Kenya 2016: Our Second Sunday in Meru

We said farewell to 4 of our team members this morning.  They are off to continue business in Africa, the middle east and Europe.  Only Larry Dittmar headed back to the U.S.   He had a VERY successful week with the BLISS band.  We took a team photo just before the van left to take them to the Nairobi Airport.  I've attached my favorite version.  Not sure what it means when ONLY the three youngest members of the team look very serious.

The reminder of the team headed off to Mwanika church and were delighted to discover that Bishop Imathiu was preaching.  It was about Christians (good people in general) not being afraid to stand up to defend the truth when others twist it, to stand up for what is right when others want to use their power or position, and to stand up to defend those who cannot.  He could have been preaching to an audience in the U.S.  He was urging the congregation to attend a meeting in the afternoon to pressure the County government to begin the construction of the fence to keep the elephants out of the primary school grounds and local community.

Just before starting our packing, the decision was made to re-paint the rock at the edge of the front steps at BLISS. For years it has proudly sported a large maize "M".  This past October, the team from Utah, painted it red with a large gray U for the University of Utah.  Paul Carson who teaches in the Med School took on the task and off he went.  He put the first coat of blue on … added another … waited … and with the help of one of the BLISS staff tried to put on the block M.  This is a test:  What do you get when you put blue and yellow together?  GREEN!  There is now a blue rock with a VERY bright green M on it.  He took a photo … there is still the paper stencil but you can see the fluorescent green.  He left the yellow paint with directions for the teacher to try again tomorrow.  Some of you Spartan fans may find the humor in this.  We did too.

We are up early tomorrow to head off to see some of the wildlife Kenya is trying so hard to protect … even in this community where the elephants regularly come in and crush the crops.  As we end our 2016 mission in Meru, we look forward to reporting back all that we have done.  In fact, we spent a portion of today identifying potential activities for 2017.  As you read this, we hope you will consider joining the next team.  The life you change may be your own.

The Kenya Mission Team

Kenya 2016: Home Visits in Kenya - Friends in far away places

Saturday is a school day in Kenya … they are very serious about their education!  (Not sure we could pull this off in the US.)  We interrupted their studies by dividing ourselves into pairs to be "taken home" by the students.  For the students at BLISS high school, it is an honor to be selected to show us their homes.  

The walks "home" varied from about a mile to over 6 miles in length … remember these same students had walked this distance before 7:00 AM only to walk it again with us less than 2 hours later.  To say this was a humbling experience for the team is an understatement.  Many of the "homes" visited were single rooms shared by a family or shacks rented by the month to students because their families are too far from BLISS to walk in both directions each day.  Few had power, all had exterior wood-burning kitchen huts, and water had to be fetched from a community public source.

When we wonder if these visits to homes or to BLISS have any real meaning, we are presented with evidence that they truly do.  In one home, we were asked to wait while the student ran in to bring out something "very special" that belonged to her older sister.  It was a patched up photo album.  On the first page was a photo of a long-time FUMC team member, Dixie Edwards (see below), and on the following pages were photos of Beth Miller (former FUMC Youth Director) and Alison Punch (an FUMC Youth at the time).  The student explained that these were her sister's "best friends."  Did we know them?

All week we have been confronted with evidence of the good that other teams have left behind.  Some of it is tangible — there are a LOT of University of Michigan T-shirts in this community!  Some of it is intangible — like the memories shared of lives touched both in the Kithoka area of Meru and in Ann Arbor.  

Tomorrow we will attend the local Mwanika church service again.  This time, it will feel like home.  Our new FUMC Vision for 2021 has a section in it titled: "A Place for Everyone: You belong here."  It goes on to say, "God's house, our church home, is more than our buildings.  It is the community of people and this extends to the relationships we build with each other — we belong."  We feel we belong.  We will leave here early Monday morning hoping we have continued to build on the relationships of those who have come before.

The Kenya Mission Team

A typical BLISS student home. The student and her family lived is the room on the left.  Several other families lived in the home on the right.

Photo of Dixie Edwards … probably about 7 years ago.

Walking back to BLISS … imagine this walk both coming and going in the dark.

Kenya 2016: You should consider yourself hugged ... and loved

Trips like this don't just happen.  They take a lot of work, but today was the payoff.

Many of you know about our hope to provide every incoming Form 1 (9th Grader) with a solar light.  Most have no power in their homes and they often walk to and from school in the dark.  This morning the team (YOUR team), distributed the lights.  A representative from the company here in Kenya delivered the lights and provide a demonstration of how to use and care for them.  Life in their homes will never be the same.  They were in awe of the generosity of the gift and thrilled by its possibilities.

This afternoon, we shared a typical American school sack lunch with each of the Eighth Graders in the primary school.  When we shared this plan at the high school in the morning, we were met with a number of blank looks that had us modify our plan to just pass out the lunch sacks.  None of the teachers had ever had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich … nor could imagine one.  To them it seemed like a strange way to eat bread which is often eaten a couple of pieces at a time with nothing on it with morning tea.

Jeremy Punch took the lead at the primary.  In front of the Eighth Grade class, he slowly took each item from the sack and described what it was.  Eyes got bigger and bigger as he went along.  When the sacks were passed out, they initially just sat on each desk.  There was the sense that the students were almost afraid to touch them.  Slowly the sacks were opened and the fun began.  

As we shared the same sack lunches with the school staff, they confirmed that NO ONE had ever had a P&J sandwich.  The students knew of such things as potato chips ("Crisps" in Kenya) and juice boxes, but had likely never had either.  This was a meal would be talked about by these students for years to come.  

What many of us will talk about for years to come is what happened after lunch.  There were about a dozen sack lunches left over.  Without a moment of hesitation, the teachers determined the neediest of the children from across the school.  They were quickly gathered and each was given a sack to take home.  This would likely be all the child or their family would eat today. 

There were lots of hugs and thank you's for the solar lanterns and the lunches  … they were for all of you.  We just happened to get them.   Sleep well.

The Kenya Mission Team

Kenya 2016: Did your high school have pigs?

We began our day at the BLISS high school visiting classrooms.  The teachers often seek to include us by asking questions.  John Palladino was thrown a curve ball when the English teacher asked, "Could you provide an inverse predicate using American English?"  GULP.  His performance was worthy of an Academy Award suggesting we often use different terminology and asking if he could quickly check her textbook.  Extremely fast thinking (or very sneaky) on his part. 

Jeff and Margaret Punch provided dual rabbit dissections for the Science classes.  I suspect not many married couples have attempted this half way around the world!  Apparently they met the challenge as students crowded around and even stood on tables to get a better view.  We decided not to include photos of this although a number of students wanted to know if you could still cook the rabbits.  Paul Carson spent a good part of the day giving talks on cancer … a topic the students were curious about but not well informed.  

Some of us avoided academic dangers like John faced with his grammar question by walking around BLISS visiting parts of the school not often found on our high school campuses … like the pig pen.  It is even more impressive this year by the addition of 2 sextuplet sets of piglets.  These will eventually be sold to raise funds for much needed materials.  Along with the animals, the school has an impressive garden that provides much of the food the school uses in its daily feeding of students.  

Speaking of feeding students, the youth on this year's trip (Abe Ellison, Jeremy Punch, & John Xydis) are providing a "typical" American sack lunch for the Eighth Graders at Gichunge Primary tomorrow.  The afternoon was spent shopping and the evening making the lunches.  The menu is one you may be familiar with: Peanut butter & Jelly sandwich, juice box, bag of chips and a few cookies.  They plan is to talk about what schools are like in Michigan and then share a typical lunch.  When the teaching staff heard the plan, they decided they wanted to be included so we are bring along sack lunches for all of them.  Not sure what they will think of P&J, but it should be fun.  We also have a number of school supplies to present which we know will be appreciated.

As you have your lunch tomorrow, think of us.  We will be explaining the savvy nature of a good peanut butter and jelly sandwich paired with a juice box and topped off with bag of flavored chips.  This may be as strange to our Kenyan friends as a high school with a pig pen.  We have much to learn from each other.  I hope we do.

The Kenya Mission Team

Kenya 2016: This little light of mine ...

In Kenya, the school day begins with an assembly that includes a devotion.  We were asked to provide the message at the primary this morning. The team did a short skit about letting your light shine and then attempted to sing "This little light of mine."  Practice on our part could have helped.  By Kenyan musical standards, we were pathetic … however, we did garner a few chuckles.  

One of the highlights of the day was serving the porridge.  This happens at 11:00 each morning.  The students line up by grade with the youngest going first.  John, Abe and Jeremy poured over 200 servings into plastic cups producing a lot of smiles.  If there was any doubt about the need for the feeding program our measuring of the pre-school classes removed it.  We had a 4-year old who weighed 26 lbs and an 8-year old who weighed 35 lbs.  The porridge program continues to be the only meal that can be counted on by some of the children each day.

A few of our team members spent the afternoon providing science lessons.  Dr Margaret Punch was invited to give a lesson on reproduction to the Grade 6 class.  It included a description of American pizza (look carefully at the chalkboard) along with both male and female anatomy.  (Kenyan children are curious about everything.) She has been asked to repeat the same lesson for the 7th and 8th grades tomorrow.  I am not sure if pizza will be included.

This evening we shared things we were grateful for.  Perhaps the most powerful was by the team member who realized she had touched the hand of every student in the school as she handed each of them their weight and height card to take home.  For many this was the first time this information had ever been taken.  Last night we shared dinner with a young man who attended this same primary school.  He went on to attend BLISS High School and has now graduated from University. One of his most prized possessions is the cloth "cinch sack" with the BLISS school logo … handed to him by an earlier FUMC team 8 years ago.  

We don't always know when or if we're shining light in the lives of others.  The height/weight cards, the cloth cinch sacks, the porridge, the pencils, the classroom chalk, the wall charts, the flash cards, the microscopes … and this year the solar lanterns the team will be handing out to the incoming students at BLISS on Friday.  Perhaps we never know at the time what the impact will be — on us or them.

This little light of mine …

The Kenya Mission Team

Kenya 2016: How badly did you want to go to school?

Approximately 5 years ago, a study of the students in the primary school where we work revealed that almost 40% of the school children were malnourished and alarmingly, some were "wasting" … or severely malnourished.  We worked with the local community to establish a feeding program.  Six days a week, the students receive a cup of porridge.  Earlier today we began the process of repeating the original study to determine the impact of the program.  This meant taking the height, weight, gender and age of each student in the school.

To work out the kinks in our system, we began with the Eighth Grade or what they call Class 8.  After all the measuring, each student received a card with their name, height and weight to take home.  For many, this was the first time they had ever be weighed. Although we worked the entire afternoon, we only managed to complete down through Fourth Grade.  There was a lot of excitement … in fact, we soon found ourselves taking the height and weight of EVERY teacher in the school … and yes, they got a card to take home!

The results reflected what we saw at BLISS on Monday.  As we left the Principal's office, we passed a father with his son - both clearly dressed in their best clothing.  Although the school was 2 weeks into the new term, the father had come to re-enroll his son in high school.  He had saved enough to pay a year's tuition ($125 US) for his son … it had taken 2 years.  His son was back at school to pick up where he had left off 2 years earlier.  This was an occasion to dress for.  

As we measured the children at the primary school, we saw the same pattern.  In fact, the ages in the Fifth Grade ranged from 9 to 16.  No class had less than a 4-year age range.  Poverty means you periodically have to skip a year because your family cannot afford a new school uniform and you have grown out of yours, or you need to help with planting, your younger siblings, or a broken family unit.  

Tomorrow we head back to complete the measurements for the rest of the grades and to complete another first … class photos. Yep. Those photos of everyone in the class lined up with the teacher standing at one end that often landed on your fridge.  Most of these students have never had a photo much less a class photo.  We decided that their tenacity to gain an education deserved to be captured.  It's not much.  It's not enough.  But at least it's something.

The Kenya Mission Team

Kenya 2016: Where a nametag can make your day

If you haven't already figured it out, we are working in a very poor community.  This was brought home in a number of ways today  though students without shoes, school uniforms with holes, and an almost total lack of resources.  To the credit of the Kenyans, they continue to fight the uphill battle to even the odds for their youngest citizens who will have to compete in this century.  We spent the afternoon at the Gichunge Primary where they were eager to show us their brand new computer room.  I've attached a photo.  It is without computers, tables or chairs (I think this is where something like "hope springs eternal" fits in!)  The students were bent over their school notebooks on the floor recording what the teacher had written on the blackboard about how a computer works.  As I write this on my Retina MacBook, I am pretty humbled by the leap they are determined to take.

This brings me to the topic of name tags.  It was the Head Teacher (Principal) who had proudly shared this computer room with us.  He is the one on the front line everyday.  Back in his office, seated on a wide variety of chairs that had been gathered for us, we talked about how to best conduct the projects we had planned for the week.  We presented him with the name tag we had made for him.  He looked like he was seven-year-old again … it was a combination of delight, surprise and amazement.   Yep.  We had made his day!  His plan was for us to surprise his entire staff down through the night watchman.with their tags tomorrow (Can't wait to take that picture!)

So as you clip on your ID tag or corporate name tag tomorrow, imagine never having had anything like this before.  We are in a part of the world where a name-tag can make your day. Tomorrow we are back to both BLISS (the high school) and Gichunge sitting in on classes and working on projects.  It will be another long day, but worth it.

Finally, with all the usual news of terrorism, disease and corruption in Africa, know that we are in a place that is fighting to beat the odds.  And with God's help, we are determined to help.

The Kenya Team

Kenya 2016: Sunday in Meru

The team headed off to the Mwanika Methodist Church this morning.  It felt a bit like a service designed by Charles Wesley the musical brother of John Wesley.  There was singing, singing, singing and more singing.  It was amazing although longer than Doug Paterson could get away with at FUMC. The energy was great.

After church, we did a quick run to the local Nakumatt … a cross between a Meijer, a Walmart and the Ace Hardware on Stadium (you know the one that has EVERYTHING!)  We picked up all the items we had forgotten and snacks to fend off the late night munchies for those still in the wrong time zone.

After lunch, we took the vans to see BLISS (the high school) and Gichunge Primary where we will be working all week.  This is when it hit home for many of the team particularly at Gichunge where the doors are still missing on many of the classrooms and the physical environment in each of the classrooms leaves one close to tears (e.g. broken desks, broken windows, no power, holes in the  corrugated roof … you get the picture.)  It was good to see today before meeting the staff and students.

We will go to bed tonight thankful that we have come.  Fearful that we may not be able to do even a portion of what we would like to do.  Committed to doing what we can.

The Kenya Mission Team

John, Abe and Jeremy dressed and ready for church …

Our American team ...

Take on the Kenyan team before dinner!

Kenya 2016: We have made it to Meru!

The team made the final leg from Nairobi to Meru today.  The trip took at bit longer than usually due to a few traffic backups.  We got to see how Kenyan drivers respond to back-ups … they create new traffic lanes (e.g., use the shoulder - on BOTH sides of the road, use the walking paths as alternative roadways, use the lane for oncoming traffic, etc.)  It was pretty exciting!

We are all settled into our rooms in the Thiiri Center in Meru this evening.  During dinner, Moses (the Head Master from BLISS) stopped by to say Hello to the team.  After a short team meeting, everyone headed off to bed.  Most are still trying to get their bodies into the right time zone.

We head off to church in the morning and then tour the area.  We will spend the afternoon sorting through the projects for the week.

Wish us well.  Everyone is still doing fine!

The Kenya Mission Team

Kenya 2016: Breakfast in Meru

Jambo!

We made it to Nairobi.  I've attached a photo of the "early risers" … this is post-coffee.  We will leave shortly for the drive to Meru.  Everyone is in good shape.  We made it through customs without some of the challenges we have faced in the past.  Whew!

I will sent a team photo later today … when EVERYONE has their eyes open.

The Kenya Mission Team

Kenya 2016: The Kenya Team is on its way!

I am providing you this update from the half way point on our journey.  We made it to Amsterdam and are taking a moment to catch our collective breath before the next 8 hour flight to Nairobi.  All is well.  We look at bit sleepier than in this photo taken in Detroit before we departed.

All the best,

The Kenya Mission Team