Jambo! (Hello!)
Coming to you live from hammock village! Located next to tent city on our lovely little compound. Our current neighbors include four goats, twenty odd chickens, three turkeys, ten bunnies, four dogs, two geese, a family of seven living in the main house, and a friend and fellow missionary. There are eleven of us World Racers who call this place home for the month here in Nakuru, Kenya.
I feel like I kinda shot myself in the foot when it comes to writing about this month. We may have had one host this month, but that host took us to six different ministries around Kenya and a safari to boot! Thus, it would have been way easier to try and fill you in week by week instead of now trying to compile it all into one summary. I honestly have been putting it off for that exact reason. The month is swirling all around in my head in a colorful assortment of places and faces.
No matter where we went, we received very warm welcomes. Each ministry head or pastor gave us the same parting too: Remember us, pray for us, and come back to see us. This is the big reason why I am attempting to describe my time in Kenya despite the messiness of my thought pattern. These people deserve a voice, so that hopefully they can make more connections in the faith community at large.
The first two ministries we were privileged to visit are called the Bee hive and the Baby House. The Bee Hive was started by a God fearing couple who wanted to help young single mothers. Many of these girls where taken advantage of at a young age which resulted in out of wedlock pregnancy. While the girls’ cases are going through court, they stay in one of two safe houses owned by the couple. Most girls end up staying anywhere from ten months to three years. The care takers let the girls stay home during their pregnancy and three months after they give birth. After which the girls can go back to school while care takers and some volunteers watch the kids during the day. They girls I met were all 15 to 18 years old. Pregnancy out of wedlock is very much looked down on in the community, so it makes sense that the girls would choose to stay with the ministry even after their case is resolved that is loving, safe, and supported.
The Baby House is an orphanage form 0-3 year olds. Not all of the children are lacking parents. Some are just not in a position to be able to take care of their children. Currently there are 42 babies being taken care of about 8 aunties, a cook, and three grounds keepers. An American family had just taken over operating the ministry two months before we got there. This family was incredible y’all. This husband and wife team came over with their family of eight kids (three biological, 5 adopted) to serve these kids and the community. Rachel and Nick? Always had a heart for fostering. Their motto was to pass on the blessings they had received. They not only wanted to provide a loving home for kids, but also to minister to the children parents and see families restored in God’s name. They have fostered 70 children in the United States with five of them becoming permanent family members. Their oldest daughter came to the Baby House last summer to serve as a short term mission trip. When she made the decision to come back and serve longer, the whole family decided to join her! Rachel and Nick put us through a foster care simulation one day to help us better understand what everyone in foster care experiences on a daily basis. Two of us were biological parents with addictions (very common in reality), two were foster parents, and the rest of us were posing as kids with all sorts of personalities. It really opened my eyes to how little help the biological parents get in helping them gets their lives on track so they can get their kids back, and how little help foster parents receive in taking care of the kids in the mean time. Sure the government gives some money for their care, but there is also a lot of paperwork and requirements foster parents are pressured to get done. It is evident through watching Rachel and her family live their lives that they have met Jesus and been Jesus’ hands and feet in the lives of many different people through their faithful service. Sadly, a few days ago they family had something go wrong with their visas and were forced to return back to America to figure it out. I pray, God willing, they get to come back. Don’t worry, the Baby House has a good manager who has been with them for a very long time, so they will continue to function well.
Our host Cliff connected us with his friend Sam who runs a ministry called The Pillars Men’s Ministry. It’s really like several ministries in one as he has friends leading various ministries that Sam connects with, visits, speaks at, and supports with projects. The first place Sam took us to was a local church. He said it was a Wednesday afternoon women’s bible study, and he asked some of us to prepare something to share and discuss. We arrived there to discover men, women, and children excited to meet us. When word got out that some Mzungu (white people) were coming to visit, everyone free showed up! We danced and worshiped together for a while. Then the pastor of the church welcomed us and asked who had brought the word today to share. This “women’s bible study” suddenly was upgraded to a full on service! Our teammates Macky and Lubbock tag teamed to bring a message about Moses and the burning bush. It was short and sweet, and the church was encouraged. The most humbling part for me is that it was one of the first gatherings in their new church building. They were so proud of their church that, by American standards, isn’t much. It was four walls of concrete and a tin roof. the floor was dirt and the chairs were plastic. It was beautiful, especially with a small cut out in the roof that allowed the pastor’s podium to be bathed in the afternoon sunlight. Here Jesus smiled back at you from every face and God is present and moving. In Kenya, visitors cannot leave without being offered refreshments, so we shared bananas and orange and pineapple Fantas in glass bottles.
The following week we spent traveling first to Kisumu for two days, then to Muinias for three days. In Kisumu we camped out in the yard of a wonderful woman named Ruth. Ruth used to be a street girl till she gave her life to Jesus. She explained to us in Kisumu there is a lack of clean water to drink, so many women end up selling their bodies for water. Not even money…just clean drinking water. Ruth raises support in order to provide these women and their families with water filters they could not afford on their own. Since starting her ministry, she has watched the amount of prostitution in her town go down. She also hosts people at her house and rents out rooms to foreign students and missionaries. While staying with her we met a really cool guy from Germany who came to teach hand ball and better environmental practices to the local elementary school. As wonderful as all that was, it was simply a delightful bonus. We were there to speak to and share a meal with the gay community of men in Kisumu. In Kenya, being gay is highly looked down upon. If found out, and most are due to lots of talk in small towns, you will be ostracized from the community at large. You can go to church, but no one will speak to you. I don’t think this is how God wants us to act either. We are to reach out in love and encourage them to seek their Lord. Ashely shared the story of Samson from the Old Testament and several others shared their insights and personal stories. That day a man chose to accept Jesus as his Lord and Savior, and we were all honored to pray with him and welcome him into the family of God. We shared lunch with them and took many many pictures together. Later, our teams were discussing that we were surprised that these men professed themselves as gay. Nothing in our interactions with them suggested as such. Taking to Sam about it, he told us he has seen remarkable improvement in this group of men. When they first started to come, they would carry purses and even walk with a sway in their hips like a woman. Sam told us how in town, nonprofits from other countries, such as Australia, set up offices and invite men in. They give them something to eat and drink and talk to them about the gay lifestyle. They offer money to the men if they are willing to dress up in drag and walk down a catwalk for a show. At night they show man on man pornography to crowds. This hits home hard for me as I know this is a big and sensitive issue back in the United States as well. The Bible says this is not how God intended His creation to live. God intended one man for one woman for all of their years left on this earth. I can not in good conscience condone this lifestyle, but I don’t want to lose the precious souls behind the label either. It’s a hard line to walk: seeing and loving people for who they are and still upholding to the word God gave us. Hey, Jesus never said it would be easy.
After two hot and humid days in Kisumu with no hippo sightings, there were rumors and tracks in the mud but no dice, we packed up, said our goodbyes, and headed to Mumias. In Mumias, there was a large population of Muslims with a small community that had converted to Christianity. To these converts we went to break bread together and encourage each other. We tented outside of a pastor’s house and ate a feast made by some wonderful servant hearted women in his dining/living room. By this time, we were getting better at being prepared to speak the good word. Two days of sharing testimonies, Bible messages, and dancing in glory of our Lord, while shouting at the top of our lungs followed. The heat deterred none of us from a joyful time together, and boy was it hot! Again, this rural community didn’t have much, some of the children only had one pair of clothes to wear and no shoes to speak of, but what they did have they shared generously. Our departure from Mumias was memorable in that our van to pick us up was three hours late, and my teammates entertained themselves by singing and dancing in the rain. A gift from God after a week of intense heat.
Back to our home base in Nakuru for Sunday, we rested and prepared for the week ahead of us. Cliff was kind enough to arrange a boat Safari for us. We camped by a beautiful lake and took a boat ride on it in which we got to see hippos, giraffes, eagles, and many other types of birds. I even got to feed a monkey at our campsite! (Shhh…. don’t tell anyone apparently that’s not allowed) On Tuesday we headed back on the road again to Gil Gil. There we were introduced to an amazing woman named Mama Jane. She is the head of a safe house for children called Loving Hands Safe House. Quoting their helpful pamphlet, “Loving hands safe house is a rescue center for young vulnerable children infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Our mission is to enhance children protection and give them quality care. The children’s parents, family members or guardians are either missing, poor, ailing, or died of Aids. And with no social security net in Kenya, these children are on there own thus exposing them to neglect, poor health, forced labor, gang assault, crime, hunger, hard drugs, sexual and emotional abuse, arrest, harsh weather conditions, mental anguish and hopelessness. According to Kenya Government report, the country has 2.4 million orphans who have been orphaned or made vulnerable by HIV/ AIDS, among other factors.” Here, 40 children from the ages of 4 to 18 are provided for. They receive medical treatment, counseling, clothing, food, shelter, and education. Over half of them have received HIV/AIDS from their parent. Mama Jane told us a story of one of the boys that came to live with them. His mother had HIV and was very sick. She could not get up, let alone work and care for her and her son, so her eleven year old son took it upon himself to provide for them. He wandered around town looking for a way to make money. Many truckers came through the area frequently transporting goods. One of the truckers saw the boy and called him over. He showed the boy his cash and told him he would give the money to the desperate child if the child would let him do what the trucker wanted to him. The boy agreed to let himself be used. He was able to get money for food for him and his mother, but at a very high price. He continued to let himself be used in this way by truckers. Each time before the boy left a trucker’s presence, he would tell them about his mother. “She is a good women she is just sick. Will you marry her? Here is her number.” This continued until the boy was so sore he couldn’t sit down, and the calls his mother began to receive disturbed her. Authorities were called in by a concerned neighbor and now the boy lives safe at Loving Hands, but is worried for his mother still. Jane encourages family to visit when she knows it will be beneficial for both. She has even started a bible study for some of the mothers. She encourages them to break their addictions, seek medical treatment, and start small businesses, so that they can provide and one day be a whole family again. We got to sit in on this Bible study group and hear their stories of redemption and hope because of what God has done and continues to do in their life. It is not easy, but they are proud to be earning less money in an honorable way by selling homemade keychains or fruit than more through prostitution. Before leaving, we prayed fervently over these women and this ministry. I hope to keep them in my prayers. They always welcome volunteers to come and love on the kids as well as donations and sponsors for the children’s education. Education is not free in Kenya for any age group. School fees need to be payed, books bought, and uniforms gotten to go to school. It only costs $100 USD for a year of schooling for one child, yet this is a great hurdle for many families. I will never forget the passion of Mama Jane for these kids and their mothers.
Our next ministry for this epic week was located in an area in Kenya nicknamed Pipeline due to the big oil pipeline that had been installed nearby. Here a group of women gathered to have tea together, pray, read the Bible, and look out for one another. We had met children who were victims to the disease HIV/AIDS the day before. Here we met more women affected by it. Sadly these people become shunned from the community when people find out they are infected. They called themselves the Stress Free Group. Those who are too weak to get out of bed are checked in on by the others who are able bodied. Sam works with these women not just by sharing the love of God in voice but in tangible expression too. He works on projects such as building gardens, giving them chickens to raise for eggs, and building a rain water collection system using their house gutters. When they meet for bible studies, any of the ladies who has some extra money to donate gives this amount to their dubbed secretary. She collects it and uses it to help meet the needs of the most needy in their group. It’s amazing the community these women have built together when the world around them has chosen to reject them. They have good days and bad, but through it all they praise the Lord God Almighty. Many of the women I met would start their stories by saying in all humility, “Thanks be to God”. The projected life span of someone with HIV living in Kenya is not extremely long. The drugs needed for treatment are free to all, however, patients must remember to get them and take them regularly. God’s continual presence has given these ladies what they need most though, what we all desperately need really, hope. Hope for the future. Whatever we face, we do not face it alone.
We wrapped up our journey on the highway of grace out in the bush visiting the Pokot tribe for two days. The Pokot tribe are goat and cow herders. They live outside with little to their names. Men wrap blankets around their waists that act as clothing during the day and bedding at night. Sometimes they will build mud huts to live in, but they tend to be nomads, so they don’t feel the need for them greatly. Sam, Cliff, John, and Justice have been visiting them for years now. They have been coming and bringing a simple meal to share with them. Most times it is Chai (tea) and Mandazi (fried dough). Food is scarce in this tribe. People will easily go days in between meals surviving mainly on goats milk. They have built a relationship with these people and introduced them to God and to His son Jesus. Some believe now and some do not. It is an odd concept for these wild people to believe having worshiped their ancestors by a local mountain for years. Nevertheless, God’s hand is at work in this area. Before, the women were forced to walk great distances to get water. Now, there is a water pipeline installed by the government they have access to. This water was not installed for them, but because of an energy project in the area, yet they benefit from it all the same. It is dry season currently and they could really use the rain. We went and stood, looking out over their mountain. We all prayed over the area asking for God’s rule and provision to come to this place. We prayed for rain. A few hours later, as we walked to their small humble school house, no more than spare sticks nailed together for two walls and a low roof, accompanied by a plethora of bedraggled children, it started raining. God is providing for them in big and small ways each day.
Now here I sit in these last few days, feeling as if I have poured so much information onto this page yet it’s still not enough. How do I accurately communicate the pain I have seen in a woman’s eyes who was far away from her birth place and struggling with a disease she did not ask for? How do I describe with clarity the neglect and poverty I have seen kids wearing? How do I pair this brokenness and hurt in my mind and heart right next to the passion and faith the sick woman holds, and the joy and childlike wonder the children display on a daily basis? There is so much brokenness, poverty, and corruption here, and at the same time there are so many arms reaching out in the midst of the muck to help. God is here. God is good. God is faithful even when we are not. Hopelessness meets Hope in Kenya everyday.
If any of these ministries have inspired you or tugged at your heart strings and you would like more information on them and possible ways to get involved, please feel free to reach out to my friend Sam. He is in contact with all of these ministries and would be happy to hear from you.
Sam Kariuki
Tel: +254-720-304-610
Website: www.pillarsmensministry.org
Email: [email protected]
Loving Hands Safe House also has a website:
https://lovinghandsorphanage.org
