On Christmas eve I watched the Nativity story film, think it came out a few years ago. Its pretty good, apart from a few interesting lighting effects and at one point the angel looks a bit like he should pull out a v-shaped electric guitar and disappear in a cloud of smoke!
In general it shows the nativity sort of how it would have been, more so than the veggietales version at least. My favourite bit was the shepherds, in the film Mary and Joseph bump into a shepherd on their journey to Bethlehem, they are knackered and cold so he invites them to sit by his fire for a bit. Later once Jesus is born he rocks up with his friends in response to the angels tip off and there is an awesome scene where this shepherd guy is totally humbled by this baby who he knows is God, the shepherd is just crying and scared to even touch the baby.
From the holiday clubs I learnt that shepherds in those days were really poor and looked down on by society, no one really cared for them. At our church the kids did the nativity play as if it happened in Kibera and the shepherds were played by street kids called ‘chokora’ here, pretty sure chokora sort of means rubbish/worthless.
I was really blown away that when Jesus rocked up He let the shepherds, the worthless have the honour of welcoming Him, the honour of being the first to bow down before Him, the first to worship Him. And He came in such a way that made Him accessible to the poor, they weren’t restricted by a rockstar’s bodyguards or a king’s foot soldiers.
And then the wise guys turn up too and offer their crazy pricey gifts, they are also completely humbled and all of a sudden the outcast shepherds, Mary and Joseph the oppressed Jewish family and these well educated rich travellers become equal before a little squirming baby with a flippin big secret.
Jesus loves the humble whether someone humbles them self or they have been humbled, even humiliated by the situations they live in. He makes Himself accessible to the poor, to people who are denied so much. He makes Himself simple to people with no education and makes Himself a puzzle to clever people who like cracking codes and seeking understanding. Flippin love Jesus.
Friday, 26 December 2008
Friday, 19 December 2008
Baby Em et al
Florence teaches the prep class at Turning Point, she was expecting one baby then three popped out at once! The first is Emily named after the coolest mzungu in Kibs, second is Valeria, pronounced like malaria with a v, last is Sheila who is a little underweight but doing well.
Monday, 15 December 2008
Mama Ndungu
I hope you remember Mama Ndungu who became a Christian a few weeks ago when we prayed at the farm. We got some bad news this weekend, turns out she was pregnant with twins and lost the babies. At the moment we are unsure whether it was natural or whether she aborted. The mamas found Mary (mama ndungu) in her room obviously in trouble so they took her to hospital. It wasn’t until they returned to her room later that they found a foetus. The other twin came out at the hospital later. She was quite far on in the pregnancy; Florence, Peter’s wife said maybe 6 or 7 months. So it was all very dangerous for her but she seems to be doing well. Jo and I drove up to Naivasha hospital yesterday to be with her and pray with her. She seemed in fairly good spirits which is impressive as I’ve only ever seen her look grumpy at the farm!! She knows God saved her.
Before we went God seemed to want to really assure her of His grace, that she is completely forgiven, she is not condemned, there is no judgement on her no matter what she has done now, in the past or will do in the future. We were able to read a few verses with her:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1,2
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39
And we reminded her of the promise God made her when we prayed at the farm that He wanted to tie Himself to her so that He could never leave her. She seemed encouraged by this stuff. We prayed to together and just sat with her for a bit. I think it was important that we visited her in person. In Kenya people often say ‘we are together’ when you say goodbye or something. I hope our visit convinced Mary that we are together no matter what.
Mary was discharged from hospital yesterday and Jon and Pastor have gone to the farm today to bury the body (the hospital will deal with the second one). Please pray for Mama Ndungu, God’s grace is amazing, pray that she knows completely God’s grace and pray that she will be rooted and established in her new faith. Pray also that the other mamas will look out for her as she returns to the farm.
Before we went God seemed to want to really assure her of His grace, that she is completely forgiven, she is not condemned, there is no judgement on her no matter what she has done now, in the past or will do in the future. We were able to read a few verses with her:
Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1,2
What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39
And we reminded her of the promise God made her when we prayed at the farm that He wanted to tie Himself to her so that He could never leave her. She seemed encouraged by this stuff. We prayed to together and just sat with her for a bit. I think it was important that we visited her in person. In Kenya people often say ‘we are together’ when you say goodbye or something. I hope our visit convinced Mary that we are together no matter what.
Mary was discharged from hospital yesterday and Jon and Pastor have gone to the farm today to bury the body (the hospital will deal with the second one). Please pray for Mama Ndungu, God’s grace is amazing, pray that she knows completely God’s grace and pray that she will be rooted and established in her new faith. Pray also that the other mamas will look out for her as she returns to the farm.
Sunday, 14 December 2008
To build a home
I found out this week that there are people who actually read this blog. I was fairly convinced my mum was the only one to read it as there are never any comments. I feel the pressure now to make it interesting!
I’ve hardly been to the slums where God is this week but when I did go God was very much there. On Monday Jon and I helped Betty move into her new home. Betty is a single mum to four kids – Emmanuel, Rosa and Clover who is cute as and the oldest boy whose name Ive forgotten sorry! Their house was burned down in January in the violence so they have been living in the porch of a building at the D.O.s on the edge of Kibera where we park our car when we go to the project.
A few weeks ago, the kids started coming down to the project for food and we started chatting to Betty about getting a house. The government have been giving money to people who lost their homes in January to build new ones so the District Officer found her a piece of land and she bought the iron sheets she needed but still needed money for wood and builders etc. Turning Point paid for that stuff so Betty was able to build a house for her family and they moved in on Monday. We crammed all their possessions into the back of the landrover, along with me and Kariuki crammed in the back with our faces squished up against the back window.
Their new place is over the other side of Kibera, right on the edge where the higgledy piggledy mess of tin shacks piled on top of each other suddenly stops and turns into grass and trees and bright red African dirt. Their new front door faces away from Kibera so you can’t even see the slum, just green hills. Betty told me now she owns the house she doesn’t have to worry about rent. Also there is a river nearby for clothes washing so they wont have to buy so much water, the forest is close so they can collect firewood instead of spending money on charcoal and there is a small bit of land where she can plant vegetables so she will even save money on food. She is so chuffed. Its still Kibera but life will be a bit easier now and fewer costs mean she might just be able to save enough to get somewhere even better. Good times for Betty.
To build a home is a song by Cinematic Orchestra, have a listen if you can. I think it probably says a little about how Betty must feel about the home she has built for her kids. Ooo it will make you cry!
I’ve hardly been to the slums where God is this week but when I did go God was very much there. On Monday Jon and I helped Betty move into her new home. Betty is a single mum to four kids – Emmanuel, Rosa and Clover who is cute as and the oldest boy whose name Ive forgotten sorry! Their house was burned down in January in the violence so they have been living in the porch of a building at the D.O.s on the edge of Kibera where we park our car when we go to the project.
A few weeks ago, the kids started coming down to the project for food and we started chatting to Betty about getting a house. The government have been giving money to people who lost their homes in January to build new ones so the District Officer found her a piece of land and she bought the iron sheets she needed but still needed money for wood and builders etc. Turning Point paid for that stuff so Betty was able to build a house for her family and they moved in on Monday. We crammed all their possessions into the back of the landrover, along with me and Kariuki crammed in the back with our faces squished up against the back window.
Their new place is over the other side of Kibera, right on the edge where the higgledy piggledy mess of tin shacks piled on top of each other suddenly stops and turns into grass and trees and bright red African dirt. Their new front door faces away from Kibera so you can’t even see the slum, just green hills. Betty told me now she owns the house she doesn’t have to worry about rent. Also there is a river nearby for clothes washing so they wont have to buy so much water, the forest is close so they can collect firewood instead of spending money on charcoal and there is a small bit of land where she can plant vegetables so she will even save money on food. She is so chuffed. Its still Kibera but life will be a bit easier now and fewer costs mean she might just be able to save enough to get somewhere even better. Good times for Betty.
To build a home is a song by Cinematic Orchestra, have a listen if you can. I think it probably says a little about how Betty must feel about the home she has built for her kids. Ooo it will make you cry!
Tuesday, 9 December 2008
Sunday, 7 December 2008
Arm their minds
This week’s holiday club was for the older kids between 12 and 18 years and while last week the teaching was around the Christmas story this week we have had a lady who works for SIM (don’t know what that stands for) doing AIDs education. Actually AIDs education was really only a small part of what she did, she started talking about how much God loves us, so much that Jesus died, she explained what the crucifixion was all about really well. She got all the facts out about HIV/AIDs, how to stay safe etc but she based it all on the bible with the main point being that we are super precious to God and therefore He wants the best for us, that means we need to make good choices. She then taught them how to live out the choices they have made like how to stand up to peer pressure and such. We did some hilarious role-plays on how to say no. Also the kids were telling all the chat up lines they’ve heard which was so funny like ‘you’re the only fish in lake victoria’ or ‘without you is like chai without sugar’!!
Bev and Eric who did the teaching were brilliant, really creative in their presentation and all the kids loved them, they were totally engrossed and actually asked proper questions about stuff they didn’t understand which is impressive considering they were dealing with such an embarrassing and taboo subject. One girl Zenna told me that she was enjoying it because they were teaching stuff she didn’t know.
Jeremiah 31:33 says ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts’. I remember writing an essay about arming the mind, that was about socialism but anyway the teaching that the kids heard this week is so so important, AIDs could kill them and getting pregnant could wreck their plans for the future and sleeping around does nothing for their already wounded self-worth. Sitting in the crowd this week was Petronila who is 14 years old and pregnant, she won’t be able to finish school. Likewise Millicent visited on thursday, she is a little older now but used to be in the project until she also had a baby and now can’t go on to secondary school, she shared with everyone how she wanted to go to secondary but can’t now and she is on her own with the kid. It is so important that the kids understand the teaching and remember it, and we’re praying that God writes it on their hearts. Bev said that actions only really change when there is a heart change, if the kids really believe that they are precious to God and that He has a plan for them, they will be so sold out for that they won’t even think about straying to the left or to the right.
So prayer request this week, please pray for everyone who came to the holiday clubs this week that God will indeed write that stuff on their hearts, that they will really know and understand and even feel how much God loves them so that they wouldn’t settle for anything but His best for them. Its so hard for them to believe that they are precious to anyone because they live in such poverty, its super hard for them to see it or to imagine what kind of plans God could have for them so yeah just pray for them that would be ace.
Also please could you pray for my friend Agri from church who really needs a job, he is HIV+ and is fighting off TB at the moment which means he is knackered all the time from the drugs but he really wants a job so he can afford his own place to live rather than staying with his aunt. She only lets him stay out of cultural obligation but treats him really badly. In the long run he would really like to be stable enough for his daughter to come and stay with him again as the family is currently looking after her. Its really tempting to try and figure out a way that I can help but God has challenged me that He is the one who will provide for Agri, maybe I’ll be involved, maybe not but for now my place is just to pray and encourage him and see what God will do. Agri is a total legend, his faith in God is epic, He totally expects God to come through for him.
Bev and Eric who did the teaching were brilliant, really creative in their presentation and all the kids loved them, they were totally engrossed and actually asked proper questions about stuff they didn’t understand which is impressive considering they were dealing with such an embarrassing and taboo subject. One girl Zenna told me that she was enjoying it because they were teaching stuff she didn’t know.
Jeremiah 31:33 says ‘I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts’. I remember writing an essay about arming the mind, that was about socialism but anyway the teaching that the kids heard this week is so so important, AIDs could kill them and getting pregnant could wreck their plans for the future and sleeping around does nothing for their already wounded self-worth. Sitting in the crowd this week was Petronila who is 14 years old and pregnant, she won’t be able to finish school. Likewise Millicent visited on thursday, she is a little older now but used to be in the project until she also had a baby and now can’t go on to secondary school, she shared with everyone how she wanted to go to secondary but can’t now and she is on her own with the kid. It is so important that the kids understand the teaching and remember it, and we’re praying that God writes it on their hearts. Bev said that actions only really change when there is a heart change, if the kids really believe that they are precious to God and that He has a plan for them, they will be so sold out for that they won’t even think about straying to the left or to the right.
So prayer request this week, please pray for everyone who came to the holiday clubs this week that God will indeed write that stuff on their hearts, that they will really know and understand and even feel how much God loves them so that they wouldn’t settle for anything but His best for them. Its so hard for them to believe that they are precious to anyone because they live in such poverty, its super hard for them to see it or to imagine what kind of plans God could have for them so yeah just pray for them that would be ace.
Also please could you pray for my friend Agri from church who really needs a job, he is HIV+ and is fighting off TB at the moment which means he is knackered all the time from the drugs but he really wants a job so he can afford his own place to live rather than staying with his aunt. She only lets him stay out of cultural obligation but treats him really badly. In the long run he would really like to be stable enough for his daughter to come and stay with him again as the family is currently looking after her. Its really tempting to try and figure out a way that I can help but God has challenged me that He is the one who will provide for Agri, maybe I’ll be involved, maybe not but for now my place is just to pray and encourage him and see what God will do. Agri is a total legend, his faith in God is epic, He totally expects God to come through for him.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Kibera Nativity
Last week was the first week of the Christmas holiday clubs. Schools have ended now for their long holiday, basically the same as English summer holiday. Everyone is getting ready to travel upcountry to their home towns and villages so in the first two weeks we sneak in a holiday club for the kids before they disappear and the project closes.
The photos are from the first week for kids aged between 7 and 12 (I think) and just before it started on the first day Jon decided to let me know I was fronting it! I didn’t have to do much, just make sure we stuck vaguely to the timetable and host it from the front, and judge dramas and memory verses of course. I was a bit daunted as there is no excuse to not use Swahili now so I had all my notes with me and fumbled my way along. This is all good practice as I’m fairly sure Jo and Jon won’t be around for summer camps next year so I need to know what I’m doing!
The week was so much fun, the staff are hilarious as they are each put with a team of kids to compete for the week and they get really into it. On Wednesday Pastor had to visit the farm but he phoned up at lunch time to check the scores, Moses had him on speaker phone and all the staff were winding each other up, so funny.
It has been so good to spend more time with the kids as they are usually at school so I don’t see them at all or they are busy in their classes at Turning Point so I shouldn’t bother them. During the clubs there is time to sit and do colouring with them, eat lunch with them and do ridiculous games with them. We spent like an hour playing a game where they had to chuck a spoonful of water at candles to blow them out. They were rubbish at it so it took ages! Good times.
The photos are from the first week for kids aged between 7 and 12 (I think) and just before it started on the first day Jon decided to let me know I was fronting it! I didn’t have to do much, just make sure we stuck vaguely to the timetable and host it from the front, and judge dramas and memory verses of course. I was a bit daunted as there is no excuse to not use Swahili now so I had all my notes with me and fumbled my way along. This is all good practice as I’m fairly sure Jo and Jon won’t be around for summer camps next year so I need to know what I’m doing!
The week was so much fun, the staff are hilarious as they are each put with a team of kids to compete for the week and they get really into it. On Wednesday Pastor had to visit the farm but he phoned up at lunch time to check the scores, Moses had him on speaker phone and all the staff were winding each other up, so funny.
It has been so good to spend more time with the kids as they are usually at school so I don’t see them at all or they are busy in their classes at Turning Point so I shouldn’t bother them. During the clubs there is time to sit and do colouring with them, eat lunch with them and do ridiculous games with them. We spent like an hour playing a game where they had to chuck a spoonful of water at candles to blow them out. They were rubbish at it so it took ages! Good times.
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