Day 9-10 - Excursion

We were very fortunate to be able to get out of the city and experience the beauty of Africa. We slept in tents and got to see wonderful animals that God made. How majestic are His wonders and ways. We had a wonderful driver who could explain the difference between a black and white rhino and why god made the giraffes so tall and long necked. 

Here is one of the first animals we saw, the warthog. How could you not just smile when you see this animal and break into song .... Okay, maybe not break into song but if you know the movie The Lion King it makes perfect sense!

 We got to go on an early morning ride to see more animals and the way the sun was shining on this tree was so beautiful. 

Here is a gorilla doing his afternoon yoga poise. 

 And who can resist a lion and her cubs ... This made our day. So amazing!

Thank you Lord for allowing us to get away for a day to regroup and enjoy the wonders you created.

Day 8 - Exhaustion kicks in

We've been blessed with some wonderful people to work with. Each day when we get to the Huruma Nursery school, we are greeted by smiling faces from the teachers and workers. We have made friends with the people here and it shows by how they help us get things done. 

Today we ladies decide we're going o wash all the benches and tables. We set up a washing station outside the school as we don't want to be in the way of the men's work. They are mixing sand and cement to spread on the floor of the classroom. Some of the men are putting extra thick plywood in the office/storage room for security reasons. If you remember, the office was broken into last year and the teachers salary money was stolen. 

Here Pastor Rob is sawing the plywood for the office/storage room. Brandon, along with some of the young men from the area are helping.

The floor looks so beautiful with the cement and the paint. It will make a huge difference in trying to keep it clean.

After lunch today we decide to head out a little early as we have a few folks who don't feel well. There are lots of young men available to finish the work. It's always hard leaving because we've made some wonderful friends here. They look forward to us coming and we look forward to seeing them. 

Pray for this community that they will continue to work together for the good of the school. 

Aug 7 - SAND

Good Morning!

We're sure most of you have heard about the fire at the Nairobi International Airport. We are doing fine and we've heard that there we're some delays but we should be fine to get home.

We had some problems with the Internet so this will be delayed and we are sorry - probably because of the fire.

We stop by the store before heading to the school to get some cleaning supplies: brooms, scrub brushes, soap, dustpans, etc. our plan is to give the tables and chairs a thorough scrubbing before we leave as well as to paint the table tops. 

When we arrived to the school this morning, we are dropped off at the end of the road because the van really can't make it down close to the school. This is our usual drop off but we notice there is a large mound of sand here for us. :)

Everyone gets busy upon arrival. Each day we have to bring out all the equipment from the classrooms as well as the wood and the cookware. They are put in the buildings and padlocked for safe keeping.

 

The men know what they have to do and they get busy, the ladies start helping in the kitchen as well as do some visiting. 

Well, some of the men get to work, others think they can show us their mean face and we'll be scared.

One of the ladies first visits of the day was with Terry Wanjiru who is sponsored by Shirley Heath. She had specifically asked for us to visit her and get a new picture. She is almost five years old and her father, Mucheru, greeted us at the door and was so excited to invite us in. He told us he has a boda boda business, which is transporting people by motorcycle. His wife is a casual laborer and was gone for e day. Their two older childer are at Cheleta Primary. He was a part of the original group who came to Huruma when it was a coffee farm, he was just a child. He has a very strong faith and love for The Lord. He said, even though the government has forgotten their promises to Huruma, one day we will all be together worshiping God. He said , "One day is a like a thousand years to God!" 

This Terry and her father.

Our walk to visit Terry was quite adventurous and we didn't want to have another "heather" happen but it was close! We know it looks funny but if your trying to stay on your feet, it can be quite scary! 

Our next visit was with Margaret Wairimu's family. We met mother, Tabitha, and Tabitha's sister, Lucy. She works at the local market from 6a.m. - 2 p.m. The older brother, Gelard, is in Regina's preschool class. Margaret is in Beatrice's class. She asked that we would pray that they can save money to build a house on her husbands family land. Pray for Margaret, or as Joy calls her - Meemo, as she has hearing loss due to a burst eardrum and has had numerous ear infections. 

This is Gelard and Meemo or Margaret. Aren't they beautiful!! 

We head back to the school for lunch which is ugali and sukamawiki BUT the kitchen help decides that we can't break for lunch until the large mound of sand is moved because we'll lose all our help. We all get busy and start moving sand ...... And we moe sand ..... And we move sand. We move sand in 5 gallon buckets, we move sand in bags, we move sand in large pieces of cloth .... WE MOVE SAND until we thought we couldn't move sand anymore. We have never seen such strong women in our lives. It was astounding how much they can carry. 

As you can see, we hauled the sand from pretty far away ... Everyone chipped in to help. The kids would help by caring the pails back up the hill for us.

That's the way to use your head, Julie! She felt it the next couple days. 

Here's the pile inside the schoolyard. 

After we got all the sand moved, we got lunch. It was so wonderful to see the men serving the kids. 

Brandon worked so hard today, we had to threaten to tell Heidi if he didn't stop to rest ... But as usual, he kept on going.

Tom grabbed plates to hand out as well, what great men we have on our team.

As we left the school today we were beat, both physically and mentally. We want to do all we can while we're here and with God's help we'll get it done. 

Continue to pray for us as we do His work.

 

Aug 6 - Kids, kids, in our hair!

We've begun to think we've brought the Oregon weather with us. It drizzled all night and the skies are overcast and it's cold again.

As usual we wanted to control the chaos so Heather had the bright idea to bring out the tables and chairs to get the kids to color and draw pictures. Suzan started with the ABC's and then asked the kids to draw pictures of animals. They started to sing the ABC song and other Sunday school songs. Tea and buttered bread was served to everyone for their snack.This went well for awhile until the kids decided the plastic chairs were better on their heads than to sit on. Heather and Suzan decided to put the chairs away for safety's sake.

The men got right to work installing the ceiling strips in the baby classroom. The electrician came to do the wiring and to make sure this was done properly. 

As we waited for our lunch to be prepared, Joy decided to get her hair braided by the girls there. They were pulling her hair every which way. They told her "if you want beautiful, don't feel pain!" 

Heather and Julie went with Hellen to do some visiting. They stopped at Hellen's nieces house, Pauline, who is the mother of one child with one on the way. She is a hairstylist and her husband is a gardener. She works at a salon and she wants to help her husband go back to school to teach. Their desire is to be able to move out! 

At the same time teacher Beatrice and Suzan visited the mother of Vivian who's daughter is in the baby class. She told them that when she can get work, she makes 200 shillings a day, which is about $2.50. This is what it costs to feed a family of five for one day. So you see it's difficult to pay rent, pay for school needs, when you need food.

Lunch was ready and again we ate ugali and sukumiwiki. Suzan and Joy helped with cleaning up after lunch the area for the men. 

Julie and Heather went out to visit again. This was a disaster. Heather slipped in the mud, fell on her hands and knees, continued to slide over onto her backside and then rolled over onto her stomach as she kept rolling down the hill. Poor Heather had a whole audience of watchers! They felt so bad for her, one girl ran to get water to help! The kids actually thought that Heather was dirty when they were even more so.

By the end of the day the men had completed one ceiling, started another, and was a third of the way done on yet another. They really worked hard today. Pray for them as there is still a lot left to do with only four full working days left.

Good Night everyone!

Aug 5 - Working on the school & Visiting

Most of us didn't realize how chilly it would be here. The Kenyans say this is very unusual to be as cold as it is but as soon as we get to work, the coolness is nice.

Upon arriving at Huruma Nursery School, we are greeted once again by wonderful people. Jerusala is on the committee for the nursery school and helps out where she can. Beatrice the middle class teacher, 4 year olds, is busy in the kitchen getting things organized for the day. Maurice and Samuel are ready to get started on the construction and give guidance to the men. Today they want to get the ceilings done and finish the roof. This will require a lot of sawing, measuring, and hammering. No electric equipment allowed, just crooked saws and muscles! The women even get into helping with the project. The young mothers are there willing to do what they can as well, whether its caring the wood, pulling nails, and even sawing the boards, it's really nice to see.

The ladies go to take the supplies to store at Karura Chapel. Hellen is overwhelmed with the generosity that is given to the school.

When the ladies got back they helped make tea for everyone, around 50, plus all the children. They were given a pastry that Regina's sister had made which was delicious, it tasted like donuts with no holes!

The ladies headed out to visit homes, their first stop was Maurice and Salome's home. They have two children, Joyce - 8 and Brian - 9 months. Maurice has been helping us with all the building and has very good english. He teaches children in the Githagora slum how to use computers. Salome gave her heart to Christ in January of this year. We are going to make sure she gets a bible before we leave. Her prayer is for Maurice to get a good job and for the family to move out of the slum and for her children to get a good education.

The ladies next stop was at Pauline's house. She is 30 years old with four children, Mary - 6, James -14, Ann - 7, and Grace is 2. This is the home where a team from Karura came and rebuilt her house which had been infested with jiggers. Her husband passed away in 2008 of alcohol poisoning. She admitted that she had been closer to God at one point but has fallen away. Her life has been very difficult. We encouraged her and prayed for God to open doors so she can find a job and save some money to start her own business.

When the ladies get back to the nursery school, it's time to eat. Today's menu consists of beans, rice, and a pea soup. It's actually very good and we feed about 75 in all. It takes most of the morning to prepare the meal and it's not ready until about 1:30 p.m.

Here the men continue to work on putting the support beams in for the ceiling. 

Most of the group then heads out to visit the New Dawn School which is the high school for the slum area. Students go through an interview process to attend the school and the panel hears their stories before they make a decision who attends. If students don't make it then they really don't have another option to go to school. Irene Tongoi has done a wonderful job at the school and it's really grown. At this point they have 160 students.

The school is made up of cargo containers that are stacked three high. The rooms have been painted and look nice. Irene is most proud of their new library and computer room. There are other schools that are nicer than New Dawn that don't have computer rooms. She feels she is giving these students a better chance at succeeding. Pastor Rob spoke to the students on Psalms 139 and encouraged them to see that they are each made special. Brandon was asked to talk about how God had turned his life around from the destructive path he was going down right after high school. His testimony was very encouraging to the students there. Our time there ended with them serving us tea and snacks. Thank you Irene and your staff for all you do for the students in Huruma. May God continue to bless you and New Dawn.

We headed out to meet the rest of the crew to go back to Heart Lodge. We were tired from the hustle and bustle of the day but felt revived by the words of our pastor and from what we had accomplished.

Thanks everyone and we'll talk more tomorrow.
God Bless!

Aug 3 - Hippopotamus Meatballs

We were invited to got to Chipo's house for dinner so when we got back to Heart Lodge, we hurried and got cleaned up so we could leave. Chipo's husband, Prince, came to pick us up. There wasn't enough room in the van for all of us so two of us sat in the back behind the back seat, literally in the trunk. It was a fin ride with all the speed bumps. :)

The family had prepared a wonderful meal for us. It was spaghetti and meatballs with bread and salad. The girls had made chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Andy asked Prince what the meatballs were made of and prince without hesitation said hippopotamus! 

They live on the fifth floor of an apartment building and we almost had to carry Suzan up. Chipo and her family are amazing, their love for the people in Huruma is so evident by how much they do. 

Thank you Chipo, Prince, Carmelle, and Caleo for being so wonderful. May God continue to bless you and Liberty Vision. 

Aug 4 - Worship

"There is no higher calling, no greater honor than to bow and kneel before your throne. I am amazed by your glory, I am embraced by your mercy. Oh Lord, I live to honor you." As we sang these words, the presence of The Lord was so evident in our midst. We counted it a privilege to worship with the people of Karura Chapel. 

What He Came To Do

Kibby Kariithi spoke this morning on providing education and healthcare to all so that they can grow up to give back. These are some of the scriptures that he used

Luke 4:18-19

Isaiah 9:6-8

Isaiah 52:13-15; 53:1-12

Matt 25:31-36 

Isaiah 57 & 58

Today our idol in Kenya is money. Serve The Lord in your daily life by clothing those who need it, feeding those who need it, serving those who need it. 

How do you invest your money? Do you put it to work for The Lord? 

Bridge International Academies

After our wonderful service we were invited to Hellen's house for lunch. She and her neighbors made a wonderful meal for about 20 people. We couldn't all fit her house so her neighbor allowed us to use her house.

The picture above is a traditional meal which was absolutely wonderful. To the right of the chicken was a dish called mukimo which is mashed potatoes with peas and beans and a leaf that is traditional african fare. The also served a flat bread that is called chapati .... Yum-O!

This is our beautiful hostess, Hellen Wairimu, she did an excellent job. Thank you Lord for her and her love for you. She is such a blessing to the Huruma Ministry.