church in Masii

4/29/07 - morning into afternoon

As you may remember, last Sunday we went to church at one of the biggest Baptist churches in Nairobi -- it was an experience not unlike home, just enough different (praise songs in Swahili!) to make it cool...Well, church in Masii was another story entirely, but much more interesting.

We arrived about 10 am, not everyone was there yet, but we were met as we got off the bus by a little old lady (see above) who greeted us with "Huacha!" (as she was older than all of us!) and when she realized that we knew what the proper response was -- "Aaa!" - she started to laugh and went around the whole group, laughing, shaking our hands and greeting each one of us. It was great.

We had intended to sit in the back, but of course, they cleared out the kids who were sitting in the middle and gave us good seats. The whole first hour or so was taken up with prayers, singing, announcements, several choirs performed (different age groups), as people gradually filled up the room. We were introduced, other visitors brought greetings from other churches. There were several things that I enjoyed about the service.

Many things that were done that were straight out of the Bible. Of course, the singing and praying, but when the offering was taken, people brought their offering FORWARD, just as the children had done at the Tumaini VBS. Some of the church members did not have any money, and had contributed in kind -- fruit, eggs, beans, corn, dish soap and a couple of chickens. Much to our surprise, after the offering was taken, one of the elders of the church held an auction for the remaining items, including the chickens (see above). People (including us) bid on the items and either took them home, or donated them to the older members of the congregation.

They also took care of the widows and the orphans. I recognized several of the Tumaini children in the congregation and two or three of them were called forward to receive a bag with clothes and food. They also did this for the widows in the congregation. One of Tumaini's main scripture verses is James 1:27 "Religion which is considered pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and keep oneself from being polluted by the world" -- I could see how it comes straight from their daily practice.

They also had what could only be described as a "drill team" for the young boys -- they marched in a formation, did several fancy maneuvers under the command of their leader, stood at attention while the second in command inspected all the boys, straightened collars and then presented them to the leader. After that, they marched out, all in very strict formation with the drummer and the keyboard player keeping the time. I thought to myself -- what a great way to channel the energies of these kids -- this showed a tremendous amount of self-discipline and apparently they practice all the time...

After the auction and other events, announcements and so forth, they turned off the generator, and Kerry preached with Stanley interpreting in Kikomba. It was quite an event and the best demonstration of "tag team" preaching that I have ever seen!

They wanted us to stay for lunch, but we had already been promised to have lunch with the Tumaini Board members back at the hotel, so we left fairly quickly after the service.

Lunch was very nice, we packed up and got ready to leave while they were having their meeting. I took pictures of Ellen and her husband Abraham and Agnes. Lovely people. Hard to leave.

The trip back to Nairobi was long -- there had been lots of rain during the week and the road near Nairobi was a mess. We had to get ready to leave early for the safari -- we quickly repacked and crashed back at HEART.

lunch at the shamba

4/28/07 -- afternoon

We walked a couple of hundred yards down a little road to the Mutunga family farm still occupied by Stanley's mother, Grace Kanini (Kanini means "little" or "tiny" -- she is probably less than 5 feet tall), a couple of sisters, and various children. His older brother Francis, seen at the far end of the picture above, is a retired fruit wholesaler and now lives in a little house next to his mother's place. It is a beautiful farm, well tended, with all the crops seen frequently and some that I haven't seen before -- maize, cowpeas, pumpkin, papaya, mango, banana, and a huge patch of sweet potatoes.

We were seated ceremoniously under a pleasant sun shelter with chairs and low tables. Water was brought around to wash our hands (a nice Kenyan custom we saw in many places). The meal was a chicken stew, with potatoes and other vegetables, along with fresh homemade chapatis (the Kenyan equivalent of a flour tortilla -- delicious). We enjoyed a relaxed lunch with the family dog and a few chickens scratching around and afterwards, one of the nephews, Sebastian, brought around sodas in bottles (such as orange and grape Fanta, and Coke - it's everywhere!). After lunch, we walked around the farm, enjoying the nice day and the beautiful blue sky full of clouds. Kerry, Paul and Mike were investigating the small one room school house that the family used when the children (10 of them!) were young...Paul headed in first and the other two followed, when Paul suddenly backed up into them and yelled "Get out! Get out!" -- there was a hive of wasps! they ran for it -- fortunately no one was stung.

As we were getting ready to leave, we all gathered for prayer -- Stanley asked his brother Francis to pray. Now Francis had not said more than a few words the whole time we were there, but my goodness could the man pray! We were protected from all kinds of evil, he rained blessings on us, called down angels to stand around us, and bound Satan away from us (always a good thing...) -- afterwards, we were laughing that NOTHING bad could happen to us now! And truly, nothing did. We had adventures, but all was well.

As we were leaving, we walked back out to the road, and Joseph followed in the bus. As he was turning to get back onto the road he got stuck again -- this time because the rear tires were not touching the ground as he went over a bump. Kerry and Norm jumped on the back bumper for ballast and hung on and jumped up and down. As they did, the bus tires caught suddenly and the bus shot forward. They all swung out from the back of the bus but no one fell off. Everyone was scrambling for their cameras, but nobody caught the moment -- the picture above was taken as they were all jumping down and grateful that no one was hurt.

We decided to walk past the area where the local people were fixing their road -- we didn't want to have another incident. Watching everyone join together to solve a community problem was exciting, however, as there were no County Road Crews coming around to fix the road!

The rest of the day was spent relaxing -- we had had it!

Tomorrow is church at one of the churches Stanley used to preach at near Masii.

Wamunyo wood carvers

4/28/07 -- late morning

After we left Masii, we headed off to the Wamunyo woodcarving village, about 30 minutes away, where we were absolutely overwhelmed by the amount and quality of the craft. I bought way more than I should have, but oh well. A little retail therapy for me, and gifts for the good people who donated back in the States. I chatted with the woodcarvers for a bit and they were delightful -- we watched them carve a giraffe out of a single piece of wood in just a few minutes.

Laureen was not feeling too well, so she and another couple of people got off the bus at an intersection (Paul was on the cell phone and had the other Tumaini van come out from Masii to pick her up), and the rest of us headed off to have lunch at the home of Grace Kanini (Little Grace) -- Stanley Mutunga's 87 year old mother, who still lives just outside of Masii. We had to take a different route, as the main road to her house had been washed out recently in a heavy downpour. The local folks were out en masse re-doing the road (they would dig out the dirt from the side and throw it on the road) and the bus got stuck up to the back axle, just as we were getting to the turn off for Grace's shamba. We all hopped off, which helped a lot (since all the weight was in the back) and Joseph had the bus extricated from the mess by the time we had all walked down the side road to the house.

goodbye

4/28/07 -- morning

Saturday morning was a bit of a stressful time. We got up early to go to the school to see the children before they went back home. Most of the morning is spent by the staff getting bus fare ready for the children and sending them off home. Some of the younger children are picked up by their mothers (if they still have her) or their guardians, but many of the children just take their bag and hop on the local matatu or other public transportation (there are some larger buses) and off they go. Still others who live in the local area walk home.

I said good bye to all the young people we had met, Ndunda, Annah and Ruth, Ruth Ndolo, Mutie, Lazarus, Miriam, Judy...several of them wanted me to take a picture so I would remember them...as if I could forget them. Ndunda finally gave me a good smile for a picture. We also said goodbye to the Tumaini staff that was not going to be going with us today -- we have one more day in the area and tomorrow we will return to Nairobi for the rest of the trip. We had group pictures to hand out, of course everyone wanted one, and it was impossible to give one to everyone. I made sure that the kids I had spent time with got one.

We finally boarded the bus and waved goodbye about an hour later with very mixed feelings. It was hard to leave these children. They have a way of attaching to your heart that was not what I really expected. I thought I might not have too much to talk about with the kids I sponsor and with the other children, but they are so bright and curious and so appreciative of our help that it is difficult not to feel close to them.

On the other hand, we were all exhausted. It was a very emotionally taxing week. Some of the stories of the families were truly heartbreaking, but in many cases, as in the case of the Mwanzia family, we were astounded by their resiliency and devotion to each other. We were also continually impressed by the kindness and devotion of the Tumaini staff, both to us as visitors, and to the children.

last day of VBS

Our devotion this morning was on Psalms 68: 5-6...

" A father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling, God sets the lonely in families...."

Something I have mentioned before is how seriously our children in Kenya take our role as sponsors -- we are now the mothers and fathers that they have lost. We are part of new families in Kenya...

We went to the school fairly early this morning. I was going to go to a class with Teri and Tom, who have been sitting in with the high school boys class all week, but Ellen snagged me to come talk to our young boy with nightmares again. You could see an immediate difference -- he had been in my memory book class and so felt much more comfortable with me this time -- but he also seemed much more relaxed. He said that he had not had any bad dreams this week. I told him that we were glad for him and shared with him the technique of having a plan prepared when he goes to sleep of what to do if he has a nightmare. He will be able to yell at the demons that he is protected by Jesus and will have power over them, not them have power over him -- and then wake up safely! He asked me to write to him in a few weeks, I am just about ready to be able to do that, after nearly a month at home...!

Ellen also asked me to talk to another girl about a behavior problem that had been reported by a teacher in her town. She was very sad and cried (I felt bad about it...) but Ellen told me that it was all right, as it was important that this girl know that people were concerned about her and were watching her behavior. An interesting cultural spin on an uncomfortable situation for me...

We also handed out the memory books (Mutie of the fancy shoes was in charge) and took pictures (of course) with everyone holding up their own book. They were very proud. We will send the individual photos back for Ellen to distribute in August.

Debbie and I also presented the stove to Mary and her children. That was really a moment -- this small thing will make a real difference to her. She will be safe taking care of her children at night, and will not have to leave her house after dark.

It was very interesting -- last day, about 11:30, the bus started to fill up. By about noon, nearly everyone from the team was on the bus. I think we had reached the limit of what we could absorb. The little children can be overwhelming -- they are so curious, crowd up very close to all of us, want to look at the veins in our arms, touch our hair and skin. It can be difficult to handle. After a while, we reemerged from the bus and found some of our favorite people to talk to...Ellen, the older girls and boys, Paul, Agnes. The younger children were off somewhere playing and it wasn't quite so anxiety producing.

Nthenya came for the last day after her class got out and came to find me. It was good to see her again before we left. I brought a little voice recorder with me on the trip and she sang a song for me -- it turned out to be the best thing that I recorded the whole week and a real treasure for me at home. I can listen to it and be totally transported back to Kenya. She has a beautiful sweet voice.

Lunch was LATE, we were starved and so were the kids, but it was worth waiting for -- a delicious stew, rice, chapatis and fresh fruit. After lunch, we had the final program, which went on for HOURS (about three hours), singing, dancing, presentations, a short sermon to wrap up the teaching by the same man who had been there the opening night, Solomon Mumo. Amazingly, again, the children hung in there and actually behaved themselves until it was nearly over, and even then, their behavior wasn't BAD, just a tiny bit rowdier. We were all sore from sitting on the hard metal chairs.

We were totally surprised by an offering they collected for the girls in Cambodia. The children had been so touched by the plight of the girls that they asked if they could take up an offering. In Kenya, offerings are brought forward and put in a basket at the front of the room -- we were all sitting there crying as these Kenyan orphans gave what little they could out of their poverty to help girls nearly half a world away.

The rest of the evening we relaxed -- a few returned for the final goodbye program (more singing and dancing). Many of us were just too worn out. I don't even remember turning off the light that night.

Cambodian presentation

4/26/07 - evening
After supper, Kerry and several of the team members returned to the high school to give a presentation to the older kids regarding the work Kerry and other Pathway members have been involved in Cambodia, and the situation of the girls there. The children of Tumaini have all lost either mother, father or both and most feel as if they have many disadvantages compared to other children of Kenya.

Kerry has a slide show DVD that he showed them, and told them about how these girls at Rapha House in Cambodia have been sold by their parents into sexual slavery. The Kenyan teens could hardly believe that someone would do that to their children and they were deeply touched by the plight of the girls. He also told them how the girls at Rapha House had been rescued and what is being done to help them recover from their terrible experiences. The grief recovery workbook that Kerry adapted to use with the Tumaini college age girls was originally written for the Cambodian girls at Rapha House.

Everyone who went to the presentation was moved by the compassion that these children -- who by any standard have lost a great deal -- showed for these girls in Cambodia, and they all returned with serious faces.

We have all been through a great deal this week -- it's a bit of the emotional rollercoaster...

running amok with Paul and Jackson

Before I finish off the week in Masii, I need to write some about a few of the people who work and volunteer for Tumaini.

Paul Mutendwa is a fairly recent addition to the staff and is now the in-Kenya director of Tumaini. He is a crackerjack accountant and knows exactly where all the money for the children is, all the time! He has a wife and two little boys and is devoted to them but is also devoted to the children of Tumaini. He also has a great sense of humor -- the running joke during the entire week we were there was that when things were kind of up in the air we were "running amok", then when things settled down, we were "back on track"...this was an on-going thing, that has continued even in emails after we returned!

Jackson (never heard his last name) is one of the most indefatigably cheerful people I have EVER met in my entire life. He is the chaplain for Tumaini, and originally kept track of all the children. Now he supervises the volunteers who do this work in several regions around Masii. Jackson was always full of laughs, songs (he would break into a song at the least provocation -- including "Shut de door" -- a song that Laureen and I knew from way back) and jokes, but was also very intensely interested in the welfare of all the children. He knew where every one of them lived, and knew everyone's story. This is really amazing when you consider that Tumaini has over 500 sponsored children now. He also is the pastor of a church in the outskirts of Masii, and told me that his church is what keeps him going. He is truly a man of God.

Esther was another amazing person we met. She was the director of the VBS, along with James (I do not know last names). They were also extremely well organized and I was surprised to find out that she knew where every child was in the VBS and could run down any kid that anyone needed to see. Remarkable.

I have already written about Ellen and Agnes.

I have mentioned Joseph -- our driver. I have never seen someone who was so "one" with his vehicle. He knew exactly where he could go with that thing -- we only got stuck twice during the whole time we were there. One of the best moments of the trip was on the way back to Nairobi from Masii, when Joseph took us on a "short cut" through a town to avoid a terrible traffic jam. The pot holes could have held a Volkswagen and were full of water but we bounced on through and made it out the other side. In this little town, there were some people having a Sunday evening church service by the side of this muddy road, with several of them up on a platform, singing and dancing, and we started to wave at them with both hands as we went by -- they all became very happy and waved back -- it was a great feeling of connection with these Christians we didn't even know or have time to meet.

There were many other wonderful people we met, including the young men who cooked for us and the others who brought us a bucket of warm water every morning at the hotel. In general, the Kenyans we met were gracious and cheerful.

I felt very at home and welcomed everywhere we went.