Missions Trips

I’m adding photos to these posts whenever I have some spare time, so if it looks sparse, check back in a few days. Also Adriel finished the video, so I’ll have that up here eventually too.

We saw a bunch of animals today. There was a Masai dance at dinner, where they jumped around a lot. They guy who sings at the campfire is really good. His name is Kefa. Tomorrow we have a short drive around the park in the morning, and then we start our long journey home. It’s been an awesome trip.

This morning we went to church at a big Pentecostal church in Nairobi. We walked from our hostel. The service was very similar to big US services.

We flew over to the Masai Mara for our safari. I got to sit in the co-pilot seat, it was awesome. I got some good video, especially of the slums from the air. Zach had to go on a different flight due to a booking mix up.

The resort we’re staying at is amazing. We’re in tents, but they’re really big tents with a shower, toilet, beds, and dressers. We drove for a while over to the landing strip Zach was dropped off at, and saw some elephants and lions along the way. Both crossed in front of our car.

Dinner was really good. Their eating area is an open-air patio that’s lit by candles at night.

After dinner we sat by the campfire where one of the staff was playing the guitar and singing. We got him to sing some of the Christian songs we’d learned from the kids. It was fun. I talked to some older ladies and a younger girl who were from some rotary club, and there to help the masai people. They’d stayed at the resort the whole time. I don’t think they were Christians, and some of them left when we started singing the Christian songs.

Today we were led by Kathy, an American, and Daniel, a Kenyan pastor, into the kiebere slums. Words can’t really describe the sights and sounds there, but basically it is very very crowded. One million people living in 2 square miles. 50% of them are under 15 years old. There’s trash everywhere, and flying toilets on the ground (there’s few real toilets, so many people just go in plastic bags and then throw them somewhere). It smelled really bad. There were multicolored streams flowing through the streets and houses. As we walked through, the little kids would repeat, “How are you” over an over again, because that was the only English they knew.

We spent our day at the Free Methodist church and primary school. I played Uno with my group of boys, and then we did a skit we put together last night.

Afterwards we did some house visits. The houses are metal and mud shacks. Some are divided by sheets with many families living in them. Kibera is the 2nd largest slum to Sueto in South Africa. From the train tracks you can see the green lawn of the mansion where the president used to live. It’s the sharpest contrast possible.

Then we had dinner at an upscale mall that we walked to about 200 meters from the slums. 30% of Kenyans with AIDS live in the slums. That’s a pretty crazy statistic.

Said goodbye to the kids as they went to school. It was sad, but not as much as I expected. I think the kids say bye to missionaries a lot. Laban and Julias took us to the airport. Those were sad goodbyes. The plane to Nairobi was small, but not tiny. One seat on each side, with about 20 people. Then we crashed. ☺ We came in too fast and went off the end of the runway. It was awesome. We saw Adele at the airport and told her what happened.

After we sorted things out, we went to a giraffe park and fed some giraffes. Then we shopped at a big souvenir market, where everyone tries to get your attention and bring you to their store. It was really annoying for me, but some of the other team members seemed to enjoy it.

Driving in Nairobi is crazy. There’s no streetlights, and not a lot of order. We saw the state building (the Kenyan White House).

Tonight we’re staying at a hostel run by nuns. It’s pretty creepy. Tomorrow we go to the Kabera slums, and that should be crazy.

We started saying goodbyes to everyone. We keyed most of the day again. We got 2 houses done fast. We said goodbye to George Kilu, our Fundi (expert) or construction project lead. We did devotions before dinner, and Jessica did the Samuel skit again on the east side. We also passed out some school supplies we’d brought with us.

We had a huge going away dinner with just about all the adults there and all the favorite foods from the past weeks. A few people stood up and said some nice and encouraging things. Then each team member said something. Then they had us stand in front and they gave us all Masai garb. Guys got robes and beating stick things. Girls got skirts and handbags. It was an awesome night, and a sad send off.

We said goodbye to Adele this morning, so we’re on our own for the next few days. She was going on a safari with a friend.

We keyed most of the day. The kids like playing with the cement. We call it ugali, like the food. Jessica did the devotion. We acted the scene where God calls Samuel. Then all the kids wrote down what they thought God was telling them. Then we passed out beads and suckers. We wanted to light of fireworks for the 4th after dinner, but it rained to hard. We’ll probably do it tomorrow. Zach and I went around saying goodnight and passing out cards with our team photo. We took some polaroids with some of the kids and the security guard Earnest.

After breakfast we drove to Kipkaren – another ELI training center and children’s about an hour away. On the way we picked up an APU student name Ryan Seacrest (not the famous guy). He’s 20 years old and has already backpacked through Africa and South America. We got another warm welcome from the staff there. There was another team there from Redding, CA. We toured their facility. It was a much more rural landscape and had some cool views near the river.

We heard a testimony from Betty, a lady with HIV. She was rejected by her community, but was welcomed by the training center. She helped lead us to the house visits we were doing. She also has TB, but on the long walk, we were the ones out of breath. In this center, 80% of the kids have HIV, whereas in the Ilula center I think there is only one kid. The children’s home in Kipkaren looks a little nicer then the one in Ilula. It was built second, so I think they made some improvements to the design.

On the way home we went to Julius’ (the guy who picked us up from the airport) for dinner. He told us some great stories about how he almost died, and then how his village used to tell kids that new babies were shaved monkeys. He talked to us about his family too, and apparently he recently quit another job so he could spend more time with them. After dinner we prayed for him and then headed home.

We had staff devotions after breakfast. Jessica spoke and did a really good job. We keyed a lot of the day. We played with the kids a little as we finished up. They all know my name now, and want to be picked up, or spun around. Elliot, a part Indian looking kid, who Zach says looks like ET, is shy but starting to open up. I need to spend some time looking at the name chart in the office and learning the kids’ names.

I did the devotions again, and finished up the armor of God> It was fun and went well, but I’m glad to be done. We welcomed a new intern from Russia. At dinner Adele told about going to the girls down the way, whose mom had left, and whose dad was an alcoholic. They and their little brothers are in pretty bad shape. Prisca broke into song, and it was pretty powerful. I’d like to come back someday if only to record some of the music.

We all went to each room to say good night. In the first one we went to, one of the little girls was preaching. It was awesome. She had us sing “When the Saints.” We kept singing that through all the other rooms. I don’t think we’re helping the parents too much by getting the kids wound up before bed.

Even though so much happens every day, I can’t believe it’s day 14. Zach and I went running this morning, and then did a little workout with Diana. After breakfast we went to a different church. The church of Linus and Angelina. They were very welcoming, and had a translator for us. Afterwards we had lunch at the house of the speaker, Charles. The elder men from the church were also there. Apparently wives are never invited. They have to go home and work. After lunch we went to Poa (cool) Place. It had a pool and some crappy looking amusement park rides. Reminded me of the amusement park in China. We played a 2-hour game of Uno.

When we got back, Adele had picked up her friend Karen and the kids were welcoming her. At dinner we had a very fun worship session with Nelson and Dorcas. Then we went to hang out with the kids. They were using my flashlight to charge some glowing beads. Later, Zach and I caught a frog, and Zach threw it in the girls’ room. It was pretty funny. They freaked out.