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July 10 hit the ground runningafter nearly 24 hours of transit (nearly flawless transit I should say)
I finally arrived in Nairobi around 9:30pm
I filled out the appropriate paper work, including a brand new swine flew form
stood in line for my visa - which is half what it used to cost - thank you Lord!
and descended the stairs to baggage check
man what a lot of bags!!!
after what seemed like forever, I recovered my bags and made my way to the arrivals gate where I was met by my roommate, my friend and my favourite taxi driver.
I was really happy to be back
they must have thought I was insane in the car,
or that British airways had started serving crack to it's passengers
but I was giddy with happiness to be back in this second home of mine.
since then I have thrown myself back into ministry.
A team arrives today and I've had a couple days to prepare their work locations for them
I've made 8 phone calls to ministry reps and had 5 meetings in the last 2 days
and I'm loving it
I need something to keep me warm
it's winter here
and despite what you might think, not all places in Africa are hot all year long.
Sure, Nairobi winter is about 15-20 degrees
but you have to account for the fact that the homes aren't heated here
my apartment is made out of concrete
and it's a steady 19 degrees celsius (66 fahrenheit) inside!!
i keep finding myself mentally playing with the thermostat
but I am destined to me chilled to the bone for a couple more months
but the next couple of weeks should keep me running around and warming me up
the team is here till the end of the month
and once they leave I have videos to work on
I'm excited already April 10 A Poem: Africa AFRICA
Africa! Africa! Africa!
Who gave you the name Africa?
Is it God, animal or man?
Why is it you are known as a 3rd world country or developing country,
not developed country!
Is it because of poverty, war, famine or flood?
Sudan and Somalia ever fighting among themselves,
no benefit they are gaining!
Children and women are always crying with agony in their camps.
Africa, who gave you the name?
Or is it because we have prostitutes
and that is why we are dying like chickens
with this killer disease known as HIV/AIDS.
Africa, who gave you the name?
Or is it because we lack land!
That is why we stay like elephants in groups.
Or is it we don't know how to build, that is why we stay in slums
like Kibera and Soweto.
Africa, who gave you the name?
Or is it because we lack education?
That is why we give birth in our early ages
and increase the population hence decreasing food.
Why are we giving birth like fish in the water?
Africa, who gave you the name?
Let's stand like Africans and join our hands together
to built our continent.
What we need is peace and love.
Let's live like a family.
Africa, who gave you the name?
Written by Oliver Omondi
Age 15 Oliver ReturnsToday was a good day!
I got news that Oliver had arrived in Nairobi while I was away in Othaya so I called up his neighbor and arranged a visit.
I haven't seen Oliver since spring of 2007, though I talk to him on the phone regularly, so I was anxious to finally see him again.
 I got to the house mid morning and sat and sat and sat.
Four times, someone was sent to fetch him but still he wasn't coming.
It wasn't until I asked that I was told he refused to see me without showering first.
Kenyans love to be presentable...
He finally arrived and I was surprised to see that he is nearly as tall as me now.
15 years old and he is a handsome young man.
It took about 10 minutes for him to remember that he is indeed not shy and after the giggle subsided, the original Oliver finally emerged.
He started by asking many questions the way he does on the phone. We then talked about his writing and the newborn triplets back home.
He brought his book with him. I had asked him to bring his stories so that I could read them.
I will share one of his poems with you in the next entry.
We took some photos and he asked about Narnia.
I had sent him the first book of the Chronicles of Narnia and he finished it in about 4 days.
I mentioned that there was a movie made and he hadn't forgotten.
We will watch it together with the other boys on Monday.
Unfortunately I had to leave not long after but we walked back to the road together and said goodbye for the weekend.
It's good to see him. I'm praying that him living in the country is not hindering his education.
He has so much talent it's sad to think that it could go un-noticed, or even worse, get lost in a life spent in toil and struggle for survival. April 01 TeddyWe partner with a pre-school called Miracle and Victory Centre.
It is run by a good friend named Monica and she has been taking in small kids from the community who aren't schooled for 3 years now (since I was here last)
Lately the funding for the school has run out but Monica still does her best to provide education and one meal a day for these kids.
God has really been working in this place and we are praying for more finances, somehow.
Onto Teddy...
Teddy, or pastor Teddy as everyone calls him, is about 6 or 7 years old.
He has this larger than life personality and pushed his peers to use their manners while never being without his own.
He is gentle, unlike most of the fighters in that age group, and kind. He often shares his snacks with the other kids when he gets them.
Last week, on a Thursday, Teddy was burning up.
I brought him to the window to sit with me because there was a nice breeze coming through.
It was very evident that Teddy had a high fever.
Monica told me that he had had a fever the day before as well.
Regardless, Teddy was still encouraging the kids to share with each other and singing songs as he lounged on my lap.
Saturday I got a phone call from Monica.
She told me that on Friday she sent Teddy home because of his fever.
Teddy's mum told Monica that she couldn't afford to take him to the doctor so Teddy just stayed home.
Saturday morning Monica got some news that she was now relaying to me....
Teddy passed away.
Everyone was very shaken up by this, understandably.
No child should ever have to lose their life because of a doctors fee that would be equivalent to less than $4US.
I don't doubt for a minute that his mother really didn't have the money, but this price to pay is completely unfair.
Teddy is the second child to die in that pre-school in 3 months. The other girl, whom I did not know, I'm sure died from similar circumstances.
Poverty.
This place needs prayer.
Please remember people like Teddy in your prayers.
(I will try to find a picture of Teddy to post here.)
drip, drip, nadaThere has been a seriously long drought in Kenya.
The rainy season was supposed to start over a month ago and the land is so dry that the forests and mountains are catching on fire.
The drought affects everything here: crops, water consumption, flocks and herds, economy, real estate... you name it
When I got back from Uganda there was no water at our apartment
2 weeks went by, not a drop in the place.
At one point there was a faucet working on the ground floor so I filled up 4 buckets...
the toilet hadn't been flushed for three days.
we weren't prepared for this... silly white people.
my landlord's wife offered me one jerrycan of water.
and then one day last week the water came on in one tap for a few hours.
My roommate filled as many buckets as she could.
A few days ago it started raining... it now rains/pours pretty much every day which is awesome.
I just got a call from my roomate a few minutes ago, after 16 days we have full water back.
Even the shower is working.
Now it's time to get some serious cleaning done. The Monster Under my Bedif you know me, you know I don't like things that fly
some small darting birds but mostly bugs... mosquitoes and house flies being the exception.
The other night I was watching a movie on my bed and something caught the corner of my eye.
I had the lights out so all I saw was this abnormally large shadow climbing up my curtains.
Nearly destroying my computer as I jumped out of bed towards the lights, I discovered a large quick moving insect that looked like a black roach with wings.
It jumped, I grabbed a shirt...
It flew at me, I screamed threw the shirt at it, missed and ran out of the room.
I knew it needed to die in order for me to re-gain my sanity and me being home alone knew that I had to be the one to do the killing.
I regained my composer, grabbed a flip-flop and waited for movement.
It flew around again and landed near my power bar on the floor but before I could even get a good look, let alone crush it, it flew again...
it hit the wall by my bed and then fell... past my pillow, to the floor, under my bed.... fantastic!
I sleep on a trundle... a bed that sits close to the floor with about 20cm of clearance underneath. I couldn't see anything.
I lifted up the mattress, nothing. I grabbed a stool from the other room to prop up the bed, nothing.
At the point my breathing is pathetically fast so I decide to shut the door (making sure that it would stay in there so it could be murdered)
and wait for Michelle, my roommate to return home.
She finally came and we began a second search
I decided to remove my blankets and pillows to I could take the mattress out and as I lifted the mattress, a giant roach was just chillin on the under-side.
We both yelled and I dropped the mattress on my night table nearly breaking everything on it.
I got the mattress out and as we were looking for the beast -again- we found a smaller roach that met it's match with my flip-flop.
We found the big roach hiding in the ironing board and forced it out with an umbrella, 4 smacks with a shoe later, it was lying in a twitching mess on my floor.
 I was finally calm, it was over, the giant roach could not torment me anymore.
I put my room back together and sat down on my bed to finish my movie.
Not 5 minutes later something hit me in the face and landed on my keyboard.
Screaming again, I ran for the lights. It was the original creature I was looking for... a cricket!
I didn't know crickets flew... but this one didn't fly for much longer. I destroyed it with a book.
Today, I'm buying some doom.
March 18 More fun and games with the lawEven though our stay in Uganda was amazing, it shouldn’t be a surprise that our return to Kenya would be a big molding cherry on top. Let’s just say that crossing the border had me on the verge of tears.
This is how it happened.
We arrived at the Ugandan immigration at 10:30, bladders busting we descended from the bus and ran for the toilets. Finally with that out of the way, I filled out a customs form; after a few moments, some niceties and an exit stamp I was shaking off currency exchangers and various other salesmen and walking across the border to Kenya.
About 10 minutes later, Michelle and I arrived at the Kenyan immigration, filled out our cards and handed them over, with our passports, to the man behind the glass. He glanced and immediately called us into the office. This had happened to Michelle on our way over so I said a quick prayer and just assumed that we would not be long. I assumed wrong.
He had a problem with virtually everything we presented him with. First it was that we were in Uganda at all. East Africa is indeed starting a visa for its entirety, so going from Kenya to Uganda is not considered renewing your visa. I explained to him that on our way to Uganda the man that was in his seat talked to his manager and they both decided to let us go. He huffed and puffed over that one, moving on to the next hurdle: our purpose in Kenya.
Clearly he has noticed that we have been there 6 months already, and on a tourist visa with our reasons for entering marked ‘volunteer’. He had a lot of questions about that and told us to prove with letters that we belonged to this organization. I of course had nothing on me but my small bag, Michelle having her laptop, pulled up a document she had prepared for the school. That wasn’t good enough. It wasn’t official enough. Again, huffing and puffing and telling us things that while being in his office we had no power to change. It seemed like a year passed, him asking questions and then ignoring the answers while he stamped documents of people outside, seeming to barely glance at theirs.
Our bus driver, every other passenger having finished and boarded, came to see what was happening and told the man to let us go. This did not go over well, with the woman sitting next to our captor, a mouthy, quarrelsome woman, as many female immigration officials are (sorry to misrepresent the pleasant ones but I haven’t met any yet), worldwide, told the bus driver to leave us. She yelled to him that he is running a business and if us being here is affecting his business then he should just leave us there and leave her alone. That was encouraging, her having the audacity to give really crappy advice to our driver, who we had already paid, to bring us across the remaining 9 hours of Kenyan soil to our home.
Somehow during his grilling and ignoring and talking about us in what sounded like Kisii or some other Bantu language the man decided to give us out visas. My heart finally slowed its pace a little. He stamped and scribbled and then held out his hand for the money. I paid for both Michelle and I with a $100 US bill. And again there was a problem. The bill was made in 1996. They don’t take US bills made before 2000. And he repeated this about 12 times pointing to the sign outside. Which would have been helpful if he had told me before I met him and got on the bus and before I was stuck in his office having Kenyan and Ugandan currency to barely make $30 let alone $50.
One lady took the money outside and tried to get one of the exchangers to give her change. No deal, they won’t take it because it’s from 1996. A police officer tried, same thing. He finally told me to go find money to which I looked outside at a gate and about 100 tractor trailers and asked how I was supposed to do that. I was told that there was a bank in town. This is when I started getting agitated. He had already wasted so much of our time and not only did I not know where our bus was but I was half sure that they had just left without us. And now I had to find a bank which I’m told is a 10 minute walk (when I’m sure now that it was at least 20). I left Michelle in the office, she had had enough Ugandan shillings to pay for her own visa. Outside a man helped me get a boda boda (a bicycle with a seat on the back) and told the rider to take me to the bank and back. I hopped on, my first boda boda ride ever, and off we went. On the way we passed out bus which had already been making its way through the heavy traffic out of town. The conductor hopped off as we went by and I tried to sign to him that I was coming quickly and getting money. He followed me on a boda boda and caught up just as I was leaving the ATM.
“You have to come collect your bags we are leaving.” This was not something I needed right now. I pleaded with him, explained to him that immigration would not take my money and that all I had to do was pay in Kenya shillings that’s why I was at the bank. I told him that I have the money in my pocket, I just have to ride back, put the money in his hand and then I will be on that bus. I begged him for 10 minutes telling him that I can’t stay here over night. He called the driver immediately and argued with him on the phone in a language I don’t know. He told my boda boda driver to go as fast as he can and rode back with me, on the phone the whole time trying to explain what was happening.
We got back to immigration, I told the rider to get one more bike to go to the bus, ran in the office and asked how much to pay. I placed the 4000 K shillings in his hand and grabbed my passport. Michelle and I got on the bikes and we were off again, the conductor running till he could get his own ride, still on the phone. We finally got to the bus which was now even farther into town and boarded with looks from other passengers that ranged from hostility to sympathy to indifference.
It was 11:45 when we sat down and I spent the next half hour thanking God that we didn’t have to find a place to stay that night as I watched the run down border town of Malaba pass by me in the window. February 18 Uganda and expiring visasOne thing that's not to fun about Kenya is that their tourist visa's only last for 3 months.
After 3 months you have to renew... which I've done...
but now I'm coming up to the end of another 3 months which means that re-newing can only be done by leaving the country.
I heard rumour of an East African visa which combines all countries in East Africa
and just to scare me a little I was told that I would have to leave East Africa all-together.
this would require a plane ride and lots more money than planned.
but THEN I found out that if I go to Uganda, they will issue me a Ugandan visa
and if while I'm in U my Kenyan visa expires, then when I re-enter the country I can get a brand new 3 month visa.
this is all very tricky and a bit of a hassle to be honest, but it's worth it for now to be able to live here.
So it looks like March 10th I will be getting on a bus to Uganda and returning to Kenya on the 13th.
Thankfully the round trip bus is only about $60USD and to enter Uganda is $30 and to get back into Kenya it's $50
....still MUCH cheaper than a plane ride. things that make it easy to love this placethere are many times when I experience something here that makes me grin ear to ear...
A phrase, a friend, a circumstance, an event, a joke, a moment, an absurd encounter, a miracle
they make me stop and often I think, "There is no other place I would rather be right now."
Kenya is full of surprises
but it's the daily moments that can seem so small that bring such joy.
little things like a conversation or the way the sky is always a bright blue and clouds are always fluffy
it's the feeling of being known as I walk down certain streets and the friendships that I never imagined I would make.
here are a few things that make it very easy to live in Kenya
1. Our landlord's wife, Pauline, is pregnant and on her way to the clinic for a checkup as I pass her on the stairs.
She punches me in the arm twice to which I reply, "Why are you beating me?"
she responds with a simple, "because I love you." then continues on her way.
2. Our friend Ronald drives a taxi and is always so willing to help us out whenever possible.
He took our van to the mechanic to get fixed and brought it back not only sounding better but completely clean, inside and out.
3. My friend mercy calls just to see how I'm doing and to pray with me.
4. Every Thursday myself and 4 friends meet to worship, pray and encourage each other.
We also meet during the week have dinner together and watch lost!
5. Cecilia, a neighbor of my friend will often help us with the cooking, and never gets angry when some of her mendazi's (triangular donuts) go missing.
A few times she has even had homemade pizza ready for our arrival.
6. The kiosk owner on the ground floor of our building knows that I use a lot of phone credit.
He has ordered the larger cards to have in stock just for when I need credit in a hurry.
7. Brenda and Abdul, who work at my favourite Indian restaurant, can complete my orders without me even telling them.
I like it mild and with fanta orange.
8. I've gotten free ice cream on occasion from Rendezvous.
Another place that is frequented by myself and my roommate because of the free wireless Internet.
9. The stars seem from Naivasha are absolutely gorgeous.
10. Driving home late and knowing where the speed bumps are. (trial and error got us there)
That's just a few things that I can think of at the moment.
but there are so many things that make me smile here
and so I am constantly thanking the Lord for bringing me to Kenya February 10 I am the white rabbitHaving no concept of time as of late. I seem to be begging the clock to slow down… Just today I realized that we have begun a new month… in fact, February snuck up on me without my noticing over a week ago.
There’s a new team in town, a 3 month team of 22 members and 3 leaders. It’s a lot of management but I find myself loving every minute of it. Part of it is the freedom of not being a team leader. I am able to complete my work and go home to my own house, a break from ministry which I hope not to take advantage of, but I am very very grateful.
One reason I didn’t know that February had come is because of the daily lists of things to accomplish… Take the team here, have a couple of meetings, take the team there, have some more meetings, Take the team home then make 40 phone calls.
One day in particular I had 6 meetings and ended up being on foot in Kibera for 4 hours… a wonderfully productive, yet scorching day. The easiest way to describe my ministry is to say that everything that the team does in Kibera, I have scheduled and or set up. They are part of 10 different ministries in Kibera, all 10 of which I have contacts for and have to keep in touch with regularly. This requires a lot of phone calls but even more walking because, I’ve found that meeting in person is much more successful for translation of plans and vision.
So, let me tell you what the team will be involved with in the next 2 months.
-Ask The Lord prayer (ATL) – the entire team will venture into Kibera every week with no agenda but the Lord’s. they will pray for direction on where to go that day and undoubtedly experience God working in amazing ways.
-New Adventures Primary School – 12 of them will be tutoring students in English and math
-Miracle and Victory Centre – 5 of them will be helping teach, correct homework and cook lunch for about 50 pre-schoolers
-Women with HIV – 5 of them will be ministering and hopefully helping to improve the business plans of a group of widows with HIV who are doing everything they can to support their children
-Detention Centre – 12 will be visiting about 20 captured street boys twice a week to get to know them, invest in their lives and teach them practical/Biblical ways to deal with things they commonly experience, such as fear, anger, rejection etc.
-Kibera Community Youth Program – 5 will be working with the drama outreach team as well as teaching basic computer skills to young and old as well as helping professionalize admin work for this growing haven for Kibera’s youth.
-Bible study for men and women – 5 will be conducting a weekly bible study and home visit group to teach, learn from and get to know a handful of Kibera’s older generation.
-Alpha Bible study – 5 will be meeting weekly with a group of new believers/non-believers/former Muslims to discuss the basics of Christian faith and learn from their lives.
-Alpha Kenya – the entire team will be travelling with Alpha Kenya either in March or April to do a conference on the basics of Christianity.
That’s about it for now as far as ministry in Kibera goes-for this team. It’s sure to keep them busy but even more so, I’m sure God will use these ministries to challenge, strengthen and grow each of them. I’m really excited for them to begin on Monday, and so thankful to God for making this set up incredibly easy. January 13 Home Sweet HomeOur prayers were answered… with perfect timing
Last week we discovered that the third apartment that we were promised in one building had fallen through which left Michelle and I heading back to square one in apartment hunting.
We had been searching for 2 months now and were really tired of being let down by false promises.
The only thing we could do now was start all over so we recruited two friends and set out to find a place to live. We checked the boards at the local shops for rooms to rent and ended up calling a realtor. Unfortunately there is a new practice among the professionals… they require 3,000 shillings just to show you around, which doesn’t guarantee that you will like anything you see. But we were desperate so we coughed up the money and headed west.
Joe (the realtor) took us to this apartment building in Dhagoretti, the break-in capital of Nairobi… a fact which was made very clear, very quickly by both of our helpers (Reagan and Mercy) that day. The apartment was really nice… very clean and spacious but the one available was ground floor… the least secure. We walked upstairs to check out the others, some of which were equipped with extra gates for more security. Still, these apartments were occupied. We told Joe our concerns and in typical salesman fashion he tried to sweet talk us into moving in on the ground floor till a place upstairs is available. But we stood our ground as two white girls living in an unsecure apartment in Dhagoretti would just be a downright irrational decision.
We told Joe that we needed him to keep looking for us… after all… we paid him, and then the 4 of us continued on our way. Reagan wanted us to see some places in Jamhuri, which backs on to the last bus stop in Kibera.
We headed there and were pleasantly surprised. There were lots of small apartment buildings and many new developments in the making. Small businesses made vegetable and necessity shopping easy and there were even a handful of other white people seen walking around that day. We looked around at various buildings, trying to spot which ones were curtain free – a sure sign of vacancy.
There were rent boards with available units listed, but again, you had to pay someone to look so we called up Joe and told him to focus on Jamhuri. We left it at that and the next few days I followed up with Joe and Reagan, who, along with Mercy, proved to be great choices for the role of ‘helpful apartment hunters’.
A few days later Michelle and I were in Kibera with a small med-team from the US, taking them to set up a clinic at New Adventures Primary school. Reagan was with us and got a call from a friend that knew someone who lived in Jamhuri and he was told that there was a place we could look at. We (Michelle, Reagan, Jason and I) headed over right away and were taken to a very large 2 bedroom apartment that had just become available the night before. It was nice but wasn’t clean or painted and the landlord was pushing us to make a decision because someone else wanted to put a deposit on it. Michelle and I didn’t feel right about the place so we declined.
Somehow, we roped these two men into showing us around to some other places that day and after seeing about 5 more places we stopped for lunch. While we were eating a woman who lived in one of the apartments came home. We hadn’t seen her place yet but she was needing to move out asap because she was already paying rent at a bigger place that she had been waiting for. She just needed someone to take over her lease here. Her name is Joyce and she took us up to see her place. We walked in and Michelle and I were immediately excited. The place was cozy, nice, clean and secure and best of all cheap AND available. We worked out the details with Joyce and she called the landlord to confirm everything was good. Within the next three days we had signed the lease, paid rent and moved in.
 Kind of a quick ending to a long drawn out process but it was definitely an amazing answer to prayer. This place is cheaper than any of the others we were supposed to move in to, has two bedrooms (the others only had one) and is a ten minute walk to Kibera.
Thank you to all who were praying for us to find a place.
We are finally in, un-packed and have already started back in to ministry… and are very, very excited! January 02 The housing situationJust a quick update...
We've been given the run-around.... again!
This is about the third time we've been given a move in date, the third time we've been shown a substitute apartment
and the third time we've been let down.
As of today we are back to the beginning with apartment hunting.
Michelle and I, being very frustrated, are finished with this current complex that has wasted over a month of our time in looking for accommodations.
Tomorrow morning we are going to look for a new place.
I don't know what to say other than we need prayers for this.
It's been a long tiring task and we are running out of time.
School starts back up on Monday (so Michelle has to be in Kibera 5 days a week)
and a new team is coming the end of January (so I need to be organizing ministry for them)
This is impossible for us to do with where we are staying currently.
Our friends' place is about an hour from the slum and we don't have a vehicle.
So please pray for us.... we need this to be settled soon.
I know God already has it worked out, but we need patience cause it's running thin. Christmas in NairobiThis Christmas was a celebration of firsts for me.
It was my first Christmas...
-outside of Canada
-without buying gifts for everyone
-without receiving gifts from everyone
-without snow
-without family
-without a feast
-without decorations
yet, it is a Christmas that I can easily call the most meaningful for me.
For years I've been asking God to show me what Christmas is really about.
I know it's not just presents and fancy meals but it's difficult to look past all the glamour into the heart of it.
This year, having being stricken of all the rituals and false reasons for celebrating, I was left with God.
And he is more than enough to be left with.
I celebrated this year with 2 friends by staying in, watching movies, chatting and having our own worship service on the 25th.
It's hard to put into words but we shared a feeling of peace and excitement, brokenness and restoration, newness and unity and God was definately with us.
It's a Christmas I will chase after, celebrate every day and one I won't ever forget. December 15 Homeless For The HolidaysBeing homeless and broke... a good combination of circumstances when you are in a foreign country BUT the Lord has been providing for every single need.
Michelle and I thought we had found an apartment. Close to a public transportation line so that Kibera is easily accessed. It’s a 1 bedroom flat not far from our last place… 1 bedroom because the cost of housing was not something we budgeted for, assuming we would be living with teams and rent would be much cheaper in a larger group. But with 2 of us, we have to be a bit more frugal.
It has been very difficult with the money situation after the IRS rejected my paper work for round two. Especially because when you move in Nairobi, they make you pay 3 months’ rent up front as well as fees for turning on electric. I’ve had to borrow a bit but was able to pay that back and money has been showing up in my personal account before it is needed. God’s timing is always perfect and incredible. Every time it seems I have to make a large payment and the account is running low… somehow it is replenished and all is well. Thank you Lord!!
So this apartment… It’s nice but the previous tenants apparently still owe money so some of their furniture is being held for ransom. They were supposed to re-paint, clean and make any repairs on the 10th of December so that the apartment would be ready for Michelle and me to move in today. However, upon inspection (window peeking) yesterday, the place hasn’t been touched since the beginning of December when we saw it last. Frustrating. So today we are going to follow up and pray that we can be moved in before Christmas.
We are staying with our friends Liz and Steve and they are incredibly gracious to let us stay for so long. The only problem is their home is an hour drive in traffic from Kibera. Makes arranging things on the other side of town a bit of a challenge.
We can’t wait to move in though. I hope that it all works out because places that are cheap enough are very hard to come by… even when sharing a bedroom we are looking at double my projected budget for rent. Insanity.
Please pray for our housing situation. We need it. The Team Is GoneThe Real Life team flew home on September 6.
After a few days of debrief at a quirky guest house in Naivasha, complete with 2 bedrooms in the form of hollowed out VW mini-buses and ceilings made of egg cartons, we brought them back to Nairobi to sleep at the Alpha office, re-pack and fly home the following evening.
It didn’t really hit me till I saw that van pull out of the driveway but they are gone home now. And I’m sure they are now settled and deciding what to do with all that they’ve seen, heard and experienced. Trouble With The LawA fun fact about Kenya, one I wish was not true… If you are white, people will often try to get money out of you for any reason they can think of. This has happened to us too many times to count in the last three months and seems to be a growing trend with police officers and authority figures alike.
Theft has almost become an art form and although it is not a crime specifically victimizing foreigners – I have many friends here who have been robbed – we do become an easy target because for the most part, we are ignorant to Kenyan laws.
Some things we have been harassed about and subsequently fake fined for are:
-parking, parking and more parking
-locations for open airs
-simply walking around
-standing in front of a bank
-using water at a gas station
-using a public restroom at a mall
-bringing a camera into a park
This last one was actually a memorable experience, one I will never forget because it almost got us arrested.
Yes, I said arrested but before you worry, everything turned out alright and it was definitely a learning experience…
Michelle and I were able to get back to Nairobi while the team was still in Eburru. We arranged with a friend of ours, the leader of Alpha Kenya, to help us find a place while we were away. So we headed to the city to see some places for ourselves.
We got to town on a Monday and decided to take it easy that day and meet some friends in the Arboretum to catch up and just relax. As Michelle and I walked in, carrying all our luggage for the next few days, the guard saw Michelle’s camera bag and told her that she had to pay 2000 shillings ($30) to take pictures in the park. This was odd because not only had we taken photos in the park a few weeks before but pretty much everyone goes there with cameras. Regardless, Michelle told the lady that we would not be taking photos and she could even check the camera on the way out. We headed in.
It was almost closing time when we were packing up to leave when my friend saw the camera and wanted to take a few photos. He was told not to but insisted that he always takes photos in the Arboretum so some photos were taken… well, less than 5 minutes later; here come the two guards around the corner looking under-impressed.
At first I didn’t really know what was happening but we ended back at the office and before I know it they are saying we need to go to the police station to make a statement because someone from the State House, which happens to be right next store, complained that someone was taking pictures of it which is against the law. The photos indicated that that was indeed false but the guards insisted that we had to go to the police station.
Another problem… not only was it getting dark but I had no identification on me. Ironically, since my wallet was stolen I’ve been so over protective of my passport that I don’t want to carry it around and I have no other ID. This would mean that I would have to spend time in jail till I could verify that I am in the country legally etc.
This was not an option, of course and so our friends were going to bat for us… because well, there’s the whole language barrier as well as they are Kenyan and know how to deal with this kind of thing better than we do.
They highly suspected that the whole State House story was made up and that the guards were stalling on the paper work because they had something else in mind; money. We were at the office for over an hour before a deal was finally made. I’m not proud that we paid a bribe, but with the alternative being a night in jail, I’m thankful that we got out of there before nightfall.
So that was our run-in with the law, that turned out to be incredibly educational because it was not the first or the last time that we were scared into thinking we were in trouble with no way out but payment.
We now know that all you have to do is scare them right back, let them know that you know they are full of crap and have no power… My first instinct is always to be intimidated though, especially being female in this country, so it’s a work in progress. Eburru - Too Much of a Good ThingWe had to leave the house which meant we had to leave the city a week earlier than planned. Our destination; Eburru: a tiny town hidden in the great rift valley about an hour from Naivasha up the mountain. The town is so small that most Kenyans don’t even know about it.
There is a small medical station that has 5 round huts for visitors, I’ve stayed up there twice before on my previous trip. The difference between those times and this one is that I’d never stayed for a duration longer than 3 days. We were scheduled to be there for 3 weeks!
Now, I know there are a lot of people that love being in the countryside, away from civilization, with nature, overlooking valleys and lakes with fresh air and gorgeous night skies that light up with shimmering constellations… I discovered that I’m not one of those people.
Don’t get me wrong, Eburru is lovely and there are lots of craters and caves to hike but three weeks of going to the washroom in a hole in the ground and not having running water or a way out or any kind of store to go to proved to be much more difficult for me than I imagined. The other problem was the fact that Michelle and I were homeless and being isolated on a mountain isn’t exactly the best method of house hunting.
So up we went. Ministry for the team looked like daily VBS, construction, helping in the clinic, church services and various other small relational ministry that some of them felt called to, such as helping in the gardens and entertaining the kids that came by.
It was a difficult time for me to be perfectly honest. The team was doing their thing and doing it well with what little direction they had. But most of the time we had no answers for them because we could not plan beyond the current day. Half my brain was still in Nairobi as well, thinking about all the things that I needed to accomplish that I couldn’t. But I got through it. I was able to spend loads of time with the Lord because there was nothing else to do. I spent a lot of time in prayer about all the changes and what He had in store for me for the new year. I’m excited. I’m ready to move on and I’m more than ready to make Nairobi home.
Finding a place to live, however, is more challenging than exciting.
Ministry TransformingThe AIM Kenya base is changing face and it all happened much to the surprise of nearly everyone involved.
The cost of everything has sky-rocketed in Nairobi; food, transportation and especially housing. Not having any staff in country for nearly a year forced AIM to choke down rent on more than one apartment that was waiting for our return. This all made finding a new team house in Nairobi a bit of a challenge.
In September someone had found us a rather big place that would house teams. With 9 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, a large common room and a huge front and back yard with a pool, it was more than accommodating.
However, upon arrival and moving in we discovered that the pool was only ceramic habitat for frogs, only 5 bedrooms were usable, there was no running water, the roof in every room leaked when it rained and it was a 30 minute walk from Kibera. On top of that, the owners of the house were only looking for tenants for a few months to help fund their plans for ripping it down and building a new structure in its place. They wanted us out by November.
So we were on the hunt for a new place. We found some affordable new apartments but they weren’t big enough. We found some places that were big enough but were too expensive. Time was running out and Nairobi housing was not giving us a break.
Almost overnight a solution was found and approved by the AIM US office. The team would move an hour away and stay in Naivasha. One of our contacts, Pastor Steve, is in the process of building his family a home. His wife is still committed to working for 2 more years at a hospital where they are living now, which means that the new home will have no tenants for 2 years. He offered the home for AIM teams and the offer was graciously accepted.
So now, all the Real Life teams from AIM will be staying and ministering in and around the Naivasha area, designating about one month of their time in Kibera. Their month in Kibera is dependent on finding furnished apartments for let as again, permanent housing in the city is not possible at present time.
I initially thought that I would have to move to Naivasha as well which didn’t sit well with me. However, God is SO good, and does not forget his promises, plans or the desires of his children. My calling was and is to Kibera and so He made a way for me. I talked to the US office about all the new plans and my decision was made to stay in Nairobi, not living with the teams but preparing ministry for them in the slums when they come.
I will be living with fellow AIM staffer Michelle, who works with the school in Kibera, and keeping in touch with contacts and building on relationships within the area. I will also have loads more time to work on video projects which is something most of you know that I am really excited about. Living with teams makes it nearly impossible to have any time for this kind of ministry so the fact that all of these changes have come to play really just floors me that the Lord is spoiling me in such ways. I will now be able to do what I had hoped to do; live in Nairobi, build relationships with people and tell their stories though media.
I’m smiling even now; we belong to an amazing creator who promises this to us:
“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.”
-Psalm 37:4 November 05 The polls are in and so are we...In the house that is. President Kibaki has declared Thursday as a national holiday in celebration of Obama’s election, meaning no one is going to work on Thursday. We will not be entering Kibera on that day either, which works out quite nicely actually, because we have a lot of preparation to do for the three week trip to Eburru that is just around the corner.
By 8am this morning I had missed 4 calls and by 9am I had received 3 more and 2 text messages, all of them regarding the election and all of them equally annoying. I never knew I was patriotic till I lived with Americans in Kenya… turns out I am pretty protective of my nationality.. heh
Anyways, we are well… We thank everyone for their prayers because we credit our safety to the Lord’s provision.
We will continue with our ministries on Friday and the team will be saying good-bye to Kibera on Monday.
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There is a LOT of change happening around here regarding ministry and housing etc. and I mean a LOT... I will let you know of what is happening after I talk to the AIM office in Georgia (hopefully tonight) and actually get an idea of where this puts me amidst the plans.
We are about to take off to Eburru for 3 weeks and Naivasha for 1 week (all in the country side) so I'm really hoping to be able to update you again before I leave but there is a whole house of furniture to be packed... crunch time, big time
The polls are in and so are we...In the house that is. President Kibaki has declared Thursday as a national holiday in celebration of Obama’s election, meaning no one is going to work on Thursday. We will not be entering Kibera on that day either, which works out quite nicely actually, because we have a lot of preparation to do for the three week trip to Eburru that is just around the corner.
By 8am this morning I had missed 4 calls and by 9am I had received 3 more and 2 text messages, all of them regarding the election and all of them equally annoying. I never knew I was patriotic till I lived with Americans in Kenya… turns out I am pretty protective of my nationality.. heh
Anyways, we are well… We thank everyone for their prayers because we credit our safety to the Lord’s provision.
We will continue with our ministries on Friday and the team will be saying good-bye to Kibera on Monday.
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There is a LOT of change happening around here regarding ministry and housing etc. and I mean a LOT... I will let you know of what is happening after I talk to the AIM office in Georgia (hopefully tonight) and actually get an idea of where this puts me amidst the plans.
We are about to take off to Eburru for 3 weeks and Naivasha for 1 week (all in the country side) so I'm really hoping to be able to update you again before I leave but there is a whole house of furniture to be packed... crunch time, big time
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