road trip to Kitanga -- Mwanzia home

4/26/07 -- afternoon

Annah and Ruth have been asking me all week when we would be going to their house, so I was happy to be able to tell them this morning during the trip to Machakos that this afternoon was the day! They were so excited and Ruth immediately called her brother on the phone (as an aside, many of the Kenyans had cell phones! We were amazed at the great reception everywhere...we would be out in the sticks some place with Paul in the bus and he would get three or four phone calls -- made us laugh. The phones are very economical and many people have them for emergency use). I spent lunch with Ellen and Agnes, talking about our families. Ellen has a daughter in Houston who I tried to reach while we were there, but I could not. I hope I had the right phone number -- I would like to send her pictures of her mother and father I took. Ellen will help Laureen this afternoon with the class -- finishing up their books. Since the Mwanzia family lives in Kitanga, about an hour away, a special trip had to be made.

About two p.m., nearly everyone else loaded into the bus and off we went. Ndunda, Ruth and Annah couldn't stop smiling. After about a good hour of bumpy road and hill climbing (Kitanga is substantially higher than Masii) we arrived at the home. The older sister Mary and brother Samuel met us and were surprised and pleased to see how many had come to visit. You could see how proud they were of their home and shamba, which was well-maintained and cultivated. Chickens were scratching around and they had the very first actual "pet" dog we had seen -- Simba was her name, very friendly. Ruth says she likes to play games. All the dogs we have seen so far have been scroungy generic types, little skinny tan things. She was more of a brindle color and looked healthy (no ribs showing).

They have a shady area with trees planted in a circle in front of the house and we soon were sitting on every possible thing available under the trees -- I think there must have been at least 10 of us plus the family of 5. The little dog made friends with Jackie Grignon immediately (she recognized someone who would scratch her around her ears). Jackson introduced everyone and Samuel (25)talked a little about the family. As I shared before, he has kept the family together since the mother and then the father of the family died. He was only 17 when their father died. He kept the family farm going, kept his sisters and brother in school, helped his sister Mary (23) finish teacher's college (she is now teaching in a local school). As Jackson said to me later, "he is a small man with the heart of a lion." I could see the respect the older adults had for him and for his accomplishment.

After we had talked a little, I signaled Paul, and he told the family that funds had been made available for Samuel to go back to school. It turns out that he had started teacher's college this past January and was able to finish the term, but still owed money and was not going to be able to go back to school when it started back up again in May. The family had been praying for a way to be made for him to return. I was reminded of the song we sing sometimes "God will make a way when there seems to be no way." Samuel's eyes filled with tears and I don't think there were any dry eyes anywhere....He thanked me, but I told him that it was a gift from several generous friends who just wanted something special to happen with the money. I also told him that we would continue to support him until he finishes school at the end of next year. (A special scholarship fund has been set up for Samuel Mwanzia through Tumaini International -- it will only cost a total of $2000 for him to finish school and nearly one-third has already been paid, through the generosity of state-side donors.) He promised that he would study hard and make us proud.

After we returned to the States, Kerry and I were marveling at the way God can work. The family had been praying, they knew I was coming to visit but they had no idea that I had asked my friends and family to send me with money to meet some as yet unknown need. Several of the people who gave me money don't even go to church, but their goodwill was used anyway. I would not have even known that this need existed except for the fact that I had met Agnes (Tumaini Board member) who visited our class on Wednesday afternoon. What an amazing thing...God is great, all the time. All the time, God is great.

As is often true, sometimes when your heart is so full that you can hardly stand it, something happens that will break the mood -- here we were, all sitting there, very serious and tearful (Paul was openly wiping his eyes), listening to the story and then their thanks and gratitude to God for this gift, when all of a sudden we heard this awful noise coming from behind one of the small outbuildings. I don't know how to describe it, but it sounded like someone was being strangled, and not liking it very much! This went on for a while, we are all trying to ignore it, but finally I had to ask Samuel what it was, and he laughed and said it was a goat! Well, I had never heard a goat that sounded like that, but I took his word for it. Of course, later, Kerry was able to duplicate the noise perfectly and spent the rest of the trip occasionally bursting forth with the "goat whinny" -- I don't know what else to call it...it was hilarious. Later, we went to meet these goats (see above). After the presentation of the gifts to the family, they showed us the house. It was quite large, as the family had been fairly prosperous before the parents had died. Apparently their neighbors had been kind to them as well. It was a situation where they had just what they needed but no extra. Tumaini has been a godsend as well for the family, keeping Ruth, Annah, and Ndunda in school as well.

We stayed for about an hour and then headed back. I received so many blessings that day. I can't even begin to describe them.

Before I went to Kenya, I selected a postcard at Berean with a verse from Jeremiah 29:11 for Annah and Nthenya -- "for I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Both Annah and her sister Ruth really liked that verse and seeing how God worked that week showed me again how there is a plan for each of us...you just have to be open to being the instrument of his works...