Thursday

1) & 2) Enjoying a ride in the school van on Christmas day
3) The mosque across the street from our house

Confessions From a Twenty Year Old

I've discovered over the years that my gut instinct is generally to not look too far ahead in life. The future just kind of sits there, half forgotten, something to head towards but not examine too closely.

Somehow, though, I've always had a next step, always known where I was going.

Recently, the fact that I will be leaving Kenya in just a few short months has finally begun to sink in, and I've realized that I'm not sure what my next step is.

God has been clear that I am supposed to stay Stateside for awhile, but I have been wrestling with Him quite stubbornly -- and ridiculously. Who am I to tell an all knowing God that He doesn't know what He is talking about? -- when it comes down to the details.

Obviously, I am still learning the lesson that Mary seemed to have understood.

“Just imagine what Mary was actually saying in the words, ‘I am the handmaid of the Lord … let what you have said be done to me’ (Luke 1:38). She was saying, ‘I don’t know what this all means, but I trust that good things will happen.’ She trusted so deeply that her waiting was open to all possibilities. And she did not want to control them. She believed that when she listened carefully she could trust what was going to happen.

“To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is far beyond our own imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according
to God’s love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control.”
—Henri Nouwen

Wednesday

1) - 4) Weighing, bagging, and tying bags of beans, maize flour, and sugar on Christmas Eve, to pass out after the Christmas meal in the village

Tuesday

1) & 2) Life through the eyes of a just turned three year old
3) & 4) Proof that filling a house with females does not in any way mean that it will stay neat

Do One Thing

New Years is coming up. That means that people across the world are making decisions about the way that they want their lives to change during 2010.

Most of them won't keep the promises that they make to themselves.

This year, instead of making a promise to yourself that you are going to break, make a promise to someone else. And, keep it.

There are 27 million people across the globe who will go into 2010 as modern day slaves. Some of them might be working to create the stuff that you use and buy every day.

For New Years, decide to do something about it. Follow this link, and send emails to companies that you use, asking them to make sure that they are not selling products made by slaves. Before you forget, and this gets lost under the pile of other broken New Years' promises, click on the link, and keep your promise to someone else.

One Thing for One Month

New Years is coming, which means that, across the world, people are trying to come up with resolutions, resolutions that we all know we will have broken by mid-February at the latest.

What if, instead of reaching so high, we decided to do just one thing for just one month?

One in seven people across the globe don't have access to the same clean water that goes into your morning coffee. It takes up to seven times the amount of water in your plastic bottle to bottle that water.

For the month of January, buy a cheaper coffee when you go through Starbucks and keep track of what you are saving. When you get to $42, buy a reusable water bottle and provide clean water for someone who needs it.

Justice means changing your life at the same time that you are changing someone else's.

For one month. Do one thing.

A Week of Photos

Seeing as my team steals...er...shares... pictures with each other on a regular basis, I though I would share with you some of the things that they've captured recently. Check back for new pictures every day.

Today...you get a glimpse of Nairobi, courtesy of Esther's mom, who is here for a visit.
1) You know you're in the city when you start seeing apples and oranges for sale on the side of the street. Yum!
2) The bus stage in Eastliegh. Look familiar, Mom and Dad?
3) Street vendors hanging out at the bus stage with their wares
4) The edge of a Nairobi market

Twas the Night Before Christmas

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house Not a creature was stirring...well...maybe the mouse. The stockings were hung by the whiteboard with care


Okay, that's not how it really went down at all. Let's try again.

Twas some days before Christmas
And throughout the land
The interns were scrambling
They'd come up with a plan

The stockings were hung at the Witt's house with care
Knowing their teammates soon would be there


As the snowflakes were cut
No one took time for a nap
And the last of the chain
Soon filled up the gap


Then at Jason's house there arose such a clatter
Of interns in kitchen, mixing some batter


After they'd feasted and opened the last of their presents
They set out to work
And it really was pleasant


They sorted and bagged
To prepare the next feast
Where they chopped up more vegetables
And boiled two beasts

The rice was all cleaned and the pilau was stirred
When asked to cut firewood, they complained not a word

Crafts were created
And stories were told
And a good time was had
By the young and the old

Then they jumped in the vans
And they drove out of sight

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Am I Really Helping?

Writing a check or making a donation makes no long term difference, unless there is life change that goes along with it. Unless change comes to the rich as well as to the poor, I can not call what I am doing justice.

If I sponsor a child through World Vision and then go out and buy a Hershey's chocolate bar, I am acting like a hypocrite.

If I donate towards a well in Zambia and then buy a bottle of water or let my toilet flush an entire tank of water, the only thing that I am practicing is how to be a con man.

If I donate to a local food bank and then throw out my leftovers or neglect to grow my own food, I am lying to myself and anyone else who sees my actions.

The justice of finding a sustainable lifestyle for humanity requires finding a sustainable lifestyle for all humanity. There is simply no other option.

Giving money may feel good, but, until grass is torn up to give way to gardens that help to diminish the waste of transporting goods over long distances, there is no way that we will come up with an answer to world hunger.

Spreading Coca-Cola and the golden arches across the globe is never going to teach farmers the techniques that they need to feed their families and their countries. People mimic what they see modeled for them. (Like it or not, people across the globe do look at America as an economic success story) What kind of models are we being?

Do I really practice what I preach?

When Trade Isn't Fair

STEM

Over the week of Thanksgiving, we had a team of Americans come to spend some time here working and learning. It was my first time being on the receiving end of a short term team, and it was quite the experience.

It was nice having them here, because it meant extra hands that were willing to work (And they brought food for Thanksgiving!), so we were able to put together desks for two different schools and do a medical clinic. Laura and I got to spend all three work days out at the schools building desks, which was a lot of fun. – And, Warren had fun laughing me on the first day while I was trying to use a hammer that probably weighed more than my arm, on small nails no less. Needless to say…I found a smaller hammer. :P

I think that we did more manual labor in those three days behind the walls of a school compound than we have done during the rest of our internship combined. (Culturally, women here don’t really do manual labor – including painting – so we don’t do nearly as many projects as the guys are involved in…)

They worked hard, and it was fun to see them learning – although I think that their learning curve was much less steep than what my parents experienced when they came. (There is a definite cushioning effect of coming with a larger team and having special work projects to focus on.)

Even though it was a cool experience, it was exhausting by the end of their week, and I wasn’t even directly responsible for them in any way. I definitely have a new respect for people like the Grandberrys who have teams come out all summer long, one after another, after another. It’s nice having short term teams, but it’s a lot of WORK.

Promoting Literacy

During a recent conversation with some of the other interns, I realized how much of a theme there has been to the ministries that my team has been involved with. Somehow, a large number of the things that we have done or are in the process of doing have been literacy or communications media related.

Rebecca headed up the Bible story pictures that we painted on the walls out at school and then spent last term going back out to the school to tell the preschool and kindergarteners the stories. Now, she is working on illustrating culturally appropriate health and safety posters, helping a friend illustrate an English children’s story set in North Eastern Kenya, and working on a Kiswahili children’s book that uses the alphabet to name attributes of God.

I am helping to re-write a pre-primary school curriculum and working on Bible story picture books in Kiswahili.

Ashley and Melissa run a Bible club at school where they work on sword drills and memorization with the kids and where books are given as prizes. Additionally, both of them have helped the teachers at school to grade student tests, and answered countless questions about English – and every other subject under the sun.

Laura makes our video blog entries, is teaching a computer literacy course to the teachers at school, helps in the office and grading papers as needed, and has organized a pen pal program between students here and students in America. She also spent Saturday evening sitting down with me to edit the English children’s story that our friend is writing, and is considered one of the grammar nerds on our team.

Esther was able to get a hold of a solar/crank/wall charged device that contains the entire New Testament in Kiswahili, and attends a weekly Bible study where they spend part of the time listening to a passage. In a few months, she is planning to visit Nigeria to spend some time with a Wycliffe Bible translation team there and learn more about the work that they are doing.

Heath teaches guitar lessons and helps with a worship team at his church, and Warren has found some really cool discipleship materials that fit well into this context.

--No worries. We do actually do other things that have nothing to do with literacy or communications media as well. They just don’t fit into this post. :P

Who is my Neighbor?

The Parable of the Good Samaritan:
A Modern Re-telling

“But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And, who is my neighbor?’ Then Jesus answered and said:”

A certain man went out to the coffee fields to earn a living so that he could feed his family. While he was working, an international corporation came and purchased the fields, adding the crops and the laborers to its plantation. The corporation grew rich off of the scheme and pushed coffee prices down so low that the other farmers had no choice but to sell their land to the plantation. Soon, the man found himself in debt to the corporation, and, even when his wife and children joined him in the fields, they could not earn enough money to buy food or clean water.

A missionary came and stood on a large stage, telling all the people about their sins, but the man was too tired from working to listen, so the missionary left.

Some rich Christians came and stayed in his country for a week, but they returned to their jobs in America and forgot about the man and his family on the plantation.

Then, a humanitarian, straight from one of America’s most liberal colleges came to the man’s country. He set up a co-op and taught the farmers about fair trade and a living wage. He put up a building and helped them to hire teachers, so that their children could go to school. Then, he left them in the hands of another farmer from a nearby community, who had been trained in all that they would need to know, and returned to America with their coffee. “I will sell this for you,” He promised, “and, if you need anything else, or if I learn new things to teach you, I will return to work with you again.”

“’So, which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?’ And he said, ‘He who showed mercy on him.’ Then Jesus said to him, ‘Go and do likewise.’”

Luke 10:29-37

Truth Trackers

Two of the girls on my team having been teaching a Bible club at a local primary school (K-8) on “clubs days,” doing lessons and sword drills and memory verses.

This past Wednesday was the last club day for this school year (They close school in November and start a new school year in January), so…

The kids all got their prizes.

They earn points for prizes by attending club, bringing their Bibles, and memorizing verses. Just a few verses earned them a sweet. More verses earned them two sweets (did you know that they make coke flavored hard candies?! It’s like a cross between a bottle cap and a lifesaver…) or even two sweets and a pencil sharpener.

Saying all of their verses earned them a brand new book.

Some people in that States donated several sets of YWAM missionary biographies, and the kids were very excited to receive them as prizes – almost as excited as they were about the candy…lol.

No. Really, they were excited, and proud. I watched one girl get off the bus and proceed to show her book to every person that she passed on the way to her house.

Of course, now, everyone is going to want to be in Bible club next year. I mean…who wouldn’t want to join the club that gives out sweets and books?

Thoughts from My Parents

In the movie Sahara, treasure hunters are searching for a great lost treasure on the continent of Africa. During the movie one of the main characters says a line that will always remind me of the way most of the world thinks about Africa. The line goes as follows: “It’s Africa, nobody cares about Africa”. The continent of Africa has been called the Dark Continent, the Forgotten Continent and for most of the modern world it is probably one of the most misunderstood and least thought about places of the planet.

Although we would never claim to be any type of authority on African culture, we were recently blessed with the opportunity to visit the country of Kenya and get a very small taste of what it is like to live in a country that has great beauty, wonderful people, and day to day challenges that make living there an adventure.

After landing in Nairobi and traveling 6-7 hours by bus to our final destination it became apparent that many of the modern conveniences we have grown to simply expect would not be so available in Kenya. Things such as power, water and smooth roads would soon become a treat that, when available, would elicit great joy and excitement.

We spent the majority of our time simply doing what our daughter and her fellow class mates do everyday. We were blessed to be able to visit two different schools in the area and meet several of the students, teachers and administrators that have taken on the day to day challenge to give this generation of children the best education they can. Two of these administrators were a couple that we spent time with on several different occasions. This couple has taken on the challenge of running a preschool, building a new home a bit at a time, and just plain trying to make a difference in the community. They are a fantastic couple who love the Lord and are doing His work to the benefit of those they meet everyday.

We were treated to fantastic Kenyan hospitality and food. We visited a giraffe park, went to the market, attended a local church, ate goat and camel, drank lots of water and the occasional soda, sweated a lot, prayed for electricity and water and simply looked forward to each day’s activities. We walked a lot, tried to talk in Swahili as much as possible, remembered how good cinnamon on toast is and learned that water doesn’t have to be clear to use for bathing. We were re-introduced to the art of simply sitting around for hours and talking to each other about any subject during those times when power and water were not available. We learned that you always take a flashlight and bucket of water with you whenever you enter the bathroom, and that it is actually possible to kill a hundred flies in less than twenty minutes without ever leaving your chair.

We remembered how good a cool drink of water tastes, and that a person can survive without napkins, ice, the internet or even Mountain Dew. After spending a few days in the country we discovered that those things that appeared to be total chaos when we first arrived were simply the way things are in a country that takes chaos and make the best of it. We learned that it is possible to dig a 200 mile ditch by hand, that when it comes right down to it the people are what make a country great and not the government, and that God loves those people dearly. Our hearts were opened for the people of Kenya and we discovered that when the love of the Lord shines, even in the slums of Nairobi, it can put a light in people’s eyes that shines for the entire world to see.