It's the little things...

Having spent a couple of weeks in the States after four months in Kenya, I've realized a few little things that we have to be thankful for here in the good ole US of A. Granted, there are the big things like education systems and a not-so-corrupt government, but hopefully these few minor items will give you a little something to think about or thank God for...

1. Hot water sinks - I am blessed to have a hot shower in my house in Kenya, courtesy of an electric heater on the shower head, but I was amazed to get back home and have hot water in the sink to wash my face at night, or even to wash dishes with!

2. Rain without mud - When it rains in Kenya, EVERYTHING gets covered in mud! Here in America, though, its possible to go all over the city on a rainy day walking on a succession of carpet, wood, concrete, asphalt, stone, tile, and plastic - none of which turn into mud when wet.

3. Ovens - Almost all Kenyan food is cooked over a stove, so I've been in heaven at home with a constant succession of cookies, cakes, casseroles, and all kinds of other BAKED goods!

4. HDTV - This one is pretty shallow and self-explanatory, but I had totally forgotten how good a football game looks on a big screen in HD...wow...

5. HVAC - Another acronym (there are many more of those in the US), being able to control the temperature of a room or a car with heat and air condition is amazing!

6. Seasons - There's something in me that feels like Christmas should be cold, and four seasons simply add so much more variety to the year. Living at 1 degree latitude in Kenya leads to a pretty constant climate, with the exception of rainy or dry periods, and I'm learning how cool it is to experience the changes between summer, fall, winter, and spring that I've always taken for granted.

Those are just a few of the many things that we have to be thankful for in America, but they are some of the ones that have stuck out to me in the past few weeks. I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and are looking forward to a happy New Year!

Party in the USA!

After our action-packed retreat in Nakuru, I spent a couple of hectic days running around Limuru and then left Kenya last Tuesday for about a month in the States to celebrate Christmas and spend time with family and friends at home. I was surprised at how difficult it was to leave Kenya - I hadn't realized how much I'd grown to love life there, especially the people that I am blessed to share it with. It was so encouraging to have all of my fellow CARE for AIDS workers calling me or stopping by the office on Tuesday to say Merry Christmas and give me a hug, and it was so sad to leave Duncan at the airport for a whole month!

During the journey home I had the strange realization that, for the first time in my life, I was coming to America for a vacation...for some reason it felt really different to make an overseas journey to the States and not feel like I was coming BACK from somewhere, but really to feel like I was just LEAVING for a trip. I guess that's hard to explain, but I've come to feel like life in Kenya is the norm and this crazy whirlwind of a month in the US is very out-of-the-ordinary.

I really will be bouncing all over the States over the next few weeks, though, and I would love your prayers during this time of reconnecting with people, relaxing with family, and enjoying things like cheeseburgers and great showers! Please join me in praying that God would work in all of these relationships and that I can learn from all of the people I am around before heading back to Kenya. Pray that I would be prepared for another four month stretch in Africa and that I can get enough home cookin' and McDonald's to take me through! At the same time, please continue to pray for all that is continuing to happen in Kenya. There are some exciting things taking place over the next month, with Cornel moving to Kisumu and several partnerships moving forward, and I would love your prayers for all of our staff to have wisdom and guidance in those situations.

I would also like to take this chance to thank all of you for the encouragement and the prayer that you've provided this fall! It seems like the last four months went by in a flash, but I am so thankful for what God has done both in CFA and in my own life during this time. He really has been unbelievably faithful, and I have so much to praise Him for. I hope that you can share in my joy and thankfulness, especially now as we think about the ultimate display of God's faithfulness at Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Staff Retreat CFA-Style!

This past weekend CARE for AIDS Kenya held its second-annual Staff Retreat, which provided a great final weekend for me before heading home to the States for Christmas.

On Friday morning all 13 of us (12 Kenyans and me!) loaded up into the CFA Prado and a rented Safari van and drove about two hours North from Limuru to the city of Nakuru. We spent Friday afternoon exploring the town and then met up at our hotel for some "ice-breakers." I found out quickly that Kenyans in big groups love playing games, and Cornel and Duncan had all kinds of silly games and activities planned. Our goal for the weekend was for everyone to relax, de-stress, and not focus on work, and we got off to the right foot by running around, asking each other crazy questions, and dancing to the massive sound system that Kevin brought with him. I also learned that the highlight of a retreat like this for some of the staff was the food, and I was quite impressed with how they all attacked the hotel buffet that night!

Saturday morning we woke up early and drove to Nakuru National Park for a game drive. For most of the CFA center workers, this was their first experience in a National Park. It amazes me that these people have grown up in a country with so much natural beauty and amazing animals, where tourists come from all over the world to visit, but they have never had the opportunity to see it for themselves. We spent the whole morning checking out massive white rhinos, cape buffaloes, zebras, antelopes, and the beautiful Lake Nakuru full of pink flamingos. It was so fun to experience this beautiful place with all of our staff - they really had a blast and their joy was incredibly contagious! We had a great picnic lunch under some trees outside the park, and then everyone broke into spontaneous soccer, frisbee, and volleyball games - Kenyans definitely don't require a lot of planned entertainment to have fun, a quality that Americans could use some more of.

In the afternoon we drove up to a big hill above the town to look out over the Menengai crater - a 5 mile-wide crater that leads to stunning views. We found a rickety wooden tower and the brave ones of us climbed up for a better look, while the ones who are scared of heights stayed well away from the edge. We had a great time running around taking pictures and enjoying the view, and at the end of the day I was so thankful for the chance to simply hang out and spend time with all of the people who I generally see as my coworkers, but who have really become my friends.

Sunday morning we held out own church service in a meeting room at the hotel, complete with Kevin on the guitar and a sermon from Cornell about the journey of CARE for AIDS and what God is calling all of us to in it. Afterward we had a chance for everyone to share about what they are thankful for and what God is doing in their lives, which turned out to be the best part of the weekend for me. Sometimes it seems that every time the whole CFA team is together we are talking about business - things we could do better, things the centers need from the administration, concerns about clients - and it was a great blessing to hear each of the center workers speak from their hearts about how thankful they are to CFA and to God for the opportunity to minister to people living with HIV/AIDS. The heart that each of our workers have for this ministry is really amazing and humbling, and I was greatly encouraged to hear how they feel about the big picture.

As I prepare to head back to the States, I would love your continued prayers for all of our staff here in Kenya. There is a lot going on in the next month - our newest center in Kamirithu is continuing recruitment, our oldest center is "graduating" its current clients, Cornel and his family are moving to Kisumu - and your prayers for all of those things would be much appreciated. Additionally, most of our staff members will be spending time with their extended families over Christmas, and for many of them this means traveling to distant parts of the country. Please pray for safety for each one of them and a blessed Christmas season!

East African Adventures with Preston pt. 3: Masai Mara

The final installment of this 3-part series on my action-packed week with Preston focuses on our trip to the Masai Mara - the most popular national park in Kenya and (in my opinion) one of the most beautiful places on Earth. I'd been to the Mara twice before this trip, but this time was very different because we were driving our own car instead of going in a van along with an organized tour.

We woke up early on Thursday, November 26 (Thanksgiving!) and made the drive out to the Mara in about 3 hours. I managed to talk my way into getting student and resident rates for the park fees (saving about $150 - boom!) and then we drove through the park to the Sekenani Camp, a beautiful, small, tented camp nestled in a little valley just outside the park. My friend Adrian, who works for a tour company, had arranged for us to get a great rate on two nights lodging in luxury tents with full board in the wonderful dining room, so we were "camping" in style! We met up with a Masai man named Isaac, who we hired to be our guide and driver for the next two days, which turned out to be a great decision - Isaac had an unbelievable ability to spot animals and knew the park like the back of his hand, and he led us to places we would have never found on our own!

Over the next two days we went on four game drives, during which we saw some of the most amazing things I've ever seen in the Mara. God blessed us with some amazing lion sightings, including a pride of 13 clustered around a big "Pride Rock" and a mother with four tiny, two-week old cubs that we watched with a beautiful sunset in the background. We also had a couple incredible leopard experiences. Leopards are one of the rarest animals in the Mara, but one afternoon we found two leopards in a tree with a freshly-killed reedbuck draped over a branch - awesome! Then, the next day, we found a big male leopard walking around on the ground. We followed as he ran into a clump of bushes, then heard a big commotion as two lions ran out the other side of the bushes! The leopard was just as surprised as we were, and we watched as he ran out of the bushes, up a tree, then down and up another tree. Leopards are gorgeous animals, and the combination of their beautiful spotted fur with the powerful way in which they climb trees and bare their teeth makes for an unbelievable animal! Apart from these sightings, we found several cheetahs, baby hippo's, and the normal assortment of zebras, antelopes, wildebeests, elephants, and giraffes.

On Friday morning we had another cool new experience - a picnic breakfast in the park. The kitchen staff at Sekanani packed us a big cooler of food and comfortable folding chairs, and we found a nice big acacia tree to set up under. We enjoyed a breakfast of fruit, sausage, muffins, and tea looking out over the endless expanse of the African savannah - beautiful!

All in all it was a wonderful week with Preston. We finished it off on Saturday with dinner at Carnivore (probably my favorite restaurant in the world and a must for any meat-lover!) and then Preston hung out at the airport for a while before his 4:30am flight to Madrid. I am so thankful for this chance to spend time with him in a place that is becoming so near to my heart, and I praise God for a brother that I can have have such awesome adventures with!

ps - if you want more animal pictures, there are many more on facebook!

East African Adventures with Preston pt. 2: Limuru

After returning from Uganda, Preston and I spent the next two days in Limuru. Our goal was to give him a better understanding of what my life here is like and what CARE for AIDS is doing. On Tuesday, we visited the CFA centers at Banana Baptist Church and Koinonia Baptist Church, where Preston got a chance to meet the workers and some of the church pastors and see what a "CFA center" actually entails. Then, later in the afternoon, we accompanied Duncan and Steve to the Trends Fitness Center in Limuru for a true Kenyan experience - aerobics class! I don't think I've said much about aerobics here before, but it's become an amazing part of life in Limuru. About a month ago Duncan decided that he was still too fat from his visit to America, so he joined a gym (monthly rate = $13) in town. I was thinking that he would be going to the gym to work out, maybe spend some time on a cardio machine, but it turns out that this gym is all about aerobics classes, and the Kenyans love it! A few weeks ago I went with Duncan to a class - there were about 8 Kenyan men and women, along with me, in a basement room with big mirrors, doing aerobic steps and ab workouts to the tune of Aqua's "Barbie Girl" for about 45 minutes. It was actually a lot of fun, and I was surprised at the workout it gave! Since then I've gone back with a big group of "wazungu," and I knew it would be right up Preston's alley.

After aerobics, we went to Kevin's house for a real Kenyan dinner. Earlier in the day I'd talked to Kevin about what to cook and when we would be there, and he assured me that he would start cooking early and have the food ready at about 7:00 when we arrived. In true Kenyan fashion, though, he didn't end up getting back to his house until 7, so dinner wasn't ready until about 9:30. Luckily (or unluckily, depending on how you look at it), Kevin had a copy of "George of the Jungle" on DVD, which we watched while he and some friends made dinner. When it finally arrived, though, dinner was great! Kevin is a really good cook, and we enjoyed a big dinner of chicken stew, chapati, and vegetables.

The next morning, Preston and I drove to Banana and met up with Margaret and Joseph, the workers from the Banana center, to go with them on their home visits for the day. We walked about 30 minutes to an area called Muchaitha, where we visited four clients' houses. Preston described a lot of what this experience was like in his recent post on this blog, and it was really cool for me to see him understanding the reality of what CARE for AIDS is trying to do at its most basic level. It's always exciting to see the encouragement and love that a visit can provide to people who have been so stigmatized and cast out by their community, and the welcome that we always receive continues to humble me.

After catching a matatu back to the car, we spent some time during the afternoon at the first CFA center, in Imani Baptist Church. Preston got to meet our original center workers, Rosemary and Humphrey, and sit it on some of the counseling sessions with clients. These clients have almost finished their 9 months in the center, so it's great to see how well they are doing and how excited they are for the future! To end the day, Preston and I went with Duncan to Shark's Palace, a "nyama choma" restaurant in a town called Kiambu. It's a typical Kikuyu (the tribe from this area) restaurant, and nyama choma is a favorite meal of the Kikuyu's. It literally means "roasted meat," and you start the meal by picking out the raw meat you would like from a butcher, which is then roasted over a fire and brought to the table with your selection of roasted potatoes, ugali, mokimo (mashed potato/corn mixture) or chips (french fries) about 45 minutes later. We selected two goat thighs (about 1.5kg of meat) and relaxed with a soda on the outdoor patio while we waited for our delicious dinner!

It wasn't a long time in Limuru, but I think Preston got a good feel for the area and the work I'm doing before heading out on our next adventure Thursday morning...

East African Adventures with Preston pt. 1: The White Nile

My brother Preston decided to stop over in Kenya for nine days on his way home from a study abroad semester in Capetown, so naturally we put together a week full of crazy adventures that made for great stories! Too great, in fact, for a single blog post, which means I'll be telling about our exploits in a few installments...

The first part of the week, which had been in the works for months, was a trip to Uganda to go white water rafting on the White Nile with a group of 12 friends from around the Limuru area. We caught a bus in Nairobi early on a Saturday morning, and 14 hours later (including a two hour "break-down" stop at a gas station) got dropped off at a gas station in Jinja, Uganda. The rest of the group had taken an overnight bus the night before, so Preston and I found ourselves alone, in the dark, with no cell phone service to call them to pick us up. Luckily, we were able to get a gas-station security guard to flag down a motorcycle taxi, and we both hopped on for the 15-minute trip to the Adrift rafting base. We spent the rest of the evening eating pizza and hanging out with friends in an open-air restaurant/bar that sat literally on the edge of a cliff overlooking the moonlit Nile River near its source in Lake Victoria - beautiful!

After spending the night in a dorm room with all 12 of us in bunk beds stacked four-high, we woke up in the morning to a furious thunderstorm on the tin roof. Amazingly, as soon as we got up the storm gave way to the sun and we looked out on a gorgeous rainbow framing the mighty Nile River - what a way to start the day! After a hearty breakfast and the entertainment of watching people bungee-jump off of the nearby cliffs (only 44m, not worth it...), we got suited up with our life jackets, helmets, and paddles and made our way down to the river, where we met our rafting guide, a Ugandan named "Big J." We asked Big J to give us the "wild" version of the rafting, and he definitely came through! For about three hours in the morning we went through a succession of class III, IV, and V rapids, highlighted by a crazy class V in which all three of the rafts in our group flipped. Luckily, the air was hot and the water felt great, so getting thrown out of the raft wasn't a bad deal! We stopped for a huge buffet lunch on an island in the river, and after stuffing ourselves with fresh fruit, guacamole, sandwiches, and hot tea we were ready to go for part 2.

The afternoon rafting consisted mostly of slower-moving river where we alternated between paddling and swimming alongside the raft, but the 4 rapids that broke up this peace and beauty provided enough excitement for the whole weekend! We went through one class V called "Big Brother," in which our raft flew head on into a wave that looked to crest about 10 feet over our heads as we approached it - I felt like Moses looking at the walls of the Red Sea! Then we reached the final rapid of the day - it is split between a class VI and a class V, so we got out and carried the boat around the top half, then put in to the river for the class V - still a stretch of rapids about 200m long. This was where Big J took our request for the "wild" ride seriously by steering us into a particular hole known as "The Bad Place." All of the other rafts avoided it (for good reason!), and as soon as we entered the rapid the boat started spinning like a top. 6 of the 9 people in the raft were sucked out of the boat, including Big J, and I was pulled by an irresistable force into the middle of the river. After a few seconds of struggling underwater, I popped up just in time to go flying over a giant wave and bounce down through the rest of the rapids, finally getting picked up by a rescue kayak about 200 feet from the boat and the rest of the group. It was definitely one of the biggest adrenalin rushes I've ever experienced - awesome!

After spending the whole day on the river, we were all tired but full of hilarious stories and crazy moments to look back on. We relaxed in the evening at a camp near where we finished rafting, enjoying a beautiful sunset and a delicious steak dinner before our bus ride back on Monday. The whole trip turned out to be amazing - definitely one of those memories that will stick with you for a long time!

Guest Blogger: Preston Gordon

A Visitor’s Perspective

Greetings! My name is Preston Gordon and Nick has been kind enough to give me the space for a guest blog. I spent this last week here in Limuru, Kenya with CARE for AIDS and want to provide an outsider’s perspective on what is currently happening with CFA here in Kenya.

Given my close ties to CFA through my brother Nick I often hear about what goes on here in Limuru, so I thought I had a pretty good idea of how things work. But there is so much that I’ve learned and seen by being here and meeting people that I could have never understood. The first employees of CFA that I met upon arriving were Duncan and Cornel. From the moment they picked me up at the airport with Nick I knew they were two amazing guys! I was lucky enough to spend a lot of time with Duncan as he lives in the CFA house where I was staying with Nick, and I cannot imagine anyone but Duncan himself working in his position. His genuine heart for the CFA mission and ability to work towards that effectively with the other workers is so exciting to see.

I soon met the other two employees who work daily in the CFA office, Steve and Kevin. Steve is the financials man, and Kevin is the regional coordinator for the Limuru region. They were also both super enthusiastic about the work and extremely welcoming to me. I had the chance to have dinner at Kevin’s house, where he cooked us delicious chicken stew and chipati, and attend an aerobics class at the Limuru gym with Steve and Duncan. If Nick hasn’t blogged about aerobics yet, it seems to be the latest craze here in Limuru!

After seeing the office work I was able to visit three of the CFA centers around Limuru—the Banana, Koinonia, and Imani centers. Talking to the two employees at each of these centers and sitting in on a few of their counseling sessions with clients was a really cool experience for me. Nick has explained to me numerous times what really goes on with the clients during their time with CARE for AIDS, but hearing what happens from the people who are actually doing it (and seeing them work) gave me a whole new perspective. I think the most humbling thing about these employees is seeing their care for the people and desire to see them succeed while some of them are HIV-positive themselves. In addition they come from very humble homes as well—while talking to one of the employees and mentioning my weekend visit to the Masai Mara, he said he only wished one day he could visit one of his country’s amazing parks to see the animals. It is so sad that Kenyans have some of the most beautiful creatures in the world within their country but cannot afford to go and see them.

Finally, I experienced CFA at the most personal level—I was able to go on several home visits with the Banana employees, Margaret and Joseph. On home visits, the workers go to the clients' homes and for the most part just visit with them, check up on how they are doing and show them they care enough about them to come to their homes. It was wonderful first to see the generosity of the clients. When one of the clients saw she had guests, she would not let us leave until we shared a cup of chai tea and a platter of sandwiches together. Even though she had so little, she wanted to share with me and make me feel welcome in her home.

Two other things really struck me during the home visits. Seeing how so many of the clients take what they have learned in the CFA seminars and really use it to make money was really fascinating. Clients were doing everything from making beaded necklaces and cleaning detergent to raising rabbits and goats to make money, all things which CFA had helped them learn how to do. In addition, getting to encourage the clients and pray for them in their homes and seeing how much it meant to them was a really cool experience. Telling them how much I and so many other people in America cared for them and wanted them to be strong and succeed was such a blessing.

In summary, visiting Limuru and seeing CFA in action from the office to the client’s homes was a fun, inspiring, and humbling experience. Kenya is a spectacular country with vibrant people, and seeing the work being done here to those in such great need was very exciting. Lastly, I want you to know that every employee I met and interacted with has a heart for the people here in Kenya and a heart for Jesus Christ. That is truly something beautiful.

Ann and Susan

Yesterday I spent some time at the CARE for AIDS center in Ruaka, and I wanted to tell you a couple of stories that our center workers, Esther and Samuel, shared with me. First is the story of Ann Nyakabi. Ann is a single mother of three sons, and she first started struggling with HIV/AIDS in 2004, when she was completely bedridden from the infection. She started to take ARV's at this point, and her health improved enough that she could get out of bed, although opportunistic infections continually held her back from full health. Over the next few years Ann did anything she could to make a little money, and when Esther met her in 2008 she was working in a pub in order to buy food for her sons. A working girl in a pub is not a reputable job in Kenya, and Ann would work late at night and hide her job from all of her acquaintances and family. Last year, when Esther invited Ann to be part of the CFA program, Ann looked much older than her age and was constantly struggling to find food for her family.

After a few weeks of meeting with Esther and Samuel, Ann made the decision to give her life to Christ and start living her life as a Christian. The first step she took was quitting her job at the pub - between the food supplement she received weekly from CFA and the banana-leaf artwork her son was trying to sell, Ann had enough food to get by. This was a huge step for her, and she was so grateful to be able to stop living a "double life." Esther remembers, "After that experience Ann changed dramatically." The changes weren't limited to her beliefs, though - in the subsequent months, thanks to proper nutrition and medical treatment, Ann changed from looking like an "old lady" to a "young girl," and she started applying the business knowledge and training that she was receiving to her son's art business, helping him to make marketable products and sell them to craft vendors. She was also taught how to grow a "kitchen garden" in her small home, which helped her to get nutritious vegetables and fruits, and which she is still keeping today.

Ann had been plagued with mysterious health issues for a long time, and with the help of Esther's health counseling, she realized that she might have cervical cancer, a common malady that comes along with HIV/AIDS in women. After getting tested at a hospital, Ann underwent an operation last year to remove her uterus and has now made a full recovery - praise God! After completing her recovery, Ann enrolled in a Community Health Worker training course at a hospital that CFA works closely with, and she is currently in the process of being trained to work with other patients in her community. As this training has given her exposure to many people at the hospital who are HIV+, Ann has been very outspoken about CFA and has so far recruited 3 of the clients that are currently coming to the center. It is so exciting to see a person like Ann whose life has changed dramatically and who is using her "new life" to glorify God and to help other people who are in situations like hers.

The second story that I heard was about a woman named Susan Muthoni. Esther has known Susan for quite a few years, and just two years ago it looked to everyone around her that Susan was close to death. Her family sent her to their traditional homeland to live out her remaining days, and all of her neighbors in Ruaka assumed that she had died, just like the flowers that perished in the house that she left behind. Esther recalls calling Susan on the phone and being told, "Esther, please pray for me to die"- life with HIV/AIDS was just too difficult. Miraculously, a year passed, and Susan held on, so her family brought her back to Ruaka. At the same time, the CFA center in Ruaka was recruiting its first group of clients, and Esther went to see Susan and ask her to be a part of the program. We she found Susan in her home, Esther remembers her being so weak that she couldn't even swallow a spoonfull of porridge. Susan was excited about the CFA program, though, and as time went on she slowly grew stronger and healthier. She loved the trainings and seminars that the center held every other week, and she took what she learned and used it to start a small business selling charcoal and kerosene in Ruaka. Over the past year this business has grown, and Susan has managed to save enough money to buy a small plot of land and start building a house that she can own for herself and her daughter! This is a huge step for her, and it is so encouraging for her to see the fruits of all the work she has put in - praise God for such a drastic change in the life of Susan Muthoni! Two years ago no one would have pictured her as the smiling face you see here...

I hope that you will join me in praising God for these stories and praying that we will see many, many more like them in the coming years!

CARE for AIDS in Kisumu

It is an exciting time for CARE for AIDS, and I would like to take a few minutes to update all of you on a big step for our ministry. Over the past few months we have been contemplating the best expansion plan for the coming years, and we decided that our next region of centers would be located in and around Kisumu, the largest city in Western Kenya. Kisumu is one of the hardest-hit areas of the country by the AIDS crisis, and it is a location that has been passed over by many NGO's and government programs. Much of the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in this area can be traced to cultural traditions and misunderstanding, so there is great opportunity for a ministry like CARE for AIDS to have a profound impact at the community level. Furthermore, one of the CFA Kenya Directors, Cornel Onyango, is originally from the Kisumu area and has a strong passion for reaching out to the people of that area.

All of these factors contributed to the decision that we would plan to open our first CFA center in the Kisumu area in January 2010, and everything is coming into place to make that happen. Cornel has been traveling back and forth to Kisumu over the past months, making contacts and conducting research on all of the factors that come into play - church partners, potential employees, complementary organizations, government policies. From these trips he made a decision on the first church that we would work with, Central Baptist Church in the Nyalenda area, and on a new employee to serve as the Regional Coordinator in this area. During my visit to Kisumu last week, I got to spend a lot of time with this new member of the CFA team - Geoffrey. Geoffrey has worked on several community-based initiatives in the past that sought to educate HIV/AIDS-infected men and women, and he has also attended extensive training and education concerning HIV/AIDS and it's impact on communities in Western Kenya. Geoffrey is very familiar with Kisumu and the unique challenges in the area, as well as many of the other organizations working nearby. It was exciting to meet Geoffrey and see his passion for making CARE for AIDS a reality in Kisumu - he told me that he had never been exposed to an organization that ministered to HIV/AIDS patients both physically and spiritually, and that he was so excited to see the change that physical care and education, combined with the love of the Gospel, would bring about in Kisumu.

During our trip we were also able to meet with the leadership committee of Central Baptist Church and interview candidates for the spiritual counselor and health counselor positions in the new center. We agreed on two exceptional workers - Elizabeth and Lazarus - and they will be coming to Limuru at the end of the month to start familiarizing themselves with the CFA model and learning how they can apply it to the unique challenges offered in the Kisumu area. I also got to spend some time in the Nyalenda area - a slum where our first center will be located - and see firsthand the negative impact AIDS is having on the society there.

Please pray for all of the steps that are ahead of us as we move forward with taking CARE for AIDS to Kisumu. Please pray for Geoffrey and Cornel as they plan for all of the administrative challenges, and pray for Elizabeth and Lazarus as they prepare to serve HIV/AIDS-infected men and women face to face in their community. Please pray for Central Baptist Church - that they would, as a church body, commit to reaching out to those infected with HIV/AIDS and doing their part to fight the stigma that is so prevalent. Pray for all of those who need CFA - that they would find out about the opportunity and take advantage of it, and that God would work in each of their lives through us. Thank you so much for your prayers and your support as we continue in this quest to change the whole country of Kenya!

Roadtrip!

Last week I got the chance to visit Kisumu, a city in Western Kenya and the home of one of our CARE for AIDS directors, Cornel. The purpose of the trip was to check on the progress of CFA's expansion into this area, and I will describe the results of that in a later post. First, though, I want to share with you some of my experience in this very different part of Kenya.

The first adventure was the trip from Nairobi, in the central part of Kenya, to the edge of Lake Victoria in the Southwest corner of the country. This was my first time driving a long distance in Kenya, and I realized quickly that driving on the highway here is very different than an American road trip. It's just not possible to put the car on cruise control and relax - not only are the roads winding, uneven, and full of giant, unexpected potholes, but it is entirely normal to round a curve at 70 mph and come upon a truck driving 20 mph or a herd of cattle! While this can be stressful and even downright scary at times, it definitely makes the driving experience more exciting and engaging! Thankfully, we didn't have any problems on the drives there and back, and it gave me some very valuable Kenyan-road experience.

Kisumu itself is very different from the other Kenyan cities I've experienced. It is the third largest city in the country, behind Nairobi and Mombasa, but you would never guess that from looking at it. Because of a variety of reasons, Kisumu has never received much attention from the government in terms of development or investment, and there are very few big buildings or industrialized areas. The predominant tribe in the Kisumu region is the Luo tribe, historically fishermen who lived on the lakes and rivers of the region, and Kisumu still has a kind of fishing-village feel to it. The city is spread out along the shore of Lake Victoria, and most parts of the culture are influenced by the lake, with fishing remaining as a leading industry. In fact, the first thing we did upon arriving in Kisumu was to drive all the way to the lakeshore and eat lunch at a little wooden shack next to the water. We had a typical Luo meal - first we picked out two partially-fried whole tilapia from a range of sizes sitting on a table, and then the waitress took them back to the kitchen for preparation. We sat at a wooden table, enjoying the breeze off of the lake and a cold Coca-Cola, until the waitress brought out a bucket and a pitcher of warm water with which we washed out hands. Then, we were brought a big platter with the whole fish on it, along with some greens and vegetables that were cooked together into a sort of soup, in which the fish rested. Accompanying that were big slabs of ugali - the cake/grits/cornbread-ish starch that is the staple of the Luo diet. Two people shared each fish, and the strategy for eating was to grab a handful of ugali, dip it into the soup, pinch off a piece of the fish, and stuff the whole handful into your mouth. The fish itself was really amazing - some of the freshest and tastiest fish I had ever eaten! This was definitely one of the best meals I've had in Kenya, and it worked out to about a kg of fish each, along with a drink and ugali, for a total of about $3 a person - amazing!

Another interesting experience in Kisumu was visiting the fishing port, where hundreds of fishermen go out into the lake during the night and return in the morning to sell their catch of tilapia and Nile perch. We drove down to the port in the evening, so there wasn't a lot going on, but Cornel showed me the wooden, single-sailed boats and how 8-10 fishermen will go out all night long, hauling traditional nets through the water to catch the freshwater fish that gets distributed all over Kenya and even exported throughout the world. While we were standing by the lake, we watched as a huge storm came in over the sunset - really an awesome experience that doesn't fully come through in pictures!

A final portion of the trip that taught me a lot was a visit we made to Cornel's home on the way back to Limuru. Cornel grew up about an hour away from Kisumu along the lakeshore, in a small village where the men all fished each day and the women took care of the kids or grew fruit. The Luo culture has all kinds of traditions, and it was really interesting to see the house where Cornel grew up and the way that families relate to each other in their culture. Traditionally each son of a family will build a house next to his parents' house, so even though Cornel hasn't lived here since growing up, he has a small mud house on the same property as his parents' house where he was raised. Just next door is his grandparents' home, and I was priveledged to meet both Cornel's mother and grandmother during my visit. These women are absolutely amazing - Cornel's grandmother is in her 90's (no one knows exactly when she was born, but it was before WWI), but she looks no older than 70. She saw us driving up the path to the village and immediately called us into her house, praying a blessing over us before even saying hello or asking how we were. Cornel was like a celebrity in the village - relatives and friends came running from all over the countryside to say hello and give him some peanuts, papaya, or mangos for the road. I think you learn so much about a person from visiting their home, and I feel honored to have been to both Cornel and Duncan's homes now. I never cease to be amazed at how different life is for them now than it was growing up just a few short years ago!

Transformation

The CARE for AIDS center at Imani Baptist Church, our first and oldest center, is about to finish its second group of clients next month, and I would love all of your prayers for this group of about 70 HIV-positive men and women as they prepare to transition back into life independent of the CFA center. It is really amazing to see the work that the Imani center workers, Rosemary and Humphrey, have done over the past nine months and the profound impact that it has had on the lives of all of these clients.

During this month two more clients have gotten baptized at Imani Baptist and joined the church, and we are so thankful for the community that they are now a part of. Also, two babies have been born to clients, and, because of the procedures that our health counselor taught them, both children have been tested as HIV-negative. There is one mentally challenged client at Imani, but she has recently demonstrated a complete understanding of her medication needs and has shown that she can consistently and properly take ARV's. Finally, CFA assisted one client in having surgery at a hospital this past month, and she is in the process of making a full and successful recovery. We are so thankful for all of these things, and I hope you will join me in praising God for His faithfulness in them!

In addition to all of the good news with clients, we also have a lot to be thankful for in regards to our workers in the center. Rosemary and Humphrey have done a great job of addressing challenges or issues from the first group of clients and constantly improving the effectiveness of CFA. One challenge in the first group was an expectation that developed for CFA to provide the clients with direct financial support at the end of the program. This time, though, Rosemary and Humphrey have done a great job of impressing upon the clients that our goal is to empower them to support themselves - not simply to give them money. From the very beginning, they have stressed that we want to give them the tools, physical health, and education to financially provide for themselves and their families on an ongoing basis, and the result of this is a group of clients that have really thrown themselves into learning practical skills to generate income. Lately they have attended seminars on bead making, rabbit keeping, productive farming practices, and detergent making, and the clients are petitioning for as many trainings as possible over the next month. It is so exciting to see people who are really excited to learn and who are passionate about working hard to get the income they need for themselves, instead of just seeking a handout!

Another issue that Rosemary and Humphrey have made great strides in is the question of how CFA can continue to follow-up with and check on our clients after they leave the center. This week Rosemary and Humphrey met with government officials in the region and registered all of the current clients as two HIV/AIDS support groups - one for men and one for women. Being part of an official support group allows the clients to receive special services and medication at the local hospitals, and it also makes them eligible for government aid programs that host projects like distributing seeds or holding educational seminars. The clients have also agreed to continue meeting as a support group and build on the relationships and fellowship that they have been able to develop over the past nine months. Hopefully this is one way that we can keep tabs on their progress and insure that their quality of life continues to improve even after they are done with our official program.

Thank you so much for joining with me first in thanking God for all that he has done in this group of HIV-positive men and women who face so many difficulties living in Kenya. Also, please pray with me that over the next month they would be prepared for life without attending the center regularly. Many of the clients are saving with a microfinancing organization now, so pray that we can continue to impress upon them the importance of saving and that they will take those ideas with them as they move on in life. Please pray for Rosemary and Humphrey - that they will have strength to continually encourage these people and that they will be blessed for all of their hard work and sacrifice. I speak for the staff, the clients, and all of us here in Kenya in saying thank you so much for your continued prayer and encouragement!

The rains down in Africa (Toto song reference there)

I think I've mentioned before that Kenya has been experiencing a severe drought for the past 5 years. I've learned that "drought" here has a lot more implications that in does in the States. I've experienced droughts in Charlotte, and the biggest results in my life were not being able to wash my car or having to be careful driving a boat around the lake, but a drought in Kenya is an entirely different story. Many families here literally eat what they can grow on their family "shambas," or farms, and many other families survive by selling corn or vegetables and raising cattle. Essentially, a major portion of the livelihood of this country is dependent on farming or cattle - both of which are extremely dependent on the availability of water.

Over the past five years, the once-dependable rainy seasons have failed to materialize. Even in the few months that I have been here, I've witnessed countless cases of dried up, half-grown corn and skinny cattle driven by even-skinner herders. This has led to a serious food crisis, and stories can be found in the news every day of Kenya's entreaties to the UN or other international aid organizations for food provisions for its starving people.

About a month ago, though, the attitude of the country toward rain changed drastically. Meteorologists changed their tune from lamenting the lack of rain to warning that an El Nino rainy season was coming this month. Their predictions turned out to be true, and in the last few weeks almost all parts of the country have seen rain in abundant proportions. In many cases this is great news, and something to be thankful for! The grazing lands of the Rift Valley and western Kenya are turning green, and herds of cattle have water to drink and grass to eat. The farms of central Kenya and the Highlands have dark brown soil again, and hopes are high for a good harvest to come. Other parts of the country, though, have not been so lucky. The coast is currently experiencing serious flooding - whole towns near the Indian Ocean are under water, thousands of people have been displaced, and already reports of deaths are coming in. In other mountainous areas, people have been killed by mudslides and others are running away from their fields (where they could finally be expecting a harvest) because of fears that flooding and mudslides would destroy them and their homes.

It seems to be such a cruel irony - that this country could go from a devastating drought to dangerous floods in the span of a few short weeks. No one knows how long these rains will last, or when the next ones will come, so I would ask all of you to pray for the country of Kenya right now. Pray that people would be safe facing these flood conditions. Pray that Kenya would be able to take advantage of this rain and produce food to feed the many hungry mouths. Pray that at some point this climate would stabilize and a normal cycle could resume. Pray that the people of this country would realize that much of the drought problems are due to environmental degradation, see the bigger picture, and work to reverse the horrible destruction they have brought on the forests and water reservoirs.

At the same time, thank God for the rain. Right now it seems like the problems are huge, but it is a welcome change from a never-ending drought. Thank God for opening people's eyes to the reality that so much of life is dependent on things that we can't control, and pray that this will produce a trust and faith that we all need. Thank God for all of the volunteers who are helping those displaced by the flooding or mudslides, and pray that Kenyan believers would use this as an opportunity to be the hands and feet of Christ.

Oh behalf of all the people of Kenya, thank you so much for your continued prayers!

A different side of Africa

Last weekend I got the incredible opportunity to visit my brother Preston in Cape Town, South Africa. He is a junior at Vanderbilt, but he's been studying abroad in Cape Town since July and was kind enough to be my tour guide for a few days.

Cape Town is an amazing city full of incredible things to do. The city is one of the most beautiful I have ever been to - located on a peninsula stretching down to the Cape of Good Hope, with oceans on two sides and dramatic mountain ranges ringing the city center, it seems like any direction you look provides another awe-inspiring vista. Over the course of four days we went surfing in the Indian Ocean, hung out on beaches by the Atlantic Ocean, and drove down to the cliffs where both oceans meet. We also went on some intense hikes in the mountains surrounding the city, watched whales breaching from the town of Hermanus, and ate some of the best food I've had in a long time! It was definitely action-packed, but it was also a huge blessing to have time to relax and catch up with Preston, as well as meeting all of his new friends and getting a taste of what his life has been like for the past few months.

South Africa itself is a really interesting place. All of my Kenyan friends told me that I was leaving the "real" Africa, and it really did feel more like Europe that the Africa that I've been exposed to in Kenya. There have been so many different European influences and different powerful regimes in South Africa that it has developed into a hodge-podge of people from all kinds of different backgrounds, ethnicities, economic conditions, and political affiliations. It is strange to see familiar-looking slums on the edge of incredibly modern highways with World-Cup caliber stadiums in the background, and these juxtapositions really challenge the ideas of segregation and apartheid that have been such a big part of South Africa's history. Many people point to South Africa as the "1st world" representative of the continent, and there are definitely elements of modernization that haven't found their way to Kenya yet. At the same time, though, this progress has come alongside terrible race relations and has led to a country with a lot of social baggage that is still very evident.

Seeing this side of Africa really makes me wonder about the future of Kenya. The country has enjoyed relatively good economic growth, but tribal conflicts and political instability are threatening to explode into much bigger issues in the future unless some serious changes occur within all levels of the population. I would love to one day see Kenya with the kind of modernisation found in South Africa, but even more than that I would love to see a Kenyan population that is at peace with itself and can truly live together in harmony. I hope that the latter doesn't get sacrificed in pursuit of the former, because in the end no one would benefit. This country could definitely use your prayers - more than anything we need leaders with integrity to step up and stand against the cycle of corruption, sacrificing personal luxuries for the good of the country. Right now it is hard to see where that will come from if it doesn't come from God, and my prayer is that he would send individuals with the courage to make real changes!

What I'm working on...

I know it might sound at times like my life here is all crazy animals and great food, but I wanted to take a minute and assure all of you that I actually am doing some work! This is an exciting time for CARE for AIDS, so I'd love to update you all on what's happening with the ministry.

A few months ago CARE for AIDS finished a long process of applying for and being granted registration as an Non-Governmental Organization with the Kenyan government. This was great news, as it gives us a lot of legitimacy in interactions with official Kenyan departments and programs and it means that CFA is a "real" entity in the eyes of the government. The flip side to this is that registration comes with a lot of requirements and regulations that we must adhere to in order to maintain good relations with the government. These regulations made clear the need for many systems and procedures to be put in place in an official fashion, a job which has fallen to me in a large way. Part of my original goals here were to add a sense of efficiency and organization to all of CFA's operations in Kenya, and the government regulations have made that even more important.

If you haven't gathered this from my descriptions of the way Kenyans work, words like "efficiency," "organization," and "systems" are not brought up very much while conducting any sort of business, which has made this a real challenge. I have found that most of this is starting from square one - while CFA has been doing a great job over the past couple of years here, many pieces of the foundation existed only in the minds of our Directors or in the verbal agreements and plans that all of our employees made. Because of this, I have spent a lot of time over the past few months creating things like personnel policies, job descriptions, and official contracts for all of our employees. I've also been helping a lot to come up with standard schedules for the centers, as well as systems for the workers to report their progress each week and month. While these aren't jobs that I would consider part of my specific expertise by any means, my experience in the States and other parts of the world has provided me with exposure to the way companies work and a familiarity with basic models of doing things that is simply unknown to any of our workers here. It's been really amazing to see how God has used small experiences in my life to help put things in place here that are already making things run much smoother. Much of this has required long hours in front of a computer screen doing research and typing long documents, which isn't my favorite kind of work, but it is extremely rewarding to see the fruits of those hours and know that these systems should help CFA to operate successfully in the years ahead, even after I am gone.

Along those same lines, it has been really cool to see how God has used the simple skills that come from growing up and going to college in America to really benefit this ministry. Things like working on computers, making spreadsheets, or even typing things quickly have turned out to be invaluable in helping this office run smoothly. Most of our administrative employees are still in the two-fingered typing style and don't have much exposure to things like spreadsheets or backing up computer data, so I've been able to teach them a lot of practical skills that I can see helping them on a daily basis.

Another big part of my work consists of being a sort of link between America and Kenya for CARE for AIDS. It's difficult to have a full understanding of what actually happens here on a day-to-day basis from across the Atlantic, so part of my role is serving as the eyes and ears of our American staff, our board of directors, and all of our donors in the US. We have also seen that it is much easier for me to communicate directly with all of our Kenyan employees than to try and pass messages from the States, via email, to our Kenyan Directors and then on to the other employees, which gives me a great opportunity to encourage everyone here with news of what's happening in the states and the future of CFA.

Apart from these fairly consistent jobs, the rest of my schedule here is almost impossible to predict, which is just how I like it! Every week I have meetings with pastors, hospitals, or representatives from other ministries, which are both challenging and exciting at the same time. I also spend a good amount of time meeting with our Directors and planning for the short- and long-term future of CARE for AIDS, or helping to advise them on bigger-picture issues facing the ministry, which is another thing that makes me feel that my time here is being used well and is truly adding to the vision of CFA. I'm so thankful for all of these things - one of my biggest worries a few months ago was that I wouldn't really have anything to add here, but I have seen God use me in a real, tangible, way so far and I am sure that I will get to see even more happen in the future!

Back from the coast!

I'm happy to report that I made it back safe and sound from our trip to the coast - and what a trip it was! This one will definitely go in the books as one of those experiences that would be just about impossible to replicate and that makes for a lot of great memories. I'll give a short recap of the trip here, and hopefully I'll be putting a bunch of pictures up on facebook in the next few days to tell the story a little better!

The first adventure was actually getting to the beach. Before leaving, Duncan predicted that the trip would take about 6 hours driving - not true at all! After about 7 hours we were close to the major port city of Mombasa when we ran out of gas on the side of the highway. No big deal - just put Cornel in a matatu, pick up some gas 20 minutes down the road, and hitch a ride back in an 18-wheeler - only an hour delay. Then, after getting totally lost in Mombasa, our car broke down and I found myself pushing it through the streets in the dark. Every guidebook will tell you to avoid the streets of Mombasa after dark, but we managed to leave the car at a gas station and take a taxi up to the coast north of the city, a place called Mtwapa.

After spending the night in a Kenyan guest house, we spent Friday at the public beach north of Mombasa. I found that there is a big difference between the public beach and the tourist beaches - primarily that everyone else at the public beach was African. It was a blast, though - we rode on a boat out to a reef and snorkeled in the gorgeous blue water, then hung out on the beach all afternoon, eating snacks cooked up in little shacks by the beach and enjoying the beautiful weather.

Friday night we picked up the car (which had been fixed) and made our way to the South coast, which turned out to be a drastically different experience. The area, called Diani Beach, is one of the most popular places for western tourists in Kenya, so the coast is dotted with luxury resorts and hotels. We drove to one of these and had an amazing breakfast in an open-air restaurant right on the beach, and then relaxed for most of the morning as the tide came in over Diani reef. Though the morning started clear, we were walking down the beach when a huge storm swept in, so we were soon drenched in the warm rain - oddly relaxing! Luckily it cleared off, so I spent the afternoon by myself on the beach as the Kenyans went off to visit friends, enjoying a great lunch and some much-needed peace and quiet. Diani turned out to be one of the most beautiful beaches I've ever seen, and it held on to a little of the African flavor, with monkeys running around stealing food and Kenyans walking their camels up and down the beach selling rides.

Sunday we left early in the morning to drive back to Limuru and, unsurprisingly, the trip took much longer than expected! This time we managed to avoid car trouble, but we ran into the most intense traffic mess I have ever seen. There is really only one highway in Kenya, running from the major port of Mombasa to Nairobi and then on to the rest of East and Central Africa, so almost all of the shipping traffic from the coast to this part of the continent goes down this road on trucks. Unfortunately, there are always parts of the road under construction, which means constant diversions onto dirt paths. Imagine all of the traffic on I-40 getting funneled onto a dirt road for miles at a time with no traffic regulation whatsoever - crazy! Then put overturned trucks in both directions blocking the road, and you get traffic jams of trucks miles long with cars offroading their way through the mud and dirt any way that they can to pass. It really is a free-for-all, but its amazing to see the creativity that Kenyans come up with in getting around these kinds of messes! After waiting for hours in a couple of different spots, we ended up doing some serious "mudding" in our suburu station wagon and eventually got back to the paved roads in Nairobi. While all this was going on, though, we were treated to herds of zebra, giraffe, wildebeest, and antelope on the sides of the highway, so there are always things to keep you entertained!

Overall it was an exciting and memorable weekend, and I have many more stories that came of it! Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

The view out my windows

I just wanted to take a minute today and offer up a thanks for all that God has been doing in my life over the past two months here in Kenya. I know that many of you are praying for me and for CARE for AIDS, and I have to say that your prayers must be working, because I have so many things to praise God for. I am getting to spend time with some really inspiring and incredible people - both Kenyans and "wazungo" - and I am being challenged by people who come from a wide range of vastly different backgrounds. I am getting to see and understand a culture in a real, complete way. It's so exciting to be free from the pressure of a week-long trip where the experience of a totally different place must be squeezed into a few short days, and I love getting to pick up little bits and pieces of understanding over the course of weeks and months. I am getting to learn a lot about how businesses and ministries work, and I am continually seeing how to put together the pieces of those different kinds of organizations and make this vision become a reality.

I am also so thankful for the beauty of all that I am surrounded by. Yes, places like the Maasai Mara and the Great Rift Valley are stunning, but I also feel like I am coming to appreciate the smaller things - the sunsets over the hills, the vibrant blue of the sky and green of the tea fields after a rain, or the brightly colored flowers that bloom in the midst of the slum. I put a few pictures on here taken from the various windows of our house - even though I look out on this each day, every once in a while I get struck by the realization that this is Africa, and that it is wonderful!

I would ask for all of your prayers this week, as I am taking a trip down to the coast tomorrow with Duncan, Cornel, Steve, and Irene. I am so excited about this break - all of us in the administrative staff have been working pretty non-stop lately, and we are all looking forward to taking a couple of days to relax at the beach. I don't know what all the trip is going to entail, and some of my American friends think it's crazy to do this the "Kenyan way," but I know that we will have some adventures and I'm sure I'll get some time to hang out in the Indian Ocean and take a deep breath! Thank you for your prayers for safety as we drive and for a rejuvenating time!

Progress!

It feels like much of the work that I have been doing here for CARE for AIDS so far has consisted of laying a foundation for the future or catching up on things from the past, but today saw a big step in the current expansion of the ministry. For the past month of so, we have been searching for the location of the 4th CFA center. First we did research on what areas close-by were the hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, and we found that an area called Kamirithu could really benefit from a CFA center. This area has a high population density and a high HIV/AIDS prevalance, and there aren't any effective HIV/AIDS programs currently operating. Located only about 10 minutes from the house and just next to the highway, we decided that Kamirithu would be a great location to expand into. Next, we spent some time talking to pastors in the area and meeting in their churches, trying to find a church and a pastor who have a real heart for the HIV/AIDS crisis. We were led to meet with Bishop Simon, the pastor of Kamirithu Assemblies of God, and after our first meeting Duncan and I agreed that this would be a wonderful church to work with.

Simon told us about how his heart breaks for the HIV/AIDS-infected in the community, and how he feels that they are a forgotten segment of the population when it comes to ministry. He told us of outreaches that the church had hosted and programs they had attempted to start in the past, along with the unique challenges that come along with working with AIDS and have held back these efforts. He genuinely desires that all of the HIV/AIDS patients in the area would come to know Christ above all else. KAG seems like an ideal church environment for CFA to work in, as they are located a little bit away from major roads, and they have several other programs going on during the week - both of which help clients with their concern over stigma from the community.

Since that first meeting, we have had several follow-up meetings with the leadership of the church, during which we explained in detail the CARE for AIDS model and talked about how we could partner together. From halfway around the world, we learned that a Christian high school in Florida had committed to supporting a CFA center each month, so we moved forward with setting up a partnership with Kamarithu Assemblies of God. Today we took another step in that process, as we signed a partnership covenant with KAG and met with the committee they set up to oversee the ministry. Tomorrow we are interviewing potential workers for the center, and we are planning to officially open this 4th center on November 1st. This picture shows Kevin, Bishop Simon, myself, and Duncan on the back row, with the KAG committee on the front row.

Praise God for what He is doing here! We are so thankful for the progress being made on the fund-raising front in America, as well as the steps that we have been able to take here in Kenya to put systems in place for more growth in the future. None of this could happen without God's guidance and His blessing on this ministry, and I ask that you would all join me in thanking Him for this 4th center, as well as in praying for the rest of the preparations that will go into training workers, setting up the center, and recruiting the first round of clients. Please pray also for the pastors and leadership of Kamirithu Assemblies of God - we are so thankful for their willingness to join with us in this calling and we pray for God's blessing on every part of what their church is doing.

Pied Piper - Kenyan style

As time goes I start to feel like I'm really blending in to this culture, but every once in a while I have an experience that reminds me just "foreign" I am here. A few days ago I went for a run along the main road that passes by our house - its a beautiful area of rolling tea fields with very light traffic, which makes it easier not to think about the 7,500 feet of elevation and how it seems to suck the oxygen right out of my lungs! For better or for worse, I unknowingly timed my run for the time of day when all of the primary schools are finishing for the day, and as I ran back toward the house I started to see clusters of little Kenyan kids in matching green uniforms walking toward town. As soon as they saw me, their normal school day turned into the highlight of the week, as they all started screaming and running alongside me. In just a few moments, I found myself running in a pack of at least 20 elementary-school aged kids, all laughing and asking me questions in Swahili. I think they found it endlessly amusing that a white person was running down the street aimlessly, especially when most of them very rarely see a white "mzungo."

I was taken totally by surprise and had no idea what to do, so I just kept running and talking to them in my very limited swahili. Before too long the crowd thinned out as the girls and the smaller boys got tired and started walking again, but a strong core of about 8 boys ran with me for a mile or so before they turned off for their homes. They told me that they run several miles to school each day, and I believed it - they were barely breathing hard as I gasped for breath! It surprised how much my pride wouldn't let me stop to walk in the presence of the kids, but when the last of the kids turned off I let myself slow down and walk the last bit to the house. A minute of so later, though, I looked back to see one of the littlest boys, holding his books while his backpack swung behind him, panting and running as hard as he could to catch up to me on his short little legs. He ran up to me and grabbed my hand, breathing hard but with a huge smile on his face!

It's so wonderful how all of the kids are fascinated with my presence here. Even though the constant cries of "mzungo!" and "how are you??" can get a little annoying at times, seeing their faces light up when you respond to them or shake their hand is such a joyful experience. Everyone who comes to Africa seems to fall in love with the children, and its not hard to see why!

The "Real" Nairobi

On friday I got a chance to experience two contrasting sides of Nairobi - the hub of most things going on in East Africa. In the morning I traveled with Cornel to visit the Kenyan immigration department and the NGO Board, both housed in modern office buildings with plenty of westerners inside and Land Cruisers outside. This is the part of Nairobi that people point to as the future of Africa - modern buildings and hospitals, manicured gardens, internationally-known hotels - but it's definitely not indicative of the entire city. With a few hours to kill before picking up some forms from the NGO board, Cornel offered to take me on a tour through the "real" Nairobi.

We walked about 45 minutes from the city center to an area known as the Kikomba market. The first portion of the market that we reached consisted of vendors set up along the road next to the huge long-distance bus station - most of them were selling clothes or food out of the back of a pick-up truck to people fighting their way onto huge busses stacked high with bags and boxes on the roof. Moving past this area, the streets gave way to paths and all automotive traffic disappeared. Looking from a ways down the street, all you could see was a moving mass of people, and that's just what it felt like while winding between the stacks of clothes and goods laid out on the ground and the rivers of people moving between them, listening to the touts calling out sales and special prices. This portion of the market was a giant open area, but we soon moved further into a section of covered shops with tiny footpaths between them. Each shop consisted of a raised wooden platform piled high with either second-hand clothes brought from western countries or goods made by the sellers, with corrugated tin or clothe roofs overlapping between the shops, cutting out most of the sunlight. Apparently this is the place where you can get cooking utensils, farming needs, or other tools for the best price - directly from those who manufacture them on a small scale. The paths between each shop were only a foot or two wide, and the stones were worn smooth from the crowds of people that pass through the dark maze every day. All of this creates essentially the exact opposite of an American Wal-mart in just about every way!

The final part of the market we visited is knows as the "fish den." The reason for this name became immediately clear as we rounded a corner to see men carrying huge baskets of fish and stacking them in mounds for women to sell. The first thing that hit me was the smell - an overpowering mix of fresh fish, deep-fried fish, and rotting fish - definitely not a smell that would make me want to buy dinner! All around were pots of oil on stoves where sellers fried smaller fish whole or cut larger ones into sections, frying them and laying them out on tables where buyers and flies battled for the choicest pieces. I was confused by the strange look of the ground in this area, until i figured out that the whole place was covered by a layer of dried fish scales - crazy! Undeterred by the smell, the flies, the heat, or the fact that he wouldn't be home for at least 5 hours, Cornel decided to go ahead and buy some fried fish to take home for dinner that night - he put the pieces in his laptop bag and carried them around the rest of the day, including our meeting with the NGO board, during which I couldn't help but notice the distinct smell of fish in the modern office...

I've been to markets in other developing countries around the world, but the Kikomba market was especially overwhelming. I think part of the reason for that was the enormous size - we covered only a tiny section - and part was the extreme minority in which I found myself. We walked for close to three hours through a constant crowd of people, and I didn't see a single other white person. As I grow to understand this culture better through spending more time here and hearing more and more stories, I think I am also growing in my ability to understand the people. Maybe that's another reason why Kikomba had a strong effect on me - when I see the women selling little piles of carrots or the men carrying huge baskets of fish, I can understand a little of the bigger picture - where those goods come from, the expectations on the sellers from their families, the hardships faced by the people in all areas of the country, the challenges that come along with making a living in this way. I've never had this sort of understanding as a tourist or on a mission trip, and I'm thankful for the way it's helping me to see this place every day.

A good sign

During my time in Kenya thus far, I have had many experiences showcasing the lack of good systems, processes, organizations, and governmental activities that define much of this country. All of this makes it easy to become pessimistic about the capacity of Kenya to move forward in the world or even help its own people. Thankfully, every once in a while I get a reminder that there are all kinds of people really working hard to improve this country and help the people who need it - both locals and foreigners. Today I had a meeting with several directors from the Nazareth Mission Hospital near Limuru, where many of our clients go to get their ARV medication, which served as a good reminder that there is indeed hope for Kenya!

One of the big challenges of the HIV/AIDS crisis is that the medication required to live with the disease is extremely picky. Someone taking ARV's must take their medicine at the same time every day, with the right nutrition in their diets. If they miss a few days, the medicine will stop working and they will have to switch to a different drug - a process that is very involved and can only happen a few times because of the limited number of different ARV's. Because of these factors, hospitals struggle greatly in having effective HIV/AIDS treatment and are often faced with patients who "default" on their treatment schedules by missing an appointment or taking their medication improperly.

The existence of these difficulties for hospitals is one reason that CARE for AIDS is so effective and so needed. Because our community health workers are meeting with clients every week at the center and visiting their homes, they stay closely connected to the patients and can personally monitor their drug intake and their adherence to the necessary regime. In our meeting this morning with the hospital, we set up a system for the hospital to refer to CFA any HIV/AIDS patients who are having difficulties adhering to the treatment plan or who are coming from especially desperate or poverty-stricken situations. They were thrilled at this idea - essentially we can offer to take their most problematic cases and walk closely with them for an extended period of time, a necessary step that the hospital has neither the resources or the manpower to undertake. At the same time, the hospital will work with us to waive the fees associated with hospital tests and treatment of opportunistic infections for patients who are going through our program - a major gift to the clients.

Furthermore, the hospital offered to send its community nurses to meet with the physical and spiritual counselors from all of our centers any time that we would like. This was a huge answer to prayer - just before our meeting this morning, Duncan and I were discussing the need for continual training and education for our community health workers, and we were somewhat at a loss as to how to accomplish this. Only a few hours later God had given us the perfect answer! We are hoping that every few months our workers can meet with the hospital staff, or other professionals, to stay updated on the latest treatment and counseling techniques, and the hospital directors were more than willing to help with this.

It's such a beautiful thing when pieces seem to simply fall into place! I would appreciate your continual prayers as we try to build more relationships with hospitals, government organizations, financial institutions, and all the other entities that can help CARE for AIDS take the next steps towards truly changing this country!

A lazy Kenyan Sunday afternoon

Since the craziness of the all our American visitors subsided last Monday, this past week has been one of catching up, putting things in order, and figuring out a plan for the next few months. The first part of my time here in Kenya was really focused on preparing for both the vision trip and mission trip (described in previous posts), so it feels like now the real work begins! It's a little bit daunting, because there are a lot of things that will be happening with CARE for AIDS over the next few months, but it's also really exciting. Seeing this ministry grow and transform more and more lives is part of the reason that I felt called to come here, so the feeling of potential and the promise of future growth is a great inspiration for pushing hard every day!

In the midst of all this potential are a lot of things that I am going to really need prayer for during the next few weeks and months. Up to this point, much of what CARE for AIDS has done has been a process of trial and error, discovering what works and what doesn't work. Now we are at a point where we know what works and we must figure out how to standardize our whole process and take it to a greater scope. Along with that comes a lot of preparing documents, writing contracts, developing policies and systems, and meeting with government officials. I am really excited about helping to make all these things happen, but I also know that I am going to need God to fill in the gaps of my experience and knowledge in all of these areas. I would love prayer for guidance and wisdom, for contacts with all of the right people for advice and direction, and for discernment in knowing who to trust. I would also love prayer for patience - everything in Kenya is more complicated or slower than things in America, especially when dealing with the government, and I'm having to find a delicate balance between promoting efficiency and driving myself crazy!

Apart from the long list of "action items" that Justin left me with, I have been finding time to relax a little bit and hang out with some good friends here in the Limuru area. It's really cool to see how God has built a network of western missionaries in this area and how He has brought me into contact with people who can provide much-needed "American-style" fellowship. I've gotten to know a group of guys working for a ministry called Global Connections who live in a house just a few minutes down the road from mine. Their house is a little more technologically equipped than ours, and we've managed to get a satellite TV service that carries a precious few American football games - this tuesday afternoon we've got plans to watch the Monday Night Football game between the Panthers and the Cowboys, which I am so excited about (just don't tell me who wins)! For someone who has been quite addicted to football for the past few years, I am incredibly thankful for the small, but meaningful, blessing of a football game every now and then!

Another big part of my social life revolves around eating. Kenyans always make fun of Americans for caring so much about food, but I've realized that meals are a huge part of life in America and are a great opportunity for fellowship and quality time. One of our favorite meals around here happens at a place called Diamond Plaza - I might have mentioned it before on this blog, but its an amazing place. Going to eat at "DP" is really more of an adventure than a meal.
First it involves driving into the heart of Nairobi from Limuru - especially exciting on a weekend night battling traffic in the city and on the twisty country roads. Then, after fighting for a place to park, you walk into a covered area full of picnic tables and surrounded by 20 or so small Indian restaurants. The minute you sit down, swarms of waiters literally run to get your business, throwing menus into your hands and yelling in broken English for you to try their chicken masala or paneer - this picture shows a little bit of the anxious waiters and the overwhelming amount of menus. You sort out a few things that you want - inevitably ordering more than you need in the pressure of the moment - and then enjoy an amazing dinner. Most of the food is eaten by tearing off a piece of buttered na'an (a tortilla-like flat bread) and scooping up a handful of saucy chicken or cheese. Its impossible to eat without making a mess of your hands and face, but the food is delicious so its totally worth it! I'm a strong believer in the fact that the messier a food is, the better - and it doesn't get much better OR messier than this. After eating, then comes the challenge of sorting out several different bills - one from the na'an guy, one from the chicken guy, one from the cheese guy, etc. I'm never sure if I actually paid the right amount, but its all cheap by American standards so "hakuna matata!"

A night at DP isn't complete without a trip to the bootleg DVD store. The shop is run by two Pakistanis, and for some reason they start blasting Akon's "Beautiful" over loudspeakers the moment an American enters the store. Once you get past the knock-off electronics, jewelry and hair products, you can find almost any DVD ever made (or movie still in theaters) for about 5 bucks. Now, the $5 versions are the quality copies, but if you're willing to sacrifice a little clarity you can get a "16 in 1," "60 in 1," or even "148 in 1" DVD disk for the same price! Oh, the things we miss out on in America with all of our intellectual property laws!

This about sums up my Saturday night last night, leaving me both full and full of crazy stories! There will definitely be more to come - as I start to get to know people, branch out, and explore more of this place, Kenya just gets crazier and crazier. Thank you again for your prayers and for all of your encouragement - its always great to hear a word from people back in the states, and it helps me from becoming TOO Kenyan!

God Bless...