It has been too long, and many things have been going on at Macheo since the last time I have written. From a soccer tournament to painting murals we have continued to remain busy with projects. The kids are finally out of school for about 2 months which is great because they are around the home all day; so, we are all excited to be able to spend a lot more time with the children. Anyway, I won’t spend too much time rambling on, because I am excited to catch you all up on different anecdotes and happenings around Thika.
- “Random Thought”: This is another short entry from my journal that I thought I would share…Sometimes I forget that I am living in Kenya, and that bothers me. I wake up and get involved too much in what needs to be done for the day that I forget to pause for a moment and take it all in. I fear that somehow years down the road I will wake up and forget these amazing lives and people, the joy and laughter, the love and servant-hearts, the fun and the tears. Will I still be affected by the poverty? Will I still remember the children's laughter and songs echoing through the home? Will I still remember their joy despite their unbelievable hardships at such young ages? Will I remember the malnourished children who can’t walk at three and four years old? Will I remember the joy and peace of God shining through it all? Will I remember?...
- “Obamania”: Obama is officially president-elect of the U.S. Being here in Kenya during this time has been eye-opening, fun, and ridiculous. I have never been extremely enthusiastic about politics; I have always been more passionate and enthusiastic about issues rather than any one candidate. That said, it was and is officially “Obamania” here in Kenya. Even before the election-day, people would yell “Obama!” at us as we walked by or ask us if we were voting for him. But, during and after the election was the craziest. There are a few African musicians who have written songs and music videos praising him; one song even included the line, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done in the United States of America”. On top of that, there is an unfortunate belief that Obama will do as much, if not more, for Kenya than America. The two newspapers that were printed after he won were filled cover-to-cover with articles: How Kenya needs to clean up its act for Obama, Children need to look to Obama for an example, and How Obama will change Kenya etc. Furthermore, Kenya celebrated a national holiday in his honor on November 6, Obama Day. Everyone got the day off. But, that wasn’t even the most absurd. Uganda actually got two days off, and Nigeria got five days off! All of the absurdity in Kenya aside, I do believe Obama’s election is truly a historical moment for America. That said, I am not expressing my own views of who should or shouldn’t be president. I hope for the best for Obama, and I hope that he does great things both nationally and globally. But, as I said before, I hope to never put too large an amount of faith or trust in any one candidate or government. Instead, like many of us, I realize that my first allegiance is not to a man, a country, or a flag, but to a king and a kingdom not of this world. I am constantly reminded of when Jesus is confronted about Pilate about the claim that he is "King of the Jews"; "Are you?" Pilate keeps asking. And, Jesus replies simply, "My kingdom is not of this world". (John 18 33-36)
- “Jamii Challenge Cup”: Just a week ago, we all organized and ran a large soccer tournament for several local slum-schools in the area. We had to do most of the organization. We figured out dates, schools, teams, times, schedules, rosters, food, and awards. We were also in charge of marking out the field, building goal posts, and officiating the games. It was held at a school down the road, Gatuanyaga Primary School, which hosted the five other schools (approx. 300 kids). It was such a great time. If anyone has ever been to Africa, or any other part of the world outside of the U.S. for that matter, you know the passion and obsession with soccer (football); so, you know the kids had fun. It was also a great opportunity to bring various communities together in one big event for the children. One woman even commented to me, “This is so great for the community. Some of these children have never travelled to this part of town. Seeing every one together like this blesses me”. The event lasted most of the day; it started around 8:30 am and the closing ceremonies were around 4:00 pm. It was touching to see all the smiles and cheers throughout the day. Everyone was rooting on their school, and when goals were scored, the field erupted in cheers. At the end of the day during the ceremonies was even better. Individual children were chosen from different schools to be awarded: best all around player, top scorer, and most disciplined. To see the smiles on the kids faces and how they encouraged each other brought a smile to my face.
- “Painting murals”: Let me preface this by saying that in no way do I profess to be an artist. I have not been gifted, or at least not to my discovery yet, with a talent in art. However, I love and appreciate art in all of its forms, and I think I will continue to try to produce some of my own after how much fun it has been painting here. Beautification of the home has been one of our projects since we arrived. Just recently we have started painting in both the girls and boys’ rooms. So far, we have painted, two rabbits, a leopard, a huge tree, a giraffe, two monkeys, a bird, and Adam is working on a lion. The kids have been so excited to come into their rooms each day and see where a new monkey is hanging or a bird is perched. We have also dedicated a wall outside to the hands of the children which was both a fun and tiring process to complete. Lastly, we have two large murals outside to paint: Moses parting the Red Sea and a large underwater scene (sea turtles, octopuses, fish, etc.). It has been a lot of fun for all of us to test our skills at painting and to see what new creature the kids want in their room. The boys are currently arguing for a large gorilla roaring and beating his chest. I see a new mural in the making…
- “The last 4 months”: It has been a thoughtful process since we arrived in Kenya to figure out what to do with the last four months we are hear from January until the beginning of May. There has been a lot of prayer and deliberation and research. As of now, it looks as if we are all going to travel up and down the coast, starting in Mombasa, to setup future ministry and church contacts for SIM Kenya. We did a little research and it seems that outreach to the Islamic community on the coast is next to nil. We also talked to several people at SIM, and they said that the greatest need in Kenya right now is to reach out to the Muslim community in love. The largest concentration of the Muslim community is along Kenya’s coast which, subsequently, boarders Somalia. We all discussed it as a group and came to the conclusion that it will be exhausting physically, emotionally, and spiritually; we all decided that we saw a great need and had a great desire to serve, and we weren’t really sure how it would all play out. But, we are all going in with no expectations and lots of love in hopes of making contacts for SIM where there are none and making friends along the way.
It has been quite a month, and there is still so much more to write, and I plan on writing another post very soon. But, just to fill you in a little more, AT and I are still finishing up the solar oven, which has been much harder to build and work on than we originally realized. We have had to search Thika thoroughly to find parts and materials that we need several times. But, it is taking shape well, and should be finished in the near future. Also, our pup Simba is doing well and growing by the day, but he is still being house trained. Unfortunately, he also has one the smallest bladders (pees constantly) and largest bladders (tons of pee) at the same time. He is a great pup otherwise; but, he has now learned that sleeping on the chair is much more comfortable than a cement floor. Lastly, AT and I have decided to live our final month at Macheo over at Joyous with several of the boys he formally worked with while in Kenya. It should be an interesting time and hopefully a great time of growth.
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