Funny conversations in Kenya

Dad: "I used some of your shampoo last night, Jeff.  Thanks."
Jeff: "What shampoo are you talking about?"
Dad: "That green shampoo that was in your bag."
Jeff: "You mean you put the aloe vera gel in your hair?"
Dad: "Oh is that what that was? I guess that explains why it didn't lather."


Dad: "Cody, you are going to have to be more careful under that mosquito net at night.  You are getting eaten alive.  You're going to end up with malaria for sure."
Cody: "How am I going to get malaria?"
Dad: "That's how you get malaria.  From mosquito bites."
Cody: "Seriously?  Why didn't anyone tell me this?"
Jeff: "Looks like I need to take less for granted next time I do a pre-trip briefing."

Lance's Deaf Orphanage

My brain hurts.  Seriously, I feel like I just finished eight hours of piano lessons where I had to play with both hands at the same time.  That's what it feels like when I have to communicate using Kenyan Sign Language (KSL).  I can do it for a little while, but after going at it all day long I just overheat or something.

Today we took a break from the project site at Marera because we had other business to attend to.  There is a little deaf school and orphanage several miles down the road from Sam's Place; it's called Lance's Deaf Orphanage.  One of my assignments on this trip was to visit Lance's Deaf Orphanage and report on how things are going.  Huruma House does not directly support LDO or fund its operations, but last year we purchased a couple of dairy cows for the orphanage, so I was supposed to check things out.

Charles Otieno, a deaf Kenyan who oversees several of Huruma House's projects in Rongo, met us at our guest house this morning and we all piled into a public matatu for the ten-mile trip to Lance's Deaf Orphanage.  A matatu is a twelve passenger van that carries eighteen.  Cody Ben had to sit squeezed up against a young boy carrying a chicken.  The four of us finished the matatu ride safely but crumpled, then we began the mile climb up a sheer rock cliff to LDO.  (Ok, that's somewhat exaggerated, but it was a serious hike.)

When we got there we were greeted by the director Daniel Ogembo, a deaf man, who showed us around the place.  Everyone at LDO was deaf, our liason, Charles Otieno, is also deaf, and I was the only hearing person around who knew a little sign language.  Unfortunately, my sign language skills are really rusty, so we had to do a lot of guessing and finger spelling, but after a lot of patience on the parts of Ogembo and Otieno I think we finally understood everything they were trying to show us.  It seems to be a very well run nuclear waste processing facility, or at least I think that's what they said.  I usually have Stephen Greek with me to do all the heavy lifting in the sign language department and all I have to know how to say is stuff like "Where is the bathroom?"  But this year I kind of got thrown in the deep end and I had to figure it out on my own.  Dad seemed to have fun playing the charades game, too, and he was able to provide some valuable guesses about some of the finer points of nuclear waste processing.

Anyway, they have 92 rabbits.  We got to see them all, one at a time.  They also have two dairy cows.  One cow is doing very well, and the other needs a bit of medical attention (or maybe some heroin, I wasn't quite clear on that point).  Dad advised them that they should watch the sick cow another couple of weeks and if it wasn't doing better they should sell it and buy another milk cow.

This little school houses and educates 21 deaf orphans, 9 girls and 12 boys.  The conditions are pretty cramped, but it is much better than what they would have if there was no one to care for them.  Deaf orphans are the outcasts of this society.  They are often neglected by their extended family and left to fend for themselves, so I am so thankful that Daniel Ogembo and Mary Aluoch have taken these children in even on such limited means.  The deaf teachers at LDO volunteered here for four years with no salary until my deaf friend, Alex Abenchuchan, came along and started to raise some additional support.

I was very impressed with how much they could accomplish with so few resources.  They stretch every shilling and are making many efforts to raise their own food to help their little school require less outside assistance.  They also have an interesting philosophy of letting the orphan children return to their extended families a few weeks out of the year.  The idea is to make sure they have a familiar community to return to after they leave LDO.  Often the deaf children will have an inheritance or some family land that they can return to after graduation, but if the children are tucked away in the orphanage for 18 years they can easily be forgotten by their relatives and their community back home.

Also, there was a situation recently where a 12-year old neighbor boy stole one of the orphanage's dairy cows.  When the village elders learned of the crime they went vigilante and were about to douse the kid with kerosene and light him on fire.  Fortunately, Daniel and some others at LDO argued on behalf of the boy that stole the cow and they persuaded the village elders to have mercy on the boy.  Now both the boy and the cow are doing just fine and LDO is held in great respect by their community because of the way they intervened to show mercy.

Tomorrow, Keith Gafner and his two daughters will join us in Rongo and we will continue work on the poultry projects together.  We are so grateful to have Keith's expertise in this.  Also, Dad has been a real asset on this trip.  In the past, whenever people have started talking construction, my eyes just glaze over and  I smile and nod.  But Dad actually knows what he is talking about and he can have meaningful conversations with the CBO leaders about their construction projects.  He also has a lot of knowledge about raising poultry, and I am confident that these two poultry projects the CBO is beginning (a layer project and a broiler project) will be very successful and earn a lot of income for the community.

Also, we have located a very good place for our new Computer Training Center in Rongo's brand new "modern market" area downtown.  It is only going to cost about $40 per month to rent the shop.  Then we just need to buy a couple of desktop computers, a printer, and a few other supplies and equipment and we are good to go.  Daniel Magambo is going to use the place to teach computer course to the CBO members and anyone else in Rongo who is willing to pay for it.  Also, Bernard Magambo is going to run his little photography business out of this place as soon as they get a printer capable of printing photos.  I'm really excited about it.

We have a lot going on at once, as you can see, but the pace of life in Kenya is very slow, so it has been nice that we can take our time and not have to get stressed out about everything.  This has been a really good trip, and Dad has quickly gotten past the hard parts and has hit his stride.

Much love from Kenya,
Jeff

Building a church in Marera

So far our trip has been very good in every respect, except that we have been plagued with communication problems.  My new modem stopped working after day one, our Kenyan cell phones are acting flaky, and the city has been losing power at very inopportune times.  So, we have had a really hard time sending updates back home.

Anyway, yesterday I was able to grab a few minutes of time at the internet cafe (when we actually had power) and send a quick update via Facebook informing people of a pretty urgent need.  My younger brother, Cody, has been working very hard to raise money for this poultry project, but we didn't budget for any other projects.  So, when the members of the Marera Church of Christ asked us on Sunday if there was anything we could do to help them rebuild their church building, we just had to say no.

This was hard, because this little congregation of about 40 meets under an acacia tree each Sunday.  A couple of years ago a very generous friend of mine graciously donated the funds to build a church building for this community, complete with a concrete floor which is quite a luxury for these rural Kenyan people.  Unfortunately, the Kenyan man in charge at the time was not acting very honorably, and in a parting shot before he left the community, he dismantled the church building and sold the pieces.

I was so impressed by the response of the church at the time.  Rather than reacting in anger by burning the man's home (which is customary here), they responded with love and mercy.  Now that that one man is out of the picture I am very hopeful for the future of this community and this congregation.  There are some very good people here, kind, generous, hospitable, honorable, trustworthy, and spirit-filled, and I am so excited to be working with this group.  That made it even more difficult to tell them that we just didn't have the funds available to build the church building.  Instead we had to advise them that by focusing their resources on these two poultry projects, they would eventually be able to earn enough income to rebuild the building.  In the mean time, they would just have to worship in the rain.

So, as a bit of a long shot, I thought I would post a message on Facebook asking if there was anyone who might be able to help out.  This congregation has been working hard to raise the funds for their own building, and they have already purchased many of the supplies with their weekly contributions.  However, they still lacked about $1700 to finish the building.

My Facebook request went out at 2:00am Central Time in the US (because that was the only time I could access the internet), so I was sure no one would even see it.

But I forgot about my "miracle friend" in Singapore whom I have never met in person.  We actually met through a divinely-directed series of strange coincidences involving Katie Davis, the young missionary to Uganda who has inspired so many (especially me) by her life and writings (http://kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com).  Ask me about this sometime if you are interested.  Fortunately, even when Americans are still asleep the Singaporeans are up and awake, busily responding to desperate pleas for funds for rural Kenyan church buildings.

So, thanks to the generosity of two people, we have already raised most of what we need for the church building!  We are still short about $700, but my confidence in the Church responding to her African brothers and sisters in need has been restored, and I am confident that we can raise the rest.

If you would like to take part in this project and help the good people of Marera rebuild their church, you can still make a donation for this cause.  Just go to the Huruma House website (http://www.hurumahouse.org/donations.html) and click the "Donate to Marera Fund" button.  Our (woefully underdeveloped) website also tells you where to send a check if you would rather do that.

Well, this is amazing that the electricity has held up long enough for me to write all this, but now Dad and Cody and I need to get out to the site and help build a church building.  The current plan is to repair and extend the old church foundation, and then just put up some wooden poles and a metal roof.  If the rest of the funds come in soon, we should be able to add the walls as well (made of iron sheets).

We have so much going on here that I want to tell you about, but Moses just called and our Kenya friends are waiting for us, so it will have to wait for later.

Your brother in Christ,
Jeff Wilhite

Hope for Marera -- Project Plans

As soon as we arrived in Marera on Saturday afternoon, we met with the members of the Hope for Marera community-based organization to talk about the things we will accomplish together over the week that we are here. We batted around a few ideas that we fleshed out more fully this Sunday evening.  Here are the things we plan to do while in Kenya.

The first priority is to get this hen project started so that the CBO can start earning an income selling eggs.  There are four steps to getting this going.

1) Place chicken wire around the project site. Cost $1300 (already funded).
The project site already has a barbed wire fence in place, so all we need to do is wrap it in chicken wire. This will allow plenty of space for the laying hens to run around and be free range chickens.  Apparently, eggs from free range chickens have a darker yolk and fetch a higher price.  We already have a pre-fab chicken house on the site that is designed for raising broilers, not laying hens.  But we are going to raise our little chicks in this broiler house for about six weeks until they are old enough to leave the house and run around in the outside fenced area.

2) Purchase the day-old chicks, feed, and equipment.  Cost $500 (already funded).

3) Rebuild the Marera church building with additional room for storage.  Cost $1700 (Not yet funded).
We have two different needs that go together nicely.  First of all, we need some place to store all of the chicken feed and equipment.  But also, the Marera Church of Christ has been meeting under a tree ever since their church building was destroyed a few months ago.  What we would like to do is to help this little congregation rebuild their church building and also add on a store room for the poultry supplies.  The congregation has been saving money and purchasing materials for several months already, and they only lack about $1700 to finish the project.  It is going to be built with volunteer labor from the church, so we really just have to buy materials.  It is going to be very inexpensively constructed out of local trees and iron sheets. It would be nice to have this built before next Sunday, but we don't currently have enough cash to complete the project.  So, donations for this project are very welcome.

You can donate on the Huruma House website at: http://www.hurumahouse.org/donations.html  Click the "Donate to Marera Fund" button to make sure your donation goes to this project.

4) Build a shelter for the hens with roosts and nests.
We won't actually need this until the hens are a couple of months old, so there is not an immediate need to start this project while we are here.



In addition to the poultry project, we are also doing some research into opening a small computer training center in the town of Rongo.  The idea is that the CBO would rent a little bit of space in town, and put a couple of computers in it.  Daniel, one of the CBO members, is skilled at teaching people to use computers.  One goal of this project is to allow the CBO members an opportunity to learn to use computers, and other people in town may be interested in paying for some training as well.  When the computers are not being used for training, they can be used as part of a small internet cafe.  People in Kenya pay by the minute to use an internet-connected computer.  Also, renting this space will allow the CBO members to engage in other income-generating activities.  For example, Bernard needs a little shop with a computer and a printer in order to run his budding photography business.  We don't know yet how much this project will cost until we do a bit more research in town tomorrow.

Our plans are changing daily as we get new ideas and information, so I'll try to keep you posted.

Sunday in Marera

This is another personal letter I wrote to my family after our Sunday at church in Marera.  It may not make a lot of sense to those who are not familiar with my family or our trip plans, but here it is anyway.
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Dear family,

Sunday morning about 5:00am I got a phone call from Rose asking if we wanted breakfast.  Dad and I hadn't talked about breakfast, so I figured we would just eat granola bars or something.  So, when Dad and Cody Ben woke up in the morning and came knocking on my door asking what we were having for breakfast, my name was Mud.

Anyway, Moses said that church would begin at 9:00 sharp.  Of course, I knew that was a joke, but we wanted to get out to Marera early anyway so that we could check out the chicken project.  We walked down to the end of the road to catch a couple of piki-pikis (motorcycles) to take us out to Marera, but Dad said he needed to stretch his legs some after those long plane and matatu rides, so he suggested that we walk.  Fortunately, Moses saw us walking along the road and got off his piki-piki to join us on our walk, so we got some good talking in along the way. Dad had all sorts of questions for Moses about Kenyan construction techniques and the local flora and everything else, so it was a fun walk.

The walk turned out to be a bit farther than Dad had expected and it was a bit longer and muddier than I remembered from the past, but an hour later (at 9:10) we finally arrived.  Of course, we were the only ones there for a very long time, and we finally started church about 10:30. But that gave us a good chance to scope out the project site and make plans for what we are going to do this week.

The project site is a fairly large piece of land that was donated to the Hope for Marera CBO by Plister Anyango (Daniel and Bernard's mother).  This is the same widow lady that sold Sam's Place the land it is now built on. The CBO already has the plot fenced off, and they have another inner fence around the existing chicken house.  The plot of land also contains the old foundation of the church building that the Marera Church of Christ used to meet at until it was torn down.  So, now the church just meets underneath a nearby acacia tree.

When we finally started worship around 10:30, there were only about 10 people there, and more people kept trickling in until about noon.  We ended up with about 40 in attendance.  At 10:30, Daniel was reluctant to start the church service with only 10 people, so he suggested that we have a conversation about some topic first and he asked if anyone had any ideas for what we could talk about.  As no one else spoke up, I took advantage of the opportunity to get the congregation talking about the topic of my upcoming sermon.  So, I suggested we attempt to answer the question “Where is God when we are suffering?”  In Kenyan fashion, the men took turns standing up to make little mini-sermons about the topic.  None of us Wilhites had anything to add.  They wanted me to say something but I told them that I would give my answer as my sermon.

About 11:00 Daniel seemed to decide that a quorum was present, so we kicked off the worship service.  I was fortunate in that I had advance notice the previous day that I would be preaching the main service, but Bernard wasn't so lucky.  He got tapped to lead the contribution thought (which is a mini-sermon) and he didn't really know yet what he was going to say, so Bernard took a break from interpreting into Luo so that he could prepare his contribution talk while David Bungu delivered the communion mini-sermon.  Unfortunately, this led to a situation where none of the men at the service were willing or able to perform the interpretation into Luo.  (Of course, the Wilhites were the only non-Luo speakers present, but they wanted to hold the entire worship service in English for our benefit and then have it interpreted into Luo.)  Anyway, Bernard's new bride, Reggina ended up being the only one available who was willing to interpret into Luo.  But this caused a bit of a stir among some of the older members because not everyone thought it was okay to have a woman speaking in the service. This is a Church of Christ congregation.  So, Daniel asked for a quick show of hands to see who thought it was acceptable for Reggina to do the interpreting, and apparently the majority didn't have a problem with it.  (I raised my hand, too.)

This was an interesting little twist because I have been curious for a long time about what these Kenyans think about women's roles in the church, but I haven't ever asked about it.  It was also interesting to see how this little church without elders resolved the issue quickly.  After worship was over, this little widow woman named Conslata stood up before the congregation to thank me for sharing the message of the gospel.  She was genuinely grateful and spoke everything in love, but just before she sat down she said that she would be willing to teach me more fully about the doctrines of the Church and about women's roles in worship.

During the communion and contribution mini-sermons (before the main sermon), Dad and Cody Ben took all of the children who were there and had a little Children's Church with them.  Nancy Atieno (the lady who lost her baby in the house fire last summer) went with them to interpret and help out.  Apparently, she and her husband Ken Oala have been very active members of the church since last summer when the Marera congregation helped them rebuild their house after the fire.  The kids were a long way off, so I couldn't really tell what was going on, but Dad said later that he and Cody Ben told the stories of David and Goliath and also of Joseph's coat of many colors.  They also sang songs with the kids and tried to teach them to count to ten in English.  From where I was sitting with the adults, all I could see was Dad holding this little Kenyan toddler the whole time.  Dad was very impressed with how well-behaved and attentive the kids were.  I think they taught about 15-20 kids this morning.

Ten minutes after noon the kids came back for the main sermon.  I preached from II Corinthians 4 and from James 1 about how God makes beautiful things out of our suffering; Daniel interpreted into Luo.  Before the sermon I was asked to introduce myself and my family, so Dad and Cody Ben both had the chance to stand in front of the congregation and greet them.  They did wonderfully.  As Cody Ben was speaking I kept thinking that he was done, but then he always had something else to add.  I finally realized that he just wasn't really clear about how he was supposed to end his little speech or whether or not he had said enough yet.  He kind of gave me this look that said “So, am I done yet?”  And I told him he had done a great job (because he had) and that he could go sit down now.

After the sermon I offered an invitation as is customary, but no one came forward.  Then Daniel said some things in Luo and the entire congregation came forward.  This is not the first time this has happened to me.  I think Daniel must be be saying something like “Come on guys, the mzungu preacher came all the way from America to talk to us today.  You can at least come forward for the invitation so he doesn't feel like a total loser.”

We prayed for Rosebella's mentally ill daughter and we prayed over all those who had come forward, and then we had announcements (that seemed to be intentionally lengthened to stall while we waited for lunch to be prepared).  The biggest announcement was that all the members of the congregation are invited to come on Tuesday and help rebuild the church building so that we don't have to worship in the afternoon sun anymore.  The congregation has been trying for several months to raise money to rebuild their building.  Of course, the congregation is small and they are all very poor so this has been difficult.  However, they have managed to raise enough money already to purchase 15 iron sheets and a bunch of wooden poles.  This isn't quite enough, though.  They are still going to need another $1700 to finish up their little building.  This metal building is designed to serve a dual purpose.  In addition to having a main auditorium for worship, it will also have a small storage room to contain the supplies for the poultry project, and it will have a small office that the community-based organization can use to run their various agricultural projects.

Unfortunately, the CBO doesn't have enough cash on hand to complete the various projects we planned to do this week and also finish the church building.  So, Dad and I are going to see if any of our friends in America would be willing to chip in and help this congregation get themselves a building.

When lunch was finally ready, we ate together in the Magambo home.  They served us fried fish and beans and rice and ugali and sukuma wiki and oranges.  It seems they remembered from last year what my favorite dishes are.

After lunch we split up into men and women's classes.  We had about 10 men in our men's class, and it was life-giving as always.  I was supposed to be the teacher, but instead of picking a topic, I decided to just let them ask questions (because they seem to enjoy doing that best anyway).  Bernard asked about how he and his new wife can grow in their faith together and Erick asked about how a young, unmarried man can grow in his faith.  A young man named George that I have never met before asked about how he and his wife can stay committed to one another.  Ken Oala asked about his fear of talking openly about spiritual matters with groups of men. Bungu asked  what I thought about judging other people. They were all wonderful questions, and I almost felt like someone had tipped them off ahead of time and gave them a list of “things Jeff really likes to talk about.”  Dad contributed to the conversation, too, and it was really fun to have him in class with me.  I think it might have been a little bit over Cody's head, and he slept through a lot of it.

We started class at 4:00pm, and at 5:30 we were still going strong when the rains started.  At that point no one could hear each other above the roar of the rain on the tin roof, so we had to end class.  I passed out granola bars to everyone there, and then Dad and Cody Ben and I waited for the rain to subside a bit before we made a mad dash for Sam's Place.  We were hoping to see Simeon, but he wasn't expected to return from church in Kisii until 8:00, so the three of us headed down the muddy Sam's Place road in a light drizzle hoping to catch some piki-pikis when we got to the main road.  One of the neighbor boys (about 7th grade) decided to walk with us to the road, and Dad had a good time chatting with him in very simple English.  I hadn't thought about it before, but all of Dad's experience communicating with his Mexican construction workers has turned out to be very helpful.  He is very good at communicating in simple English, although it's kind of funny when he drops in an occasional Spanish word.

We hadn't walked too far along the main road when a piki-piki driver stopped to give us a lift.  I put Dad and Cody Ben on the first one and then I hopped on the next one to come by.  That was their first piki-piki ride since we have been here, and Cody said he would be okay if it was his last.  Dad said that tomorrow he and I can catch a piki-piki together and let Cody Ben walk the two miles by himself, but I think his mama might have my hide if we do that, so we'll stick together.

When we got back to the guest house I asked Rose about dinner and she told me that we hadn't told her that we wanted dinner.  Oops.  Katherine had always handled that part of the trip last year, so I just didn't think about it.  Anyway, my name was Mud again because we only got one meal today.  But we pigged out on cookies and granola bars, so I think we are okay.  Now I have let Rose know that we will take every breakfast and dinner here, so this shouldn't happen again.

Wow.  If you are still reading all this mind-numbing detail, you must love me a lot or be really bored.  It's 4:00am and I am wide awake, so I thought I should do something useful.

Love,
Jeff

Our first day in Rongo

This is a personal letter I wrote to my family when we arrived in Kenya, so it is long and newsy and may not make a lot sense to those who are not acquainted with my family.  But here it is anyway.
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Dear family,

I just wanted to let you guys know that we have safely arrived in Rongo.

We left Nairobi at about 10:30 this morning (Saturday).  That was a
couple of hours later thanwe expected because we had a long chat with
Daniel and Bernard before we got on the road.  We were talking through
the original idea of building a chicken house, and we started to think
that it might be a better use of funds to open an internet
cafe/computer training center instead.  We haven't decided for sure
yet, and it's the Kenyan organization that gets to make the final
decision, but it looks like everyone is leaning that direction.

During our long talk this morning we made our formal introductions.
Even though we had already spent much of the previous evening
together, the Kenyans like to be formal, so the five of us all made
speeches to introduce ourselves.  It was the first of the speeches
that Cody Ben has been dreading so much, but he did a great job.

The trip to Rongo was fairly uneventful until about 50 feet before we
got to the entrance of our guest house.  Then all of a sudden the
matatu died and smoke started filling the inside of the vehicle.
Fortunately, our driver found the wire that was shorting out and fixed
the problem pretty quickly.

We arrived about 5:00pm and we had scheduled a diner party for 6:00
with some members of the community, so we spent an hour walking around
Rongo, buying water and cookies to live on, and getting a feel for the
layout of the town. (By the way, the 100 chocolate cookies Mom baked
for us are in one of the bags the airline lost.  Maybe we'll get them
back some day.)

Just as we were heading back to the guest house we ran into all of our
party guests assembled on the street corner, so we hugged them all and
made brief introductions (but no speeches), and then we all walked
back to the guest house together.

Rose had a yummy meal prepared for all of us: ugali, sukuma wiki,
local chicken, rice, and cabbage.  There was a little bit of cultural
awkwardness at first.  I haven't had much experience hosting Kenyans
for dinner and I couldn't figure out the Kenyan cultural equivalent of
saying "Let's eat."  I tried asking Moses to lead us in prayer, and he
did, but apparently those weren't the magic words to start the party
because everyone still just stood there.  Then I walked over and fixed
my plate, hoping that everyone would get the idea and follow me, but
when I got back to the big table, all the Kenyans were just sitting
there silently without any food in front of them.  Finally, I said
something I vaguely remembered Daniel saying before: "The meal is
self-service."   And I guess that was the right thing because everyone
got up to get their food.  But then there was more confusion because
everyone still sat around waiting to start eating.  It seems that the
first prayer was too early, and everyone was expecting us to pray
again before we started eating.

After dinner we started discussing the upcoming events of next week.
Again, I didn't really know how to kick off the meeting correctly, so
I had everyone make formal introductions in the order that we were
sitting at the table and tell me how their families were doing.  But
apparently that wasn't the right protocol, because the chairman,
Moses, did introductions again in the appropriate order this time
(introducing the officers first, in order of importance).  Cody Ben
did an excellent job again at his little speech, even though there
were way more people this time.

After that we had a really good meeting to discuss our plans for next
week, and everyone seemed really excited about the idea of opening a
little computer training center.  We also made plans for worship
tomorrow.  I'll be preaching, and Dad and Cody Ben said they will take
a shot at teaching the little kids while their parents are in worship.
 They seemed a bit apprehensive about it, but I know they'll do fine.
The Kenyans really need some examples of men teaching children.

We have a long day at church tomorrow.  Moses said it will start
promptly at 9:00am.  This is hilarious because everyone knows that the
Kenyans aren't even going to start showing up until after 10:00.  I
laughed about Kenyan time and American time, but Moses didn't budge.
He really seems convinced that church is actually going to start at
9:00 tomorrow.  So, that's when we will be there.  At least it will
give us a chance to go check out their existing chicken house before
everyone starts showing up.

Time to get some sleep, I'll try to write tomorrow and tell you how church went.

Love,
Jeff

African Friends and Money Matters

I recently received this very insightful analysis of the differences in the ways that Africans and Westerners perceive money and friendship.  This material comes originally from the book African Friends and Money Matters by David Marenz.  It was edited and adapted into the list below by Shawn Tyler.  Shawn added a lot of the corresponding Western viewpoints you see here.

1A - The financial need that occurs first has first claim on the available resources - African

1W - Finances may be categorized and should be used only for designated purposes – Westerner

2A - Resources are to be used not hoarded - African

2W - Resources should be invested and saved for a rainy day - Westerner

3A - Money is to be spent before friends or relatives ask to borrow it - African

3W - Money is a personal resource and does not have to be released to friends or relatives - Westerner

4A - If something is not being actively used, it is considered to be available - African

4W - If something is not being actively used, it is still the possession of the owner and he must be consulted before borrowing - Westerner

5A - Being involved financial and materially with friends and relatives is a very important element of social interaction - African

5W - Westerners distrust friendships that regularly include financial or material exchanges - Westerner

6A - Africans assist their friends who are in financial need as a form of investment for those future times when they themselves might have needs. This arrangement constitutes a virtual banking or savings system.

6W - Westerners have come to rely on banks and lending institutions for financial assistance and encourage their friends to go there.  Lending to friends is seen as a way of creating tension within the relationships.

7A - The financial implications of friendship and solidarity go beyond immediate friends to include secondary relationships (people who barely know you) – African

7W - Financial implications include only the parties involved and do not necessarily extend to anyone else - Westerner

8A - Africans readily share space and things but are possessive of knowledge - African

8W - Westerners readily share knowledge but are possessive of space and things - Westerner

9A - The person requesting a thing or money from a friend or relative has an important role in determining whether or not his or her need is greater than that of the potential donor, and consequently, of whether or not the potential donor should donate – African

9W - Westerners do not assume their wealthy friends have access to finances since most money will be tied up in investments, business capital, or used to pay off monthly bills.  Since money may be designated for other purposes, being wealthy does not mean money is available for loans to friends.

10A - A person to whom money is entrusted has a major say in how that money will be used - African

10W - A person to whom money is entrusted must use the money as outlined by the donor/lender - Westerner

11A - People who have many possessions or a surplus of money are judged to be selfish and insensible to the needs of others - African

11W - People who have many possessions are judged to be successful in their endeavors without connecting it to relationships or the needs of others - Westerner

12A - Precision is to be avoided in accounting as it shows the lack of a generous spirit - African

12W - Precision in accounting is a sign of transparency, accountability, and honesty - Westerner

13A - Budgeting, in a formal sense, is not an accepted way of handling personal finances - African

13W - Budgeting, in a formal sense, is considered a foundational step in personal finances and future wealth - Westerner

14A - Africans do not budget for special events; rather they spend as much money and other resources as they can marshal for each one - African

14W - Westerners value the ability to budget for special events and to accomplish it without going into debt - Westerner

15A - Living beyond one's means and income is accepted as normal and is almost universally practiced – African

15W - Living beyond one's means is considered unwise though it may be a practiced by some in all levels of society - Westerner

16A - When someone goes on an errand to make a purchase for another, if he is given a bill or coin that is greater than the amount of the purchase, the person running the errand will normally keep the change unless asked for it – African

16W - A westerner expects a person making a purchase for him to return automatically any change because it still belongs to him unless he expressly says, "keep the change".

17A - Africans often purchase products in small amounts even though the unit cost is much higher than for purchases in larger quantities.

17W - Westerners will purchase larger quantities in order to save on the cost per unit.

18A - A network of friends is a network of resources – African

18W - A network of friends that includes material considerations is suspect - Westerner

19A - Visiting is concentrated on friends and acquaintances that are actively part of a person's economic network – African

19W - Visiting is concentrated on friends and family and does not necessarily include financial considerations - Westerner

20A - Most networking is done vertically or "up" and seldom "down" socially or economically – African

20W - Most networking is done horizontally with those who share a common interest in work, religion, sports, or other social activities - Westerner

21A - African are more hospitable than charitable – African

21W - Westerners are more charitable than hospitable - Westerner

22A - Requests are made indirectly in the form of compliments or hints of a personal need – African

22W - Requests are made directly accompanied with an explanation of the need - Westerner

23A - Africans find security in ambiguous (vague, unclear, indefinite) arrangements, plans, and speech.

23W - Westerners find security in clearly defined relationships, arrangements, plans, and speech.

24A - Africans show solidarity with friends at funerals, naming ceremonies, circumcision, feast days, and weddings through attendance and contributing financially.

24W - Westerners show solidarity with friends at funerals, weddings, and feast days through attendance and giving gifts (money is considered non-personal and not as valued as gifts).

25A - In rural communities, and less so in urban neighborhoods, people are afraid to accumulate more goods or property than their neighbors and kin for fear of creating jealously which may lead to reprisals being carried out against them on an occult level – African

25W - People in rural and urban areas may work to accumulate more goods or property without fear of creating jealousy and reprisals from their neighbors or kin - Westerner

26A - Money "corrupted" or misused is not expected to be paid back; accountability is not enforced; restitution is not practiced - African

26W - Money "corrupted" or misused is expected to be paid back; accountability is enforced; restitution is practiced - Westerner

27A - A major function of the government is to provide money and other resources to those members of society who are in power or have a close relationship to those who are in power – African

27W - A major function of the government is to provide money and other resources to those members of society who are underprivileged, handicapped, or unable to support themselves.  Politicians who enrich themselves and their friends from government resources are punished by law - Westerner

28A - Giving preference to the employment of kin over non-kin is a normal expression of family responsibility and solidarity – African

28W - Giving preference to the employment of kin over non-kin is nepotism and is considered a criminal offense - Westerner

29A - An unjust settlement (non-objective facts) of a dispute is better than an offended complainant (subjective feelings) – African

29W - A just settlement (objective facts) of a dispute is best even if it offends (subjective feelings) the complainant - Westerner

30A - Those with perceived financial resources are assigned positions in society as that of givers and or loaners – African

30W - Those with perceived financial resources are not obligated to give or loan money since such resources are obtained through banks and other lending agencies.  However those with great financial means often become philanthropists donating to worthy causes in the community, but this is done on their own accord and not by pressure from others - Westerners

31A - People typically receive satisfaction from being asked for financial help, whether or not they can provide it – African

31W - People typically feel pressured and uncomfortable when asked for financial help, whether or not they can provide it - Westerner

32A - The reputation of people with means is enhanced through the frequent visits of their clients – Africans

32W - Westerners tend to be frustrated and inconvenienced by frequent visitors seeking assistance or who are uninvited or unplanned - even if no request is made.

33A - Leaders in society (political, religious, and business) are expected to have a small group of followers, who distribute resources and in other ways provide for their followers whenever they have needs.  It is most ideal when these leaders have commanding personalities – African

33W - Leaders in society are most appreciated when they provide for the general community and avoid distributing to a small group of followers.  It is most ideal when these leaders have commanding personalities - Westerner

34A - A person with financial means is expected to pay a higher price or make a larger donation to individuals or society than the poor person - African

34W - A person with financial means is expected to pay the same price for goods but may feel greater pressure to make larger donations to society (not individuals) - Westerner

35A - Success in life is attained through personal relationships, through connections with people in positions of power and authority, and through spiritual means – African

35W - Success in life is attained through the accumulation of wealth, positions of authority and power through ability, hard work, education, and delayed gratification within a system of a just society - Westerner

36A - When there is a need for money or some good, the normal and acceptable way to get it is to ask for it from a relative, friend, or acquaintance that has it – African

36W - When there is a need for money or some good, the normal and acceptable way to get it is to borrow from a bank or credit company and avoid asking relatives, friends, or acquaintances since this is considered impolite and

an imposition - Westerner

37A - Old debts are forgotten and are not expected to be repaid neither by the debtor nor the lender – African

37W - Old debts are not forgotten and are expected to be repaid no matter how long it takes - Westerner

38A - There is a strong sense in which people want to be owed money by their friends – African

38W - There is strong sense in which people do not want to be owed money by their friends - Westerner

39A - There is a strong sense in which people want to be without money so that they can more easily refuse a request for a loan – African

39W - There is a strong sense in which people want to have money in their pocket at all times and can still easily refuse a loan - Westerner

40A - The value of a development project is not measured by its long-term success or sustainability – African

40W - The value of a development project is measured by it long-term success and sustainability.  If a development project does not show sustainability and possibility of long-term success, westerners will pull out of the project - Westerner

41A - A loan is eligible to be repaid when the creditor's need becomes greater than the debtor's need – African

41W - A loan is always eligible to be repaid and does not concern the circumstances of the creditor - Westerner

42A - The repayment of loans may subjectively change due to changing economic, social, and time factors – African

42W - The repayment of loans is due objectively on the terms agreed upon which the loan was made - Westerner

43A - The responsibility of repayment of debts is primarily the creditor's to collect and not the borrower's to volunteer payment – African

43W - The responsibility of repayment of debts is primarily the debtor's to voluntarily pay without reminding them and not the creditor's to collect - Westerner

44A - Many people live with outstanding debts that they never expect to pay – African

44W - Many people live with outstanding debts that they are expected to pay - Westerner

45A - The risk of a loan not being paid back is largely assumed by the lender – African

45W - The risk of a loan not being paid back is largely assumed by the borrower - Westerner

46A - The use of the word "loan" when requesting money from someone is often a euphemism (substitute word) for "gift" – African

46W - The word loan means "loan" and the word gift means "gift" - Westerner

47A - The word "no" to a request for money, a loan, or a material object, is understood as an insult, indifference to a need, a lack of respect, or a sign of rejection of the petitioner – African

47W - The word "no" to a request for money, a loan, or a material object, is understood to reflect the lender's ability or willingness to help without reflection (insult, indifference, lack of respect or rejection) upon the petitioner - Westerner

48A - The relationship between seller and buyer may well affect the price asked and the price paid for goods or a service – African

48W - No relationship is expected between the seller and buyer.  The buyer will seek the best price and buy from that seller - Westerner

49A - Bargaining for a better deal in any transaction involves important social as well as economic factors – African

49W - Bargaining for a better deal is tiresome and seen as a way of gouging the unknowing buyer - Westerner

50A - Employers are expected to provide advances to employees in certain family situations and for certain holidays – African

50W - Employers are not expected to provide advances for any personal needs - Westerner

51A - Any financial matter is subject to re-negotiation until final payment is made – African

51W - Any financial matter once a price is agreed upon remains intact through the final payment.  Changes in price are the basis for court cases -Westerner

52A - A request for money from a government functionary or other provider of services may be a request for a "pretip" rather than a bribe - African

52W - A request for money from a government functionary or other provider of services before any work is done is considered a bribe.  Incentives or thanks should not need to be given since they are merely fulfilling their

appointed functions - Westerner

53A - Many people will choose a sure and immediate benefit over a potentially larger long- term benefit – African

53W - Many people will refuse a sure and immediate benefit in order to gain a potentially larger long-term benefit - Westerner

54A - People tend to accept immediate, cheap, or even quasi-legal solutions when dealing with business matters or land acquisitions, rather than take care of matters properly, deal with technicalities or delays, or incur additional expenses – African

54W - People prefer to take care of matters properly, deal with technicalities or delays, or incur additional expense so that future problems do not arise - Westerner

55A - When an occasion provides the opportunity to make a large profit, it is typically seized upon.  There is little concept of a reasonable, or just, or ethical price, or of price-gouging; rather, the accepted practice is to charge whatever the buyer is willing to pay – African

55W - People tend to consider and offer what is a reasonable, or just, or ethical price and to avoid price-gouging or large profits in favor of establishing buyer loyalty for repeated future or long-term business - Westerner

56A - Inaction or delay in carrying out a matter may constitute a well-considered, unverbalized message, and not just be the result of mere inaction, inertia, or delay caused by unforeseen events (even if the person claims this) – African

56W - Inaction or delay in carrying out a matter is seen as laziness, no concern for the job at hand or for the relationship, and will most likely cause the westerner to seek different partners in future transactions - Westerner

57A - When money is exchanged in a business transaction, there is very limited recourse when problems arise such as - mistakes, damaged merchandise, breakdown, or not meeting contractual stipulations- African

57W - Even after money is exchanged, westerners expect the seller to be responsible for mistakes, damaged merchandise, breakdown or not meeting contractual stipulations.  This is considered the mark of a good businessman.  By correcting the problem, the businessman will gain the customer's future business - Westerner

58A - When a problem is encountered in trying to complete or carry through with a transaction involving finances or other matters, the problem will seldom be clearly admitted at the outset, but will typically only be revealed over a period of time – African

58W - Admitting a problem immediately and explaining what steps are honestly being taken to correct the situation will ensure the customer that the business is worth future work.  Lying about the situation will chase the customer away - Westerner

59A - When a customer is told that an ordered article or service or payment will be ready on a specified time or date, it is unlikely to be ready at that time – African

59W - When a customer is told that an ordered article or service or payment will be ready on a specified time or date, it is best to have it ready at that time or even before in order to ensure customer satisfaction and future business - Westerner

60A - The amount shown on a receipt may or may not correspond with the amount paid for goods or services – African

60W - The amount shown on a receipt corresponds with the amount paid for goods or services and is considered by law as a legal voucher with punishment served for false receipts - Westerner

61A - Having the correct amount of money for a business transaction is the responsibility of the buyer; it is not the seller's responsibility to provide change – African

61W - Having the correct amount of money for a business transaction is the responsibility of the seller who will gladly provide change as a way of attracting customers - Westerner

62A - Giving a large tip to one person and expecting him to divide it among others is unfair and unsatisfactory – African

62W - Giving a large sum to one person and expecting him to divide it among others is sometimes the only way a tip can be given.  It is considered better to give one large sum than nothing at all - Westerners

Last Thoughts Before We Board the Airplane

It has been so nice having Katherine blogging on this trip as well.  I have been so busy running around all day that I haven't had a whole lot of time to blog, so it is such a relief to know that Katherine has been keeping our friends and family informed about what is going on.  If you haven't been following her blog, I encourage you to take a look at it.

http://steppingoutinkenya.blogspot.com

She is a much better blogger than I am anyway, and I'm glad that you have gotten to see her perspective of the trip.

I want to make sure you know that even though I haven't been writing a lot, I have been trying to tell the story of our trip with pictures and captions.  I have been posting the pictures to facebook, but I just now made the album public.  So, when you get the chance, go take a look at our Kenya pictures at:

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150819319791582.395549.521941581&type=3&l=75af9775df

We are in Nairobi right now, staying with Larry and Hollye Conway, our missionary friends here.  Katherine and Hollye ran off to shop for gifts at the Masai market, and then we are going to be leaving for the airport in a couple of hours.  So, I don't have a lot of time to write just now, but I will try to briefly recap some recent highlights of the past couple of weeks.

* We finished rebuilding the Home of Kenneth Oala and his wife Nancy and we had chai with them in their home.  They are the couple who lost their house and their daughter in the fire last Sunday.  I have lots of pictures of building a house in rural Kenya, and it's really pretty interesting.  Go take a look.  The house will not really be finished until they plaster the walls with a mixture of mud and manure, but we have to let the mud walls dry for two weeks before that work can begin.

* We distributed another 112 Luo bibles at church on Sunday.  It is hard to describe how grateful this community has been to receive the Bibles.  After we started our Bible distribution a couple of weeks ago, I started noticing as I walked around the community and prayed with people in their homes that they would often have their new Luo bible proudly displayed on the coffee table.  Many of the older widows in this community speak nothing but Luo, and they are so happy to finally have access to the scriptures.  Many others in the community speak some English, but they say that it is so much more effective to be able to read the scriptures in their "heart language."  It cost about $3000 to purchase these 316 bibles in bulk through the Kenya Bible Society.  We went ahead and funded this out of our own pocket, but if you are interested in helping out with this work, Katherine and I would be very grateful for some assistance.  We have received about $200 for this purpose already from people who have been following us.

You can contribute to Huruma House through PayPal at:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=ZL89WKHAXM2GJ

You can also mail a check to Huruma House, 4010 Cougar Way, Abilene, TX, 79606
Or if you worship at Willis you can give a check to Scott Darrow when you see him.

* Sunday was my last day to preach at Marera Church of Christ before we left.  The place was packed and a lot of people had to sit outside.  One of the church leaders here asked at the beginning of the service if anyone was interested in being baptized today, and four people came forward.  I haven't been preaching any sermons about baptism (my primary focus here has been to help the existing Christians in this community to grow deeper in their faith), so I was a little bit surprised at the response.  After they came forward, I spoke for a few minutes about what baptism was all about and about its significance in our journey of faith.  Then another 6 people came forward to make their confessions as well.  So we all walked down to the river, and Daniel Owino (a local church leader) and I waded out to a deep place, and we baptized 13 people.  It turns out that 3 additional people also decided to be baptized once we got started.  Kenneth Oala, the man whose house we rebuilt after the fire, was among those who were baptized.

* Over the past week, I started having some meetings with some people that I have identified as leaders in the community of Marera.  We put together a group of 18 people, most of them widow ladies, and we created a new community-based organization called "Hope for Marera."  I am really excited about the opportunity to work with this group in the future, and I am so glad that I know and trust the members and the officers of the group.  We decided to spend a couple of years just implementing some income-generating projects to earn income for the CBO.  Then once the CBO has some significant income, we plan to start a nursery school for some of the neediest orphan children in the community where they can be fed and educated.  The 18 members of the CBO are going to do some cost-benefit analyses of various income-generating project ideas, and then Huruma House is going to fund the best of these projects as money for Marera becomes available through donations.  Katherine and I are going to start funding the projects ourselves until we are confident that the CBO members will work well together.  Then once we are satisfied with their performance, I hope to be able to open these projects up to other interested donors as well.

I have so much more I want to tell you, but if Katherine gets home and finds the kids still dirty and the suitcases unpacked, I don't think "but I just HAD to blog" is going to get me off the hook for making us miss our flight.

We land at DFW airport at 9:45am on Wednesday, and Marty and Marilyn Turentine have offered to come pick us up at the airport in Vernon Williams' suburban.  We love you and miss you, and we will see you very soon on the other side of the ocean.


Lord, You are the good shepherd.  I surrender to You my fears about the church and the community I am leaving behind, and I trust that they are safe under Your watchful guidance.  Amen.

Rites

This morning I was scheduled to preach at Mogesa Church of Christ in Kisii.  Mogesa is not the church we have been working with here (in fact, it is in a completely different city), but it is the home congregation of Simeon Ongiri, the director of Sam's Place.  It was important to Simeon that my family pay a visit to Mogesa, so I told him that we would spend one of our Sundays there.

We arrived at Sam's Place early this morning so that we would have time to worship with the deaf orphans at Sam's Place before Simeon drove our family to Kisii in his car.  However, as soon as our taxi pulled up to the gate of Sam's Place, we learned that all was not well in the community.  

Our friends Kennedy and Eric, two brothers we have been spending a lot of time with, quickly informed us that there had been a tragedy in the community just this morning.  In fact, Eric was still muddy and dirty, having just arrived from the scene of the accident.

As I have been visiting different homes in Marera and praying with the people in their homes, I have found a disturbing trend.  Well over half of the houses in this community are the homes of elderly widow women raising their orphaned grandchildren.  Very rarely do I find a home with young mother and young father who are raising their children together.  But it was one of these rare two-parent homes that was grieving today.

This young man and young woman were raising three young girls.  The oldest daughter was a bit younger than Kerith, maybe 4 years old.  The second daughter was a bit younger than Anna, about 2 or 3.  And they also had a newborn baby girl, only one month old.

Sunday is market day in Rongo, so it is typical for the parents to get up early and take their goods to the open-air market to sell.  They leave the children (even very young children) home alone to fend for themselves until the parents return.  We have told our Kenyan friends that if a parent did this in America they would go to jail, but in Kenya this very common and it is actually the mark of a loving parent who is trying to keep the children clothed and fed.

So, this particular young couple were both out of the house this morning when a kerosene lamp caught the house on fire.  The roof of the home was made of thatch and the fire spread very rapidly.  The neighbors (including Eric) tried their best to put out the fire, but in the end they were unable to save the house from total loss. 

As Kennedy and Eric were telling us this news, we could still see the smoke rising up out of the forest only about a mile beyond the wall of Sam's Place.  It was coming from the direction of a group of homes I had just visited a few days before.  I left Katherine and the girls to worship at Sam's Place and I set out on foot with my friends to see if there was anything I could still do for this young family.

We walked quickly toward the rising smoke, and we were joined by a few more of Kennedy and Eric's brothers as we walked.  I was happy to see Bernard join us.  Bernard is the young Kenyan man that I am training to be a photographer, and I was relieved to be able to pass my camera off to him.  I have found that photography and ministry don't mix.  You can approach a situation as either a minister or a journalist, but attempting both at the same time is just awkward and disrespectful.  And I am so grateful to be able to hand off my camera to Bernard each day so that I can fully focus on the people in front of me.

After fording a small stream and scrambling through some brush, we finally approached the scene of the fire.  The little thatch house was still smoldering and the area was thick with smoke.  A group of about twenty neighbors and relatives was standing around the remains of the house when we approached.  I scanned the crowd to see if I could figure out which were the parents, but this was pointless.  The mother was the one who was on the ground wailing at the top of her lungs.  

Loud wailing is a very common way to grieve here.  I have been told that the entire community knows if someone dies during the night because the wailing of the family fills the forest for miles.  At first it seems like a shocking response to loss, but maybe it's more shocking that our culture expects grieving mothers to show so much restraint and self-control. 

After finding the mother the I glanced around for the children.  The two older children had escaped the fire uninjured, and they were clinging to their wailing mother.  The young father also stood near them, shocked and stoic.

Apart from the family, on the ground close to the smoldering house, there were a pair of blankets with a lump between them. Upon seeing the missionary arrive a couple of the people in the crowd carefully pulled back the top blanket that was serving as a shroud.  Several others ushered me toward the body of the little baby girl who did not escape the fire.

Kennedy had told me on the way that the baby did not survive, but I was completely unprepared for what I saw.  I think I had expected to see a beautiful baby girl who had perhaps died of asphyxiation from the smoke.  Instead I found a completely charred and blackened body.  Her limbs were frozen in a position of agony.  Her mouth was open in a loud cry, but it was only filled with ashes.

I'm not sure what they were expecting me to do as they directed me toward the body.  Catholic priests are trained in administering the rite of extreme unction, but that is something that Church of Christ boys are not really prepared for.  I guess they figured that the white missionary would know what to do in such a situation, but I didn't.  I just knelt down beside the body of little girl and placed my hand on her torso of charcoal, and I cried on the baby.  Rest in peace, and rise in glory little girl.  Rest in peace, and rise in glory.

By this time quite a crowd had gathered around to watch the mzungu missionary crying on the dead child and praying in English, so I figured I should probably stand up and address them properly.  I tapped Kennedy to interpret into Luo for me, but he had to punt to one of his brothers.  I don't remember now exactly what I said to them, but I do remember that I reminded them that God is always good all the time, that in times of loss the Father of Lies points an accusing finger at the Creator of Life and says "Look what your God has done!", that our response is to turn our faces from the liar and to bury our faces in our loving God because He is good and beautiful.

After this I felt like I needed to pray over the grieving mother and father.  If I had been expected to formulate a beautifully worded prayer, I don't think I would have been able to anyway.  So, I just prayed what I would pray if no one was listening, repeating a prayer for peace and healing and comfort over and over again.

As we headed back to Sam's Place, Kennedy told me that in the Luo culture a person whose house burns down is considered to be cursed, and no one will take the cursed family into their home for fear that they will lose their own home as well.  So, when a family loses a home they just have to build a lean-to next to a nearby tree until they get their home rebuilt.

These are good, hospitable Christian people we are working with, and it just baffles me that this old superstition would so powerfully trump the very plain teachings of Jesus about hospitality.  I don't know what kind of long-term effect my family can have on ditching the old Luo superstitions, but we are going to do what we can to take care of this grieving family right now.  There is a little house we paid to have built near Sam's Place last year, so we have invited the family to come and live in that house for a few days until they can get their original house rebuilt.  

We are meeting with some of the church leaders tomorrow to make long-term plans for the future, and one of the things we will talk about is making sure that this grieving family has a place to live before our family leaves Kenya.  Fortunately, in Kenya it only takes about $500 and a couple of days to build a house if the labor is provided for free, so we might be spending a good part of this week working alongside our Kenyan brothers and sisters to rebuild a home for this family.

I have found that I am grateful for my little Bethany quite a bit more today than I was yesterday.  Her body is about the same size as that hard little charred body I touched today, and I am so thankful to see her little legs kicking and her eyes smiling.  Maybe we should all stop what we are doing right now and go hug our kids.

Lord, we confess that we are totally incompetent to minster to this community by our own power, so use us as instruments of Your peace.  Amen.


P.S.  I want you to know that the $500 to build the house isn't going to break us, but if any of you would like to pitch in for this expense we would be very grateful for any help we can get.  You can donate to Huruma House using PayPal at the link below.

Donate to Huruma House

Baptism by Fire

On Saturday, several of the leaders of the Marera Church of Christ came to visit us at our guest house to plan Sunday's worship service.  They kind of trickled in because some of them had to walk over five miles to come to the meeting.  

Not knowing the cultural protocols is very uncomfortable, particularly in church meetings.  I don't know who is supposed to speak first or who is expected to lead the meeting.  I don't know how much time I'm supposed to spend asking about people's families before we get down to business, and I don't know whether I'm supposed to interrupt the meeting to greet people who come in late.  

Most importantly, I don't know how to end the meeting.  When a dozen Kenyan men and women are sitting silently, staring at me, and I have already made as many closing statements as I can think to make, how do I signal that it is time to leave?  Am I supposed to stand up?  Do I lead a closing prayer?  Maybe there is some secret phrase or hand sign I'm supposed to make.

I have decided that a confession of ignorance is usually the best policy.  So I ended up just saying, "I believe we will continue the meeting until 11:00pm because I confess that I do not know how to end a meeting in Kenya."  They all laughed at me, and my friend Bernard helped me save face by drawing the meeting to a graceful conclusion.  

It has been so nice in past years that my friend, Stephen Greek, has been the one to speak for the team.  As a long-time missionary in Kenya, he always knows just what to do, but since he and Claudia do not arrive until June 4, I'm just having to wing it for a while.  We call it "baptism by fire", and all of our team members have been experiencing that in some way or another.  

These church leaders walked so far to have this meeting to "plan" the worship service together with us, but we quickly saw that they already had the order of worship nicely printed out before they even arrived.  And of course, all of our team members had been given significant roles in the service.  Katherine and Alice were supposed to teach a ladies class together.  I was supposed to preach the sermon and teach two different classes.  And Lauren was supposed to teach two children's classes.  We had a good 12 hours advance notice for all of this before show-time on Sunday morning.  Baptism-by-fire.

All of us felt a bit overwhelmed, but Alice and I had kind of been expecting something like that.  If you go to Kenya on a mission trip, it doesn't matter who you are or what you think your role on the trip is, you had better have a Bible lesson up your sleeve because you will definitely be asked to teach something or other.

The schedule said that the worship started at 9:00am, and the church leaders recommended that we get there a bit early so that we could pray together before the service.  So, on Sunday morning we all scarfed down our breakfast and ran around frantically to get our kids in the taxi and get to the church before 9:00.  But when we finally got there 10 minutes late, we noticed that we were the first ones there.  I ran over to the home of one of the church leaders only to find that they were still eating breakfast and getting dressed.

I've been to Kenya a couple of times before and it has always been this way, so I should have known to be prepared for "Africa time", but they just sounded so sincere when they had said 9:00 that I thought just maybe it was different in this part of Kenya.  Nope.

Once church finally got started around 9:45 we got a few more surprises.  The program said that we were supposed to sing a bit and then have 45 minutes of Bible class, so I was all prepared to get up there and teach my Bible lesson when all of a sudden another man was invited to the front to preach an hour-long sermon about giving before the collection was taken.  When he sat down, another man got up to preach another hour-long sermon in preparation for communion.  The adults never had Bible class at all, but poor Lauren ended up being stuck with all the kids for two hours worth of children's Bible class.  

When I was finally invited forward to speak I didn't know whether I was supposed to teach my Bible lesson or preach my sermon.  Fortunately, all the children started dragging their little wooden benches back into the church building (leaving Lauren an exhausted heap on the grass outside), so that was a pretty good indication that it was sermon time.  

By the time I started the sermon, attendance was up to about 60 (they kind of trickle in because many of them travel long distances to come to church).  On the whole, I thought the sermon went fairly well.  Preaching in Kenya with an interpreter is so much easier than preaching in America.  For one, I must speak slowly to be understood by the English-speaking listeners.  And secondly, I have to wait for each sentence to be interpreted before proceeding.  All of this really slows down the pace of the sermon delivery, forces me to be efficient with my words, and gives me plenty of time to think about what I'm going to say next.  It's wonderful.  What would otherwise be a rambling mess of a sermon can turn out to be pretty good just because I have to wait for the translator.  In America, I usually feel the need to write out my sermons first in order to keep me focused and concise.  In Kenya, I can just speak whatever is on my heart.  

It also helps that Kenyan church-goers aren't looking at their watches.  Most of them don't even own watches.  There isn't really a scheduled ending time for the service,  so there isn't any artificial time constraint on sermon length.  The preacher just goes on until he is finished conveying the message he has been given. 

Once the sermon was over we had about 15 people come forward for the invitation, so we got to pray over each of them individually about their various needs.  Most of them wanted prayers that they would grow closer to God, some wanted prayers for healing, and some wanted to be better mothers of their children.  It was very interesting that of all the people who came forward, only one was male.

Once our worship service was over we resuscitated Lauren (still pooped after her marathon Bible class), and then the whole congregation had lunch together.  After lunch, we divided into our separate Bible classes.  I taught the men, Katherine and Alice teamed up to teach the women, and Lauren got one more round of the kids.  I was kind of concerned about how Lauren was going to hold up to all of that, but after class was over she was cheery and positive.  So, I guess she must have gotten a divine second-wind.  It was her baptism-by-fire.

We finally got home about 5:00pm, tired and very wet (because it has rained every afternoon we have been here).  Kerith, Anna, and Bethany held up to it all very well.  I have been so proud of my girls.  Kerith particularly, is being quite a social butterfly.  Anna found a friend today, too, a little Kenyan girl her own age.  Unfortunately, their budding friendship had to come to an untimely end when they decided that it was fun to lick each other's tongues.  Anna's mama freaked out so much about that, that I'm pretty sure Anna isn't going to try that again.

On the whole it was a really good Sunday.  Katherine and I both felt like good things happened at church today, in the main assembly and in our classes.  These people are hungry to hear the word of God.  Most of them are already baptized believers, but they really desire to go deeper.  And we are very excited about the transformation that can come to this entire community when Christ's life-transforming power takes a hold of this little congregation.

Lord, we confess that we are incompetent ministers in Your Kingdom.  Hide us behind Your cross so that those we minster to see only You.  Amen.