Baby Steve

Nowadays, the joy in my heart comes from my little brothers and sisters at Exodus. I spent Sunday evening and Monday at the Home this past weekend. On Sunday, there was a lot of rain, but when I finally reached the centre the kids were so excited to see me. I came in the gate and saw Baraka. He grabbed me by the arm led me inside where all the kids were quietly studying. He stuck his head in the door and said in a soft voice, “Lora’s here.” Immediately all the kids screamed and ran over to mob me! We spent some time around home and then all 25 of us trekked through the mud about 2 kilometers to the “kinyozi” or salon. Can you imagine what we looked like walking down the dirt road? Quite a lively crew… twenty-three kids between ages 4 and 15. It was a fun time though. I am so impressed with the discipline and good manners of each and every child at the Home. There is something about those kids that gives me the driving desire to give them all of my heart and all of the love and affection I could ever offer. Somehow at the end of the day when I think my heart is empty because I gave away everything, I find that it is still full and overflowing with love and satisfaction. As I get to know the kids and their stories, I am moved. Many of them are traumatized and have a lot of pain that requires more healing time; yet they are able to love others, work hard, and carry hope for the future. They are an amazing group of kids and they’re probably all that I’ll be blogging about from now on.

Some news from my OTHER family (the Arogo's): Syprose delivered her seventh child last night, a baby boy. She named him Steve after my dad! Martin sent me a text last night saying that if they have a girl, she'll be named Lora, and if a boy then he'll be named after my father. What a blessing! I didn't know what to say, but I didn't feel worthy to be named after! So, congrats, dad... Martin and Syprose don't even know you, but they respect you so much to name their child after you! I'll head home to Kisumu to visit in about a week and a half.

photos above: my friends at Exodus and the view from my dorm room window (in the self catering dorm I moved into)

Hiking Boots

I’m quite busy these days so I’ve decided to take the day off to catch up on some things and relax. I’d like to share with you about my recent days at Exodus with Elijah and Jessica. I really appreciate them and I am so thankful that they allow me to accompany them wherever they go. This is how an internship should be: completely involved.

Today Elijah and Jessica (at Exodus) are traveling to a place called Kiboko. Kiboko means hippopotamus in Swahili, but they aren’t going there for hippos; they’re going for land. I went with them last week to Kiboko because they’ve leased an acre of land indefinitely to grow crops and raise money for the Center. It is quite far from the Center, but the acre will have irrigation and the soil is good for farming. We are going to raise watermelons (maintained by a garden keeper, not Exodus), which can be sold for up to about 65 cents in Nairobi. Hopefully, one season will yield between $1000 and $3000 profit. I’m excited about this new source of sustainable and practical income for the Exodus because it is vital for the school fee demands.

On Friday, we traveled far again, but this time it was for what we call a child situation analysis. Exodus has many orphans on their waiting list for support or to live in the Center, however currently the Home cannot accommodate any more boarders. We went to visit the home and school of a girl who has been waiting for a year. We talked with the girl, the principal of her school, and her aunt who is the present guardian. We recorded information about the girl’s situation and her needs. We had to “hike” to the home located in beautiful, but steep hills (or mountains? who knows), under the hot afternoon sun. As we walked with the girl to her home, I was thinking about how hiking boots would be more appropriate for the terrain than my Converse All-Stars, but then I looked down and noticed that the girl didn’t even have shoes. I was satisfied to see that the girl at least had a home to stay in, but we came to know that beyond this shelter, the things inside, and food, the girl’s aunt is able to provide little else.

Something that really hit me about the reality of orphans is that they are completely vulnerable. The survival and well-being is left completely in the hands of whichever relative or neighbor is willing or able to take care of her. I tried to imagine being in such an inconsistent environment, where I am dependent on people who have no obligation to my well-being, as parents would. Sometimes family members want nothing to do with the orphans left behind and they chase them away, such as this girl’s other uncle did. There is no such thing as foster care, so when orphans are left, family members usually take care of the helpless and hopeless children. This is the best situation for orphans usually; however in some cases this is not possible and such children end up in children’s homes or on the streets.

All Is Good!

Good afternoon from sunny and hot Kenya!

This week has been going really well and I just wanted to share a bit about my internship with you… Last Monday I went to my internship at Exodus for the first time. My journey to get there involves various modes of transportation. First, I pay about seventy cents for a ride to the main road from campus on a motorbike. Riding a motorbike is certainly a thrilling experience especially when you can see wildebeest in the distance. I’d prefer driving it myself though! Once I reach the main road I stand on the road waiting for a matatu that is heading to Machakos. Sometimes this can take a while, so I have to take any matatu heading in the same direction and then get off at the Machakos junction where I get a second matatu to Machakos (off from the main road). This costs about one dollar. Upon reaching Machakos I take a smaller matatu to another area close to Exodus, where I get out and walk down the road until I finally reach the Centre. What a journey! It’s worth it though and I prefer it to Nairobi because there are no traffic jams. The area is rural, green, and beautiful. Somehow on that side of the mountain they get more rain than the side of the mountain that Athi lies on.

Elijah is the former Daystar student who started Exodus. I guess you could say he is my supervisor for this “internship.” I basically get to shadow him and whatever he does each day. He works with another woman named Jessica and there are two women who take care of meals and other household needs for the children at the home. On Monday, we went to the Centre, which is basically two rented flats with about three rooms each. There is one room for boys and one for girls. The girls are about twenty and they sleep three per bed. I met all the kids from the center who study at the primary school right next to the home. Elijah and I spent some time talking about the mission and vision of centre, the struggles, and about the kids. I was really impressed with how hard he works to make ends meet for these orphans. Even while he was attending Daystar he was taking care of six orphans. On Wednesday, we met with Josephine from an organization called Solution for Nature and Enterprise Programme (SNEP). I was really interested in learning about the organization as they have organized 92 groups (of mostly women) around Kenya who are committed to economic empowerment. The approach to this development has been extremely successful. Simply put, the groups are “group banks.” One group can have up to 40 members, where each member contributes any amount of money each month to the group bank. Those who need loans (to start a business, pay school fees, ect…) are able to take one out with an interest of just 1.5%. They can also take advance with a 10% interest. What is so encouraging about this program is that the groups keep all of the generated interest, rather than large banks taking their money. Also there is lots of accountability and support as members of the group take out money to start a small business, such as raising poultry. This Monday I worked at SNEP helping Josephine to set up some excel charts on the computer they just bought. They have been collecting an analyzing data by hand and want to start using the computer to assist with such tedious work. Josephine knows very little about computers and I had to remember how to use a program I haven’t touched since high school. Computer knowledge is very helpful and needed for the success of non-profits. I was happy that I had something to offer.

Last week Wednesday (After meeting at SNEP) Elijah and I traveled about 45 minutes by matatu to one of the boy’s (from the home) new boarding high school. Elijah was stressed out because this week he had to come up with the money to send three of the kids to boarding high school. He has negotiated with the two schools about bringing payments through out the semester since he doesn’t have the total sum. For the girls, the school gave him an extension. At the boy’s school (he’s called Philip), Elijah was running into some trouble so he traveled there to negotiate a bit. They didn’t allow Philip to be admitted without more money. Philip is one of the first boys that Elijah cared for and he was actually chased out of his home after being stabbed by his aunt. As a total orphan, Elijah found him on the street and Philip has grown into a very mature young man. He is such a dreamer and a very caring boy. He’ll even talk about future plans for the centre and helping more kids. Moved by the character of this new friend of mine, I couldn’t bear to see him denied from high school because of something out of his control: fees. Since I was recently given a donation I decided to share some of that for Philip’s fees, as I realized the money was never mine in the first place. If anyone is able to sponsor the rest of Philip’s fees or the other two girls please don’t hesitate to contact me for more information. These kids should not be denied the opportunity of education, which many people take for granted.

On Saturday I visited the children’s home again. I just can’t stay away! I don’t get to see the kids during the week, unless I spend the night (which I’ll be doing tomorrow). Leaving the Home on Saturday, I felt so blessed. The kids are so special, respectful, loving, fun, and alive for Jesus. I really enjoyed spending time with them. I can't describe what it feels like to work with orphans. My heart feels heavy for their pain while at the same time I feel so much love for them. I see hope in the kids and their futures.

Other sides notes... back at school: We finally have a soccer coach!!! He coaches a premier team in Nairobi and I think he’ll really boost our team moral. Also, I was finally able to move into my room at the self-catering dorm. I even have a hot shower now!!! We have a great view to the west from the fourth floor. Another highlight is that Mary Odhiambo, my best bud, came to Nairobi on Thursday night to visit an eye specialist and get a diagnosis for her very painful condition. I stayed with her in town and I also visited the same eye doctor because I had an infection in my eye.


Grace and peace. Praise God for this internship opportunity.

Oh and pictured above are some kids at the home!

Exodus

Hi again,

I just wanted to briefly share with all of you that I finally have an internship placement! Tomorrow I am heading to "Exodus" in Machakos. There is a children's home and they have many other projects, such as a women's economic empowerment project. The organization was actually started as a children's home by a Daystar student in 2002 and it has grown since then. I'll let you know more details later. I'm really exited and praying that this placement is a valuable experience.

Another highlight this week was receiving a monetary donation in the mail. It came at a very critical time, especially as I will be paying transportation costs to my internship and buying a plane tickets home soon. Thank you to the donor(s).

Other than that, classes are going well, soccer continues (with leg pains again), and the guitar is still on my lap.

Peace and Love.

I Better Be Worth A Lion Or Two

This past weekend I went to a (friend’s) Kikuyu wedding. (Kikuyus are the most populous tribe in Kenya). I have only been to one wedding in the States, so I didn’t really know what to expect, especially being here in Kenya. The ceremony itself was actually not too different from an American wedding other than the language difference. Flowers, worship, bridesmaids, groomsman, music, pastor, kissing, rings, honeymoon ect… were all a part of the ceremony. The cultural traditions surrounding marriage and the family were what made the wedding distinctively African, Kenyan, and Kikuyu. Bride price and dowry are an important part of marriage and my Kenyan friends were surprised when I told them that we don’t have such in the U.S. Most Westerners, like myself, misunderstand this tradition. Fortunately I have some close friends who I can talk to openly about marriage, polygny, divorce, bride price, ect… Bride price always seemed to me like putting a price tag on a woman. I couldn’t quite comprehend how a woman could value eight cows, an animal that people eat. I usually joke that my family better get a lion, an elephant, some camels, and a variety of other animals if I marry a Kenyan man, cause I’m certainly not worth cows. But there is more behind this custom. Yes, in some ways a woman is “bought” from her family. However, traditionally, it is as though a newlywed woman is being adopted into her husband’s family. She takes on the name and in rural areas a home is build for the couple on the husband’s family’s land. The dowry (the amount paid or animals/products given on wedding day or before) and the bride price (the amount that can be paid after the wedding day) are a gift for the parents and other family members who have spent X amount of years raising the woman, feeding her (hopefully) and educating her (hopefully) and now “see her off” into another family. Dowry and bride price are a way for the man to show that he is able and willing to provide for his wife, who was once provided for by the parents and other relatives. It is a somewhat complex custom, so I just accept it as different, not good or bad.

Decision-Maker By Force. Indecisive By Nature.

Hi Everyone!
I'm back at school and things feel "up-in-the-air" again... a feeling I encounter too frequently. This is my life story: I know what is happening today, but ask me about tomorrow or two months from now and I have no idea. Even if I think I have future plans, they are only a temporary comfort cause they end up changing anyways. haha.

At the present moment things feel up in the air because I am not in the self-catering dorm I booked for (should be at least another week), I am working on finding a new internship that is closer to Athi River (the one in Nairobi was just too far), I am deciding classes, and I am trying to decide what I'll do after the semester ends in May and when I'll come home. Sometimes I feel like an adult trying to decipher what I should be doing, then I remember that technically age eighteen is adulthood. What does that make me? A one-year-old adult? Sounds ill-equipped to me. haha.

Anyways, I guess I'm used to this "I'll never know the future" idea, but it isn't exactly the easiest way to live. It forces me to rely on and trust the only Constant. I appreciate the present for what it is and trust that the future will fall into place while at the same time trying to make careful decisions. I'm scared and sad to leave Kenya this year, I can't lie. Some day I'll share a bit more about this, but for now know that it is a struggle of mine.

Two highlights I'd like to share:
I found a church in Nairobi that I like (something I struggled with last semester)and I am attending a friend's wedding this weekend!

I have a few prayer requests:
1) My friend Mary has a serious eye problem and we are trying to find a place that accepts her insurance and will give her the best and needed treatment.
2) Pray that I make the right choices for the next five or six months and regarding my return home.

The photos above were taken at my friends house in Nairobi. They had a mango tree with so many mangoes that the branch broke from the weight. Mangoes are selling for about 10 cents! yum.

A New Year

Now when people ask how long I've been in Kenya, I can happily say "since last year." The only down side of that statement is that I also go home THIS year. Haha. Today someone said in Swahili to me, "karibu Kenya," mesning welcome to Kenya. I looked at my friend and said, "he shoulda said that six months ago." Haha.

Well, it's been a really great Christmas break for the most part. The break started out on kind of a low note. Monica and I were staying in Nairobi for a few days together before she left and Jen arrived. Unfortunately, Monica got really sick with malaria and spent her last two nights in Kenya in Nairobi hospital. I felt really bad and I was doing everything I could for her. She is now back in Vancouver and finishing her last semester at Trinity Western. However she is still recovering from sickness and a semester abroad.

At the same time Monica was in the hospital, Jen was stuck in Europe for two days due to the weather and flight schedules. I was overwhelmed a bit trying to deal with both situations and figure out how Jen and I would travel to Kisumu safely on the 23rd. Thankfully, a friend from the soccer team lives just minutes from my family in Kisumu so he traveled by public van with us.

We spent some days with Mary, Esther and Elisha (their brother) in Kisumu. From the 25th to the 30th, we stayed in Lwanda. Jen really had a great time in Lwanda and connected well with the Odhiambo family. Jen got a really good feel for life in Kenya and not the typical tourist's experience. It was great to catch up with her and hear the updates on everyone back at Hope. Wow, am I really out of touch of life in Michigan! There was LOTS of rain in Lwanda. The mud complimented my shoes well, I must admit.

Christmas was different from what I expected. There is little holiday hype here, which I certainly did not miss. But I did miss being with family and friends and eating a big meal with lots of homemade treats. Here, Christmas felt just like a normal Sunday and many people just spent the day conversing in the markets. Also, it was nice to see the Arogos in Kisumu. Especially my mom, Syprose, who is pregnant. I was shocked that she is due in March and I had to harass her a bit saying, "I thought I was your last born..."

I really enjoyed our time in Kisumu and Lwanda and I didn't want to leave. It was so relaxing and just felt like home. (Don't worry, mom, it's a SECOND home). Upon arriving in Kisumu, Mary, Jen and I went to visit Obama's grandmother at her home in Kogelo. She stays in a very modest home and takes care of widows and orphans. We asked a few questions and took a picture with her.

On New Years Eve, Mary, Jen and I went to hear a live Luo band and dance a bit. Mary is so amazing and I'm so happy to have her as a sister. She is having really bad eye problems, which I think is a bad case of cataracts. Currently we are trying to arrange for her to see a specialist in Nairobi, but it's quite difficult with her insurance situation. She works for the Centre for Disease Control and doesn't even have insurance that is accepted at the eye specialists in Nairobi for her own disease. Something is not right about that.

Jen and I spent her last days here in Nairobi, on a safari in Masai Mara, and a day in Athi River at my school. The safari turned out to be a disappointment, much to my surprise. We had to laugh at the fact that I am the most "anti-tourist-activity" white person in Nairobi and once I finally gave in it turned out to be far below my expectation. I'm not here for animals though, right? What irony. Jen is now back at school in Michigan and hopefully talking non-stop about our adventures. Seeing both Monica and Jen leave was weird for me knowing that my life was continuing on in Kenya, but that some day I, too, would be heading home on a plane.

Right now I am staying with a friend and his family on the outskirts of Nairobi. I have nothing on my agenda, I'm just chillin and it feels good. I am so blessed to be able to stay with them and encouraged by their openness in hospitality. It is nice to have a safe and comfortable place to stay with great company. I'll go back to school this weekend.

Hope all is well. And by the way, I am doing well now after testing positive for malaria, which i was given medication for (so its gone,no worries). Pictures to come. Happy New Year!