Chickens in the trunk

This week I traveled to Kisumu, in the Western part of Kenya, with Duncan to check up on our new CARE for AIDS operations. Though I'll describe the more meaningful parts of the trip later, I wanted to first tell you a story of the kind that definitely does not happen in America - not to me at least.

When one of our Kenyan Directors, Cornel, moved to Kisumu a month or so ago, he left behind or forgot all sorts of things, including a collection of chickens. Last week he called and asked us to bring him his chickens, so we rounded them up from different places and threw them all in the garage. On Wednesday morning, Opio opened the garage doors at about 6:30am and the chickens made their escape, scattering all over the yard. After rounding them up, tying their legs together, and carefully (or not so carefully) placing them in a cardboard box in the back of the car, we pulled out onto the road with 5 chickens in the trunk.

It's about a 4 hour drive to Kisumu, and for the most part Cornel's chickens were good passengers. Every once in a while I would slam on breaks, turn off to drive on the rutted dirt "diversions," or hit a random speed bump going 100 km/hr (it is driving in Kenya, after all), and the chickens would start squawking and clucking with a passion. A couple of times this caught me completely by surprise, but we all made it in one piece to the shore of Lake Victoria.

After running some errands and going to a seminar at the CFA center, we finally got to Cornel's house at around 3pm. Duncan opened the trunk and immediately yelled, with a laugh, "CORNEL, allllll your chickens are dead!" At first I thought he was kidding, but it turns out that leaving five chickens in a car when its 90-some degrees out side for a few hours will give you chickens that are not only dead, but probably partially baked already. Cornel was a little upset, but he was consoled by the fact that his family will be eating chicken (along with the single egg that one managed to lay in the box) for the next week or so!

All Kenyan, all the time...

The most difficult cases...

Jaqueline is a mother of three sons and three daughters. She is married to Ambrose Osiolo, who works as a night guard at one of the bars in Limuru. Both Jaqueline and Ambrose tested HIV-positive in February, 2009 and joined the CARE for AIDS center at Imani Baptist Church during the next month. Jaqueline and her youngest son, Brian (also HIV-positive), had been in and out of the hospital, and they both spent most of the next two months at Nazareth Hospital. Because of cultural beliefs, both Jaqueline and Ambrose refused to take ARV’s or give medication to their son, and he died a month later in June. At this point Jaqueline was dealing with extreme weight loss, chronic diarrhea, itchy skin, and mouth thrush, and her husband was convinced she was going to die, even to the point of trying to take her home to die with her extended family.

In August, Jaqueline’s condition became so bad that she agreed to go to the hospital with the CFA staff. Rosemary and Kevin started taking her to all of the hospitals in the area, where they discovered that she had been a previous patient and a defaulter at multiple hospitals, which refused to take her back as a patient. Because of the nature of the drugs that HIV-positive people take in Kenya, if someone "defaults" on a treatment plan, or doesn't take their drugs properly, the medication ceases to be effective, and a hospital will usually stop treating a patient. Due to Rosemary’s persistence with hospital administrators, though, one of the government hospitals in Tigoni took on Jaqueline as a patient in September. With the constant attention of Rosemary and the hospital staff, she has been able to properly adhere to the treatment regimen since then. Over the past four months a marked increase in Jaqueline’s health is evident, and both she and her husband are committed to properly taking their medication and living a healthy life.

Before she agreed to return to the hospital, both Jaqueline and her husband made a decision to accept Christ with Humphrey’s help at the center. They still struggle to reconcile some parts of Christianity with their cultural tradition, but they have become loyal members of Imani Baptist Church. Jaqueline was even baptized into the church in October. She has also registered as a member of an ongoing support group for the women clients from Imani, and both Rosemary and Humphrey are optimistic about the future of Jaqueline and her family. Now that Jaqueline is in a better place physically, she is ready to start a project to supplement the income her family receives from her husband's work. With Rosemary's help, Jaqueline has prepared a business plan to start a small vegetable stand and is in the process of applying for a loan to open her "green grocery." Please pray with me that Jaqueline would continue to improve physically, spiritually, and economically, and that her whole family would reap the benefits of her hard work and dedication.

I believe this is an especially poignant story because Jaqueline really was in one of the most desperate situations possible. I have talked to nurses from Nazareth Hospital who are absolutely amazed at her improvement, and I think this story does a great job of showing how CARE for AIDS can transform a life that other professionals have completely given up on. I can't say enough how thankful I am for workers like Rosemary and Humphrey who will take on a client that others might deem "unsaveable," and then proceed to work tirelessy and selflessly, slowly watching their life transform before their eyes.

Hiking Mt. Longonot

On Saturday I got to see this part of Africa from a whole new perspective - the top of a volcano! Early in the morning, six of us drove the thirty minutes or so out to Mt. Lonogonot in the Great Rift Valley, a jagged volcano with a 2-mile wide, almost circular crater in the top, left over from an eruption in the 1840's.

The first great part of the day was the group of people. Out of six friends, we had two obnoxious Americans (Joe and I), a South African (Carmen - happy birthday!), a Zimbabwean (Phil - the Zimbabwean equivalent of Jim Carrey), a Brit (Bethany - the newest ACTS volunteer), and a Kenyan (Deborah - ACTS's volunteer coordinator). I love times like that with people from so many backgrounds, and it leads to a never-ending supply of amazing stories!

Our group set off up the mountain at about 7am, walking near small groups of antelope and even a spooked herd of Cape Buffalo. We hiked up a steep trail through grass and small bushes for about 40 minutes to reach the rim of the crater. What an amazing feeling - struggling up to a thin ridge and seeing a gigantic crater stretching away in front of you, ending in an even higher rocky peak on the other side, while looking behind you out onto the vast expanse of the Great Rift Valley - one of those moments that simply take your breath away! Over the next few hours we made our way around the crater rim, stopping to take crazy pictures and fighting up a total of about 2000 feet of altitude to the peak (an ascent made more difficult by the fact that peak is at about 9000 feet above sea level...whew). One of the most interesting parts of the climb was checking out all of the animal tracks along the way. Phil is a professional hunter in Zimbabwe, so he led us in tracking buffalo, zebra, and even a leopard around the sandy and rocky rim of the crater. It was amazing how he could look at a leopard print and tell if it was male or female, how big it was, and when it had passed through. Also amazing was how much he could tell from digging through the leopard droppings we found!

After reaching the peak, the guys took off on the downward-sloping half of the crater in a run...really an exhilirating feeling. There is just something about running your heart out in Africa - looking out on the bigness of creation, soaking in the warm sun, laughing and yelling with good friends - that provides a feeling of freedom, and I love it. I believe people experience and worship God in all kinds of different ways, and I think that is one of the amazing things about how humans are created. For me, there is just something about the natural world that calls the eyes of my heart heavenward to our Creator and brings me to a place of undeniable worship. Running down the slopes of Mt. Longonot provided one of those moments in its purest forms - a feeling that I can't truly describe but that I am so, so thankful for!

The Lord has kept me through...

Opio, the man who normally takes care of our compound, is out of town for a few days, so Kevin's cousin Edwin has come to take his place. This morning, I walked downstairs and asked Edwin how he was doing (in Swahili - yes!). He looked at me with a big smile and replied, "Very fine - the Lord has kept me through!"

The Lord has kept me through. This simple phrase, coming from a joyful Kenyan face, has stuck in my mind all day. Edwin barely knows me, but the first thing that comes to his mind in the morning, and the first thing that he wishes to share with me, is the fact that God has brought him through the night and given him a new day. The faith of Kenyans like Edwin is extraordinarily powerful. He, along with all of the other Kenyans I know, has experienced more hardship in his life than the vast majority of people in the States. Hunger, violence, abandonment, homelessness, loss of loved ones - it is uncommon NOT to find these things in the stories of each and every Kenyan, and yet their faith is not only unshakable, but full of "the inexpressible and glorious joy" that Peter talks about.

I am learning that the faith of a Kenyan Christian rests on a very different foundation that that of many western Christians. This faith isn't based on how comfortable one is, what they have, or what they hope to receive from God. Instead, it is based on a belief IN God, a hope and trust in His sovereignty, and a simple conviction that a person's life is not worth living if not for the presence of God in it. Yes, their stories are full of pain and suffering, and some would ask a person, with so much hardship looking them in the face, "how could you believe in an all-powerful, wise, loving God, who is bigger than this world, and stake your joy and hope on Him?" My question is, though, when you look at the scope of eternity, how could you not?

"Authentic" Experiences

Last week I had one of those nights which remind me that, yes, I am living in Kenya. Duncan had decided to leave town in the evening, but he had already promised to drive Jane, the girl who works in our house, to visit with her boyfriend. He told me that the guy lived about 15 minutes away in an area called Garaliga, and he asked if I would be willing to take her around 4pm and pick her up at about 7. I agreed - although I did feel a little bit like a parent with a teenage child - and expected to spend about 30 minutes each trip in a fairly straightforward job.

I was wrong. First, Jane and I drove in to Limuru and waited about 15 minutes for her boyfriend, Jessie, and two more of his friends. Then we drove another 15 minutes off of the main road down narrow, rocky dirt paths, ending in a small yard fenced and gated with pieces of wood and metal sheeting. They closed a gate behind my car, which is when I realized that I wasn't just dropping Jane off and leaving. Jessie and Jane took me back into a group of tiny mud and tin houses around a central courtyard that was filled with about 75 people sitting on narrow benches, and we took our seats in the back row. Almost immediately an older man got up and set off into a rousing sermon, beating his Bible and yelling in Kikuyu, the tribal language of the area. Thoroughly confused (as I often am here), I sat and listened to the sermon, then shared the required cup of tea with the people around me and talked with Jessie for a while. He told me his father had died that week and this was a service to honor him and to start the process of the funeral, which takes several days in their culture. It turns out all of the little houses around the courtyard belonged to his family members, so Jessie showed me his house and took me on a tour around the family "shamba," or farm. They were collecting money to pay for the upcoming funeral, so I gave them a few shillings and made my way back to the car. In the end, I left Garaliga 2 hours after setting off - not the 30 minute trip I expected!

When I sat down in that courtyard - squeezed onto a tiny wooden bench, listening to shouting in a language I don't understand, surrounded by people who are far, far different than me - my first reaction was frustration. I had made plans for myself for the evening, I was uncomfortable in all kinds of ways, I was confused as to what was going on. It was easy to start feeling angry towards the people who brought me there, mad at myself for getting into this, or bitter towards the culture that I found myself, literally, right in the middle of. After a few minutes of this, though, I feel like God touched my heart and gave me the eyes to see things in a different light. I realized that there had to be a reason He had put me in such a strange situation, and I resolved to try and figure out how He could use me there. I looked around and saw the beauty of the old Kenyan women, lined up on their benches with bright head scarves attentively watching and listening to the speaker. I realized that I've often heard travelers talk about their desire for "authentic" experiences - myself included - and that it couldn't get more authentic than this. Looking back I am humbled by the honor and the privelege that I was accorded in being invited into this service by a man who had just lost his father and who barely knew me.

I realize now what a blessing it was to have an experience like this one, and I can now see how God really could use me in that situation to be an encouragement to Jessie and his family. As a foreigner and someone who has gotten to know his girlfriend quite well, Jessie was truly excited to show me his home and genuinely appreciated the money I could give them - a very small amount by American standards, but more than any of the Kenyans present could spare. In reflecting on that night I can see how "authentic" experiences have started to become the norm for me - my reaction to a situation like this was initially one of simple annoyance, and I could so easily look past how beautiful and unique it really was. I guess this is a sign that I am getting used to Kenya, but I never want to lose the wonder that I was met with upon first arriving, because I believe that God can work in that awe in a powerful way. This night renewed my desire to make the most of each day I have here, to take advantage of each opportunity and really try to know and love the people I am with. Please thank God with me for the chance to live this life, and pray with me that I may use this time to His glory!

Rock Climbing at Lukenya

This past weekend I got the opportunity to spend a day rock climbing - which, of course, I jumped on immediately! One of the great things about the community I've found here is that people are involved in all kinds of different ministries and organizations, and one of my friends named Clayton runs a rock climbing program with a company called Blue Sky Ministries for youth camps and missionary groups. He was taking a small group of clients out climbing on Sunday, and he graciously offered for a few friends to tag along.

Joe and I left Limuru early in the morning and drove to the other side of Nairobi - about an hour and a half drive - picking up our friend Megan along the way. The road was amazingly free of traffic jams and accidents, and we arrived at a place called Lukenya under a gorgeous sunny sky at around 9am. Lukenya is a beautiful place - flat grassland dotted with trees stretches for miles to the horizon, and a solitary ridge of rockface about 300 feet high rises dramatically into a plateau. We met up with Clayton at the base of these rock faces and spent the next four hours climbing various top-roped routes, about 80 feet in length. In between routes we ran around on the boulders and cliffs, soaking in the sun and the amazing views out over the grasslands. Joe and I also took a lot of pictures - both of us got new cameras over Christmas and photography is our new hobby! It felt so good to be out in the sun working up a sweat - especially after spending a month in frigid America - and we all took time to relax and soak in the beauty of God's creation.

I'm so thankful for opportunities like these that come out of nowhere but result in amazing experiences. I'm also incredibly thankful for the friendships that God is blessing me with here in Kenya - friends that not only are fun to hang out with, but who challenge me spiritually and have a real heart for the people of this country. I believe that God shows himself to people in all kinds of different ways, but I see Him so clearly in the beauty of creation. I'm thankful today for the chance to really enjoy that majestic creation doing something that I love!

1st Staff Meeting of 2010!

One of the most frustrating and inspiring parts of my work is the biweekly CFA staff meeting. Frustrating, because it usually involves someone coming late, someone talking much more than they should, someone complaining about an issue that I completely disagree with, everyone spending much too long drinking tea (from my American perspective, anyway), and it takes place on a Saturday morning. Inspiring, because it is the time when I can hear all of workers talk about how things are going at their centers, which inevitably prompts me to praise God for certain things and spurs me on to work harder towards others. Today was our first full meeting of 2010, so I wanted to give you all a few of the highlights - things that you can join me in both praying and thanking God for!

First, I can't say enough how excited I am about what God is doing in Kisumu, the new CARE for AIDS region in the western part of the country. Cornel, Geoffrey, Lazarus, and Elisabeth have been working tirelessly for the past couple of months, and it really shows! The first center, at Central Baptist Church, officially started its recruitment the first week in January. In just a couple of weeks Lazarus and Elisabeth have recruited 112 people living with HIV/AIDS who want to take part in the CFA program. 62 of those live too far from the current center, which leaves 50 people who are starting the program. Hopefully that number will jump up to around 75 in the next couple of weeks, and the center can start its normal operations ahead of schedule! Cornel and Geoffrey will keep track of the other 62 people, and they will be the first to know when the next CFA center opens close to where they live. Praise God for the fast start at Central Baptist, and pray that God would provide the funds for us to open another center soon and serve more people in this incredibly needy area.

I also got some encouraging news from our newest center in the Limuru area at Kamirithu Assemblies of God. Paul and Eunice, the workers there, have been recruiting clients for a little over a month and they have a full group of 75 clients, with at least 10 on the waiting list for the next round. They have started counseling all of the clients and holding the first seminars, and they are already starting to see fruit in the way of faith decisions, improving health, and a strong desire to learn. Paul and Eunice have received a lot of help from Rosemary and Humphrey, the workers from our very first center, who are currently on a break between groups of clients. We are so thankful for their willingness to help out and offer their experience to our "rookie" workers, and I am continually amazed at the capacity of all of our staff to give and sacrifice for what they believe in! Please pray that everyone working at KAG would be able to instill in these new clients a proper perspective on the CFA program and help them to grasp the reality of salvation and the bright future that they can have.

More updates will come soon as I get to spend time in each of the centers, and I'm looking forward to sharing with you more stories of how God is blessing this ministry and all of us who are involved with it!

Only in Kenya...

It seems that whenever I arrive in Kenya, something ridiculous happens to welcome me back to the country. In August, my first day back was marked by seeing a car get t-boned by a freight train - the kind of thing that only happens in movies. Yesterday I had a similar experience...

Just outside our house the road takes a sharp, downward turn. This curve is the sight of many accidents, especially with the combination of human, donkey, motorcycle, car, and truck traffic that routinely careens around the turn at top speed. Yesterday, Cornel was riding on a motorcycle taxi in this very curve when he watched the big cargo truck in front of him swerve to avoid a donkey cart, then flip over on it's side, skidding to a halt blocking most of the road. Cornel jumped off the motorcycle and ran to open the door to the cab of the truck, helping the three ocupants out onto the ground. He quickly learned, though, that there was another man in the enclosed cargo area of the truck, so all four of them went back to try and open the door. After struggling with the big metal door for a little bit, it finally opened to reveal a full cargo of fresh, wet cow manure. The passenger was entirely BURIED in the manure, and after a bit of digging with a bucket Cornel found him unconscious, but alive. The man was rushed to the hospital where he was apparently found to be fine. I drove up on the accident about this time, and Cornel related the whole story to me in the nonchalant manner of a person who sees this kind of thing every day.

As Americans, we definitely DON'T see this kind of thing every day! I am still trying to understand why a person would ride in the enclosed cargo compartment of a truck filled with manure - does that sound like a good idea to anyone? How can we even start to imagine what it felt like for the truck to crash and for the man to find himself completely buried in the stuff?? This is just one example of the things that I don't think I'll ever understand about this crazy country. Every day brings something new and exciting!

From one "home" to another

I'm writing this during my layover in the Amsterdam airport, which, though it leaves me in the surreal dream-world that comes along with long flights and giant time changes, provides as good a time as any to reflect a bit on the last month and look forward to the next few months. I am so thankful for the past few weeks that I was able to spend in the US. Having time to relax and catch up with the family and friends that I love so much was both an incredible refresher and a great encouragement to continue the work I am doing in Kenya with all of my heart. I got to enjoy more than my fair share of all the food that makes America great - barbecue, sweet tea, Bojangles fried chicken, McDonald's cheeseburgers, and some of the best home-cooked Christmas meals the world has ever seen - which leaves me feeling a little bit bigger than when I arrive and holding on to a new appreciation for the overwhelming amount of varieties and choices we have in America when it comes to food. I also managed to attend a college football game (Go Heels!), an NBA game (Go Cavs!), and a college basketball game (Go Dores!), which will hopefully hold me over on live sports for the next few months. Over the course of the last four weeks I spent time in 5 different states and reconnected with friends - from high school, college, and otherwise - and family, both immediate and distant. It was a very strange feeling to be in the US for "vacation," but all of these experiences gave me an understanding of America in a whole new light.

One of the biggest things that struck me about America, coming off of four months in Kenya, is the organization and order that comes along with just about everything. From roads and airports, to grocery stores and restaurants, to education and goverment, it seems like everything is accompanied by a plan and a schedule - not so in Kenya! In most instances this organization is great, and it makes things run smoothly and efficiently, but it can also have a mind-numbing effect on people. It seems that in America it is possible to live life almost without thinking sometimes, and I actually started to miss the unpredictability of Kenya at times. I was also struck (as many people are) with the "big-ness" of the US. Yes, the people and the cars are big, but it also amazed me how big the number of choices for food, clothes, or entertainment are. It struck me how big the expectations are for young people, how big the demands on each person's time are, and how big both the number and size of transactions and purchases are for a normal person. All of this big-ness results in a daily life that is much more complex, in many ways, and I found myself missing the simplicity of the Kenyan life when this became overwhelming.

I never thought I would say this, but in looking forward to returning to Kenya I feel that I am returning to a sense of normalcy. There is a regularity to my daily life in Limuru that I am excited to return to, and the purpose that comes along with the work I get to do every day with CARE for AIDS is calling strongly to my heart. As hard as it is right now to leave behind the people that mean so much to me in the States, I have a lot of joy in the expectancy of what God is going to do through me and through CFA in the coming months. I would love all of you to really join me in prayer for the next four months, until I return to the US again. In that time we are hoping to open several new CFA centers, as well as to really get our new region up and running in Kisumu. We will host several Vision Trips for Americans to experience and understand CFA's work in Kenya, and we will continue seeking out new partnerships with hospitals, clinics, government organizations, and other NGO's. In some ways it feels that my work over the past few months has been an effort to lay a strong foundation upon which to grow and expand, and I am so excited to see and experience that growth as it happens throughout this year!

Thank you for your continued prayers for both me and for CARE for AIDS! It was so encouraging to hear from people over the holidays who are reading this blog and praying for me, and I always appreciate hearing from all of you anything that is on your mind. I'm coming into the New Year with a renewed commitment to blogging more often, so stay tuned!