kericho Feeding Station

When I was planning this trip, I intentionally had us out at our locations on every possible Sunday.  I wanted to do this in order to be able to worship with the churches here that do all the real work of serving the orphans.  Today we were at Kericho, one of our favorite places.  Last year when I brought Morgan and my mom, they were so kind to both of them.  They really treated them like honored guests.  My mom especially had a great time there.

We arrived at the scheduled start time for worship, 9:30, which means that we were an hour early for most Kenyans, and two hours early for some.  We decided to make our recordings of the children’s choir first and get that done before too many people came who could make extraneous noises.  That went really well.  All of the choirs so far have been good, but it seems to me they are a little better than usual because we told them in advance about the recording.

Church got started about 10:30 and went until about 12:30.  They asked me to preach, which I was ready for, and I did well.  By “well” I mean that I did not disappoint them by only preaching 25 minutes.  I did a cool 50 minute version of a sermon that Tod Brown initially preached at GCR in 25 minutes.  The story of Moses really resonates with Kenyans, and it’s particularly easy to tie it in to the orphans work.  How, you ask?  You’ll have to hear it to know!

After church we met all the local church leaders, and all the guests that heard a mzungu would be preaching and showed up.  That took a while.  Then they served the feeding station kids and our group a great lunch.  The church members and guests ate after.  We had a great time playing and talking with the kids, especially Francis Mbuvi, who loves to clown around with little ones.  You can see pictures from the day on Facebook HERE. (You should be able to see this album even if you are not a Facebook member.)

After lunch, a church member offered to show us another cave nearby.  Last year, we went to a beautiful waterfall and cave that is near here, and this one was just as cool.  We had to climb down to this one, instead of up like last year.  I was worried about my wounded foot, but it was fine.  After some pictures and exploring the cave, we climbed back up and headed back here to the Kericho Tea Hotel for one more night.

Tomorrow we will be at Muhoroni Orphanage for a while before moving on to the DeFore Vocational Training Center.  We will base there for four days while we hold meetings, and visit the Dirubi and Lee McGraw Orphanages.

Londiani and Chesyliot

We arrived at Londiani Orphanage about the time the kids were getting home from school.  After a late lunch, we toured the place with David Koech, the director here.  Londiani was built in late 2008 and opened in 2009.  This was one of the first places I visited on my first trip to Kenya.  John DeFore negotiated the site for the orphanage and we met the church and the beautiful orphans that they were feeding there.  As we walked up the hill, the orphans and widows were standing on the ridge looking down at us.  I raised my hands in a thumbs up sign, and they all did the same.  I snapped a picture of that scene and it has  become one of my all time favorites.  The KWO logo features the shadow of that image as it's main symbol.

We had a great discussion with David about some operational issues, nothing major but a good conversation nonetheless.  As we greeted the kids, I could feel the love that they have for each other and for me and Susie.  We sat in on their evening devotional, which is one of my favorite things to do on the world.  Imagine, sitting with your (really large) family every night and singing praises to God and hearing a word of encouragement from one of your brothers.  The 13 year old boy that spoke was really good; he brought me to the edge of tears.

After devotional, we had dinner and settled in for the night at David's house.  We could hear the orphans singing as we drifted off, practicing for their big recording session the next morning.  One of my goals for this trip is to get some good recording of the kids singing at each location.  I brought a good microphone and software for my Mac and practiced getting a good result.  This morning we recorded three songs at Londiani and they sound fantastic.  I'll try to post a sample later in the trip.  Here is a link to the Facebook album for pictures from Londiani:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151545664020809.554465.792145808&type=1&l=4af571fee4 

After the recording session we said our goodbyes and drove the short distance to visit our feeding station at the Chesyliot Church of Christ.

David's brother Richard Koech is the director of Chesyliot.  His kids were all assembled and were so excited to see us.  The church elders were also there and we had a great session with them in the dining hall.  We recorded some more songs and a couple of poems that the kids performed.  After lunch we spent some good time just hanging out with the kids and getting some great pictures.  You can see them on facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151545785690809.554482.792145808&type=1&l=5198faa43c 

We are now resting at the Tea Hotel in Kericho.  Tomorrow we will worship with the church at the Kericho Feeding Station before returning here.  I'll write about that visit tomorrow.  Thanks for checking in with us!

Back in Kenya

We are returning to Kenya this time for a routine oversight trip. Susie is traveling with me since her job at Basic Energy ended and she has not yet found a new one. The timing seemed perfect to spend some time together without the pressures of work for her. It will be a new experience for her. In the past she has spent a great deal of time tele-commuting and missed a lot of scenery and quality time with the orphans.

Our flights were all on time and not very full. I purposely booked or travel mid-week to avoid the rush and full planes of the weekends. Our drive to Kamulu, where we stay with the Mbuvis, is always a sweet time for me. It's a familiar drive and I get to see what has changed since my last visit. It's like visiting my hometown now, since I've been here so many times.

Thursday we planned to stay in Nairobi to do some shopping for the medical mission trips coming up this summer, and it also helps in case baggage is delayed. Before we went in town, we toured the construction of the new WBS office / KWO Arrival center. We are building it at Kamulu, very near the Mbuvis new house which is also under construction. The new office is much bigger for the growing WBS ministry and has attached dorms for our mission trips to stay at when they arrive and depart Kenya. It is almost finished, and it was a pleasure to see what I had designed being built almost exactly as I had envisioned. By the time we return from our trip up-country the place will be nearly finished.  Here is a link to the Facebook album with a few pics:  https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151545649300809.554462.792145808&type=1&l=010f9afbf9

We went into town, primarily to get the dental anesthesia for our medical trips. Dental supplies are scarce here, but we found a place last year that was able to help us again this year. We lunched at Java at the Sarit center, and I was able to get another fine haircut from Kiki, a former MITS student that works at a salon on the top floor.

Susie and Mauryn could not resist some market shopping at Junction Center, and as usual I had to pry her away. We returned to Kamulu to pack for our 19 days touring the orphanages. As I write this we are on the highway traveling to Londiani to visit and spend the night. Francis Mbuvi is driving for us these first few days so i get a chance to rest and enjoy the ride for a change.

I'm looking forward to seeing David and Richard Koech and their wives and all the kids in that area. I'm keeping an open mind and heart on this trip, trying to let the spirit speak to me about what conditions that need to be addressed. We are striving to improve and standardize the quality of care at all of our locations. This trip will be to see the results of our first efforts at this from last year and identify new areas to work on. Please pray for us and our journey, and check back here on my blog often to learn of our progress. I'll post pictures tonight from our first two days.



Sent from my iPad

Final Thoughts - Culture

Well, my twelfth trip is in the books.  I arrived with the medical team and stayed on an additional three weeks.  I managed to see all but three of our orphanages, several feeding stations, and visited a site of a future potential feeding site.  We announced the site for our fourteenth orphanage, at Kinyach in the Pokot region, worked with the secondary school under construction at Kapsabet and held meetings for our orphanage workers.  We established a couple of new income generating projects, and I drove over 1,500 km.  Quite a month.

On every trip I try to focus on one aspect of my job that I need improvement on.  This time, I did not plan what to focus on until I got here and discovered it for myself.  Early in the trip when communications problems between my directors and myself caused some conflict, I knew that I was experiencing a culture problem.  I decided to slow down and pay more attention to the culture of the people that I deal with so much, and try to learn something. 

Our culture is something that we do not think about very often, (unless we travel a lot), except when we Christians complain about the ‘decline’ of our culture.  I’ll define culture here as all the things you have learned about life that you don’t realize you know.  For example, you just know that we use a fork to eat with some things, a spoon for others, and our hands for other things.  You may think that someone who eats with their hands for most things is “barbaric” or “rude” but in reality they have just learned a different cultural way of eating than you.  Calling someone “uncivilized” based on their cultural education is snobbery, IMHO.

Culture affects communication in ways you wouldn’t expect.  For example when you say, “I will not give you any more money.”  You probably mean “no more money at all.”  To someone of another culture, it may be understood that you are saying, “no more money today”.  When you object to that understanding, they may think YOU are the barbaric one.  Culture is also your language and surprisingly also your accent.  How many times have you judged someone because of that?  I have made a conscious effort to change my accent while I am here to sound more "Kenyan", so much so that Americans comment on it, but Kenyans really seem to appreciate that I am trying to adapt.

So as the trip went on, I tried to dig deeper into the meanings of differences in culture that I saw.  I asked a lot of questions, and my new assistant in Kenya, Stephen Owino proved to be a valuable resource.  He is trying to teach my withered old brain some Swahili, and I did pick up some, BTW.  It’s going to be a long journey for me to undo some of the cultural baggage that I carry in order to understand these people better and improve our teamwork.

In the end, it’s just part of the amazing journey that God has set me on.  I could never have imagined that I would be here, doing this.  But it seems as though he has been preparing me for this work for all of my life.  I only pray that He keeps making me learn His lessons as I do my best to serve Him in Kenya and in the U.S.  Thanks for reading my ramblings on this long journey. Writing it certainly helps me process everything that I have seen.  I pray it helps you understand a little better what God is doing here. It is truly amazing!

Kericho Feeding Station

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Today we visited Kericho Feeding Station, my last official visit for this trip.  I always love coming here.  The people are so friendly and so many come out to see you.  Having mzungu around means that everybody comes to see and stays as long as you are there.  It’s kinda spooky sometimes, the kids follow you everywhere.  You can’t get a moment to pick your nose or anything. ;)  Seriously, the church here really loves these kids and this place.  You can see it in the small details of the buildings, paint, repairs done, and the like.  I love that.

We took some time to visit a plot of land they want us to help them buy.  It’s 1.6 acres of tea land, about 300 yards from the feeding station.  It won’t be useful for building a full orphanage some day, but it will generate some good, reliable income for the feeding station.  This is what we call a sustainability project; one that makes it possible for the location to help itself.  This land will generate about $220 a month, every month.  That will help them feed more kids, pay primary school levies and with medical expenses.

Remember, pictures are on the KWO Facebook page at www.facebook.com/kwoministries

We had a great time today at Kericho and we left just after the kids ate their lunch so they could return to school.  Most of them would not go back if they knew we were still there.  The drive from Kericho to Nakuru was uneventful, but very rough.  We met up with DeFore’s group and are staying tonight at the Kunste.  Tomorrow we start back to Nairobi, pausing at Kikitemo for a last look and then in for shopping.  Thursday night we depart for America.  I’ll post my final reflections on this trip at the airport, as is my custom.  Be blessed