Ministry in Kangundo

One of our main points of ministry in Kangundo is helping Isaac and Monica support and feed the many Aids widows and others in their village. Here is one of the mamas that we gave food to. The day before Miriam had sent us all on a major shopping trek to buy enough food staples to feed 2 families for two weeks. It was another overwhelming time to give out 60 or more pounds of food and to witness their gratitude. Then it was another thing to see them carry that much food back to their homes. The initial plan was for us to take the food to them and to visit in their homes, but this was one of those plans that didn't quite pan out. They came up to Isaac's instead.






Erin had a great time visiting with her mama and learning how to tie a head scarf the Kenyan way!









Our other task was to visit the local school which has recently started to include the special needs students. There is one classroom and two teachers and another classroom which serves as a dorm for some of them. Our job was to paint the classroom and build new beds. Again, best laid plans never seem to pan out. We really only got part of the classroom painted due to limited supply issues and we never got to build beds due to NO supply issues. The carpenter who was supposed to work with us showed up empty handed and was looking for a hand out ( i.e. bribe) It was disappointing for those on the team who specifically came hoping to build beds.


Here is Erin outside the classroom we were painting. She is such a go getter!

Road to Kangundo

It is a two hour drive to the town of Kangundo. That is where the pavement ends and the red dirt road to Miriam's parent's village begins. If you are not in the front of the line of vehicles you are eating everyone's dust, and there is a lot of it. The vegetation on either side is caked in red mud.



The recent bit of rain has helped reduce the dust, but nothing can help reduce the ruts. Wachira, our driver, calls it his free massage service.



The further up the hill we go the vegetation becomes more and more dense, and we begin to see beautiful views of crop terraces that surround the hills of Kangundo.




As we finally begin the final ascent up the road to Miriam's parent's farm, the mamas of the village who are supported by Kizimani appear in front of us singing and waving branches.



We followed them up to the house where they continued to dance and sing. Seeing the utter joy on their faces and the feeling of being so welcomed brought me to tears.




Isaac and Monica, Miriam's parents, had a surprise for the medical team. They had been busy building a guest addition to their house so that the team could stay overnight the three days we were in Kangundo. This allowed the team to have more hours serving the people in their village and not have to spend the additional 4 hours traveling to and from Nairobi... This was a huge blessing to our medical team.


The addition is to the right of the porch and the table had chai and mandazi (kenyan donuts) waiting for us each morning when we arrived. They also prepared our lunch each day with the help of several of the mamas that live nearby. We were all overcome with the hospitality and generosity of Monica and Isaac and their community.


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Art in Haruma

Kenya lesson #1: Plans are always written in pencil.

Wednesday and Thursday meant art classes with the students of the New Dawn school in Haruma, a slum outside of Nairobi. It also meant trying to do without the materials you thought you were going to have.

The first day I did not have enough glue or scissors because the main supply of these was in the crate checked to Deb and had been taken off the plane and had not arrived before we left for Haruma. Our project for this day was to create two Christmas ornaments, both of which required cutting. We had 37 students crammed into one of their older classrooms and a total of 9 scissors and six bottles of glue...you do the math.

My fellow teachers out there will clearly recognize this scenario as a potential recipe for classroom management disaster...but these students were so patient and cooperative as we shared and waited for scissors to be passed around. It did feel a little chaotic at times but I also had lots of assistance from teammates who helped shuffle scissors and other supplies from one side of the room to the other.

They were all very proud of their work as you can see:


The second day posed an even more challenging take on Lesson #1 (see above). I arrived at the school, but my ENTIRE crate of supplies did not. All I had with me personally was a supply of sharpies and our task for the day was to produce Christmas card art that we will reproduce back home and sell for them. So while a van went back to fetch my crate (an hour round trip at least) and while the students were finishing devotions I was quickly praying for inspiration for plans x, y, z.

Fortunately the school produced some paper for me, so with the sharpies in hand, we at least had that going for us. After explaining to another group of 37 students we would be making Christmas cards LATER when the crate showed up, I launched into a discussion about what Christmas means to them, what they already knew about the Christmas story, etc. I then got the bright idea to READ the Christmas story, so my teammate Erin Kress went to find a Bible for me. As I read from Luke 2 we made a list of the different elements and characters that we would be using LATER in our designs when the crate showed up.

I then taught the whole line family art lesson using the sharpies and paper and we practiced our skills and the different elements we would be drawing and painting LATER when the crate showed up. I also showed them my Miro power point on my ipad, which fortunately I did have with me and we drew constellation designs in the style of Miro to practice stars which we would be drawing LATER when the crate showed up. I also had power points of simple Christmas art to help build inspiration for LATER when the crate showed up.

This went on for TWO hours! I kept looking out the window to see if the van was pulling up. Finally the crate did in fact show up. We produced Christmas card art using crayon resist designs and sharpie and water color designs. In all a THREE hour lesson! That has to be some kind of record somewhere. It was at least a record for me talking that long.

Travel Update

By late morning the next day we were amazed to see Deb arrive at our guest house, sans luggage, but here nonetheless. She was still in disbelief that she had made it back on the very next flight to Kenya despite her series of unfortunate events which included (but not limited to) being told she had to go to The Hague for her passport issue, which told her she had to go back to Amsterdam to the American Consulate for her passport issue, which told her (again) she should have known about her passport issue. Finally with emergency passport in hand she goes back to the airport to learn the next flight is over booked by 16 spaces, but then at the very last minute, she gets the very last seat.
"What did you pray for?" she asked.." We prayed that you would get on the very next flight ," was the response.

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Arrival

We arrived much later than we expected after one of our doctors was pulled aside in Amsterdam at the last moment of our boarding the plane to Kenya. Her passport it seems was due to expire within 6 months, and although valid, African countries will not allow entrance, a fact that somehow was missed by both our travel agent and by Delta in Portland. Officials in Amsterdam were insisting that we should have been aware of this. Three other passengers were in the same position, and despite Miriam trying her best, we had to board without Dr. Deb, leaving her behind to figure out what to do. We were horrified. None of us were aware of this condition in Africa, including Miriam who IS African!

Of course what this also meant was that the airline had to locate and unboard the luggage of Deb and the others which took almost two hours. This was a huge 747 plane with 6 containers of luggage inside. Of course Deb's was in the last container to be checked. The rest of us were left to pray that some how, some way Deb would be able to sort all this out and still join us.

We survived the chaos that is also known as baggage claim and customs, barely. We located all but one of the 15 extra trunks that we checked, loaded those along with our 48 suitcases, and 48 carry ons in three vans and made our way to our guest house, crawling into bed about 1:30 am.


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Countdown continues

T-Minus 24 hours.
Hope this counts as carry on!  Thank you to Mopsy who helped me organize and color code my teaching supplies by the day they're needed.

Packing!

Here are the two fifty pound crates with teaching supplies for the teachers at Jamii. These are in addition to the two fifty pound suitcases with other supplies! (my two carry-ons are for me ;-)




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