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!