Kenya: VBS, the Rest of the Story

Wednesday was supposed to be a rest day for us as it was Labor Day Holiday here in Kenya, but we ended up working through the day to complete everything for the remaining 3 days of VBS.  We cut a lot of hands, feet, and prepared hearts on this day!

Our friend Ryan said goodbye and headed back to the States.  Everyone present for his send off said what they liked most about Ryan.  There were a lot of 'really funny' (he is), 'hard worker' / resourceful type comments.  The girls benefitted from his work before we ever met him.  Ryan was the person who took all the pictures and videos that the girls used in their shoe fundraising campaign.  The girls sent in what they were needing and he delivered exactly what they needed.  God bless you Ryan....

 Thursday we resumed VBS.  V is quite the leader of the morning session.  One of the teachers was so impressed with how she teaches kids song and dance that he asked her to help him teach the kids another song / dance after VBS one day...

The Joska teenagers wanted to do one of their dances for the kids...and of course we said 'Yes!'

Lots of bald little heads ;)   The tall boy in the middle is the child we have sponsored from Area 2 since our last trip in 2011.

Trust Fall skit on Thursday morning in front of the kids....

H taking charge in the Arts & Crafts room to efficiently get kids into the room.  She and S are doing a great job and have enlisted the help of the teenage kids from Joska to help get things done on time....

Thursday's theme was the 'G' in LIGHT and focused on GROWTH.  Spiritual growth in particular.

My 'science' project for the day was building a lava lamp.  I asked the kids what they thought God wanted us to do to grow spiritually?  And they said things like pray, go to church, read the Bible, be obedient to God's Word etc.  As I started building the lava lamp I said "Each of these things I put in the bottle represents one of those things you just talked about.   This vegetable oil represents reading the Bible.  The water is going to church and the food coloring represents being obedient."   When I combined all these things together nothing significant happened.  The oil sat on top; the colored water on the bottom.

Then I talked about how Jesus talked about praying all the time for things large and small.  I had a packet of something similar to Alka Seltzer and said "This represents prayer.  Watch what happens when prayer is added to these other things."  And when I poured it in, everything came alive with red bubbles going up to the top and then traveling back down and going up again and coming back down (I even had a little flashlight behind the bottle to give a true lava lamp feel!).  I told the kids this is how it works....our prayers go up to God and the answers come back down which was similar to what Rachel taught in her class.  Sometimes the answer is 'Yes'  Sometimes it is 'No' Sometimes it is 'Not yet' but God hears and answers prayers.

Our sponsored child, Sharif, had lunch with us today.  It was a real blessing to have this time with him and an even bigger blessing later that day to head to his home and meet his family.

 Heading to Sharif's house....As we walked down this sewage filled muddy mess toward the bridge and his home, I thought about how he has to walk through this every day.  One slip and you would be a smelly mess.  Fortunately, we all stayed on our feet.  But any attempt to avoid stepping in the sewage pretty much went out the window on this walk down.

 The river through the Mathare Valley.  During rainy season this river often floods and takes the shanties by the river with them.  That is why the rent there is less expensive than other places.

The social worker told me that the cheapest shanty (no matter how small and dark) is 1500 shillings a month which is about $19.  If you have one of the little apartments in a physical / real building the minimum is 3500 shillings a month on up to 6500 shillings (about $40 to $80)

Sharif lives near this area just over the bridge heading up to Kosovo where we went to church the past two Sundays.  He used to live in a place by the soccer fields near Kosovo church but had to move last month to where he lives now.  The two shanties to the right are businesses....one shanty has a pool table and the other has a TV for watching sporting events.

Alley leading to Sharif's home.  Notice the running sewage stream next to the little sidewalk.

Sharif and his two older brothers (younger sister not pictured).

The older brother, Bashiri, has been accepted to a higher education program that focuses on catering to high end hotels etc.  However, he cannot attend because he cannot afford the 100,000 shilling cost per semester. That breaks down to about $1250 per semester.  The program is 2 years long and the social worker said that if he did that program the likelihood is high that he would get a permanent job.  He is 24 years old and right now is just focused on saving enough money to attend that program.

The other brother is 17 and is a junior in high school.  He too plans on moving into higher education but is concerned as well with how he will pay for it.  We had a nice visit with the only downside that his parents were not there (though we did happen to run into his Dad as we were walking back to the school later in the afternoon).

 One thing we did during our visit was to go through the Evangicube.  We wanted to do that for a couple of reasons.  First, we know his dad is Muslim.  So, while we know Sharif is getting educated on Christianity we don't know if his brothers have ever heard the Gospel.  Second (and more important to me) was that we used this time as an opportunity to explain the Trinity.  One major criticism Muslims have about Christianity is the Trinity...3 in 1, God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I heard a wonderful explanation recently that I hope each of these young men will remember should the time come where they need to answer this criticism...

Think of a fire.  Fire has a flame that you see.  But fire also has light beyond the flame that illuminates the area around the flame.  And, of course, fire produces heat.  All three of these things are always present when there is fire, and while each is distinct they all make up fire.

That is how it is with God the Father (the flame), God the Son (the light), and the Holy Spirit (the heat).    Like fire they are all one but at the same time 3 distinct parts.

Notice the writing above on Sarah's arm.  Teenager boys had great fun writing on our daughters arms Thursday...

We headed back to the school and then drove to the Guest House where we are staying.  

AJ has had a bit of a tough week as we have left him at the Guest House to be looked after by Lucy and the staff.  It is a big celebration for him when we get back each night....

But I think it is safe to say that he remains very active during the day....

Friday and Saturday we took AJ with us to Area 2.  There was much joy....

The last couple of pictures in the AJ sequence are from the Saturday 'end of VBS' ceremony where the kids and leaders of the school put on a bit of a production (see below for details).  What is interesting is that the kids AJ is sitting with in that last picture are NOT kids from the school.  Those kids are from the surrounding community.  They all knew his name and he was like the pied piper during this ceremony as he would get up and run into the community (sending us chasing after him) and all the kids would be running after him as he gathered more kids to the celebration. 

AJ on one of his 'run around the area and have all the kids follow me' trips on Saturday.  Priceless.

Back to Friday....

Friday's session focused on the letter H in LIGHT...the lessons were all about how God wants our Heart.  

Rachel did some wonderful lessons on how God looks at the inside while 'the world' looks at the outside.  She did a example where she poured honey on the outside of a cup and then rubbed the outside of the cup with dirt and other nasty stuff we shoveled into a bag from the chicken coup outside our guest house.  In the other cup she put the honey on the inside and threw the dirt on the inside.

So, there was one cup that was nasty looking on the outside but clean on the inside.  And there was one cup that was nasty on the inside but clean on the outside.  

Then she asked for a brave volunteer.  When the volunteer got to the front of the room she would pour water into each glass and say "You HAVE to drink one of them.  Which one are you going to drink?"  And the kids would all laugh and go 'Ohhhhhh yuck'....but the volunteer would quickly figure out that it was most important to drink the one that was clean on the inside so that he wasn't drinking dirt and chicken poop!   

1 Peter 3:3-4

New Life Version (NLV)

³ Do not let your beauty come from the outside. It should not be the way you comb your hair or the wearing of gold or the wearing of fine clothes.⁴ Your beauty should come from the inside. It should come from the heart. This is the kind that lasts. Your beauty should be a gentle and quiet spirit. In God’s sight this is of great worth and no amount of money can buy it.

AJ got quite tuckered out after lunch and crashed.  Rachel took him back to the Guest House while the girls and I headed out to 'Bring the Light' to the Area 2 community.

 Bring the Light (BTL) is a program where a hole is cut in the roof of these often very dark shanties and a piece of clear plexiglass is inserted with some sealant to protect against rain while allowing light into the darkness.  The work is done while a team like us is meeting with the people who live in the home, presenting the Gospel and teaching about things like HIV/AIDs, water purification etc.

The first shanty we entered was tiny and very, very dark.  The lady who lived here was already a Christian but we could tell how pleased she was with what was happening.  The social worker explains to the person living there that Jesus was the light of the world and that this light into their home is a constant reminder to them that Jesus cares about them and wants to be in relationship with them.

There is something about this photo that I just love....

 In the second home we visited, I took this picture looking back toward the door as there were about 10 kids from the community peeking in...

Once V and S had finished their 'cubes' I asked the lady who lived in the house if she would mind if we invited the kids in and did the Evangicube.  She agreed and in came the kids!  H did a great job witnessing to them and going through the cube.

Then one of the kids said something about 'Teacher Andrew' and we learned that 2 of these little ones have been attending VBS at the Area 2 school!

There was something about that moment that made the whole week very real for me.  The kids in school have uniforms on and at times it is easy to forget that these little ones live in a slum.  I can't put it into words, but that moment was when God impressed on me clearly that these little ones are His whether they are sitting in school in a uniform or running around the sewage filled streets in tattered clothes.  

Friday night we had dinner with Mary Kamau, founder of MOHI.  She asked us who we would be working with in Tanzania and when we said 'Holly Freitag' she nearly dropped her fork.  Mary went through Community Health Evengelism (CHE) training with her many years ago and was just thinking today about getting back in touch with her to see if there was anything MOHI could do to help in Tanzania.

We heard about the long term vision which includes growth into Tanzania as well as South Sudan (which has hardly ANY schools and has already reached out to MOHI to potentially start schools in South Sudan).  The vision isn't 100,000 students by the end of 2017 as I mentioned in a previous post.  

The vision is 125,000.  I really pray that happens as the ripple effect will impact the whole of East Africa for generations to come.  I have noticed Mary's schedule is non-stop.  I asked her what time she wakes up in the morning and she said '4am....I spend one hour praying to start my day'   One hour of praying to start the day....I think this is a woman who has her priorities straight.  That statement was a motivation to me to be more intentional about my prayer life.  

She also had some very kind words for our family.  She said that she really values what we are doing.  In all the years MOHI has been around no one has ever brought the Joska kids in to learn skits and then share those skits with younger kids the following week.  She said the whole staff has been talking about it the past week "Why didn't we think of that?" and "Why haven't we done that before?"   Mary's comments were very kind and appreciated.  

Saturday - Last Day of VBS

We started the day with V leading songs and dances with the kids.  I acted as the billboard as Rachel reviewed what we had learned during the week and introduced today's letter 'T' = Teaching.

The lessons today focused on sharing the Gospel with others and making disciples of all nations.  My science experiment kind of fizzled but fortunately my very last experiment had the ooooh'ing and ahhhh'ing  (see video below).  

The kids finished their arts & craft project with H & S by connecting the arms and legs to the body they have been working on as the week progressed.  V was energetic as always with song and dance (she said she feels like she had a great workout all week as she would just up and down and dance for about 2 hours straight each day).  And as usual, Rachel tied it all together for the kids in her own special way.  

The staff, Joska kids, and kids from Area 2 had a special ceremony for us to celebrate the week, give thanks, make kind speeches, dance with all of us, give gifts, and eat cake!  

The ceremony started with one of the skits from the Joska kids (End of the Beginning)...

I then spoke to the kids about the week and did my final experiment.  It worked!   (2:13 video)  Click here if the embedded video doesn't work.  

Then came speeches from Robert (social worker), Gladys (CHE trainer), Lillian (Drama teacher at Joska), and Anne (original CHE trainer and now center director) intermixed with song / dances by the little kids as well as the Joska kids.  

Robert

Gladys

Lillian

Anne

The staff gave us gifts as they pulled us out of our seats and danced with us.  Love the smile on V's face in this picture

AJ got the PERFECT gift and played with them during the rest of the ceremony...

Finally, the cake....

The cake is not particularly large but we served pieces to 200 kids and staff.  It's like a mini-miracle of 'feeding the 200' as everyone got a piece with many smiles from the kids.  We even had some cake left.  ;)

 Love this picture...

And finally, it was time for goodbyes.   AJ's new friends from the community gathered around the van as we were leaving and were shouting his name 'Bye AJ!  Bye AJ!'   Most of the kids in the group saying goodbye were not students from the school.  They were little ones who just connected with AJ the past 2 days.

Gloria (H's special friend) and Joy crying as we pulled away....

My final thoughts on our time in Kenya.  Rachel and I hoped in coming to Kenya that our children would

1.  Make real relationships with kids who have grown up in the slums.  That most certainly happened.

2.  See with their own eyes how millions of people around the world live....in sewage ladened 'streets' with little to no electricity or basic services we take for granted.  That happened as well.  More importantly we got to go to homes of people we came to know and see that these people who are really wonderful kids actually LIVE in that slum.  It is different when you know someone in the slum versus walk through the slum where everyone is a stranger.

3.  That this experience would shatter the massive deception put forth by 'the world' as to the importance of material possessions.  How much time and effort do we put forth chasing after material possessions when that time would be so much better spent focused on family, relationships, serving, and worshiping.  Time will tell if this goal has been accomplished, but we pray this experience will be the rock upon which they grow into young women whose priorities are firmly rooted in Jesus Christ and His teachings to value life, serve the poor, and humbly shed the selfish nature / 'me first' attitude the world thrusts upon our kids.

4.  Grow closer to Jesus Christ by serving the poorest of the poor in His Name.  Check.

There is one thing that happened that I didn't think about before we came here.  There was no way for Rachel and me to micromanage the kids last week or this week.  The girls had to perform and engage others on their own.  We all had responsibilities in teaching and we are so proud of the girls for rising to the occasion and LEADING despite various difficulties that arose.  They did such a great job, and we can see the well earned confidence growing in each of them.

Off to safari Sunday morning.  I doubt there will be internet out there, but we are excited to go (especially AJ!)

Til next time, God bless

Favorite Pictures / Relationship  

Anne...I remember her story from 2 years ago.  She was the first CHE trainer in this area and would just walk through the community forming relationships and earning respect that is now paying off in many ways years later.  She is getting married in a couple of weeks and we had a fascinating discussion on the custom in Kenya where the husband pays a dowry to the family of his bride.  This seems so old fashion but it most definitely still happens and there is a huge ceremony around the giving of the dowry (Mary and family went to the coast today for just such a celebration).

The dowry is paid in Cows and Sheep!   But there can be arrangements made to pay in cash (or part cash, part Cows / Sheep).  Then I asked the question that made me think maybe Kenyans are a lot smarter than Westerners who have a 50% divorce rate.  I asked what the divorce rate was in Kenya.  And the answer was 'almost no one divorces who goes through the dowry ceremony'   It makes sense if you think about it.  No fault divorce doesn't exist here and I pray it stays that way as strong family units is a very important part of a healthy democracy.  I was also interested to learn from Mary that abortion  is illegal here.  It happens but it is not sanctioned by the government.  Here is Anne who is a wonderful woman....(nice baby bump on Rachel ;)

One of our favorite boys (William)....

Tim and Alicia Stewart who are missionaries here.  They have been here for the past year and are just absolutely the most wonderful people you could imagine.  We look forward to a long relationship with the Stewart Family....

Our driver Willington...(he joked 'I'll be sure to smile so you can see me in the picture...LOL).  He is so funny and so professional.  We have enjoyed having him as our driver.  He and his wife will be having their first child in a few months...

Tim Stewart and AJ

Lucy (aka Momma Julianna).  The queen of the guest house.  She was the first cook at the first MOHI school and now runs the show at the Guest House (which is attached to the Kamau's home).  She told us of the how she used to live in the slums where we now work.  She is just an absolute ray of sunshine and such a good cook (especially Mexican Mondays!).   We talked her into Mexican Friday this week as well since we won't be here Monday....