Final Newsletter (Monday): On their way

This is the team as just as those heading back to Nairobi left for the airport.  We will see you in church on Sunday.

Good bless.

The Kenya Team 2015

Kenya Mission Newsletter 10 (Sunday): We've a Story to Tell

The Kenyan paster on Ash Wednesday asked each of us what we were going to do for Lent … and in order to make room in our lives to do this thing, what were we going to give up?  It was a question the team came back to this evening in our final debriefing session.  The "what were you ready to give up?" question was particularly potent since we had had no water all day.  The Thiiri Centre where we are staying had hosted a local girl's school overnight … think 50 high school girls and their water consumption.  It had emptied ALL of the storage tanks by the time we awoke this morning.  We headed off to church more than a bit "ripe" and the situation just got worse as the day went on.  Remember NO water for ANYTHING.  Be thankful the photos below are not the "Scratch & Sniff" variety.  By tonight the group was getting a bit testy as workmen continued to bang on pipes trying to get the pumps to refill the tanks. We are all hoping for water for showers and toilets by morning when we depart.  

The sobering thought is that most of those we worked with all week face this every day.  Few have reliable running water (and certainly not for showers); many have no electric power.  For us it is an inconvenience versus a way of life.

The question the FUMC team asked itself tonight was "What are we bringing back from Kenya?"  The list ranged from friendships, gratitude, smiles, and love … to anxiety about how do we come back and adequately convey this past week.  The team  represented 27 trips to Kenya … and all agreed this trip was different.  The challenges are new, but we did not flinch.  We TRIED a lot of new things … and not all of them worked.  We learned from every trial.  We worked with the BLISS staff in ways we had ever attempted to use them to help us get a handle on the primaries.  We met with local community leaders who are dedicated to continuing the primary school porridge program and parents supporting the BLISS secondary school … even if it means paying tuition in bags of corn or chickens.  We did a lot of listening to teachers about what they face each day and the resilience of children to learn in all kinds of conditions.

All of you will hear more in the coming weeks.  We've a story to tell .  FUMC is transforming lives in Kenya.  We look forward to sharing the story.

Your hands, feet and hearts in Kenya,

Kathy, Greg, Julie, John, Debbie, Marcos and Dixie

[Monday AM UPDATE:  Greg was the first up and discovered there was still no water.  As he walked to the main building, he passed one of the units the HS girls had occupied … (you may have guessed by now) … the shower was running full blast.  That's where all the water had gone!] 

  

Kenya Mission Newsletter 9 (Saturday): Know God, Love Others, and Muga

On Saturday, BLISS hosted its Annual Parent General Meeting.  Every school in Kenya is required to host one of these each year by law.  BLISS schedules its session at the start of the school year which is now.  Forget about email reminders, letters to parent homes or phone calls.  They do it the old way,  Every morning this past week, students were reminded to TELL their parents to attend.  It worked.  Over 400 parents packed into the new building to hear about BLISS and the new school year.

The scheduled start was 10:00 AM … so it began about 10:40.  Parents just continued to stream in.  Before long, new rows were made and chairs were added to the aisles (no fire marshals here.)  After an opening prayer, the BLISS band played and the show stopped.  Their brief pre-set program rolled on through numerous ovations and encores.  It was capped off by a thumping rendition of "Onward Christian Soldiers" that would have brought even my Methodist ancestors to their feet!!  They did Larry Dittmar and all those Ann Arbor donated instruments proud.  Whew - What a start!

Things sort of stalled there for those on the team who are not fluent in either Kimeru (the local language) or Swahili. (That was 100% of us.)  Aside from brief snippets in English (for our benefit), the remainder of the meeting was conducted in the languages the parents were most likely to understand.  The vast majority of the parents grew up before free primary school education was offered or available.  Their commitment to educating their children was evident.  Remember the 400+ parents?  There were 3 cars.  Not because of an eco-friendly or fitness ethic.  They came on foot … some walking multiple hours just to be there.  Many in their Sunday-best over rough roads and with no sidewalks.  Not by choice.  It was their only way to attend and demonstrate their support.

It would have made even the most jaded pause.  Their children were going to have the opportunity they had not had because of BLISS.  

Back to the meeting … in good Kenyan fashion, each 5-minute speech on the agenda took 20-30 minutes.  No one seemed to mind.  Several hours in, it was our turn on the agenda. Moses gave a wonderful introduction explaining all that FUMC had done for the school.  We began introducing ourselves as Moses did the translation for the parents … until Marcos.  With his beaming smile, Marcos addressed the throng with a loud "Muga!"  (Hello in Kimeru)  The place fell apart in cheers and laughter.  It was wonderful. The remainder of the team followed suit.  It really did not matter what we said.  Muga was enough.  Greg capped it off with a few brief statements about all we have in common … and "We love you."  Wish you could have been there.  Wish we could have bottled that gratitude to bring home and pass out next Sunday.  Wish all of you get to experience this one day.

Tomorrow is Sunday and we will be in church with so many of the teachers we have worked with this past week.  We will be marking the end of our week the way began it.  This time asking help for our journey home, saying thank you for all that has taken place, and to borrow from the author Anne Lamott, "WOW!"  She describes "WOW" as the prayer we make when we feel that unexpected flash of grace … proof that we are not dulled to wonder. 

Your hands, hearts and feet in Kenya,

Kathy, Marcos, Julie, John, Dixie, Greg, and Debbie

[Photo taken before the meeting began as  extra chairs were added]

[Parents beginning to register for the General Meeting]

Kenya Mission Newsletter 8 (Friday): We love you

The team took its first real break this morning and visited a number of local sites.  We experienced the chaos of morning traffic in downtown Meru … no traffic lights, no sidewalks, donkey-drawn carts competing with huge lorries (we've been here a week so we can call trucks, lorries), thousands of locals trying to get to work, hundreds of cars (Did you know you could be arrested for honking your horn here?), and then add countless motorbikes.  It is amazing … it is slow … everyone seems to dodge each other and somehow you get to where ever it is you are going.  

One of our stops was at the women's cooperative known as Makena.  They are best known for their amazing work with local women … and their rugs.  If you have ever been on one of the mission teams here, you likely have at least one of these indestructible … and beautiful rugs in your home.  Every year they seems to get more lovely.  This year was no exception.

We hurried back to host the Gichunge staff for lunch at the Thiiri Centre.  This was a first.  We have never hosted the entire staff of a primary school for lunch.   It was something that we had thought to do as we planned our trip.  We knew the leadership of the school had changed and we thought of it as a way to build trust.  The original plan was to do this early in the week.  We learned on Monday that it could not be scheduled until Friday due to the student teachers who were working in the school all week each morning.  We had been experimenting with math games/exercises during our afternoon school visits, but had no idea what teachers felt about them.  

It felt like a one of those dates you made in junior high and then had second thoughts  about doing it.  Did they really want to come?  What would we talk about?  What if they thought everything we had done was stupid?  I suspect they had similar thoughts.  We sprinkled ourselves among them at the tables as lunch began.  We broke the ice by actually doing one of the numbered card exercises with them.  Each table picked a number from their stack from 1-20.  Everyone then had to come up with a "formula" to get that number using addition, subtraction and multiplication.  We all warmed up a bit.  

As good Methodists, we could go no further without eating, so we broke for the food. We then returned to go through two more math exercises we had done in their classrooms including one with decks of playing cards.  By the time we got to showing them the flash cards we had brought and the posters (John and Marcos were heroes AGAIN with their demonstration on using magnets), the room was alive.  We had gone from hearing a pin drop to having to shout to be heard across a table that only had 4 people at it.  Not bad!  We topped it all off with a group picture that actually involved about a hundred pictures.  It turns out Kenyans do as many selfies as Americans do.   Below you will find one of the few that did not include someone taking a photo of the person taking the photo.  It was all good fun … and probably did more to build relationships than anything else we could have done all week … and all for about the cost of a Quarter Pounder per person back in the US.  Amazing.

As we met this evening to plan our Saturday at BLISS, we realized how much we had to be thankful for.  Aside from missing all the awful cold most of you reading this are experiencing, one of our team members pointed out just how many times this week we had been told, "We love you."  It stopped us in our tracks.  Had we said it in return?  We had been working hard, we had traveled all the way here, we had brought lots of stuff … but had we said the simple words Christ has said to us.

All the best from your hands and feet in Kenya,

Kathy, Greg, Debbie, John, Julie, Marcos, and Dixie

Kenya Mission Newsletter 7: Hanging Dusters

We all started the day at BLISS.  We did a number of important "deliveries" including a set of tractor models (1 for BLISS and 1 for the Polytechnic) and a set of power drills (also to be used at BLISS and the Polytechnic).  We spent time with Gilbert who teaches Mathematics and he shared a number of insights that we applied to our teaching of math at the primary in the afternoon.

Dixie worked at the Thiiri Centre teaching a session for local retirees.  She covered safety in the home, reducing clutter, and safe lighting.  She then assisted in checking everyone's blood pressure.  After lunch she joined the Boy Scouts at BLISS as they practiced their drills.  She provided a First Aid Kit to each new scout.

Only Greg had enough energy to return to BLISS late in the afternoon for the practice of the new band members.  We will check his hearing.  

Our "aha" moment came today as Marcos and John were working at Gichunge with the  materials we brought to assist teachers in hanging instructional materials on their rough block walls.  In the past, they have used glue, paste or heavy tape.  When they need to remove the posters for exams, they are damaged … often permanently.  We brought a variety of magnetic strips and dots, glue and other fasteners.  As Marcos and John made their classroom assessments trying to figure out what would work, they ended up in the Teacher Work Room.  They attempted to engage the staff in a discussion of what would work … they got NO where.  Marcos admits his Mexican accent probably did not help.  As they were feeling almost complete rejection, John took a strip of Velcro and slapped it on the back of an eraser ("duster" if you are in Kenya) …this got the attention of the staff.  He took the next strip and slapped it on the wall next to the blackboard on the wall.  Eureka!!  You would have thought it was the last day of school and these two had made it happen.  Suddenly everyone was running for their "dusters" to have them Velcro'd by our 2 Velcro engineers.  The two of them then moved from classroom to classroom slapping Velcro strips on each wall for the teacher and making sure each "duster" was treated.  All kidding aside, materials as simple as erasers and chalk are so hard to come by in Kenya, they are treated with great care by each teacher.  I suspect Marcos and John may be remembered long after all our attempts to enhance their math skills are forgotten. So be it … it is often the simple things that help the most.

                                                                                                 

Kathy, Marcos, Debbie, John, Dixie, Julie and Greg

Kenya Mission Newsletter 6: Amazing Maize

Wednesday was a long day by our standards, but not by Kenyan standards.  BLISS Secondary School students begin each day at 7:00 AM and classes end at 5:00 PM … SIX days a week.  Our day was a few hours longer since we attended the 5:00 Lenten Service at the Mawanka Church … a great idea if only we had asked if it was in English (it was not) and would be about the same length as at FUMC (lasted about 2 hours).  

We began our day with leading the devotions for BLISS (no elephants this time) and distributing the school shoulder bags we had brought for the first year students.  We then quickly moved on to spend the morning at the Kithoka Primary where we toured the school, had tea with their staff and heard about the feeding program supported by FUMC.  If only all of you could have heard how much the daily cup of porridge means to them.

Most of the team spent the afternoon at Gichunge.  Our focus this year has been math.  We continue to try to get a handle on how to help in this area.  Math is competing for classroom time in even the pre-primary rooms where large portions of the day are spent in learning English (they come to school with only knowing Kimeru) and Swahili.  The great news is that EVERY Kenysn student is trilingual by the end of primary.  The bad news is the time it takes from we in the US might call STEM subjects. 

The Gichunge parents took in the harvest of maize yesterday.  They laid it out on the school grounds to dry.  It was wonderful to see as evidence of our mutual commitment to the porridge program.  

In our travels we passed by the Winner's Hotel (not sure where the Losers stay) and for those on the cutting edge, you can shop at the Digital Butchery.  

All the best from Kenya,

Kathy, Marcos, Julie, Greg, Dixie, John, and Debbie 

Kenya Mission Newsletter 5: Upstaged

We began the day with the wonderful students at Gichunge Primary School.  We barely got out of our van and we were surrounded.  Handshakes or high-fives for everyone.  We started leading their morning devotional assembly with song and a skit … so far, so good.  We were building to our BIG close when the left side of the assembly broke into excited chatter and the rest of the student body quickly abandoned us to see what they were pointing to.  We found ourselves standing in front of a handful of dazed 3-year olds for our big close … and no one else.  I am sure most of us have had a weak ending before, but never quite like this.  We were upstaged by an elephant on the other side of the fence a hundred yards away.  Oh well.  It was all very humbling … and very Kenyan.  

The team spent time at both BLISS and Gichunge today.  We also briefly visited Kithoka Primary School where we will be touring tomorrow. Hopefully without elephants.  The BLISS classroom highlights today were sitting in on classes, touring their agricultural efforts (some sweet pigs and a need for water catchment), and First versus Second Form debate in Swahili (we will never know who won.)  Great news about the BLISS band.  They placed 3rd out of 10 bands for all of Kenya last August. (Larry Dittmar, you had better be smiling!)

The Gichunge Primary teaching highlights included trying to use planing cards to teach basic math (said "Maths" here in Kenya) skills.  Aside from a language barrier at 1st Standard (about 5-6 year-olds), there was a much stronger interest in touching white skin and hair petting (ask Dixie for details).  A bit more progress was made at the 2nd level.  It made for some wonderful story telling over dinner.  The absolutely great outcome of our trip thus far is how much we are discovering and documenting about what will and will not work. There is a real sense of partnering with the teaching staff.

For those of you wondering, today's best business name is The Glorious Kiosk.  It was unmanned as we drove by the 5x5 roadside stand today leaving us to speculate about it products or services.

Another rainstorm this afternoon … did not dampen our spirits.  Until tomorrow,

Kathy, Greg, Marcos, John, Dixie, Julie and Debbie

Fwd: Newsleter 4: Life at BLISS

Today began by attending the outdoor assembly of all 450 + BLISS students.  The band played, the students raised the flag of Kenya, announcements were made and Moses welcomed the FUMC team to the Secondary School.  It was pretty amazing and for those who have witnessed it in the past, you know the how it goes … students stand with their "forms" (grade level) at attention around the flag pole while being reminded of the value of a great education and their responsibilities to attend school and work hard.  We then introduced ourselves and passed on greetings from FUMC and Ann Arbor.

Debbie, Julie and Dixie spent the morning at Gichunge Primary. They met Patrick the new Head Teacher and got a tour of the shamba (plot of land) used for growing food for the feeding program.   The crop will be harvested later this week by the school parents.  They will know then how well they have done with the crop.  Gichunge did much better this past November on their National Exams … but still lag far behind the private boarding schools.  They stayed through the distribution of the morning meal of porridge provided through your donations.  We will continue to work with them on their math skills for the remainder of the week.

We all spent the afternoon at BLISS … mostly checking up on the status of everything from the instrumental music program to the pigs being raised by the agricultural students. (Both are doing fine!)  We walked form BLISS to Polytechnic School and received a tour from Dickson who teaches at BLISS, but is on the Board of Directors for the Polytechnic.  The Polytechnic is doing AMAZING things.  They have managed to find a number of companies to donate materials to support their programs and are setting up a number of "enterprises" within the school.  The enterprises earn money that goes back into the school and also provides some income to the students involved. This includes their sewing program that is now making uniforms for BLISS students, their agricultural program that is producing enough food to feed the student body and to sell the surplus at the local market, and the metal working program that is now making chairs they are selling to BLISS to fill the new classrooms.  

The school day begins at BLISS at 7:00 AM and classes continue until 5:00 PM.   SIX DAYS A WEEK!  They are all trying to make up for the 3 weeks of a national teachers strike that started school year late.  There is nothing but gratitude for having the opportunity to go to school … and with no hope of a snow day!  

Band practice takes place AFTER school at 5:00.  Greg and I attended … and Greg played drums with the band.  I have NO idea of this latent talent of his.  Weren't the guys in the drum section always the ones who goofed off?  Who knew!

We held a debrief and planning session tonight after dinner.  We shared what we had each learned and our plans for tomorrow (another long one.)   We also practiced a skit for performing during the morning devotions at Gichunge.  I will let you know how we do … we are guaranteed of the standing ovations.  The 3-14 year old students are standing to begin with. :)

All the best from Kenya,

Kathy, Dixie, Julie, Debbie, Greg, John and Marcos

Fwd: Newsletter 2: Arrival in Meru

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kathy Macdonald <kmac@macdgroup.com>

Date: February 14, 2015 at 2:36:09 PM EST

Subject: Newsletter 2: Arrival in Meru

To: Gary McClusky <gary.mcclusky@gmail.com>

I suspect many of you reading this are not really interested in a weather report from the equator, but it is HOT.  Even for Kenya.  We sweated our way in the van to Meru today doing it the old fashioned way … with the windows rolled down and the dust pouring in.  It was glorious.  The photo below was taken at the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi before we departed.  Trust me … we did not look quite so chipper when we arrived in Meru 7 hours later.  For those of you who have come on past trips, you will recognize Charles from Lindberg Travel in the Photo.

Kenya is known for its over-crowded matatus which are vans that pick up passengers and packages of all sorts along the roadsides.  As we were departing Nairobi on a 4-land highway, we passed a matatu with a passenger on roller skates riding along behind clinging to the tail lights.   Our best guess was we were all going about 40 MPH.    James Bond would have been impressed.  

Mount Kenya was "happy" today and showed us her peaks which are often covered in clouds.  We also saw a rainbow which we decided to take as a good omen for the week.  Julie has decided to record some of the wonderful names Kenyans give their businesses.  Among the best today were:  Overflow College of Hairdressing and Beauty, The Fair Deal Apartments, and side-by-side were the Glory Milk Bar and Dash Cake Market.

We had a wonderful Valentine dinner tonight prepared by Dan Clauw from FUMC who was in Meru scouting plans for a large group from the University of Michigan coming in June.  It featured "slow meat" which is delight he often creates for his students.  Bishop Imathiu, Moses (from BLISS), and a variety of local dignitaries and teachers came to join us for dinner.  It was a great evening capped off by comments from the Bishop.  We are now all falling into bed.  Grateful to have finally arrived.  Looking forward to beginning our planning work tomorrow.

Kathy, Greg, John Marcos, Dixie, Debbie and Julie (this really was a group effort)

Fwd: Newsletter 3: Life in Meru

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kathy Macdonald <kmac@macdgroup.com>

Subject: Newsletter 3: Life in Meru

Date: February 15, 2015 at 11:10:27 PM EST

To: Gary McClusky <gary.mcclusky@gmail.com>

Jambo! 

Got up bright and early Sunday morning and headed to the Mwanika church.  We were asked to introduce ourselves and were asked if we would like to sing for the congregation …we spared them and stuck to introductions. Our photo today features Dixie who everyone in Kenya knows (or it seems like it), Marilyn from Thiiri Centre where we are staying and a member of the Mwanika church.

After church we had a good final debrief with Dan Clauw from FUMC before he departed after a week in Meru. He and his brother, Marty, are on their way  back to Michigan.  From what we hear, it will a real shock to their systems.  

We spent much of the afternoon emptying the tubs we brought along and organized ourselves for tomorrow. We met again after dinner and laid out the week of work before us. (See photo below) An impressive Kenyan thunder storm rolled through during our session … rained hard enough for water to flow in under the door of the room we were meeting in. This means means we will need to be ready for mud tomorrow.

Picked up a few final supplies at the local Nakumat in the late afternoon. (Think Target, Walmart, Meijer and Kmart rolled into one.)  We discovered security in Kenya is even tighter than we were warned.  You are personally scanned entering any store (think airport scanning) and only essentials are allowed in on your person or in your bag.  Our team did discover that the clearance table for Valentine's items was huge. They all claimed they did not buy cards or chocolates to keep for next year.  

  

We added to our list of Kenyan business names.  Our favorites for today were: Hand of God Computer Solutions and God's Favorite Butchery.  Not sure if either will be coming to a strip mall near you soon.

We begin early tomorrow morning at BLISS Secondary School where we will be officially introduced to the student body which is now OVER 500.  We then divide with some of staying on to work at BLISS and others heading off to meet the new Head Teacher at Gichunge Primary.  Wish us well and stay tuned.

Kathy, Dixie, Julie, Debbie, Marcos, Greg and John 

Kathleen Macdonald
kmac@macdgroup.com

The Macdonald Group
115 East Ann Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Cell: 734.834.2532
Office: 734.973.2100
Fax: 734.973.2200

www.macdgroup.com

Fwd: Newsletter from Kenya

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kathy Macdonald <kmac@macdgroup.com>

Date: February 13, 2015 at 4:08:22 PM EST

Subject: Newsletter from Kenya

To: Gary McClusky <gary.mcclusky@gmail.com>

We made it to Nairobi.  The trip never seems to get any shorter.  This is a pretty seasoned team so everyone stuck together as we made the Amsterdam  connection.  For those of us who love our coffee, we even had a chance to sit have a cup before our next flight took off.

When we got to Nairobi, our friends from the Lindberg Travel group were there to meet us at the airport … a welcome sight after a couple of hours getting through customs.

We are all settled in tonight at the Methodist Guest House.  I suspect everyone will sleep much better laying down than sitting up.  We have an orientation session with our Lindberg drivers in the morning and then we are off to Meru.  We are all looking forward to the ride and the opportunity to see Kenya from the van.

I have attached a photo that was taken at the Detroit Airport before our departure.  Think of this as the "Before" picture.  We look forward to a great week of continuing the work that so many other teams before us have laid the groundwork for.

Kathy