Last Monday my squad traveled from Kigali, Rwanda to Entebbe, Uganda. The plan was to spend a day at the Highway Motel, where we spent our last debrief, to relax together, say goodbye to our WR Exposure girls who would be flying back to the States, and to meet with our new teams. This month the men of E Squad are separated from the women, and are working with the men of D Squad in South Sudan. Because of this, our squad leaders decided to switch up teams and to raise up new team leaders for Month 8 in Uganda. I certainly welcomed this break from leadership, as my friend Kathryn and myself are the only ones who have been team leaders since training camp. This month I am following Bethany Bernard, who is one of my closest friends on the squad and has been on my team since the beginning. So after 13 hours on the bus, including a zebra spotting and crossing the Equator, we arrived in Entebbe around 11 p.m.
Once we had all hauled our packs up the dirt road, our squad leader Jamie gathered everyone together for an annoucement. He reminded us that by this point on the World Race we have learned to let go of all expectations. Becasue of the deadly Ebola virus outbreak in Uganda, AIM decided to reroute the women to Kenya for Month 8, and we would be trying to get out of Uganda as quickly as possible the following day. So much for a day of relaxation!
Around 10 p.m. Tuesday, we boarded a bus to Kenya, traveled through the night, and crossed the Kenyan border around 3 a.m. The bus driver told our group we had five minutes to cross, which gave us all a good laugh since of course it took us closer to 90 minutes. Finally around 7 a.m. my team, along with two other teams, arrived in Kitale, Kenya at the Challenge Farm, our new home for month eight.
It was immediately evident that despite all the stress of the past day, God is so intentional and He knew all along this is where we were supposed to be this month. The Challenge Farm is a huge property, housing over 100 children who have been resuced from the streets by Mama Cheri. Mama Cheri is our host this month, and we are so thankful not only that she took us in (her first World Race teams!) on such short notice, but also we just feel really blessed to have an American contact this month.
The name of the ministry is the Power and Light Center, which is housed here at the Challenge Farm. There's a school, a chapel, a dining hall, dorms, library, offices, guesthouse, playground, soccer field, volleyball court, gardens and even a greenhouse on the property, along with several cows who roam wherever they please.
The best thing about our ministry this month is that it's really flexible and basically up to us to help out in any way that fits our talents. On Saturday the kids are off so we had the whole day to plan activities. I helped organize an "Olympics Day" for the kids, and it ended up being one of my favorite days of ministry so far on the World Race! In the morning I gave them a brief history of the Olympics, of track and field, and of Kenya's distance running tradition. I shared one of my favorite track and field stories, passed down from my Dad, of Kip Keino beating Jim Ryun in the 1968 Olympics and the kids went wild.
In the afternoon we had our very own Challenge Farm Olympics. We had an opening ceremony, complete with the Kenyan national anthem and a parade of athlete, and a track and field meet. It was such a fun day, and definitely right up my alley! I think it's so cool that I'm in Kenya during the Olympics, even though I haven't been able to watch any of them. We are living right in the middle of the Rift Valley, where many of the top distance runners in the world come from. One of the staff members here nonchalantly told me his good friend is in London running the 1500m.
During the week we decided to break the kids into four groups: music, arts and crafts, games and Bible study. I'm one of the teachers for the Bible class. In the afternoons we're helping Cheri to organize a few different rooms and areas around the farm, and I'll hopefully get to spend some time lending a hand with her fundraising efforts.
I love it here! God is so faithful!
