I love it! On Sundays, the girls get the day off to rest and play and the boys do all of the cooking and cleaning. Here, several of the teen boys were preparing secuma (like turnip greens) and cabbage for dinner.
More boys washing the dishes from lunch. How would you like to wash dishes for 50 people three times a day like this??
Another full day, and the rest of the team is not even back yet. We started the day at Pat’s Feeding Program. Pat is an elderly Kenyan woman who runs a feeding program that provides people who are unable to work (the elderly and those who are HIV+) with a small amount of food every two weeks. It amounts to about a Wal-Mart bagful and if they eat one meal a day, it will keep them alive for two weeks. It’s always a very moving experience – the people are so friendly and genuinely thankful. As I’ve written before, there is no welfare system in Kenya and no retirement system like Social Security, so people who cannot work are among the most vulnerable here. It costs roughly $5 per person every two weeks to fund Pat’s program.
After leaving Pat’s, we headed back to Brackenhurst where we met Sister Sandra for lunch. Sister Sandra is a nun from Malta who has lived in Kenya for almost 30 years. She runs a vocational program that teaches skills like tailoring, knitting, and sewing as well as an orphanage. She is a woman of great faith and someone I have a tremendous amount of respect for… we look forward to visiting her center next week.
We spent the afternoon at Cheshire where some of our team members shared ideas of different things they could make to sell through their sewing/knitting program. The girls seemed genuinely excited and eager to learn. We then did a craft activity with them and then had a time of fellowship with snacks (digestive cookies which are like graham crackers, Fanta soda, and Kenyan style Cheetos). It was our last visit to Cheshire – we have been so moved by the grace and commitment of these young ladies and have thoroughly enjoyed our time with them.
The rest of the team is at the store purchasing spoons, plates, mugs, etc… to restock the dining room at the K-Branch of the Children’s Centre. They are growing so quickly and have been having to reuse utensils in order to get all of the kids fed during a meal.
The needs here are so great, and sometimes it seems like there is no amount of money great enough to fill all of the gaps. I do know, however, that even small contributions make a difference here, and people are so thankful for whatever help they are given. Our team has made decisions about how to best spend our pot of team money, and individual team members have been led to give to specific causes. My time here continues to remind me of how fortunate – and how incredibly wasteful and spoiled – we are in the US and how our tendency toward self-reliance, independence, and being “self-made” really get in the way of being truly dependent on God. We seem to only look to Him for help when something major happens in our lives. Here, the majority of people I meet look to God to meet their everyday needs… food, shelter, school fees. As the girls at Cheshire told us today, “We feel like you are our moms, our brothers and sisters. When you leave here, please remember us. We will be remembering you in prayer and asking God to bless you.” Somehow, I know that to be true, and it’s a shameful reminder to me of how I need to seek a deeper prayer life and to continue to remember those here who have touched my life through their words, actions, and faith.
Tomorrow, we go back to Kibera Slum. If you have a minute, please Google “Kibera Slum” and just read a few minutes about it. Kibera is the second largest slum in the world (behind the slum in India where Slum Dog Millionaire was filmed). There are over a million desperately poor people crammed into a tiny area of less than one square mile. There is little electricity and no plumbing. Sewage runs in the ditches between shacks made of tin and old lumber. There is less than 1 pit latrine for every 1000 people in Kibera. It is truly heartbreaking as they are the poorest of the poor in Kenya, and many families are never able to escape the slum. Last year, I met a lady named Rachael when I attended the local Kikuyu church with my friend Anastasia. We exchanged email addresses and have communicated throughout the year. Rachel is a principal of a school in Nairobi and runs several programs located in Kibera. Tomorrow, we’re visiting a program she has for teen girls and a second program for elderly women. I don’t know much about either program and hope to learn a great deal tomorrow.
One prayer request… Geoffrey – who was our guard last year was taken to the doctor in Nairobi yesterday. It sounds like he struggles with high blood pressure and possibly heart problems. He lost his mother at a young age to heart disease. Lauren and I are hoping to have Geoffrey and Mama Joan and their families to our house for dinner Sunday night to catch up. We got very close to them last year and have missed seeing them. Please pray that the doctors will correctly diagnose and treat Geoffrey. And also pray for energy and health for the team… it’s been 2 weeks of hard work and long days, and everyone is beginning to tire.
No comments:
Post a Comment