Street Girls Program

The search for land for the street girls program has begun. I went out last week to look for land and found several plots. The whole team went last Saturday to look at one that at first glance seemed perfect. But as we walked the land and prayed, we didn’t feel peace about it. We will keep looking. I am hoping that we will be able to find something within the next few weeks so we can begin construction the first week of January.

HBF Children’s Home

The construction is continuing at the children’s home in Kiminini. Two weeks ago, Todd put in the floors. All that remains are the finishing of the floors, plastering of the walls and doors and windows. The goal is to have the house finished and the children moved in before Christmas.

Sponsorship Program

Only two children remain on the web page to be sponsored. Honestly, I sit in wonder when I scroll down the page and see all the children who are sponsored, 102 now. We are preparing the next group of kids to be put on the web page.

Christmas in Kenya

There will be 6 of us North Americans from TI who will be staying in Kenya for Christmas this year. We decided to have a big party at our house for some of the kids in the program. We started small, but NAC church from Newmarket in Canada said that they would sponsor this party. We gave them a budget to feed 100 people, they announced it in church on a Sunday and on that same Sunday people donated twice the amount that we budgeted. We decided to expand the guest list and buy gifts for all the children. The party will be the day before Christmas.

Labels: group update

Two months ago ago, Meredith, Jessica and I decided to go to the second story back balcony of a building that overlooks one of the slums in Kitale. After standing there for only a few minutes we saw several street girls. One was about 12 year old, glue bottle in her mouth, bouncing on some tires. She was so intoxicated that the world around her moved by without her even noticing. In the distance was a second street girl who I would say was about 15. She too had a glue bottle in her mouth breathing in the toxic fumes seemingly forgetting about the 5 month old baby on her back. No doubt that it was her own child, born on the street, a second generation street girl. As I stood there for an hour, I was moved by the desperation of these girls. Knowing statistically they would not live many more years. The girls sell themselves as prostitutes as young as 10 years old in order to get money for food, sometimes for as little as 10 cents. Most girls contract an STD and many get, and die from AIDS.

Since seeing these girls, it has been so heavy on our hearts to start a program for them. I know that this was not an original objective for TI, but sometimes God moves us to do something that was out of our plan. Up to date, no one in this area is doing a project for the desperate street girls. The TI Kenya team goes every Thursday afternoon to the back of the Nyio Market where the street girls pass. In the past months, we have become friends with a number of these girls, slowly building their trust.

The Transformed International team plans to work closely with existing street children programs and the District Children’s Officer in order to identify the girls who:

a. Are most at risk

b. Are most likely to succeed in the program

c. Have a willingness to change their lifestyle

This project would take each girl through four steps of the program:

· Step 1: the TI team will build relationships with the girls on the streets and in working with other street kids programs and the DCO, identifies those who are most likely to excel in the program. The TI team will also build files by gathering documents and case history of each girl.

· Step 2 (Phase one): a pre-identified street girl, with the permission of the DCO, will be taken to the rehab house. The house will be located in a village outside of town, thus taking the girls away from the temptations of the streets. The rehab house will have a capacity of 6 girls at a time and one trained house mother. The house will be located on a one acre plot of land which will have a house, outdoor pit latrines, kitchen, pen for chickens and a small garden. The girls will spend their morning being tutored by a part time teacher. Afternoons will be spent being trained in tailoring by a professional tailor. Weekends will be spent in the garden and doing crafts and bead work. This phase will last 6 months to one year depending on how long it takes each girl to detox from the glue and be secure enough not to return to the streets.

· Step 3 (Phase two): Those who successfully complete phase one will be taken to a two year trade school where they will learn a trade of their choice. They will school during the day. In the evenings, all the girls will return to a rental house in the area of the school. The house will have a trained house mother who will give guidance to the girls and monitor them to insure they are not spending time on the streets.

· Step 4 (Phase three): Those who successfully complete phase two will be relocated to a different town in Kenya where TI will help them start a new life, rent a house and get a job in the trade they trained in, resulting in self sufficiency.

The goal of this project is to save one girl at a time, taking her from a life of desperation to a life of self-worth and self sustainability. This project focuses on no more than 6 girls in each phase at a time because we recognize the importance that each girl gets the most effective care through a smaller ratio. This also increases the chances of success in the project and in the lives of the girls.

Two weeks ago, the TI team shared this vision with a group from Canada. The group was moved by the desperation of the situation and after a few days, approached the TI team and said they would like back TI in this project. This means buying land, building a house and getting the project started.

Right now the TI team is in the process is looking for an ideal peace of land to begin this project. The team has also put together a task force team comprising of people from different street kids programs. The first meeting will take place in two weeks.

We have set a goal for May 1^st to open the home and begin the project.

What we need from you:

We need prayer, that the Lord will allow the TI team to continue to build relationships with the street girls and to identify the girls who will be best in this program and that we will find the ideal plot of land for this project.

This would be truly a rescue mission because most of these girls won’t live to be adults, unless there is drastic intervention. If we can change the life of one girl, it is worth the resources used to do so.

Labels: group update

Labels: group update

On October 23, 2007 Transformed International in conjunction with Team Tumaini from Canada, distributed over 25,000 pounds of food to widows, orphans and those in need.

About two months ago, Sandy Foster, the leader of Team Tumaini, contacted TI asking if we would be willing to organize a “small” event of distributing food for some needy families. With the original budget that was given, we had planned to identify a few families and bring food to them. But as Sandy kept sending more e-mails saying that more money had come in, it soon became clear that this was not going to be a small event and more than just few families would be receiving food. The end result was 43 sacks of beans and 82 sacks of maize corn given to over 100 families, giving each family food to last them 2 months. Just a random fact, 125 sacks of food equals over 25,000 pounds!

The event started last Saturday where all the food had to be packed into smaller sacks and then each sack labeled with the name of a pre-identified family. Each sack was filled according to the size of the family. The TI, Africa Connect and Tumaini team spent 7 hours that day to complete the heavy task.

On Tuesday the 23, the team eagerly waited by the gate for the lorry truck to arrive to take food to the first location. The sacks were loaded in the back of the truck along with the team who sat on the sacks. The first location, Maili Saba (the 7^th mile) was a 10 minute drive away. About half way there the truck broke down forcing us to call a smaller truck which would have to take 4 trips to carry the food.

Even though only two miles away, it took an hour to unload and reload. We arrived at a church full of waiting individuals. After a few speeches by the District Children’s Officer and a local pastor, the distribution was underway. Each family was called one by one to receive their sack of maize, sack of beans and blankets. The joy that filled the room was overwhelming as some of the women cried, saying “thank you, thank you.”

After receiving their food, each family was prayed for.

Then set in the task of each family carrying their food home. Some distributed to smaller sacks and put their food on their heads, some rushed home to get a wheelbarrow and others called bicycle taxis.

After the first location, the team took a lunch break and then headed to the second location, Shimo La Tawa primary school. Shimo is based in a forgotten slum where alcoholism runs rampant.

The day was a huge success and the joy seen can’t be described. Each family was so blessed.

The TI team thanks Team Tumaini from Canada and all the people who donated to make this event happen.

Labels: group update

It seems like yesterday I couldn’t believe that September was over and now here we are half way through October. The TI Kenya staff is getting ready for two teams coming this month. The first team is from Canada. They will be funding a one day food distribution through TI that is going to reach over 100 families. This event will take place on the 23^rd of this month. Watch for news.

Todd is back and moving quickly with the construction of the Hope Bright Future Children’s Home in Kiminini. This week he is putting in floors and getting ready to finish with the doors and windows. This past Saturday we took the children to the new home. They ran through the rooms like kids on Christmas morning, all pointing out where their bed will be when they move in.

TI now has a monthly e-newsletter. If you would like to receive news from TI send an e-mail to news@transformedinternational.org and type “subscribe” in the subject line. We will be sending out a newsletter each month and sending out other news and updates on new children and projects.

Labels: group update

501c3

TI received a letter from the IRS this week saying that our application for 501c3 tax exempt status has been approved and TI is now officially a tax exempt Non-Profit Organization. This means so many new open doors for TI. TI will also be able to give yearly tax receipts to those who give monthly to support the work in Kenya.

Thank you to everyone in Reno who worked for countless hours on the application.

Silver & Blue

TI received some publicity in the fall addition of the University of Nevada, Reno’s Silver and Blue Alumni magazine. See picture below. I am excited to see what doors will be open through this small article.

Bungoma Widows Project

The TI Kenya social worker did a surprise visit to our widows in Bungoma where TI has started two micro businesses for two widows. Both widows are progressing with their businesses. They originally planned to be selling second hand clothes but when they went to get the clothes; they found them to be too expensive compared to the money that was given to them by TI. One widow went to the lake and got sacks of minnow. She then brought them back to her market place and has been selling them there, after three weeks she had already made a profit. The second widow decided to buy sacks of corn and re-sell in smaller quantities. She hopes to save enough money to buy a cow and then be selling the milk daily. Yes, one can make a good profit from a milk cow.

New Crafts to Reno

A shipment of crafts will be going out this week and be in Reno within two weeks. Check out the new section on the web page to see what TI is selling. The profit from these sails is what allows TI Kenya to run from day to day.

Labels: group update

The Transformed International Kenya team is becoming more and more involved in working with the Street Kids of Kitale. God has been putting on our hearts a ministry for the street girls, but more on that later.

About 6 months ago a feeding program was started weekly for the street kids. The program was being held in the middle of town where it was chaotic and unmanageable. It was later moved to the local youth church (Fire Place). Since it was moved 4 months ago, the number has steadily increased to about 70 street boys and girls. During this weekly program these children play soccer, hear a short message from the Bible and eat a meal, all the while building relationships with people such as the TI team.

The street kids are a mystery as many of them have homes, parents or are taken into a children’s home, clothed, fed and taken to school… yet most of them return to the streets where they sleep outside shops in a potato sack, sniffing shoe glue to numb their mind of the pain, hunger and the cold of the night. Many of these children, as young as 8, are addicted to sniffing shoe glue, killing their brain cells with every sniff.

The current population of street children in the small town of Kitale is 1200. These are children between 8 and 17 years old. One may wonder how they survive. They live from day to day by begging for money, stilling, and rummaging through trash cans. And the girls, the girls survive by selling themselves into prostitution for as little as 10 cents. This lifestyle of the young girls contributes to the rapid spread of AIDs and a second generation of street babies being born in the cold night on that same potato sack.

One of the local street kid programs “Oasis of Hope” is making the biggest difference in this area. Three years ago they started a day drop in center where street children can come get two meals a day and attend school from 9:00am to 2:00pm Monday to Friday. From this program, they evaluate the children who would come every day and who gave up their glue (glue is not allowed in the school). Out of these kids, Oasis has started several group homes where many of the now ex street children are living and attending school. About 70 children on average come to the drop in center daily. Out of all the program’s I’ve seen for street children, Oasis is making the biggest difference. Yet, this one program can’t reach the whole population of street children in Kitale.

A documentary on the street boys in Kitale came out this year called Glue Boys. The DVD is purposed to expose the truth and reality of the children living on the streets. It is to educate the American culture of the harsh reality of little children living on the streets. As we climb into our warm beds, in our big house after eating a large meal, there are helpless children digging in trash cans and curling up on the dirt ground at night to sleep.

My heart hurts for these children. Despite the many programs in this area, the population seems to be increasing. As we walk the streets of Kitale during the day, many, if not most, of the children know us by name. They don’t ask us for food any more because they know we won’t give it to them. When a new kid comes to the streets and asks for food, we directed them to one of the street kids programs in the area. Most don’t want to go because it means structure and giving up their glue. The kids who know us will call greet us and then in Swahili, they will ask how our day is and where we are going. After a short conversation, they say “bye” and return to begging for money.

This past Thursday the TI team sat on the cement steps behind the Niyo Market where the “tough” street kids hang out. I’ve had a lot of trouble in the past in this place with mobs of street kids and men gathering around us, creating a dangerous situation. But this week I felt that we as a team needed to sit there, not offering anything other then conversation. As we sat down and the kids began to notice us, I was plotting an escape route in case things got out of hand. But they didn’t. The kids came over and about half of them knew us. When they asked me what we were doing there, I told them we had come just to greet them and for no other reason. Many thanked us for coming. The shopkeepers watched from a distance, very skeptical of what these white people were doing there. In our hour of sitting behind the Niyo market, 4 street girls emerged from the crowd and were willing to sit and talk with us. After an hour, we gathered up those who wanted food and walked with them to the feeding program. As we passed through the main street of town, people stopped to see these 5 white people with a trail of street kids beside and behind us. We gathered more as we walked, calling them by their name. Some didn’t want to come with us because it meant losing out on time to beg for money. By the time we reached the feeding program we had 25 kids with us. We met there with an additional 50 street kids.

During the feeding program, the kids don’t have to beg because they are getting food. And for a short moment, they become something more then a street kid. They because a real person, with a real personality. Their shame seems to fade away as they chase a soccer ball around the yard laughing a playing. For that hour, they can forget about survival and just be a kid.

After the feeding program is over, the children slowly leave, one or two at a time. As the sun sets, they prepare for another cold night sleeping on the street, hoping and praying that they will wake up the next morning.

My heart has a deep ache for the street kids. After being here for three years, I still don’t know exactly what the solution is. Most of the children don’t want to change, and change can’t be forced upon them. TI wants to team up with the local feeding program and with Oasis of Hope to take one more child off the street. We sat with Lydia (Oasis of Hope founder) and Geoffrey (Oasis of Hope Director) in our home a few weeks ago contemplating this crisis, a bit discouraged. But I reminded everyone that if we can save just one child from the streets, one child from destroying their mind with glue, put that one child in a warm bed at night, educating that child, then we have made a difference. Rather then focusing on the 1200 children, we need to focus on one at a time. Because once we get that one, then we can get another and another and another…

The TI Kenya team and the TI board members are praying about the possibility of starting a program for the street kids. But we don’t want to start it without first committing it to prayer, seeking the will of God.

For more info on the street kids in Kitale visit:

www.GlueBoys.com

www.myspace.com/glueboys

www.myspace.com/oasisofhope

Labels: group update

I can’t believe that it has been this long without an update. I know some of you might be wondering if TI is still functioning. In fact, we are moving on strong. Since my last update we began the internship program. Pictured are the TI’s first three interns. Jessica from Oregon, and Amanda and Kate from Texas. Jessica was with us for 5 weeks, Kate is with us for 4 months and Amanda for 6 months. Already in the first 5 weeks I’ve seen God do so many things in the lives of the interns. Last week we went as a team to Turkana to visit the nomads and refugees at the UN refugee camp. It was an eye opening experience for the interns. Kate and Amanda hit major culture shock as they got off the plane Friday night, spent three nights in Kitale and then headed up to Turkana (never being in Kenya before.) I told them now that they have experienced Turkana, 100 plus degrees, 10 hour bus ride on a road that really isn’t a road, sleeping outside on he ground, very little water, no power, no plumbing, roaches the size of my hand, and mice everywhere, now they can make it anywhere in Kenya. We arrived back in Kitale at 3:30am Saturday morning, were up by 8:00am and ready for a day at the Kiminini children’s home.

Read the intern’s blogs and see more pictures of our trip to Turkana:

Amanda’s www.amandagoble.blogspot.com

Kate’s www.kenyankrusade.blogspot.com

Jared from Canada will be joining the TI internship program at the end of this month.

Last month marked our second updates to all the sponsors on the children they are sponsoring. Through the individual and group sponsorship program, TI is now supporting 100 orphan children monthly. I can’t say thank you enough to all the people who are giving monthly to change a life of an orphan. I only wish all of you could be here to see the joy of the faces of these children. There are still orphans on the web page who are waiting to be sponsored.

There is a new addition to the web page about the home parties in the Reno area! The home parties with the Kenyan crafts are how the monthly administrative costs of TI are covered. Also, when we see a need as a team in Kenya, the money from sales is what is used to meet that need. This year we put two orphans through high school, started two widows businesses, bought 16 beds for orphans, and so much more, all through the home parties. Every cent of profit comes back here to run TI monthly, put children through school and to start widows businesses. A new shipment of crafts is scheduled to arrive in Reno at the end of the month.

TI has some new and exciting things coming up. Keep checking the web page for new updates and please keep TI and our team in Kenya in your prayers… we need them.

Labels: group update

The children and grandmother were very grateful to Katerina and the TI team for the medication and medical attention they received. At each project each child’s weight and height were taken so their growth can be measured. Katerina would like to be checking on all the TI children several times a year.

The orphan’s health is a high priority to Transformed International. The monthly sponsorship of a child for $30 not only provides food and education, but assures that the child gets proper medical care when needed.

Labels: group update, orphans

The children at HBF children’s home and the Soy Orphans Project let out a sigh of relief when Katerina told them that she was a doctor but that she wasn’t going to give any shots. Katerina’s exams were very non intrusive and the kids warmed up to her quickly. During her examinations she found that some children had very serous infections but in most cases, after rummaging through one of the three huge boxes of medication, she was able to produce what they needed.

Despite the car breaking down several times, running out of brake fluid, and the removal of one set of brake pads along the side of the road, we made it and the kids got much needed medical attention. Thank you Katerina and Love Mercy.

To find out more about Love Mercy, visit www.lovemercy.com

Labels: group update

Imagine being an African woman with 8 children, trying to make ends meet by living on the average Kenyan wage of $1 a day. Up by 4:00am building a fire to make tea for the kids. While the fire is gaining some momentum, she rushes to a neighbor’s house to buy some fresh milk. By 5:30am she pulls the kids out of bed, bathes them, gives them a cup of tea (no bread because she can’t afford it) then by 6:30 she sends them off to school. They have to leave so early because of the two mile walk and if they are there a minute past 8:00, they will be beaten and sent back home. After the kids leave for school, the African woman washes some clothes (by hand) then sets out walking from garden to garden looking for work, weeding, digging, anything that will bring that $1 so she can buy a meager amount of corn maize and vegetables so the kids don’t have to go to bed hungry like they did last night.

After a long days work digging, she gets a few shillings, enough to give the kids something for dinner. She arrives home at 7:00pm to find a small pile of wood the children collected on their way home from school. She builds the fire and cooks the food. By 9:00pm serves the children dinner. After the meal is finished, she washed the dishes and by 11:30pm, climbs into bed, exhausted, discouraged, hopeless. The only thing keeping her going is knowing that her children can’t survive without her. As she drifts to sleep, she dreams of the days when her husband was alive, when she didn’t worry about the 8 mouth’s to feed, when she enjoyed cooking for her family, when life wasn’t such a burden.

The story of the African widow is all to common. Everywhere I look, everywhere I go, I see her, struggling for her life and for the lives of her children. In most cases, as she was home caring for the children and preparing food for her husband, he was with another woman, unknowingly contracting HIV, leading to his death and leaving the poor African widow all alone with nothing…

My heart, my desire is not only for the orphans, but for the widows who are equally a victim of AIDS and poverty. This last week I went to visit Colleta and Eunice, two widows left with 5 and 8 children after their husbands past away. As I sat with them and told them that they have been chosen for our widows program, tears welled up in their eyes. These are two women who have been struggling for years, living the same story of the African widow, faced with one hardship after the other. These are also two women who know how to work and can make a micro business successful. I asked them what kind of business they could do and they both said that they want to sell second hand clothes in their local market. We discussed a working plan and put some number down. As we figured out all the costs, it came out that they need $45 U.S. each to start their business, a business that will provide for the needs of their family. I will go back in two weeks to train them in book keeping and basic business skills and will also bring the money they need to get started. From there, I will visit every 6 weeks to check up and help out. I don’t want to make the mistake many people have in the past of giving money and leaving all together, leaving the widow to fail. I want to be there with them, to see them struggled out of the hole of poverty.

As we finished our meeting in their small mud house, a since of pride came over them as they now had purpose and hope. A hope of being someone, something… other then the poor African women.

Labels: group update, Only in Africa

Juma and his wife have 6 children of their own ranging from 5 years old to 18. Two of them are in secondary school. In addition to hisown children, Juma cares for 9 orphans, many being former street boys. When looking at the orphans and his own children, one could not tell the difference. He and his wife are the parents to all of them.

Grass Roots ministry from Canada has been assisting Juma and his wife by establishing a micro business to support the children. They also have been sending monthly support to offset the large burden carried by this family to feed the children.

Transformed International has joined with Grass Roots and Juma and his wife to better meet the needs of the orphans. TI will be funneling finances for Grass Roots to the project and also offering assistance and support to Juma.

Labels: group update

On July 1^st, the TI team moved into their new headquarters, a 2 acre compound containing two houses, offices and a 1 acre garden located in the heart of Milimani Kitale. Now the Kenya team will begin the third program of TI, the Internship Program. With enough space, TI will be able to have 6 interns at a time and also will be able to host short term teams having up to 15 members. The compound contains two houses, the TI Girls house and the “Man’s Shack.” Guys and girls will have their own houses with a common cooking and eating area. Also, on the same compound is an office block were TI will conduct all their office work, interviews and meetings.

The monthly rent and staff is covered by the Internship Program as well as personal funds from the TI Kenya team. No money given as donations for TI or from the sales of goods in the U.S. is used for the rent or house staff.

The Internship Program will officially start on August 8^th. You can find out more about this program on the TI web page. If you are interested in bringing a team for a short term trip, please contact Daniel Lipparelli at daniel@transformedinternational.org.

Labels: group update

Martin and Ruth took the first orphan child into their home in 1998. Ruth was working in the community and came across many women with AIDS. Their dying wish was for Ruth to care for their soon to be orphaned children. Martin and Ruth began caring for these children with their own resources. They felt that is was their Biblical mandate. “We have faced many hardships over the years,” Martin said, “but we have seen the hand of God upon these children.” Today they continue to be community workers. They live on a small plot of land with three houses and kitchen made of mud. Living in these houses are Martin and Ruth, their own children and 23 other children. What makes Martin and Ruth unique is their willingness to care for children with disabilities. Living in their home are two mentally handicap children and two deaf children. Out of the 23 children, 18 are total orphans and others are abandoned or their mother’s are not able to care for them. Several children are HIV positive. The youngest child is one year nine months and the oldest is 16 years old.

Martin and Ruth have an abundance of faith. When there is a needy case, they are not quick to turn the child away. “We know that God will provide for all the needs of these children even if we can’t see the food today, it will be enough tomorrow.” Martin said.

Grass Roots ministry from Canada has been assisting Martin and Ruth with establishing a micro business to support the children. They also have been sending monthly support to offset the large burden carried by this family to feed all the children.

Transformed International has joined with Grass Roots and Martin and Ruth to better meet the needs of the orphans. TI will be funneling finances for Grass Roots to the project and also offering assistance and support to Martin and Ruth.

The Soy Project is in the process of becoming a registered children’s home.

Labels: group update

Labels: group update

Labels: group update

Friday last week, Meredith, Cordi (a girl from Germany) and I went up to Turkana for the weekend. Turkana is located in Northern Kenya and is all desert. The Turkanen people are traditional nomads. Going to Turkana is like stepping into the pages of National Geographic Magazine. We spent two nights in a town called Kakuma, 1 mile from the U.N. refugee camp. On Sunday at 1:00pm, we started our journey back to Kitale, expecting to arrive by 3:00am Monday morning.

We got on an old matatu (14 seat van). This matatu had 20 people. The drive from Kakuma to Lodwar is normally 1 and a half hours. About an hour into the trip, the driver stopped the matatu, got out and looked underneath. He then asked us to get out and proceeded to dismantle a part of the car. He then took a hug container of oil and emptied it in the car. I got down on my hands and knees and looked underneath. Sure enough, oil was draining out pretty fast. As the last drops dribbled from the container my first thought was “what if we run out again.” He put the section back together, packed up his tools and we loaded back in. He was going really slowly. About 15 minutes later the driver stopped to drop off a person. The car turned off and wouldn’t start again. After a few minutes, three of us got out and started pushing. After three failed attempts, we finally got it going. We had to run and jump in while the matatu was going. It putted along for another 45 minutes. It stopped again about 2 miles from Lodwar, the town we were going to. We tried pushing but couldn’t get it started. The driver got a rope and tried to tie something together under the car. We gave up and decided to walk the rest of the way, grabbed our bags and set out on foot. Just a ways ahead we hit a lugga (a cement dip that passes through a normally dry river bed for cars to driver through). When we crossed a few days before, it was dry. But today, due to some rain in the area, it was a rushing river. Only buses and large trucks could pass. Small cars and our matatu could not. We stood there stumped for a few minutes, noticing some people forging across on foot. We knew that we could do the same. As I rolled up my pant legs and the girls hiked up their dresses, the locals stopped talking and gathered along the rivers edge on both sides, waiting in anticipation to see if we were really crazy enough to cross. We were, with backpacks on, we went forward with a crowd all around us who decided that it would be fun to also cross with us. By the time we got out to the middle, it was about knee deep, muddy and rushing really fast. If we were to fall, there would not be much hope of catching anything before getting swept down river. We reached the other side safe, much to the surprise of the locals and a Dutch guy who was equally amazed by our stupidity. I don’t know if I would call it stupidity, maybe desperation.

Upon reaching the bus office where I had already booked but was supposed to pick up our tickets, I was told that our bus (leaving at 7:00 that night) next at 7:00 in the morning and we missed it. One of the bridges half way had washed out and now the people had to get out of the bus on one side and board another on the other side. So the bus left in the morning so it could meet the morning bus on the other side. They said we would have to sleep in Lodwar for the night and then catch a bus in the morning. I needed to be back by Monday as we had a full day already planned. I went and found another bus that was leaving that evening and had a bus on the other side of the bridge waiting. They also assured me that we would be in Kitale by 8:00am. After much arguing and me finally whimpering, the first bus gave me my money back. I went and booked on the other bus, getting really bad seats and paying more for them.

After getting the tickets, I went to the market to get baskets. The ones we use for shipping goods to the U.S. I got 14 huge baskets and packed them into three hug sack, hired four guys to carry them to the bus office and paid to have them carried on the bus. I now could rest for a few hours before the bus left. I found the girls and we got some food and relaxed.

At 7:00pm we boarded the bus that was supposed to leave around that time. We sat there until 8:30. The road is just terrible. There are ditches on both sides so the bus in never level, it is always leaning to one side or the other, either the person on the isle seat is crushing the people on the side or being crushed by them on one side and jammed into the paddles armrest on the other side, making for a sleepless and long drive. By 2:00am, we arrive at the half way point where the bridge was broken. I told the girls to hurry if they needed to go to the bathroom or get some food from the small café there. They did, in the meantime I asked the guy who worked on the bus if we were unloading our cargo there or if the bus was going to go closer to the bridge. He said that they would drive right up to the bridge then unload. We quickly got back on the bus and waited, and waited and waited. For 45 minutes we sat there. I went to find the drive but couldn’t. The ground all around the bus was littered with people sleeping, three buses worth. I found a guy who spoke English and asked him what was going on. He told me that there were robbers at the bridge dragging people into the bushes and taking everything as they tried to cross. Now no one was allowed to cross until daylight. I just about lost it. I was so frustrated. I only kept myself together for the sake of Meredith and Cordi. I went back on the bus and told them. We decided to get off and find a place on the ground to sleep. We couldn’t go off far because for sure someone would try to rob us or bother us as we were the only white people there. I found a place by a wall of a closed shop, people were sleeping on both sides, but it was big enough for us. We took our sheets out of our bags and used them to cover the goat poo and try to keep warm. It was hard to sleep as I was so nervous about all the people around and knew that I was responsible for our safety. I drifted in and out of sleep, waking up to rocks jabbing into my side and the smell of goat urine. At 6:00am we were jarred awake by the sound of our bus engine. “I think that’s our bus” Meredith said. Sure enough. We jumped up and grabbed our sheets. Just as we started walking, the bus began to back up. It was leaving without us, we ran and caught up as it was pulling away. “Run and jump on” I told they girls. They did and I followed just before it sped up.

We drove down to the bridge where rows and rows and trucks sat idle, unable to carry their good to the other side. Only a small section of the bridge was still attached, big enough to walk across. I once again hired a few guys to carry my three bundles of baskets from one bus to the other. By 7:30am, all the cargo from one bus had been loaded onto the other. In the midst of waiting, we were told by several people that sure enough the robbers had been stilling from people just hours before and it was very unsafe to cross. We got on the bus and left, reaching Kitale by 11:30am, over 8 hours late.

In the past 20 hours I had pushed a matatu twice, crossed a possibly fatal flooded lugga on foot, been jabbed on the side by a pad-les armrest for hours, slept on the ground on top of goat poop, ran and jumped onto a moving bus in an attempt to not be left behind, avoided being robbed by broken bridge bandits and only kept myself pulled together because I was the man and didn’t want to start crying in front of the girls. Ok, I wouldn’t have cried…

some people might complain, but for me, this was the kind of adventure I live for. I kept reminding myself that whatever doesn’t kill me will make for a really good story.

After reaching Kitale, we had 30 minutes to clean up before Meredith and had to be at our next meeting an hours drive away. I fell into bed at 8:00 that night only to wake up at 4:30am with an extreme case of malaria. No joke…

The martyr in me said I wasn’t that sick and could make it through our morning staff meeting. I conducted the meeting from under a blanket shivering due to a fever. In the midst of praying, I ran to the bathroom and vomited… first time in 8 years. I was more mad that my 8 year vomitless streak was ruined than the fact that I had malaria. I postponed the meeting until another day.

Now I am feeling a bit better, the medication I am on is really strong. I attempted to go out of the house today and have lunch with Meredith and Todd. During lunch I couldn’t carry on a logical conversation. I was convinced that everyone was just out of it, but I guess it was me.

Labels: group update, Only in Africa

Labels: group update

I believe that we have benchmarks in our Christians walk. Times when we can look back and see a quick but evident growth spurt. Most of these times are accompanied with trials and hardships, times of asking God “what the heck is going on.” I’ve been asking God these past few weeks, “what are you doing in my life?” I can’t see the finished product; I only see mass confusion in the midst to my minuscule understanding of God’s grand plan for my life. It’s evident that God is brining me through a growing time and his lesson for me this month is faith. Faith that He, my God and Father, has total and complete control of my life. I literally hate it that I can’t seem to learn this lesson. It is like a child learning 1+1 is 2. But the child says that 1+1 is sadflkn. That is how I feel when God is trying to teach me faith. It is as if I am not even understanding the same language.

Growing up I was a worrier, I worried all the time about everything. I remember at the age of 6 worrying about getting my wisdom teeth pulled. I had to be in total control of every aspect of my life. As a child, that was hard, but I seemed to manage. “Mom, I need to know the plan for the whole day. Even though I am a kid and riding in the back seat of the car and really, just along for the ride, I need to know every step of the day so I can be in somewhat control of “knowing” the plans.” I really was like that. Now that same control has moved with me into my adult years. Living in Kenya has loosened me up… A LOT! But still, faith, what is it? Why can’t I understand is? Why can’t I trust God? I mean, I trust God with the basic things, but when it comes to the big issues, I have a hard time.

These past two weeks, I have been deeply convicted about my lack of faith. I mean a conviction that just hit the core of my being. It penetrated so deep within my soul that I spent several sleepless nights pleading with God to help me to understand.

I’ve asked God to teach me faith, to help me to understand faith. I’ve come to a place of utter brokenness. Not a brokenness because of my sinful nature (not that that isn’t there… it is) but a brokenness in realizing how many years of my life I have wasted trying to do things on my own. How far could I be now, how could God be using me now if only I would have trusted Him so so long ago. I know the answer, I don’t want to think about it. The truth is, I wouldn’t be struggling with the seemingly simple things now. But I don’t doubt God, I don’t doubt that He has me right where He wants me right now at this time. Gosh, without this lesson I am going through now, I would be stuck where I was. Well, honestly, I still feel a bit stuck, but I see hope. I see God reaching His mighty hand deep into this pit of self reliance I have spent so much time and effort digging for myself.

I got to a place last week of brokenness. No, more like being shattered. I’ve never been able to spend hours on end in endless prayer. But it is easy when in a place of brokenness. Brokenness is a good thing. It means that God is getting through my thick head and reaching my heart, the heart of knowing Him not only as Jesus who died for my sins, but Father who wants to see me grow, who disciplines me only because He lives me. A father who wants me to want Him. Who wants me to NEED him. Through tear filled eyes, I told God in true sincerity that I need Him. That I can’t go through life without Him. I told God, as I was kneeling on the floor, that I don’t want to do anything in life where I don’t need Him. I don’t want to be in control anymore.

The newness of trusting God wore away after a few days and I found myself again worrying. I had to repent again and give that area to God. I felt that it was the end of a hard college class and they passed out the exam. I thought I studied, I thought I knew what all the answer were, but when I got the results back, I realized that I failed and had to take the class again. And again I ask, “God, what are you doing?”

Life is exciting and I am looking forward to being on the other end of this lesson God is taking me through now.

Labels: group update

It has been a while since my last group update. April was a busy month. We were busy writing updates on every single child in the TI program for their sponsors as well as getting picture. Todd and I also moved out of our house. Our lease ran out and because we are renting a new place in July, the landlord didn’t want to extend it for two months for us. So, I moved into the house I was living in before with another ministry. Todd moved out to Kiminini to be closer to the construction work he is doing there for the children’s home.

I spent last week in Uganda speaking at a youth conference. I left on Tuesday and traveled there by public means. I got to town by 7:00am to get a matatu (14 seat van). The main stage was not open yet so I had to catch a matatu just by the side of the road. I asked the conductor weather he was going directly to Bungoma or to Wabuya first. He would not answer me. Before we left, I had to get off and tell him to answer me where he was going. He then assured me that he was going directly to Bungoma. So I got back on. But because I got off, I lost my good seat at the front and had to cram in the back. About half way to Bungoma I noticed that we took the turn to Wabuya and not Bungoma. He had lied to me just to get me on his matatu. It was one and a half hours to Wabuya, I got off there and had to catch another to Bungoma (45 minutes). Once I reached Bungoma I caught my third matatu to Malaba, the border to Kenya and Uganda. Once I reached the border, I got a bodaboda (bike taxi). I could have walked if I didn’t have a bag, but it was too fare to walk with a weeks worth of clothes and three pairs of shoes in my bag. I had to first go through the Kenya immigration to get an exit stamp, cross the border and then go to the Uganda immigration to buy a visa ($30). Once I finished there, the boda boda took me to the matatu stage on the other side. It took an hour for the matatu to fill up. We then headed out on a 4 hour drive to Kampala. Once in Kampala I met up with the Ugandan friends. From there, we took yet another matatu tours their home (45 more minutes) then we dropped on the main road and took a piki piki (motorcycle taxi) to their house. The whole trip lasted about 10 hours. We still had three more hours to go the next day.

I spent the night at their house. I met this family last year. Living in their house is 5 young single siblings between 17 and 30 years old. Their parents died when some of them were young and the oldest brother, 30 has been taking care of them. Now, only the 17 year old is still in school, the other 4 are all employed with good jobs. I had a great time getting to know them better and hanging out with them. They are a really neat group of people.

Wednesday I went to the church of the people who I was staying with and preached at their lunch meeting. From there, we got a matatu and went three hours to a place in Western Uganda called Mubenda, arriving there about 6:00pm. Some other people were supposed to be teaching at the youth conference with us but didn’t make it, so there was only two of us to teach for three days.

The conference was great. There were about 150 at the conference between 15 and 25 years old. I ended up teaching about 6 hours each day.

I staid with a Uganda family and their 7 children in their home. We stayed up late each night laughing and talking. They taught me how to dance calypso.

Sunday morning I preached at their church of 700 people. That afternoon I headed back to Kampala and the next day a 10 hour trip back to Kitale.

It is good to be back although this month will be busy with a shipment going out to the U.S. and trip to Turkana.

Transformed International stuff is going great! Check out the web page www.transformedinternational.org for all the updates from last month and be looking for some new updates in the coming weeks.

Personally I am doing well. I have been really dealing with a lack of faith this past month. There are some Kenyan government issues I’ve been faced with over the past two months that have been really discouraging, yet, I know that God is in control. But even knowing that God is in control, I have to remind myself daily. You would think that because I am a “missionary” living in Africa, I would have so much faith, but that is one of the areas I struggle with the most. I am by nature a worrier and battle worry daily. I can’t seem to get it through my head that God, my mighty God who has never let me down before, will not let me down in the future. I have to yield many things to God daily and sometimes twice a day. I also have to see that God uses the government and other areas to guide us to the places He wants us to be. Philippians 4:19 “My God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory…”

Other big news, there have been some major tribal clashes about an hour and a half away from where I live on Mount Elgon. Last night the clashes moved to are area; about 10 miles away and 8 guys were killed. The town increased its police and they were stopping all cars on the road going in and out of Kitale looking for people with guns. I will see what the news says tomorrow and send out another update.

Labels: group update