Living a blessed life!
Monday morning we had time to venture out for one last time before beginning our flight back to the U.S. in the afternoon.
We still had not spotted any Rhinoceroses, so that was our primary objective.
As we were leaving, we passed the Balloons getting ready to take off.
And so we got one final group picture as we’re getting ready to hop into the trucks to head back home.
Sunday we packed a lunch and headed out again. We had a full morning of Lions,
Giraffes,
And of course Hippos.
We drove down to the Tanzanian border, and some of our group crossed over illegally.
In the afternoon, we visited a real Masai village.
Just a couple lions passing by. Notice how the other animals are keeping a close eye on them. I wonder why?
Thursday we spent the morning again at the AP office in Matete.
We met with Matete Pastors, and participated in a round table discussion about their experiences with World Vision and the benefits of the training provided to them.
Finally it was time to say good bye to all our new Kenyan friends. We debriefed, exchanged contact information, then traveled back to the Eldoret Airport. We flew back to Nairobi and stayed overnight again at the Eka Hotel.
Friday morning we flew from Nairobi to the Masai Mara wildlife preserve. We stayed at the Little Governor’s camp.
We hopped into trucks, and headed to the camp. We saw zebra, gazelle, and warthogs on the way.
When we got to the camp, we needed to cross a river, so this kind gentleman pulled us across using a rope.
We then had a short hike up to the camp.
Looking back at the river we’d crossed.
And when we arrived at the camp, we had the customary Kenya tea and relaxed watching God put on a show right at our camp.
The tents and tables were situated next to a pond that was a constant show of various different wildlife. They’d appear on one side, walk across, then disappear out the other side.
When Ron and Tom arrived at their tent, it was discovered that the twin beds were actually a single king size. Tom looked at me and said “You know, Ron. What happens in Kenya stays in Kenya”.
Wednesday we again had breakfast at the hotel before traveling back to the ADP. Sister Grace lead us in morning devotionals, followed by tea.
We then visited an education project; the Kivaywa Primary School, a school with many RC / WASH interventions.
We were welcomed to the school by approximately 1,000 cheering and waving children, and met by the Head Teacher.
In addition to touring the school, we participated in a Swahili lesson. Side note: we were surprised to lean that the Kenya national language is not Swahili, but English.
Each of the classes then performed for us, either singing, or reciting, or dancing. What a wonderful experience.
We were both delighted and saddened to visit the single classroom for handicapped children. We learned that up until recently, handicapped children did not participate in school at all, and were often just abandoned. Primarily because of the efforts of World Vision, many now were attending school, but there is a lot progress needed in this area.
After lunch back at the ADP, we again ventured out, this time to the Matete Water Users Association office. We met with the management committee, and learned all that had been accomplished. This included expanding the water distribution network. The small fees charged by the co-op, and the efficient management of it actually provided sufficient funds to allow sponsoring three girls. This provided their school fees and uniforms. Without this help, these teenage girls would have instead been sold by their families into marriage.
Tuesday morning, following breakfast at the hotel, we returned to the Matete ADP for morning devotions and of course a tea break.
We then visited the Balibayo CBO for a presentation of the CBO and the donors to understand how they manage the over 4323 RC in the AP.
Following lunch at the AP, we split up met with our sponsored RC at their homes. Shelley and I sponsor 3 children, so WV arranged for all of them to meet with us at one of their homes.
This was a fun afternoon, getting to know the children and their families. We exchanged gifts, were treated to locally grown fruits, nuts, and vegetables, and of course more tea. We exchanged gifts, and then were given a tour of the family’s farm. It was truly amazing how much was being done with a fairly small amount of land.
Afterward, on the way back to the hotel we stopped by the Webuye waterfall.
Monday morning we had breakfast at the hotel, then were picked up and driven to Matete.
Upon arriving at the World Vision ADP office in Matete, we were greeted with much singing and dancing and ululating. We then had introductions and welcoming remarks from Florence, the AP manager.
Grace then led us in a morning devotional, followed by a presentation about the World Vision Area Program.
We then had the first of what would become many tea breaks.
Following tea, we met with some of the program’s beneficiaries and learned first hand how their lives had ben changed.
Following a fresh, local lunch, we traveled to two of the farms that have been agents of change to the community, having been trained by World Vision Kenya.
We arrived in Nairobi, Kenya Saturday evening, having left Austin on Friday
afternoon with stops in Atlanta and Amsterdam. We were met at the airport by Samuel, and stayed overnight in Nairobi at the EKA hotel.Â
We arrived in Nairobi and were greeted by Samuel (pronounced Sam-Well) and Ronnie.
Sunday morning we attended church at Citam Karen in Nairobi.
We did some shopping after church in Nairobi at the Utamaduni Craft shop and toured the Kazuri Bead Centre factory before flying to Eldoret to spend the night at the Boma Inn Hotel.
Our church has been working with World Vision since 2011 to help the people of Matete, Kenya. As part of that effort, my wife and I have been sponsoring three children. That work has been going very well, and God has done some pretty amazing things in transforming the lives of the people of that area. My wife and I have been hoping to join one of the mission trips over there to actually meet the children one day.
Well, about six month ago it was announced that the next mission trip to Kenya later in the year would probably be the last. Things had progressed so well with the people there that it might be time to look at helping a different area. So my wife and I decided that we better figure out how to make this trip, or else we might never get a chance to do so.
So we signed up, paid our initial deposits for the trip, and shortly afterwards I was laid off from my job of seven years. At that point it seemed like the logical thing to do was to drop out of the trip. So we did so, hoping that I could find a job quickly enough to get back onboard with the trip. So I started some intense prayer, asking God for what to do, where I should be looking for work, and whether I should continue with the trip or not.
After two and a half weeks of more dead-end job leads and no job offers, I was sitting in church Sunday morning when I suddenly had this strong feeling that God wanted me to get back on the trip, and to trust Him to provide the means to do so. So I did. We were fortunate that there were still airline tickets available, and we were able to catch back up with the rest of the group.
Shortly after that, my wife read an article online that said that H-E-B was one of the best companies in America to work for. There was a link in that article to job posting, which she sent me. So I followed that link and applied. Well, it was all just a whirlwind after that. H-E-B was opening a new office in Austin, and was looking for folks like me. There was a quick series of interviews, and I was hired within less than two weeks.
God is good, all the time. I’ll be blogging about our experiences in Kenya in the next few posts.