Weekend Getaway - Joska

This weekend was a great moment that refreshed our spirits and touched our hearts. We drove to the secondary school that MoHI started around five years ago. Joska is a little over an hour outside of Nairobi and what seems a galaxy away from the exhaust, trash, and business of the city.
Upon our arrival we ate a quick lunch and went out to the field to meet and play with the ~600 kids that attend school there (mainly grades 4-8). Some of us played soccer, others jumped rope, and a few learned new versions of Red Rover....I introduced a few kids to ultimate Frisbee:)
Though I instantly made 5 friends, the concept did not translate well, so I gave in and jumped rope until I could jump no more.
Later on I had the three girls holding my hands (Milicent, Christine, and Anne) walk me around their play area as they taught me new Swahili words and showed me some of their favorite dance moves. After a break for dinner at 7pm, we waited for the children to finish their devotion time and go to their dorms for the night so we could start our bonfire.
We had brought the makings for smores and didn't want to start them if we didn't have enough to share......we didn't wait long enough:) As soon as kids saw the fire starting we had a crowd of around 100 on our laps, braiding our hair, playing with our cameras, and asking us questions about our lives in America. It was SO much fun...I had two girls squished on my chair with me and one sitting on a rock next to me laying her head on my lap. We all sang, joked, and danced until 10pm and when the children were scooted off to bed we enjoyed smores under a star-filled sky.
The next morning we attended church at the chapel on the schools' campus and ate lunch with a team of teachers from Oregon. We then rested for a little while and said our goodbyes. I was deeply touched when Milicent and Christine came to find me, presented me with drawings and notes they made for me, and latched onto me. I sat with them, held their hands, and hugged them until we had to board the van and almost lost my composure when Milicent's eyes filled with tears. I know I will get to see these two beautiful girls once more before I leave, but at that moment I just wanted to stay and hold them until they fell into a restful sleep.
It is not always easy to see how you are helping or what God's purpose is, but moments like this weekend are precious glimpses of eternity I think He gives us in order to sustain us through the routine and the rough spots.

Deciphering their stories

This week we have been working on writing profiles for the micro-business owners we talked with last week. I am quickly learning that some questions do not translate well from English to Swahili, and vice versa, but we're doing our best to decipher handwriting and decode some of the answers:)
Today I talked with Sarah, a mother of two running a water business. Her ultimate business goal is to make enough money to buy her own plant and become a large scale distributor.

Sarah became a widow in 2000 after her husband lost his battle with cerebral cancer. Her strength and determination to save enough money to pay for her children's education, despite the daily struggle to meet the most basic needs, is inspiring. Her hope lies in providing them a better life and opportunities than she ever experienced.

Down to Business

This week we have hit the ground running....as much as possible given the limits on technology...in the Business Development Services department. I accompanied Virginiah, one of the loan officers, to group meetings Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday and Friday all the new clients (people who have recently become part of the loan program or are just starting their business) came together for some free business training classes that Missions of Hope offers.
One of our main goals in the BDS department this summer is to get every client's (about 700 total) profile and a picture of them with their business to create an online giving program on CMF's (Christian Missionary Fellowship) website. This would allow someone in the USA, or around the world, to go online, read micro-business owner's stories and infomation on their businesses, and (if they choose) to offer a loan to any client they choose...very similar to Kiva and some other organizations involved in micro-finance.
It has been difficult communicating with people since many of the people are uneducated and understand very little english....and my swahili is equivalent to around a 2 year old Kenyan child:)...but through the help of MoHI staff translators, we are moving in the right direction.
One of the questions we ask on the profile form is 1) what are your personal goals (for you, your children, family, etc.)?
Almost every single response is the same...To provide food and education for the person's children so that the children can live a better life. Another common response is to succeed in business so as to provide the money needed to help sick family members.
It seems no matter where you are in the world, or how much you have been blessed with, our hopes, desires, and measures of success lie on our ability to accomplish similar things.

I am SO honored and excited to get to be a part of the effort to help these people accomplish some of life's basic goals.

Zebulon

On Friday I accompanied Margaret in the CHE (Community Health Evangelism) department to Mabatini, an area in Mathare Valley in which MoHI opened a center and has begun community programs within the past year. We spent the morning walking in the rain through the muddy streets to visit the homes of multiple women who are a part of the HIV/AIDS support group for their area. The MoHI staff has had to work very hard to establish this ministry because even though about 50% of the people in the slums have HIV/AIDS, the stigma is so great it takes an immense amount of trust for someone to admit they are positive....let alone share it with others in a support group setting.
In the afternoon we 'took lunch' at the MoHI school and then went to visit Zebulon. Zebulon is a man who has been handicapped from birth with legs that are about half the length they should be and of no use to him. Zebulon and his wife use to live in a nicer area of the slum. He would use a donated wheelchair to go into downtown each day and sell candy while his wife walked to the rich area of town to do laundry for money. Then Zebulon was hit by a car (not terribly uncommon) and was in the hospital for a few months before returning to his humble home and being bed-ridden for 3 months.
Zebulon's wife continues to wash clothes for money and on days when he feels ok, Zebulon crawls to his door to sell small packages of peanuts to anyone who passes by. However, the thing that stood out to me the most about Zebulon was not his crippled legs, or the notable scars from the accident, it was the light that shines through his face. I knew before he told us that Zebulon was saved...the light of Christ shines through his every expression. Despite the fact that the only view he sees of this world, when he is able to crawl to it, is that of a vast slum; there is a hope and joy in his every word and expression that is unmistakably that of the hope found in Christ.

Siku Ngema (Good Day)

We started working at the Missions of Hope Int. Pangani Center on Monday and in these short two days have seen and experienced so much. I was with the social work department on Monday, so we visited 'homes' (tin shacks) in the slums to do follow-up visits on students that had been absent from school for a few days.
One child we visited was named Benjamin. He had been sick with a sore throat, as we confirmed upon entering the home. His mother's name is Mary and she sat and talked with us while her 3 small children stared poked at the mzungus (white people)...aka us...she nursed her new born while she told us briefly about her family.
The parents are both born again Christians. Mary's husband goes into town to find work and currently she stays with the new born. Currently they house 15 people in their 10x10 tin shack...I still can't comprehend how that many people could fit into the space, let alone sleep there.
Her three small children all attend the Pangani Center for school and she is thankful for the place where they receive a good education and two meals a day. When we asked her for any prayer requests before leaving she didn't even mention anything relating to their meager situation, her only request was that God bless MoHI so that they can continue to grow and invite more and more children from the slums into their schools.
I am once again reminded...these people may be without a lot of things, but they are never without hope...or the joy that overflows from it.

Karibu Kenya

After a long and complicated journey, we finally arrived in Nairobi. After going through customs, (which took me awhile because they liked what I had and wanted to charge me for bringing it) we stopped by the Ufungamano Center to drop off our things and freshen up before continuing. Then we drove to Missions of Hope International (MoHI), also called the Pangani center, which is located on the edge of the Mathare Valley slum.

We were introduced to the staff and even got to walk through 'village 1' in Mathare. Although I have been here before, the sights, smells, and volume of trash are shocking to the senses. We drew a croud of small children everywhere we walked. They would yell "Mzungu", which is the term for a white person, and run to us with arms open wide. One girl in our team even had a child lick her arm...you just never know what will happen on a day in Mathare.