Israel Baptism and Kenya First Days

Our last day in Israel, April 19, had some special moments.

V expressed an interest in being baptized in Israel before we left for the trip.  We talked about baptism with all the girls, what it meant, and stressed that it wasn't something to do just because others were doing it or because we were in a certain place.  Baptism is something one does when you understand the gospel and are fully committed to living life for Jesus.

V felt she was ready to do just that.  So, V got baptized in the Jordan River on our last day in Israel (a GREAT moment for us!!!)

I was proud of the other girls as well for not just following along but really being serious about making the decision for themselves.  AJ said he wanted to go in too....but then felt how cold the water was and had second thoughts.

V and H got purity rings.  I gave them the rings overlooking the Western Wall of Jerusalem as well as the stairs of teaching where Jesus would teach when he was in Jerusalem.  We talked about what purity meant and why Jesus taught the things he taught on the subject.  Another GREAT moment for me as a dad, and I hope one the girls remember throughout their young lives until they are married.

We got to Ben Gurion Airport 3 hours early and it is a very good thing as it takes A LONG TIME to get through all their security procedures (even late at night).  We had a 1am flight from Israel to Ethiopia.  I nominate whoever it was in Ethiopia who put these chairs all throughout the terminal there for "Airline Person of the Year"   We crashed from our arrival time at 5am until our flight around 10am.  to Kenya.

Photobomber struck again in Ethiopia...

My thoughts of Ethiopia were from years ago when there was a famine there and all the pictures showed a desert wasteland.  But it has mountains, modern cities, and green areas as well...

We arrived in Kenya April 19th and were very thankful for 2 interns (Zach and Megan) picking us up at the airport.  Thankful because my phone doesn't work here....thus I have no internet connection via the phone (how I have gotten a lot of access during this trip).  So, we were really glad they were there.  Will have to get pictures of Zach and Megan as they are just fantastic young people who have a heart for Jesus.

We arrived at the Guest House for Missions of Hope International (MOHI) which is attached to the home of the founders of MOHI, Wallace and Mary Kamau.  There were some hilarious men from Eastside Christian Church at the guest house (Arty VanGeloof as well as long term missionary here in Kenya, Keith Ham) who riled up AJ so much that he stripped down naked, ran around the house, and went outside to play with the volleyball.

It was a hilarious way to start our stay in Kenya.  These guys really made the girls feel good because when introductions were being made they said "Hey, you are the SHOE family!" and V laughed and said 'Well, thank goodness we didn't raise money for toilets or we would be known as the toilet family!"

AJ and David Kamau have become fast friends....

Missions of Hope

April 20 was orientation day at Missions of Hope.  We spent the day at the Pangani Center which is a growing 5 story headquarters building + school + training facility + small shopping center which is located just on the edge of the Area 1 Mathare Valley Slum.  

Justine Hayes is someone we met 2 years ago when Rachel and I did a mission trip here.  Her last name was different back then as she is now married to Ryan who was a newly arrived missionary in the business development office back then.  The girls were all interested in how they started dating...and how do you date in the mission field?....and got really a wonderful story of grace, healing, and love from Justine.  We liked her back then.  We like her even more now.  Today is their one year anniversary so Happy Anniversary Justine and Ryan!

She introduced the team who would be taking us into the slums later that day.  Anthony and Mercy seemed to connect best with the girls (AJ was back at the guest house playing happily with David).  We learned what a social worker does for MOHI as well as what a CHE trainer does.  We also learned about the vision of MOHI / how it started / how it has grown etc.

Mary Kamau had a friend bring her to the Mathare Valley when she was in her 20s.  She had been told how people lived in tin shanties with no running water or lights in sewage filled 'streets'...and Mary just couldn't believe people lived that way.  Then she saw it, and it impacted her so much that she dedicated her life to serving the poor of the Mathare Valley in the name of Jesus Christ.  

She married Wallace Kamau who also had a heart for Mathare and their vision was to impact the Mathare Valley community with the entry point being the children.  God placed this on their hearts in the year 2000....educate the children in the slum and that will open the doors to the parents and eventually the community as a whole.  This is exactly what has happened.  

From their first school of 50 students, they have grown over the past 13 years to now service OVER 12,000 students including a fully owned, separate Boys and Girls Middle Schools / Boarding School outside Nairobi in Joska.  To put that number in perspective they were at about 500 students in 2006.  When we were here in July 2011 the number was 5,700.  So they have doubled in less than two years.  

Mary stated that typically only about 50% of students in regular schools pass the national exam which allows them to go on to high school.  Hundreds of students from MOHI schools have now taken this test over the past 4 years with 97% passing.  

In other words, the education they are receiving is not only Christian based but is also creating highly capable students who are moving on to high school.  Eventually these students will go to college, graduate, and become leaders of the nation.  Two years ago when we were here their goal was to build their OWN high school and that has now happened as well.  

Our first day here their executive committee was meeting to outline their growth plans through 2017.  Their goal is to be educating 100,000 students by 2017.  Talk about an ambitious goal!  But with God all things are possible....

Mary and Wallace partnered with CMF International and introduced Community Health Evangelism (CHE) programs throughout the community in 2006-2007.  CHE is a strategy for holistic ministry focusing on the physical health and well being of the community but also the spiritual needs.  CHE trainers enter the community and assist with health needs and recruit community members to assist in teaching their neighbors. As physical needs are met, spiritual needs are addressed and the gospel of Christ is presented by both the trainers and the volunteers.  Interestingly, the primary volunteers in the community are the parents of those who are being educated at the Missions of Hope schools. 

I got the thinking about this and realized that the numbers being helped and touched by God through this organization is far, far more than the 12,000 students mentioned above.   The program impacts parents.  It impacts neighbors.  We learned about the small businesses being formed and funded through this organization.  The goal is self sustenance, not hand outs.  The exact number is not known but is growing exponentially and we can say without question, this organization and its 500 teachers / employees / social workers / CHE trainers are on fire for Christ.

We entered the Area 1 community where 100,000 people live in sewage lined streets in shacks of tin.   The kids in Mathare LOVE having their pictures taken though most adults are more reserved.  The kids can be resourceful making soccer balls out of bunched up trash bags and twine.  S saw one come up to her with a block of mud that had been shaped to look like a camera with a little piece of glass as the lense.  The kids will come alongside you and just hold your hand and walk with you.  And they love saying 'How are you?'  

The girls were grossed out with this business....stripping cow heads of the little meat that is there and making soup out of it.  Our social worker said that the cow heads are very inexpensive and the soup can be made and sold for days....yum, yum....

We entered one home with Anthony, our social worker who works in Area 1 day to day.  He was the same man who gave me my orientation nearly two years ago...and he is just as good now as he was back then.  We visited the home of Cecilia who had a vibrant smile, spoke English well....so well that we asked her how she had learned....and she said 'in school' but after 8th grade I couldn't afford to go to high school (you have to not only pass the exam but then you have to pay to go to high school). 

Cecilia is 20 years old with 2 children ages 4 and 1.  Her oldest in the Missions of Hope school at Pangani.  Her mother has a very serious lung disease and this is weighing heavily on Cecilia.  She spoke of the jobs she does to get money for her family...washing dishes, washing clothes, cleaning homes, cutting grass, carrying water for people in the community.  All of these jobs are what are known as 'casual jobs' meaning that they are not consistent and can be gone tomorrow.  

Her shanty was actually one of the nicest ones I have ever seen with a higher ceiling than most, electricity, and I would estimate 8 feet wide by 15 feet long.  She spoke about what it costs to live in this place ($25 a month) and how she has been saving up to actually buy the place.  It would cost $250 for her to own it outright.  However, once she owns the shanty, that doesn't mean she owns the land.  If the government ever decides to build something on the land or sells it to someone who wants to build something there, then she will have no recourse.  

Her wages on a good day are the equivalent of $3.  They have a community toilet  in the area which costs $3 per year for the right to use.  This fee goes to someone in the community who is responsible for upkeep, cleaning etc of the toilets.  She pays about $3 a month for the electricity.  Anthony said she probably pays this to someone who illegally hooked into the grid to get the light in her shanty.  The rest of her money goes toward feeding her family and paying medical bills for her mom.  

Her kids are just the cutest little people you could ever imagine.  My prayer for them is that they stay in the MOHI schools as it will be their best chance to end the cycle of poverty their family is currently in.  

We prayed for Cecilia and her family and walked back through the village.  We asked the girls later that night what they thought of the slum.  I think the Lord gave them a glimpse of what they can handle right now, and I was thankful for that.  

We returned to the Pangani center for lunch and a tour of the center itself.  The girls learned a new skill on how to open bottles without a bottle opener and seemed quite pleased with themselves...

We saw the new dentist office (3 modern chairs + a full time dentist), the pharmacy / clinic, classrooms for the kids, office space for the staff, a training center off to the side that is about as close to a convention center as one can get in the slums, the jewelry making class area & the sewing class areas (where single moms in the area learn skills to be able to earn money for their families), the 'shop' where short term missionaries who come through MOHI buy products graduates from the classes mentioned above have produced, the computer lab, and finally the new extension to the library.  

Two years ago I asked Mary Kamau what was the greatest challenge she has.  Her answer was 'training and keeping quality staff.'   She has very motivated workers but as they get married and start having families she cannot pay them enough to support their growing families.  Her workers are torn as they believe in the work but also must take care of their families.  So, it is a constant struggle for her to develop leaders to lead the organization.  Please pray for God to send this organization leaders who will continue to expand what has already been started. 

 We left AJ at the guest house to play with David and when we returned he was happily playing baseball with all his new friends...

Sunday morning (April 21) we headed to church at the Kosovo church which overlooks the Mathare Valley slum.  This church meets in one of the largest elementary schools that MOHI has built (5 or 6 stories high with two towers and a third one being built.

Here is a view of the entire Mathare valley.  It is about 3 miles long and less than 1 mile wide and is home to 1,000,000 people...

The first picture is looking toward Area 1 (on the far side of the green 'field'...which is a plot of land partially owned by a Muslim church and partial owned by the Catholic Church).  The is where the Pangani center is.  The part of the slum called 'Kosovo' is in the lower part of the first picture and then Area 2 is across the river starting in the 3rd picture.

I shot this series of pictures panning from right to left.  If you look at the right side of the 2nd picture you can see it overlaps the left side of the 1st picture.  The right side of the 3rd picture overlaps the left side of the 2nd picture and so on.  Notice the trees in the last picture as the slum extends well beyond those trees as well.

Mary Kamau holding AJ at church...

They have VERY energetic services!   Will have to post a video when I have a better connection...

AJ was a HUGE hit with the kids both inside and outside the church....

We spent the rest of the day back at the guest house preparing for our week with the kids at the Pangani Center.