Went to the farm today to see how things are going. Since we prayed at the farm a couple of weeks ago there has been so much rain every hole in the ground is full of water and the whole place is green again. All the mums are attributing the rain to God, Jackie said ‘we are so happy because God came’.
When I asked them what we should pray this time, the first thing they said was to thank God for the rain. Other than that they asked for…
1. more rain! For a bumper harvest
2. their health as many of the mamas and children have been sick recently
3. for the kids to do well in school
4. for peace and unity and grace at the farm
So if you are up for praying for the mums please get involved.
Because the land is so good, when it does rain potatoes and peas pop up everywhere. The mamas who have taken care in planting and cultivating their acres should get a great harvest but even the mamas who only planted part of their land will be able to harvest loads. A nice farming example of grace, we harvest what we didn’t even plant.
A lady who was renting the bit of land next to the TP farm has just moved house because she finally saved up enough money to buy her own piece of land. It is achievable, it took years and loads of hard work but it can be done and the mamas have the advantage of a rent-free house.
The verse that kept popping into my head as we squelched around the farm today was Philippians 4:19 ‘and my God will meet all your needs according to His glorious riches in Christ Jesus’. Sometimes I find it hard to fit these verses with the reality of poverty in Kenya, the mamas were asking me for blankets today because its cold and they can’t afford to buy them. But I guess that’s what faith is for, believing for things you hope for but don’t see yet.
Thursday, 28 May 2009
Tuesday, 19 May 2009
Seen from the sky
Jambo sana. Walking through the slum from the Kianda project to the Mashimoni project you basically follow the railway line (except for the parts where it goes into a ravine as its like the Jericho road, very conducive to muggings). Anyway at other parts the railway is up on a mound and you can see over Kibera. The first time we walked it we noticed some paint on some of the roofs, looking closer we realized it was eyes and faces looking up out of the slum.
This required some investigation, after some googling around I discovered the artist goes by the name of JR and this ‘piece’ was part of a bigger project called women are heroes. He has taken pictures of women from Kibera and printed up their photos on huge tarpaulins to cover the roofs of the shacks. He also covered a train in photos so when the train passes at one point the eyes line up with the smiles on the side of the mound. This guy likes taking pictures of people who otherwise go unnoticed then he sneaky sneaky plasters their photographs massive somewhere it can’t be ignored. Inspired. You can see more photos on his website www.jr-art.net or www.28millimetres.com/women/. He’s done a lot of other interesting projects across Africa, India, South America and on the Gaza strip. Check it out!
This required some investigation, after some googling around I discovered the artist goes by the name of JR and this ‘piece’ was part of a bigger project called women are heroes. He has taken pictures of women from Kibera and printed up their photos on huge tarpaulins to cover the roofs of the shacks. He also covered a train in photos so when the train passes at one point the eyes line up with the smiles on the side of the mound. This guy likes taking pictures of people who otherwise go unnoticed then he sneaky sneaky plasters their photographs massive somewhere it can’t be ignored. Inspired. You can see more photos on his website www.jr-art.net or www.28millimetres.com/women/. He’s done a lot of other interesting projects across Africa, India, South America and on the Gaza strip. Check it out!
Wednesday, 13 May 2009
Slum domination
Turning Point is taking over. The new Kianda project opened on Monday this week, 43 kids rocked up on the first day for tea and mandazi, teaching, stories, songs and games. It’s a really simple project for now, just a couple of hours in the mornings to start feeding the kids and getting to know them and their families. It will be a while until we understand what the needs are in the area and how to develop the project in a relevant way, so it may end up looking different to our project in Mashimoni.
Mary is the project mama on that side, its great to watch her with the kids she so loves them and she is not still for a moment she is always looking to who needs help, what needs doing, taking every opportunity to get alongside the kids and get to know them. Not to mention spending a lot of time cracking up. Mary is heading up a team of two other staff, Benson who helps with teaching and caring for the kids and Jane who cooks the tea and mandazi.
We went to visit the project again this morning, there were a few less kids than Monday but already the need for us to be there became evident in a kid called Daisy. She is maybe eight years old and had been beaten by the aunt she has lived with since her mum died. She was so upset, her arm was swollen and had also been burnt. So when we left this morning Mary was planning to go and find the aunt with Daisy once the program had finished and try to sort something out.
Jesus was evidently in the room as we prayed with Daisy for her protection, that His perfect love would push out her fear, that He would heal her arm. I kept thinking of how throughout the bible God calls us to speak up for those who don’t have a voice, to stand up for the powerless and that’s exactly what Mary is able to do for Daisy. God is all about redeeming situations, setting them right, putting families back together as He intended them to be so please be praying for this family. God is in the slums.
Also you may have heard that the long rains have taken their time about starting and the mamas at the farm were really struggling. We went up to the farm last week and did a prayer walk around the land, I know loads of people (probably the whole of Kenya) have been praying for rain so Pastor got soaked when he went to check up on the farm yesterday!
Mary is the project mama on that side, its great to watch her with the kids she so loves them and she is not still for a moment she is always looking to who needs help, what needs doing, taking every opportunity to get alongside the kids and get to know them. Not to mention spending a lot of time cracking up. Mary is heading up a team of two other staff, Benson who helps with teaching and caring for the kids and Jane who cooks the tea and mandazi.
We went to visit the project again this morning, there were a few less kids than Monday but already the need for us to be there became evident in a kid called Daisy. She is maybe eight years old and had been beaten by the aunt she has lived with since her mum died. She was so upset, her arm was swollen and had also been burnt. So when we left this morning Mary was planning to go and find the aunt with Daisy once the program had finished and try to sort something out.
Jesus was evidently in the room as we prayed with Daisy for her protection, that His perfect love would push out her fear, that He would heal her arm. I kept thinking of how throughout the bible God calls us to speak up for those who don’t have a voice, to stand up for the powerless and that’s exactly what Mary is able to do for Daisy. God is all about redeeming situations, setting them right, putting families back together as He intended them to be so please be praying for this family. God is in the slums.
Also you may have heard that the long rains have taken their time about starting and the mamas at the farm were really struggling. We went up to the farm last week and did a prayer walk around the land, I know loads of people (probably the whole of Kenya) have been praying for rain so Pastor got soaked when he went to check up on the farm yesterday!
Sunday, 26 April 2009
Margaret puked on Jon's car!
The project has been closed since the holiday clubs so I’ve not had anything interesting to report for a while unless you are interested in figuring out how Microsoft Access works. Dull. But yesterday we took Benedictor, Relina and Syombua back to Daraja Academy secondary school up near Mount Kenya. It’s AMAZING! God is so flippin good, this school is ace.
The campus was built by some Americans who originally brought poor kids from the wrong side of the tracks, much like Ryan in the OC, to Kenya to sort their lives out. They made a film about it called ‘The Boys of Baraka’ which looks really interesting. Anyway, this means that the campus was built to a standard that American kids could deal with which means it is super nice.
The school we take the kids to for summer camps is a big step up from Kibera for the kids but to the UK team it feels like slumming it. It’s fairly basic, clean enough but not exactly comfortable. Daraja is beautiful, there’s a fireplace in the dining room that wouldn’t look out of place in a safari lodge, there is a lounge connected to the dorms with comfy sofas, there’s a library filled with new and interesting books.
The environment is stunning, it’s in the bush close to Mount Kenya and elephants, zebra and giraffe all roam about. I also noticed several squirrels, haven’t seen a good squirrel in a while. We walked down to the river which is filled with water from the snow on Mount Kenya, we played about a bit and Relina learnt how to skim stones. In Kibera the ‘rivers’ are just streams of sewage, you wouldn’t want to skim stones on that for fear of what the splashback could contain, plus you would have to bounce the stones around the rubbish floating in the sludge. Finally the girls are living in the environment they deserve, being told that they are amazing, getting a great education, there’s all sorts of empowerment going on. Maybe these girls might actually make it out of the slum.
God is so amazing, the couple who set up the school are not Christians, I don’t know if they have ever prayed about their school, but I wonder how many prayers are being and will be answered through them, their work and all their staff. I’m thanking God so much for them. God works in all things for the good of those who love Him.
The campus was built by some Americans who originally brought poor kids from the wrong side of the tracks, much like Ryan in the OC, to Kenya to sort their lives out. They made a film about it called ‘The Boys of Baraka’ which looks really interesting. Anyway, this means that the campus was built to a standard that American kids could deal with which means it is super nice.
The school we take the kids to for summer camps is a big step up from Kibera for the kids but to the UK team it feels like slumming it. It’s fairly basic, clean enough but not exactly comfortable. Daraja is beautiful, there’s a fireplace in the dining room that wouldn’t look out of place in a safari lodge, there is a lounge connected to the dorms with comfy sofas, there’s a library filled with new and interesting books.
The environment is stunning, it’s in the bush close to Mount Kenya and elephants, zebra and giraffe all roam about. I also noticed several squirrels, haven’t seen a good squirrel in a while. We walked down to the river which is filled with water from the snow on Mount Kenya, we played about a bit and Relina learnt how to skim stones. In Kibera the ‘rivers’ are just streams of sewage, you wouldn’t want to skim stones on that for fear of what the splashback could contain, plus you would have to bounce the stones around the rubbish floating in the sludge. Finally the girls are living in the environment they deserve, being told that they are amazing, getting a great education, there’s all sorts of empowerment going on. Maybe these girls might actually make it out of the slum.
God is so amazing, the couple who set up the school are not Christians, I don’t know if they have ever prayed about their school, but I wonder how many prayers are being and will be answered through them, their work and all their staff. I’m thanking God so much for them. God works in all things for the good of those who love Him.
Wednesday, 15 April 2009
Karibu tena
I arrived back in Kenya at the beginning of April and my first few days involved cutting out frogs and other things for craft activities for the easter holiday clubs. I didn’t quite factor in the fact that usually there is a team of nine of us preparing for holiday camps in the summer and that’s why it only takes an afternoon to prepare everything. It seems to take a lot longer when it is only one person, I didn’t think of that when I turned down Jo’s help. Luckily I enlisted some help from some unsuspecting friends who thought they were just coming over to watch movies.
So last week was a full on week of easter clubs, usually we spread it over two weeks and just do it in the mornings but for some reason we did it all in one week doing full days which was absolutely knackering. It was a shame for the older kids who came in the afternoons because we were all flagging by that time so they didn’t have quite as much fun as the little ones who came in the morning.
What was cool though was the helpers I had to run the club. Jo and Jon weren’t around so firstly a volunteer called Jackie, a Kenyan who comes to our church came to help which was brilliant. She has a lot of experience of working with kids in the refugee camps on the Somali border, Pastor Shadrack was sick all week so she offered to help Pastor David with some of the teaching which she did excellently. She is much more interactive with the kids than our two Pastor’s style. The kids engage a bit more that way so hopefully David got some tips from her, he was certainly very impressed.
Equally exciting was having Hussein help with the leading, Hussein has been one of the TP kids for ages and has now started secondary school so is getting a bit old to come to clubs. I put him in charge of drama as he has such a flair for it himself, he did a great job and took all sorts of initiative stepping up and asking to sort out other bits and bobs. It was really cool to see him step up, he had a bit of a hard time in the afternoons with the older kids complaining because they are mostly his friends and were convinced he was rigging the points, which he was not, he is a man of integrity and he stood his ground really well.
The project is closed now for Easter holidays until the start of May so I’m doing joyful office things when there is power and when there is not, I nap.
So last week was a full on week of easter clubs, usually we spread it over two weeks and just do it in the mornings but for some reason we did it all in one week doing full days which was absolutely knackering. It was a shame for the older kids who came in the afternoons because we were all flagging by that time so they didn’t have quite as much fun as the little ones who came in the morning.
What was cool though was the helpers I had to run the club. Jo and Jon weren’t around so firstly a volunteer called Jackie, a Kenyan who comes to our church came to help which was brilliant. She has a lot of experience of working with kids in the refugee camps on the Somali border, Pastor Shadrack was sick all week so she offered to help Pastor David with some of the teaching which she did excellently. She is much more interactive with the kids than our two Pastor’s style. The kids engage a bit more that way so hopefully David got some tips from her, he was certainly very impressed.
Equally exciting was having Hussein help with the leading, Hussein has been one of the TP kids for ages and has now started secondary school so is getting a bit old to come to clubs. I put him in charge of drama as he has such a flair for it himself, he did a great job and took all sorts of initiative stepping up and asking to sort out other bits and bobs. It was really cool to see him step up, he had a bit of a hard time in the afternoons with the older kids complaining because they are mostly his friends and were convinced he was rigging the points, which he was not, he is a man of integrity and he stood his ground really well.
The project is closed now for Easter holidays until the start of May so I’m doing joyful office things when there is power and when there is not, I nap.
Friday, 13 March 2009
Black Gold
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DePOBjunXU
I'm back in the UK at the moment and trying not to get the reverse culture shock rage against greed feeling, I'm mostly succeeding but watching movies like this doesn't help! If you like coffee or people I really recommend this film about the coffee trade (use the link above to watch the trailer on youtube), I warn you it may make you want to hit some people but this guy Tadesse Meskela is a legend, I want to be him. There is an awesome scene in the film where a load of farmers in one of the co-operatives decide to spend the profits from their fairtrade coffee on building a school for their area, they don't quite have enough to pay for it so they decide they will put extra money in from their own pockets and they all cheer... Ah if only these guys ran the WTO... I've added a cheeky gadget to my blog too, it calculates how much of the money we spend on coffee goes to the farmers. Its really easy to buy fairtrade coffee and bananas and chocolate these days so just do it.
I'm back in the UK at the moment and trying not to get the reverse culture shock rage against greed feeling, I'm mostly succeeding but watching movies like this doesn't help! If you like coffee or people I really recommend this film about the coffee trade (use the link above to watch the trailer on youtube), I warn you it may make you want to hit some people but this guy Tadesse Meskela is a legend, I want to be him. There is an awesome scene in the film where a load of farmers in one of the co-operatives decide to spend the profits from their fairtrade coffee on building a school for their area, they don't quite have enough to pay for it so they decide they will put extra money in from their own pockets and they all cheer... Ah if only these guys ran the WTO... I've added a cheeky gadget to my blog too, it calculates how much of the money we spend on coffee goes to the farmers. Its really easy to buy fairtrade coffee and bananas and chocolate these days so just do it.
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