The apprehension, which is not normal for me is due to the extra burden of responsibility I will be bearing on this trip. My 18 year old daughter and my brother's 18 year old son are joining me this time. My nephew was a late addition to our group, and he was not able to get the same flights. He leaves Seattle an hour after the rest of the group and arrives Nairobi an hour earlier that we do. I worry that he may miss a connection (Dallas or London), or that he is delayed. I would normally have an Africa-based phone, but it was stolen last trip, and I wasn't planning to get a new one until landing in Nairobi. If something happens, we will have to rely on the airlines to transmit messages to and from him and me. With the two teens along, I will not be able to be my own carefree self, and will have to keep an eye on them. It is safe, but I will still have to be careful.
Many of you have been wondering about this trip and what we will be doing. I will give you a little background on the work over there. I am fortunate to be a board member for Christian Relief Fund, with an emphasis on supporting our Kenya projects. We have had orphans supported since 2005, but the past 3 years have really been growth years for our ministry. We not only feed and care for HIV/AIDS orphans, we are now managing 3 schools, a health clinic, and numerous farming projects that are the genesis of our microfinance outreach. Our locations with projects are: Kisumu (3rd largest city in Kenya), Eldoret, Kitale, Malindi, and Mombasa. On this trip we will focus on Kisumu (550 orphans), and Eldoret (220 orphans). Eldoret is also the area that we are focusing our microfinance initiatives. There have been droughts the past 2 years, and Eldoret is the farming center of Kenya. The rains this year are great, but without a crop, there is no money for planting. Our latest project helped to start a seed and fertilizer co-op. For $50 a farmer can plant and fertilize 1 acre. He repays the loan with sacks of grain that the co-op sells. That money is deposited for next year's planting season. We hope to increase the number of farming families we can help every year.
Kisumu is our "showcase" for how a project can be. The managing staff are all locals who know how to run things the African way v. the western way. For the same amount of money, the locals can support 3 times the number of orphans than a typical American missionary-driven project. They understand how important it is to have local foster families and not to institutionalize them. They realize that kids need more than physical care, but emotional and spiritual as well. Our kids at the Ringroad Orphans Day school win national competitions in education, the arts (poetry), and in scouting. They are one of the top scouting teams in all of Africa. Whenever they make the International Scout Jamboree in London (which is pretty often), they can never afford to send anyone. One fortunate year, when they won the All-Africa Jamboree, they could only afford to send one lonely scout to London, Irene. She was 11.
I can go on and on about our projects, but I wanted to share our itinerary and agenda for this upcoming trip. Our primary reason for going is to introduce a new group of Americans to the work in Africa. The Renovo Church of Puyallup, WA may want to support some of the projects there, and will be sending a group to see for themselves. I have the perfect project for their small, but mighty congregation. We have been meeting monthly since March to get to know each other and to go over trip details. I have grown to really love them all in a short period of time. They are all great people with huge hearts.
We will start our African adventure in Kisumu where we will deliver much needed antibiotics and other medicines (all donated by my brother, the doctor) to the clinic. We will also help the local missionaries in their HIV counseling, AIDS hospice visitation, and deliver the basics of a new incentive plan to the teachers to help get their kids grades up. We will also be visiting one of my favorite projects, the Lakeside Children's Home and School. We help care for approximately 60 kids at the home. These kids have zero chance of finding foster families (out in the country), and do not have any relatives willing to help them. The Renovo Church is considering Lakeside as a project to adopt, and we will spend quality time with the kids and the staff at their compound. We have planned a field trip for the children to a local theme park, and maybe ice cream afterwards. This might be the first time ever some of these children get to experience a carnival ride or ice cream. After Lakeside, we will drive to Eldoret, which is about 100 KM northeast of Kisumu. That short distance may take us 4 hours by matatu (minivan taxi).
Eldoret is another one of my favorite projects because I helped start the work there 3 years ago. 3 years ago we got a request to meet a man who had hundreds of HIV/AIDS orphans that needed help. We arranged to meet him at the Eldoret post office at 1 pm. Somehow our communications were messed up and he was there at 9 am to meet us. He stayed there until we showed up around 2 pm. That wasn't bad enough, he had two church congregations waiting for us as well...one on each side of the city. We had only promised that we would sponsor 30 of his orphans. He had 150 of them waiting there to greet us. How heartbreaking to only be able to help a few! We doubled the number that day. The elders were so godly in the way they determined which ones got sponsorship first...they based it on need. I was very impressed and we did everything we could to find sponsors for all 150, and then some. It took us 45 days after we returned to get them all in the CRF program. Since then, the work in Eldoret has taken off. Francis, our director has started a school, started microfinance projects, and has grown the church. God is good.
Let me tell you one more Francis story. Francis had heard about a severe famine in the Barwesa area near Eldoret. He heard stories about the families there eating weeds and rats to survive. On top of that, the warring between the two tribes had escalated during the famine. Francis took his monthly rations for his 150 kids and decided that they could help the villagers of Barwesa. He went there to deliver food and the good news of the gospel. The two chiefs put aside their differences on that day. Both were baptized along with 32 of their tribe. One of the chiefs was so moved by the show of the orphans' generosity, he pledged 10 acres of his land for a CRF project. He wanted us to come there and help him feed his people. We asked them what was best for that area and they decided they wanted mango trees (900), a goat herd, and beehives. I have asked Francis to take our group to Barwesa. I want to meet the chiefs, hear the story firsthand, and shower them with a feast courtesy of my home church, Northwest Church. I hear that excitement is building for our visit and we should expect over 800 people! It is an all day drive, so we will camp in the bush for a night. I am excited. That will be the highlight of my trip.
My group of travelers include some pretty talented musicians so we will grace our hosts with music whenever we gather. I have to learn to sing...boy do I have to learn quickly.
So, there it is...a shortened version of our busy itinerary. I can't wait until we get there, and I can't wait to come back home with new stories to share with anyone who will listen.
Please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers. And go to the CRF website and donate, please?
Chow!
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