FEAST

Last Thursday was Thanksgiving.  That doesn't mean anything to all of the Kenyans around here, but it means a LOT to me - food, football, good people, relaxing, and the great place we like to call AMERICA!  To celebrate, Jane and I spent a few hours in the afternoon cooking rolls, mashed potatoes, and chocolate-chip pie (slight stretching of the truth with the phrase "and I" there).  Then we went into town our good friends Kim, Jon, and Amanda's house.  They are all Americans, so they know what's up with Thanksgiving.  All kinds of food was just finishing up cooking, including a full-sized turkey that was fresh out of the oven when we arrived.  After a little heavy thinking, Kim and Amanda decided that I was the closest guy to an adult around there (since I'm engaged), and that I should be the one to carve the turkey...boom!  Talk about an honor - Kim specifically said, "It just seems right in my mind for you to be the one with the knife doing this."  That's what I'm talking about...

The turkey was carved, all the casseroles were cooked, the table was set, and America-themed music was playing in the background, so 11 of of us sat down to an amazing, real, Thanksgiving dinner!  It was a great time not only to eat, but to explain Thanksgiving to South African/Zimbabwean/Kiwi friends and to fellowship together with an awesome group of people.  After finishing off a whole lot of food, we all settled onto couches and laughed at Sean and Tes's baby...who knew they could be so entertaining?  What an evening!  Here are some pictures give you a better idea...

Thanksgiving!

Kenyans don't celebrate Thanksgiving - BORING!  Luckily, there are other Americans here who know their history books and know when it's time to cook some turkey, so I'm counting down the hours until Thanksgiving dinner tonight.  Until then, I wanted to take a quick minute and thank YOU for being in front of your computer right now reading this! 

I really do appreciate all of you who read my rambling thoughts.  I appreciate the time you take to join with me in what's going on in Kenya, I appreciate the comments and emails that you send me every once in a while, and I appreciate the prayers that so many of you are regularly sending out on my behalf.  All of these things are a great encouragement to me! 

Now, a few Thanksgiving week memories:

2009:  Mara with Preston

2008: VU at Kentucky Football (win to get bowl-eligible!)

2007: Back to Vandy for November football

2006: New York City with the whole family!

2005: Apple bobbing at the CRU Bonfire

Laban Ochieng

Last week, CARE for AIDS celebrated our first client graduation from Kisumu, our second region that started operating at the beginning of this year.  People living in the Nyalenda slum in Kisumu are worse off than most of the clients around Nairobi, and we have experienced difficult challenges but also amazing testimonies over the last nine months while working with a group of 80 clients from Central Baptist Church.

One of the clients who shared his story during the graduation was Laban Ochieng, a longtime resident of the Nyalenda slum in Kisumu.  Laban discovered he was HIV-positive several years ago and quickly experienced a drastic decline in his quality of life.  As his strength failed, he had to quit his job as a skilled mason.  When Lazarus and Elizabeth, the CARE for AIDS center workers, met Laban, he was confined to his bed and unable to work, feed himself, or even walk around.  He weighed under a hundred pounds and was not taking medication - simply waiting for his life to be over.

Laban (right) with Cornel

Immediately, the CFA workers began helping Laban to get help from the hospitals and start a regimen of medication.  They spent time explaining to him how ARV medication works and how to properly take the drugs, along with providing a food supplement to guard against painful side effects.  With this treatment, Laban began to regain his strength and was soon able to move around under his own power.  A couple of months later, he resumed his masonry work and starting reaping the benefits of a reliable income.

At the same time, Laban was learning through the CFA center about what HIV means and how it relates to one's standing before God.  He was taught for the first time that Jesus loves him despite his HIV status and that he could still live a meaningful life for Christ while looking forward to eternity in heaven.  Laban discovered the selfless love of people who follow Christ through Lazarus, Elizabeth, and other members of Central Baptist Church.  Several months into the program, he made the decision to commit his life to the Lord!  Since April, Laban has been regularly attending services at Central Baptist and becoming more and more a part of the church community.

Today, Laban's weight has increased to 155 lbs.  His CD4 count, a measure of the body's immunity, has increased from 97 to 340, taking him above the threshold that signifies AIDS. Who knows where he would be right now without the assistance that CARE for AIDS provided?  Potentially, he wouldn't even be alive.  Almost certainly, his quality of life would be heartbreaking.  Laban's is only one story of dozens in this group alone, but it is a story of profound change and true empowerment - a testimony to part of the vision of CARE for AIDS:

Life Sustained + Life Eternal

Societal Cost Savings from CFA

A few months ago I was presented with the following question:   

"What is the cost to the Kenyan society of NOT providing CARE for AIDS services to a person living with HIV/AIDS?"

After researching online, speaking with other professionals, and gathering data from our staff, I came up with an answer and discovered several interesting facts along the way.  This might get a little long, so you can skip to the bottom for the final results if you'd like.  If you would like more information on where any of the specific numbers came from, feel free to ask!

First, I tried to determine how many people are directly impacted by a person living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya.  The majority of our clients are married, both living with HIV/AIDS.  From our records, we found that about 40% are single parents or are part of discordant couples, so for each family represented, we have an average of 1.6 infected parents.  Also from the data collected with incoming client groups, we know that our clients have an average of 4 children per family.

Next, we needed to know the life expectancy for a person living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya - both if they were receiving care and if they were not.  From several published research projects looking at the life expectancy of HIV-positive adults in various places around Africa, with different sets of extenuating circumstances and various socio-economic situations, it became apparent that the life expectancy for a typical client, without the counseling, education, and assistance provided by CFA, is 2.75 years.  This is assuming that the person will not be consuming a healthy diet, will not be properly taking ARV medication, and will not be taking every possible precaution to guard against opportunistic infection.  If we are successful in providing care, the client WILL be doing each one of these things, and can thus survive an average of 20 years.  This figure is again supported by professional research and is a conservative estimate when the advances in medical care in the coming decades are taken into account.

After that, we considered the opportunistic infections that any HIV+ person will experience.  These are diseases like malaria and tuberculosis that prey on the weakened immune system of people living with HIV/AIDS and are often the actual cause of death.  Without care and education, most people living with HIV/AIDS are victim to some kind of infection every 3 months, an average of 4 infections per year.  The vast majority of our clients come to us with no health insurance, which means the doctor's visits and medication associated with each infection will cost the client approximately $60.  Because most of the clients are not producing any excess income, this cost must be assumed by relatives, well-wishers, and other members of society.  While in the CFA program, clients are put on a proper regimen of medication and are taught about sanitation and preventing opportunistic infections, which lowers their infection rate to about 1 opportunistic infection per year.  They are also enrolled in a government-sponsored health insurance scheme for low-income people called NHIF, which lowers the cost of treatment to about $6 per infection.  Over the course of an entire year, the client will pay about $75 for healthcare.

Then we explored the costs associated with a funeral - a major expense in Kenyan culture.  When someone dies, their body must be transported back to their traditional homeland, along with a group of relatives or friends.  They must pay for a coffin, burial expenses, and outstanding hospital fees in additional to the cost of transportation.  According to a poll among several members of our staff, the average minimum cost for all of this is about $300.  Again, none of our clients have money put aside for these expenses, which means they must be assumed by the people around them.  Because we work with our clients to save with credible institutions and budget for the future, though, and because our clients can live long enough to accumulate savings and allow their children to grow to an income-producing stage in life, the cost of a funeral for our clients 20 years down the road will not be imposed upon society.

Another important aspect of this question concerns the children of people living with HIV/AIDS.  If an orphan is taken care of in an orphanage in Kenya, someone will end up paying about $180 per year.  Most children who find their way to an orphanage receive care until the age of 18, so we assume that our clients' children would require an average of 9 years of care each if their parents were to pass away.  

Finally, we tried to estimate how many additional infections a person living with HIV/AIDS would be responsible for without the care and education provided by CFA .  Through data available online and the anecdotal evidence provided by our staff and others working in the medical arena, we determined that about 80% of people will infect someone else during the course of their life through sexual transmission or caregiving.  About 25% of women will give birth to an HIV+ child.  With a proper understanding of the virus and of the methods of transmission, though, the reinfection rate falls close to 0%. 

After gathering all of these numbers, we were able to group the cost to society for people without care into several components:

1. Medical costs - the number of opportunistic infections per year multiplied by the cost of treatment for each infection, multiplied by the number of infected parents and the life expectancy.
2. Funeral costs
3. Childcare costs - the number of children multiplied by the number of years of care required and the cost of each year of care in an orphanage.  

Then, the sum of these components was scaled to reflect the average number of additional infections that each person would be responsible for.  Because those people could then infect others, this could lead to a never-ending cycle, but we decided to include only the single iteration that the person we are looking at would be directly responsible for.

This gave us our final number - the cost to society that is saved when each client receives the life transformation and empowerment that CARE for AIDS provides:  $16,500. 

Obviously this isn't an exact number and there is quite a bit of estimation involved, but the bigger purpose in pointing to this number is to show how much is accomplished for a relatively small investment.  The cost of taking one client through the CARE for AIDS program is only $200.  After that, the client will "pay" only around $100 per year for health insurance, medical costs, and savings for funeral expenses.  Because they are providing for themselves and their children, saving for the future, and guarding against opportunistic infections and the spread of the virus, their financial burden on society drops by over sixteen THOUSAND dollars. I find this truly amazing.  What a testament to the impact that a small investment from an American Christian can have not only on one family, but on the struggling economy and society of a developing country.

Western Development

Now that I've been in Kenya long enough that people raise their eyebrows when I answer the question, "So how long have ya been here?", I get asked a lot of questions about development.  People always want to talk about what development and aid strategies work (or don't work), how money can best be used, where the most spiritual impact is realized, etc. etc.  Instead of writing a long post about all of this, I just read a blog post that Jane wrote and decided that it would be a great start for any of you guys to read who don't follow her blog.  Teamwork is part of getting married, right?  Here's the link:

http://canyakenya.blogspot.com/

She is right on here, and I just wanted to add a couple of questions for YOU to think about in your personal outlook on international development...

What does "secular development" really do?  Is it good (in the big picture of eternity) to take a person with glaring physical needs and satisfy those needs, without attributing the help and love to Christ?  Or is this just making their earthly existence more comfortable, making them believe - like so many westerners - that they don't need God in their lives?  Could it be removing an opportunity for evangelism, or even creating a negative impact?

Where does the church fit in to helping the developing world?  Where SHOULD it fit in?  Where do you fit in to the church?

In addition to the book Jane mentioned, I'll also throw out several books that have challenged my understanding of the relationship between my faith, the western church, loving the world, and helping the needy of this planet.  Read them if your interest in hearing some Biblical truth, but expect to be challenged:

Radical by David Platt

The Hole in Our Gospel by Richard Stearns

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Microfinance at Work

Yesterday, I took the opportunity to sit on a meeting with a group of current CARE for AIDS clients from the Banana Hill center who have joined a micro-finance program.  Micro-finance is one of those trends that seems great in theory, but sometimes gets a bad rap for how it actually plays out, so I wanted to see firsthand how our clients are responding. 

The organization we are partnering with in Banana Hill is called DOREP, which stands for "Desert Oasis Resident Empowerment Program" (www.dorep.org).  The name comes from the roots of the program in the arid Northeastern province of Kenya, but DOREP currently offers its services in almost all parts of the country.  This group of 26 clients registered with a DOREP officer after a CFA seminar on finances a few months ago, at which point they formed a group together and agreed to a set of by-laws that govern how the group works.  Since then, all the members of the group have met once a month with a DOREP official.

In each of these meetings (like the one I attended), the DOREP official first calls each member of the group up to a table to accept their savings.  The group member meets with the official, as well as a Chairman, Secretary, and Treasurer, who are elected members of the group.  These "officers" provide extra accountability for the DOREP official by keeping separate records of savings and loans that must match up with the official record.  Most of the members brought between $3 and $6 to save for the month, which includes a $.50 fee for loan insurance that is paid each month.  Several members weren't able to attend, but they sent their savings along with a trusted friend. 

After collecting all of the money, though, the DOREP representative doesn't take the cash with him.  Instead, the total amount collected on that day is offered to members of the group as an "advance" loan.  This is a relatively small loan ($15-20) that is meant to be used as catalyst in an existing small business, and it must be paid back the following month with 10% interest.  Only a few of the members will take this type of loan each month, because it is a relatively high interest rate and is not necessarily helpful in every circumstance.  The idea, though, is that this method keeps the savings circulating among the group and out of the hands of the officials, and it can be very helpful for some members with the right type of business in place.

After members have saved for at least 3 months and reached a total savings of about $20, they can then receive a standard loan from DOREP.  This can be given in cash or in the form of an agricultural project like a dairy goat or chickens.  These loans are to be repaid within a year at a monthly interest rate of 1%.  The interest collected is not appropriated by DOREP, though, but is instead given back to the members of the group at the end of the year as a cash dividend - another incentive to remain faithful to the group and stick to their commitments.  Everyone who takes an advance loan or a standard loan must provide a valid government ID and also must have someone else to guarantee the loan, and if they don't repay the loan in time, the whole group must reconcile the balance.  Especially in groups like CARE for AIDS clients where each member of the group knows each other, this creates a strong incentive for proper repayment. 

It was really nice to see clients bringing their savings and taking advance loans in person - you could tell that they were excited by even the small amounts that they were bringing to save, and it seemed that each person was proud of their contributions.  In a society where most people live a hand-to-mouth existence, it's encouraging to see our clients grasping the value in saving and planning for the future!

Global Leadership Summit

Two weeks ago, the CARE for AIDS administrative staff (that's seven of us) attended the Global Leadership Summit in Nairobi.  GLS is a Christian leadership conference put on by the Willow Creek Association in Chicago and then re-broadcast in over a hundred locations around the world.  I was amazed at the interest and turnout here in Kenya - the HUGE Nairobi Pentecostal Church was packed out for two full days, during which we watched videos of eight keynote speakers from the original conference in Chicago, listened to several local leaders from Kenya, and took part in short breakout sessions to talk about what we were learning. 

I took away a great deal from the American sessions.  Blake Mycoskie was one of my favorite speakers - he's the founder and head of TOMS shoes (if you've never heard their story, check it out at www.toms.com), and he talked about how powerful it can be to engage the corporate world with a mindset of giving.  I also enjoyed Rick Warren's discussion on how he responded to the wealth that came along after writing The Purpose Driven Life and selling 30 million copies - maybe I'll never have the problem of figuring out what to do with millions of dollars, but it was fascinating to hear his family's approach to faithfully handling that kind of money.  We also heard from brilliant business thinkers like Jim Collins and Jack Welch, who presented a really interesting look at how to be a business leader from a Christian perspective. 

I'm not sure if all of the Kenyans took away the same things that I did from the conference, but they all had a GREAT time.  Not only did they get a lunch buffet each day, they were really inspired by the passion and faith that was displayed through all of the different speakers.  Rick Warren talked about how the AIDS crisis will be one of the defining challenges to the 21st century church, which was a great encouragement to our staff.  They also loved a talk by Bill Hybel's, which challenged all of us to figure out what is our "Holy Discontent," or the issue that we can't stand.   Many of them picked out different aspects of HIV/AIDS that truly struck them at their core, and they were all thankful for the opportunity to work in a job that allows them to fight against those injustices. 

There were also some parts of the conference that were very...Kenyan.  At times the audience would laugh at things that were definitely not a joke in the minds of the American speakers, which made me glad that the presenters weren't live to hear the crowd reactions.  Kenyans often use a speaking style in which they will repeat themselves and pause to let the audience fill in the blanks - this isn't too common in the States, but anytime a speaker on the video paused, most of the audience would yell out what they thought the speaker was about to say...hilarious!  I also loved the fact that we took a 30-minute break halfway through the morning session for everyone to go get tea, and the juxtaposition between a Kenyan worship band and Andy Stanley on video was pretty funny too.  All Kenyan, all the time! 

Ridiculous Wedding Stories

Jane has already provided a complete rundown of the activities at Steve's wedding a couple of weeks ago (www.canyakenya.blogspot.com), but I wanted to point out a few of the funnier parts of the weekend. 

First of all, you can see below a copy of the wedding program.  I don't think Jane wants sparkles on ours, but it was very well done!  On the inside (second picture), you'll find a close-up of some of the wedding participants...see if you can find what's funny...

The inside of the program also included a schedule.  With times.  Ha...

Next, we have a picture of Jane inside the bride's family's house.  This was 45 minutes away from the wedding venue, and we drove there in an entourage of about 15 cars to sweet-talk the bride's family into letting her go get married.  As soon as we arrived, Jane was whisked into a black hole of the unknown inside the house...who knows what happens in those places with dozens of girls.  Looks like she came out smiling though!

Moving along in the day, after completing the ceremony we embarked on an ambitious program of photo-taking, both at the church and in a scenic spot on the edge of Lake Victoria.  Here are a couple of shots in which you can play a version of Where's Waldo known as, "Find the white people!"  You could also come up with your own interesting captions for the second one.

You might notice two white guys.  In fact, I was not alone "on the line" for this wedding, as an Australian guy who helps at Steve's church joined the group.  For some reason that makes me feel less special...

As you might have heard from previous posts, the wedding food left us with a not-so-pleasant case of food poisoning.  That makes the smiles on our faces as we eat quite ironic.  At this point, we were super happy about our rice, chapati, chicken, and beef, but later we would come to feel differently.
 

The text conversation below is between Duncan and I the next morning.  To help you decode what is happening, there are some definitions following (I'm green, Duncan is gray, for the iPhone un-initiated).

hakuna matata = no worries (really!)

bwana asifiwe = praise God

safari njema = travel safely

leo = today

pole = sorry

poa = cool

doing it both ends = you can figure that one out

YIKES!

To finish up, I'll leave you with some serious pictures of Jane and I, and the happy couple.  All joking aside, it was a great honor to be a part of Steve's wedding, and we are thrilled for what God is going to do in their future.  What an experience!

All sorts of excitement!

So it's been a week and a half since my last post, but I promise there is a good excuse!  The last ten days have been some of the most hectic of my time here in Kenya, and while it will take a few posts to fully describe all that has happened, I wanted to at least provide a quick run-down so yall know what I've been up to...

1.  Steve's wedding - LAST weekend Jane and I drove to Kisumu for the CFA Financial Director's (and a great friend of mine's) wedding.  Definitely more details to come on this one, but the short version is that this was one of the MOST Kenyan experiences that I've had.  Even more than the wedding I was a part of in March, this one truly typified the mantra, "All Kenyan, All the Time."

2.  Road tripping - As a part of the wedding, I got to drive back and forth to Kisumu (4.5 hours) on back-to-back days.  Because of the wedding's very, very slow pace, most of the return drive took place in the dark.  In the rain.  Yikes. 

3.  Burglary - While we were at the wedding, Jane and I learned that some robbers broke through the roof in her house and stole her computer.  While everyone was asleep.  Thankfully, no one was hurt and the volunteers got to experience the magic of Kenyan police investigation.  Unthankfully (is that a word?) Jane is out one Macbook.  Thankfully, all her data was backed up.  A 2 to 1 ratio is pretty good?

4.  Moving - After the ACTS house demonstrated its lack of adequate security, Jane moved to Brackenhurst last Monday.  Pros - safety, beautifully manicured grounds, short commute, DSTV in the lounge, her own bathroom.  Cons - no kitchen, lots of volunteers around, unappealing paint color in her new room.  Not an ideal situation, but at least it's only for another month or so! 

5.  Food Poisoning - Steve's wedding decide to reappear in our lives last Tuesday in the form of food poisoning.  Jane and I were given the unique opportunity to bond through alternating trips to the bathroom and group doctor visits to discuss our symptoms.  We are both back to 100% now, with another story to tell - hooray!  Seriously though, praise God for working out medication and making us well.  As a side note, almost all of the 300 guests at the wedding also got sick...what a mess. 

6.  Leadership - On Wednesday, all of the CFA admin team (7 of us) met up in Limuru to attend the Global Leadership Summit in Nairobi all day Thursday and Friday.  We all stayed in my house (party!) and spent two very long days in town watching DVD's of some awesome Christian leadership speakers (exciting!), listening to local Kenyan speakers (not quite as exciting), and bonding together as a group (makes you feel warm and fuzzy right?).  Although I was still a little sick and worn out, it was an AWESOME time and there will definitely be more to come on what we learned...

So there are the high points!  Add in other staff meetings, Jane's face swelling up, the brakes on my car going out, losing power in the house, disgruntled employees, meetings with pastors, etc. and you get an idea of the pace of life lately.  Whew.  This morning, though, I'm back in the office playing catch up and I have a pot of coffee all to myself - thankfully, Kenyans hate the stuff.  I feel like I've learned a lot and God has shown himself in some unique ways over the past couple of weeks, so once I can process all that you'll hear about it...get excited! 

Thanks for your prayers and encouragement!  Oh yeah, Jane and I also decided to come home for Christmas, which is REALLY exciting!  Hopefully we'll see some of you around Charlotte, Bay Village, or Vail (boom!). 

"I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me."

Philippians 4:12-13  (in a small way, Paul, I feel you!)