READ CRAIG HANSON'S TRIP JOURNAL

Here is the link for Craig Hanson's Kenya Mission Trip Journal. It is great reading with lots of great insights and pictures (there are 3 pages)

http://kenyatrip.tumblr.com/page/3

Ned

POVERTY NOW HAS A NAME (Day 9)

As I fly home from Kenya, passing over Paris and watching “Almost Famous” on my little 4 x 5 in-flight movie screen, an incredible wave of emotion floods through me…a wave that leaves me knowing the last 8 days has changed my life forever.



Poverty is no longer a set of statistics, no longer a face without a name, no longer something I have seen but not really understood. The last days have changed my understanding of Poverty.

Poverty now has a home. Poverty now has a family. This week, I met Poverty in person.


Poverty is the first wife of three and the co-wife of 21 co-children. Poverty has a broad smile and hardened hands…and her name is Karin.

Poverty is his fields by daybreak. Poverty works all day. Poverty is not lazy. Poverty does not get to rest…and his name is John.

Poverty leads worship at her church. Poverty has a beautiful African voice and her tongue praises the same God as mine...and her name is Eunice.

Poverty pastors a church. Poverty knows the love of Jesus, but Poverty needs to see the love of Jesus demonstrated by His people. …and his name is Peter.

Poverty carries water 4 kilometers and grows pineapple in fields of rock. Poverty helps others in her community…and her name is Helen.

Kager did not choose Poverty…Poverty chose Kager.

I have met Poverty. I have worshiped with Poverty. I have prayed for Poverty. I have hugged Poverty. Poverty has looked across the dirt floor of her house, looked deep into my eyes, and asked “How can you help me?”

As our wheels touch down at Heathrow, I know something profound has occurred in my life. While this leg of my journey is over, I know another journey is just beginning.

A journey that will take me many times to Kager. A journey that will take a lifetime. A journey that will require greater sacrifice.

My life has been changed forever.

Poverty now has a name…and her name is Kager.

Ned

CONFRONTATION AT JOMO KENYATTA (Day 8)

After the boys dropped me off at Jomo Kenyatta (Nairobi airport), I had a couple of hours to kill until my flight left for Heathrow. I cruised every single African sculpture shop (there must be 20) and saw a lot of carved elephants and Masii warriors, but nothing that caught my eye. My travel tradition is to buy a snowglobe for Rebekah (yes, they have snowglobes in Kenya) and a sloppy t-shirt for Alexa (Java Nairobi Coffee / Red / Small). I sat in the Java Coffee House and watched a meaningless football (soccer) match on TV and drank my last two Crests (bitter lemon drink made by Coca Cola of Kenya).

I decided to wander down toward my gate and was making my way down the crowded concourse when I heard an English-accented voice say behind me, “Jesus is King?” I turned around and expected to find a smiling face, but instead found a man with his wife and baby – and he wasn’t smiling. He approached me and fired away at me, “Your t-shirt says ‘Jesus is King’ as if it is some sort of fact, but it's no fact at all.” He continued railing on me, pressing me to provide him the facts of my t-shirt’s claim.

Needless to say, I was a little taken aback by his attack. But I felt God whispering to me and reminding me what I had taught on earlier in the week at Kager, “Show this man My love.” I told him Jesus was my King, and that I accepted this claim as a matter of faith, not because it was a proven fact. Unconvinced and still armed, he continued his assault and asked me if I was going to try to convert him. All I could do was smile and tell him “Man, God is the only one changes a man’s heart.”

And with that he smiled and put out his hand and said, “It’s good to meet you brother, my name’s Errol Jacobs and I’m a pastor from England.” And I smiled, too (and let out a small sigh of relief). We went on to have a great discussion about missions (they had served as missionaries in upstate New York) and they invited me to come speak at their church if I ever made it to Essex, England.

As we parted ways, the words of Romans 1:16 came to my mind, “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone that believes.” It was a good reminder of how God arranges divine appointments, even in faraway airports. I really appreciated the way Errol had put my faith to the test -- and I was glad I had passed the test.

Ned

JOINING THE RIVER (Day 8)

The last two days have served as real confirmation that God has called us to the Kager village for a reason and a purpose – that this week we joined a River called Kager. A River that’s been flowing for hundreds of years -- long before we arrived. A River that God is guiding – and He’s guided us to join it. A River of faith, hope and love – and the greatest of these is love.

Tuesday afternoon we had the opportunity to meet with the headmaster of the Daypsring Academy (the local private primary school) and all of the teachers of the God Kado Primary School (the local public school for grades 1 to 8). Our discussions were wide ranging, engaging and thought provoking – they made me realize that regardless of location, good education is always undermined by the presence of hunger, broken families, undisciplined children and hopelessness. It is very evident in talking to the children, parents and community in Kager, that a very high value is placed on education in Kenya. In Kager, they face even greater challenges: poor facilities (no electricity, leaking roofs), inadequate staff (if they are paid at all, teachers make just over US$ 200 / month), increasing orphan rates (due to parents dying from HIV/AIDS) and lack of basic resources (chalk, textbooks).

Before the Tuesday night church service, John, Craig and I had the opportunity to meet and dialogue with the local church leaders of the Kager Vision Centre. We shared with them what we had learned the last 3 days as we lived with and talked to the people in Kager. We shared with them our vision for the Jubilee Village Project and the essential nature of their leadership and involvement in leading the church-centered transformation of their community. We agreed the community’s greatest needs / opportunities centered on bringing electricity to the village, improving water supply and irrigation, increasing farming output and securing food supply, educating the children and building new micro-enterprises. It was a very humbling moment as they invited us to become part of their community and called us their friends and partners. Bishop Christopher closed our evening together, reminding us we have to trust God to provide and guide our next steps.

That evening we joined about 100 people from the village in a night of celebration of praise. John and Craig were able to share words of encouragement with the people (with John reminding them that one of the fruits of the Spirit is “patience”) and I taught from Romans 12 and was able to invite people to receive Christ. It was so cool for us to be able to look out and see the smiling faces of people in whose homes we had visited and in whose fields we had walked and talked. Three days ago they were strangers – now they were friends.

As we said our good-byes to the Kayando family and other villagers who had stopped by to give us their good wishes, it was a nice feeling to know this is not the last time we will be in Kager. Unlike many mission trips where no one ever seems to return, I am convinced we are just getting started. We are leaving Kager much richer men – richer in knowledge, but more importantly, richer in friendship. We came to Kager and to Kenya with the goals of learning and building lasting relationships – and with God’s grace and provision, we have succeeded in doing this.

John 15:16 says, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” Our parting prayer is that the seeds of fellowship and love we planted this week in Kager will grow and bear much fruit in the years to come.

Glory be to God.

Ned

DAILY VILLAGE LIFE (Day 7)

We are staying at the house of Christopher and Gladys Kayando, and it is probably one of the nicest equipped houses in the community:

• 3 bedrooms with a family room, dining area and kitchen (probably under 1,000 sq ft in total)
• Diesel generator that they use sparingly to light the house (my guess is they have used it more since we have been here)
• Three types of stoves: a gas powered stove that sits on top of a propane gas cylinder, a charcoal “jiko” stove, a traditional outdoor 3-rock stove
• Large 5,000 liter tanks to catch rain water, reducing the daily grind of going to the water bore hole
• Two hole latrine with bathing stall (we had our own “guest” hole)

We definitely lived the “easy life” while we were in Kager, as Carolyne (David’s wife) and Gladys (Christopher’s wife) cooked all of our meals, made sure we had warm water to wash ourselves each morning and took great care of us.

Living in the rural African village is hard – without the modern conveniences of running water, electricity and refrigeration, much of the day is spent each day doing the very same routine:

• Getting water from a borehole well, a pond or from any rainwater captured the night before (some have to walk up to 3 kilometers many times a day as there are only two wells in the community)
• Gathering firewood or buying charcoal at the local market (or from a neighborhood that makes and sells charcoal for income)
• Boiling water (although a large percentage of the people do not practice this as it is so fuel and time intensive)
• Getting corn ground at a local posho mill to make the day’s “ugali” (a cornmeal mush eaten at every meal)
• Walking to the market (the nearest one is about 4 kilometers) to buy fresh vegetables, meat and other goods (very little food is stored due to lack of refrigeration and lots of rodents and bugs)
• Ironing the day’s clothes with a coal-powered iron (the Kenyan people take great pride in their appearance)
• Milking the goats or a cow (most own goats, few own cows) for the day's milk
• Taking livestock to get water and graze (often at the same pond where they got the day’s water)
• Tending and watering crops, which is usually done early in the morning or in late afternoon



By the end of just four short days in the village, I had gained an unbelievable appreciation for a few of my favorite modern conveniences:

• Instantaneous hot water
• Ice cubes and a cold drink
• A toilet to sit on
• Internet connection (I didn’t miss TV at all)
• Smooth asphalt roads
• A big thick quilted mattress

Having said all of this, though, it is clear that we were sheltered from the life that many people live every day in Kager: hungry, sick from malaria and typhoid, orphaned and widowed from the HIV/AIDS scourge. As we made our home visits, we encountered these situations and they were heartbreaking – but they confirmed why God has called us to the village of Kager.

A BIG DAM WASTE (Day 7)

Standing atop the high rock ridge that bisects the Kager community, I can look to the north and see the largest body of water in the area (about the size of a really large retention pond in a large US subdivision). It appears to be a man-made dam that has formed a pond, about 2-3 kilometers from Kager. No one in Kager knows much about it, so we decided we would take the pickup and check it out.

We drove to the next village, Ngulu, which is just up the road from Kager. After asking a couple of locals, we finally found someone to direct us down a dirt path where we were told we would find the dam at the end of the path. We could tell from the deep tracks in the path that some large equipment had been down the same path some months earlier. Finally, about a half mile later, we broke into a cleared area with the pond before us.

It was obviously man-made, a large earthen dam at one end and small berms on two opposite sides. It lay in the middle of a very small valley and a very small creek flowed into it from the east. Some cattle were drinking from the east shore and several women were doing their laundry nearby, a small boy was filling his jerry can from the pond.

As we walked around the pond, a man and his friends came to meet us. He introduced himself as Ernest Tiko Olik, a local farmer with two wives and four children. He shared he was one of two men recently trained from the local Homa Bay district at the Polytechnical Agricultural School at Mombasa. He shared with us the dam was called the Otit Dam (otit is a type of firefly) and it had been built less than 5 months ago as a joint project between the Kenyan government and an anti-poverty NGO (whose name escapes me).

We shared with him our surprise to see no fields being irrigated from the pond, that the dam’s earth walls were beginning to erode because nothing had been planted on them, and that livestock had open access to the pond and it was already showing the ill-effects of contamination. Ernest explained to us there had been little invitation for the local community to be involved with the project, and the one farm that was to serve as a model farm had given up on demonstrating the use of irrigation from the pond. He shared that most people in the community don’t understand how the pond is expected to be used and managed. There had been no training of the community as to how it could benefit them.

Ernest thought intentions behind the pond were good, but it had failed to bring about the intended benefits due to almost no communication, low community involvement and poor execution. It was clear that unless something changes in the near future, the pond would soon be fully contaminated by livestock and would eventually just erode away, too.

Unfortunately, Kenya is littered with projects of this type – ones that are started but not finished, ones that are done to the community, not with the community. Lots of time and lots of money spent, but in the end, no real long-term transformation.

That night after dinner, we had the opportunity to discuss with the Kager church leaders the vision for the Jubilee Village Project – that it be church-centered, holistic and sustainable. That we had no interest in building another Otit Dam -- that without the church leading the Kager community in its own transformation, we would be destined to fail. It was a great night of sharing our hearts and seeing the Kager church leaders “get it” – that we are there to help and support them, not tell them what needs to be done.

Together, we were all reminded of what the Bible teaches of the Body having many gifts and its members having many roles – how awesome it is going to be to see how God uses all of us to accomplish His plans for the village of Kager

To God be the Glory.

Ned

THE XX FACTOR (Day 6)

During my home visits on Monday, I met one of the true strengths of the village – I will call it the XX Factor – the hard-working and enterprising women of the Kager community. Assisted by David K. during my home visits, I was able to make an appreciative inquiry of many women in the village by asking a few simple questions:

Can you tell me about your family?
What makes up your daily and weekly routine?
What gives you joy?
What are your biggest challenges?
How could the Jubilee Village Project best help you?

During my visits, I learned of the prevalence of polygamy in the region. This has resulted in very large families which give rise to economic and housing hardships. Below are some of what I learned from my home visits and profiles of a few of the wonderful people I was blessed to meet.


Kerina
“My name is Kerina and I have one daughter that lives alone with me. The joy of my life is seeing the fruits of my hard work and to be productive. As a farmer, I raise maize, ground nuts and beans. My typical day is working in my fields from 6 to 11, coming home for lunch and housework from 11 to 5, returning to my fields from 5 to 7 and then having dinner after that. Farming is the backbone of Kager, so any help in farming will lift up the entire village. I gather water 7 times a day and my work is very hard. My joints are sore very often and I sometimes have headaches from carrying loads on my head. We can be helped by having access to better seeds, fertilizers and equipment. Although I have access to an ox, I do not have a plough, so I have to do all my field work by hand.”


Rose
“My husband is a pastor and we have nine children. Because he is a pastor and has no income, we rely on two ways of making income: creating and selling charcoal from sticks and making and weaving sissel ropes. I am part of a woman’s merry-go-round where 15 of us put in 100 schillings each week and one of us gets to take home 1,500 each week – I have two positions on this merry-go-round and it helps me save money for clothes and other things for my family. I am a good business person and if I had access to more money, I could grow my income. Today, I buy oranges from other villagers and resell them in the city of Kisii (Rose walks to Kisii which is 28 kilometers away). While at Kisii, I buy sweet potatoes and cabbages and bring them back to sell them at a profit to other villagers. If I were able to get a loan for 5,000 schillings ($77), I would be able to buy more oranges and pineapples to sell them in Kisii and make my trips more profitable.”




Karin and Eunice
“Our names are Eunice and Karin and we are the first and second (of three) wives of our family. Together, we have 21 children and are primarily farmers while our husband works in the city. We raise pineapples, but we have a need to be educated to know how to grow them much better. We have a huge need for water as our nearest well is over 30 minutes away. We must make three trips a day and we do all we can do to capture rain water, but in the dry season we are desperate. We farm many pineapples, but we know with more water and farming equipment we could be growing much more. We are also not able to send all of our children to school because we can not afford the fees. We are interested to know how Jubilee can help the poorest people get their children to school.”


Jen (and Elida)
“I work with 2 other women and we grow and sell pineapple, watermelon and butternut (squash) in the city (Kisumu) where we get much better prices. We borrowed 10,000 schillings from the Kenya Women’s Trust Fund for the first time this last season. We had to provide 1,000 schillings down payment and pay back 12,000 at end of the season (the effective interest rate on the loan was close to 40%). After paying for the produce, paying the pickup transportation fees and paying the loan back, we were able to make about 2,000 schillings ($31) each. It would be great if we could get more training on how to grow crops and also be able to get bigger loans so we could buy and sell more and different goods.”

FARMER JOHN AND PASTOR PETER (Day 6)

On my early morning walkabout, I had occasion to meet two local farmers tending their fields. Most farmers are in their fields by 7 am and work until about 10:30 or so to avoid the mid-day heat. They then return to their fields in the evening to finish their work.

I met Farmer John Ogengo as he was carrying three jugs of water to his fields just south of the Kayando homestead. He greeted me with a big smile and explained he was watering his newly planted cabbage, as he does every morning.

John was proud to show me his many plantings, including maize (corn), peppers, bananas, beans, potatoes and tomatoes. He practices composting (with manure from his cows and goats) and crop rotation, and has just started experimenting growing sugar cane.

John primarily uses his crops to feed his family, but also uses them to pay the school fees for his children (he has 4 boys and 3 girls). It takes him ten wheelbarrow loads of 3 jugs each day just to water his cabbage, and he says he would benefit greatly from a better constructed water catchment pond, a MoneyMaker Pump and more fertilizer.

Not far down the path, Pastor Peter invited me into his fields to see the crops he was farming. Peter is a part-time farmer (4 days a week) and then goes away for 3 days a week to the nearby town of Ryondi, where he serves as the pastor of a small church. He showed me how he uses the native hand hoe to work in the field, to create planting rows and to dig out weeds. He primarily farms maize and pili pili (also known as a birdseye pepper).

Pili pili is incredibly time intensive to farm, as they are only about 1 inch long and have to be picked individually. I learned a real productive plant can produce 300 or so peppers. After they are picked, they are dried in the sun, packaged in large bags and sold to middlemen that then sell them to food processors in the cities. Peter shared with me they had started a pili pili farmers co-op in Kager and they were aggregating their production and selling their crops together to attain better pricing.

The pili pili is small, but POWERFUL. I accidentally crushed one of the peppers and wiped it on my cheek – it burned pretty good. Despite my best efforts of wiping it off, it kept burning for about an hour (I later learned they are rated at about 175,000 Scoville Heat Units). The pili pili is so hot, they don’t allow children to pick them.

What I learned through my discussions with farmers like John and Peter is the local farmers are willing and wanting to learn best farming practices and are interested in forming other farmer’s co-op groups. Their greatest needs as farmers are: 1) irrigation and the ability to water their plants 2) high-yielding seeds 3) equipment to reduce the time it take to develop and turn over fields 4) farming and crop education, and 5) transportation to faraway markets where they can obtain better pricing, and 6) marketing and distribution methods to obtain better pricing for their crops.

Thank God for farmers like Farmer John and Pastor Peter who help feed their villages and the lifeblood to the African economy.

(Trip Prologue: Every day I was in Kager, Farmer John was always the first farmer I would see in the morning. He would greet me with hands raised in the air, a great big smile and welcome me to join him in his fields and talk. David K. shared with me that John is not a believer, but both nights we had church service, he came and participated. Before I left, he asked that I correspond with him and told me he looked forward to our next visit. My prayer is as we advance the Jubilee Village Project, I will continue to have opportunities to share the good news of Jesus in both words and deeds with men like Farmer John in the Kager community. Praise God!)


Ned

STEALING DIGNITY (Day 6)

I woke up early this morning and took off down Rangwe Road, which connects Kager to the market community of Rangwe and the main road to Homa Bay. At 6:30 am, there are already kids making their way to school, bicycles with heavy loads travelling to Homa Bay (24 kilometres away) and herdsmen taking their few cattle for water.

As I walked along the rocky and rutty road, an older woman approached me carrying a package on her head. With the early morning sun warming the day, it was a perfect Kodak moment. I pulled her into focus and let go a steady click of pictures as she walked toward me. As she neared me, I dropped my camera and greeted her with “Ruoth Opaki” (Praise the Lord) and extended my hand in friendship. She shared with me her big smile and clasped my hand in friendship. In my brief time in Kenya, I have found the people to be so friendly and always open to sharing fellowship.

I motioned to my camera and gestured as if it was okay for me to take her picture. This kind old lady smiled and I stepped back and took a close up of her, the early morning sun illuminating her smile. I shook her hand and said “Asante” and began to walk away – I had gotten what I wanted.

But as I walked away, this little old lady began speaking to me in her native Luo tongue with much animation and a lot of hand gesturing. I had no idea what she was saying, but I could tell she was telling me something that was very important to her. Fortunately, a man was passing by on a bicycle and he saw the exchange going on. He stopped and share with me what she was saying,

“Please give me some small coin” – she was asking me for a token payment – which is customary in Kenya when you take a picture of someone you don’t know. I searched my pockets and had none. Empty handed, I asked the man to share with her I had nothing to share. She said a couple of more words and turned from me and resumed her journey down the road.

As I turned to go on my way, I was struck with great conviction that I had committed my first sin of the day – I had stolen this old lady’s dignity. I had taken from her the only thing she could give – her time and her smile – and I had given her nothing in return. From a woman who had so little to offer, I had taken the one thing she could offer. And from a man who had blessed with so much, I was unprepared to give her anything back.

It was a terrible feeling and a humbling lesson from the Lord. In my brief encounter with this kind lady, I learned an incredible lesson. Too often, in our exchange of doing mission work, we are insensitive to the native traditions and see things from our perspective only.

As I walked away that morning, I prayed to God to forgive me and to cover my offense in stealing dignity from this lady. I prayed in my remaining days in Kenya, He would show me how to treat the people of Kager with respect and love, and in a way that brings Him honor and glory.

Ruoth Opaki.

Ned

WORSHIPING IN LUO (Day 5)

I must confess this was the most grueling day of our trip…and the one where I really had to walk in God’s strength and none of my own. Before we started our trip, David K. has asked if I would deliver God’s Word and a message of encouragement at two churches on Sunday. This was the hardest part of preparation for this trip, far worse than getting shots and far worse than travelling for 24 hours half-way around the world.

How do I preach a sermon (I’ve never preached before)? How do I preach to people I don’t know? In a culture I know little about? And frankly, to people I share very little in common? For the two weeks leading up to the trip, I had studied Scriptures in Mark, Romans and Hebrews looking for a message, but one never appeared. I had lots of notes, but nothing to say.
So last night, after turning in early around 9, I spent a sleepless night praying to God and asking for a message He would have me share with His children in Kenya.

While I never heard the voice of God, two things led me to John 15. First, when we were at AMPATH yesterday, one of the farmers talked about grafting scions (branches) to root stock (vines) to create better and stronger plants. Second, at dinner Saturday night, David K. shared with us his personal call to ministry and quoted from John 15:15, “Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” So with that small whisper from God, I spent the rest of the night studying and preparing a message to share from John 15.

We worshiped Sunday morning at a new church that meets at the Kisumu YMCA. Although there were only 40 people in attendance, there was plenty of Spirit flowing. There were times of unbridled and uncoordinated praise and worship by the people, a far cry from the well-rehearsed and well-controlled service I am used to back home in Indiana. The Yamaha keyboard and the Peavey amp were the extent of the electronics...no big screens, no Powerpoints…it was loud, it was raw, and it was real.

After church, we picked up Craig Hanson at the Kisumu Airport and we made our 2-1/2 hour trip to Kager village. It was so cool to finally see the village God had planted in our hearts one year ago. Reflecting on John 15, it was as if God had finally grafted his new branches from Indianapolis, USA to the old vine He has had growing for centuries in Kager, Kenya.

That night, under the hum of a diesel generator and four fluorescent lights, the church had come together at the Kager Vision Centre to welcome us to their village and to ask us to share the Word of God with them. From 8:30 to 10:30 pm, we worshiped in Luo (the native language of Kager) and they accommodated us with an occasional song in English.

Just as in the morning service, I shared a message from John 15 with the help of a translating preacher (which I am sure they helped fill in the gaps in my message). I felt the Spirit’s power as I shared God’s Word with His people of Kager, amazed that God had allowed me to travel half-way around the world to share His love with these people.

I was awestruck by universality and relevance of God’s message to all men, regardless of the tongue we speak, the continent we live in, or the community we call home. In John 15:14-16, Jesus says, “You are my friends if you do what I command…You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit – fruit that will last.” I shared with my Christian brothers and sisters that we had to come to their village because we had felt God’s choosing and call in our lives. God gives all men two choices: to choose God and to choose good. It was our prayer that in the coming days, we could become their friends and help find ways we could help the village of Kager bear new fruit – fruit that would last for them and their children.

It’s truly humbling to know God has called us to do His work in His village called Kager, and even more exciting to live in and learn more about Kager and to make new friends.

In Him,

Ned

MORE RESEARCH IN KAKAMEGA (Day 4)

After a night of 8 or 9 thirty-minute naps, a blissful hot shower and a bowl of cornflakes, our driver arrived at 7am to take us south two hours to Kakamega to visit the Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI). The road to Kakamega is a well-travelled tarmac road with lots and lots of truck traffic. The tire grooves in the road were sometimes 3 to 4 inches deep and speeds were moderated by occasional speed bumps.

The countryside we travelled through was beautiful: rolling hills with volcanic outcroppings, small houses dotting the hills and small farms in the valleys and flatlands. The rural areas appear to be so much poorer than what we saw in Eldoret: children with no shoes, houses with no electricity and lots of women and children carrying water jugs and firewood. Every ten or fifteen minutes we would pass through small towns with roadside markets for food, clothes, firewood and other basic living necessities.

At KARI-Kakamega, we were greeted by the Centre Director, Dr. Francis Muyekho, and we met with him and seven of his staff for three hours. It was such a joy at the beginning of the meeting when they asked we open in prayer. There was shared rejoicing to know that God had brought some of His children together to fellowship and share ideas to help the poor of Kenya. Each of his staff shared what they were doing in areas of agricultural research in such areas as maize, legumes, roots and tubers, horticulture and food processing.

We learned so much about the lack of farm management and food marketing practices, and the extreme challenges village farmers face in just eking out enough food to feed their families. Simple things we take for granted like good seeds, storage bins and fertilizers are challenges that make their crop yields only achieve about 20% of their potential and force them to sell their crops when prices are lowest. We also learned the western region that KARI serves (which the village of Kager is in) is one of the poorest in Kenya, with only 3% formally employed, 8% informally employed and the remaining 89% either subsistent village farmers or completely unemployed.

We also learned of a couple organizations that might be potential partners: C-MAD (Community Mobilization Against Desertification) and CARPA (Christian Agricultural Related Professional Association). Rhoda Nungo, invited us to her home where she demonstrated an Energy Saving Stove and a Fireless Cooker, both solutions to significantly reduce the amount of firewood used for basic cooking.

We then travelled on with our driver, Amos, to the city of Kisumu. The 90-minute trip was slow-going and a real kidney buster, as the road we were on was a mixture of pavement, dirt, potholes, ruts and ridges. Kisumu is located on the shores of Lake Victoria, the 3rd largest city in Kenya and a commercial center for the western region.

After checking in and a short nap at St. Anna Guest House, our long-awaited meeting with David Kayando finally happened. It was a real joy to shake David’s hand and give him a holy hug after almost one year of exchanging e-mails and dreaming together about the Jubilee Village Project. It is truly amazing to see how God has weaved David and my hearts and lives together to get us to this point in our journey.

John, David and I had dinner together and a great time of fellowship. We learned more about Kager village (and how to pronounce it the correct way: kă-GĕR) and David’s role as an apostle and church planter. We also learned that David’s father, Bishop Christopher Kayand0, is the spiritual leader of a Kenyan denomination and travels all across Kenya in this role.

Both John and I continue to receive great encouragement from the people that God is allowing us to meet and the relationships we are being able to build. We are so thankful we made the decision to spend time in Eldoret and Kakamega – they are doing some great work at both places and we hope we might be successful in building a bridge for these solutions to work in Kager village.

Asante (thank you) Abba Father.

Ned

LEARNING IN ELDORET (Day 3)

We were up at the crack of dawn yesterday -- it seems like the sun just popped out over the equatorial horizon at 6:15. By 9:00 am, we had flown to Eldoret (in northern Kenya at 7,000 ft altitude) and were picked up by Abraham Boit from AMPATH (Academic Model for for the Treatment and Prevention of HIV). AMPATH is a program initiative between Moi University and Indiana University with the goal of reversing the HIV/AIDS crisis in Kenya.

We spent half the day with Abraham and his colleagues learning about and walking through the four farms they operate to produce and distribute vegetables and fruits on a massive basis – over 10 tons per week. Through this program, they feed over 30,000 people each day with a diet that helps people fight and resist the HIV virus and the devastating affect of AIDS. Coupled with the medical care programs provided through Moi University and some 15 or so community clinics spread through northern Kenya, they are treating over 72,000 people affected by AIDS.

Although it is hard to describe these farms in words, they can be best described as HIGHLY productive farms cranking out crop after crop. John was almost giddy to see the sound farming and agronomy best practices they have in place: hybrid seed selection, composting, soil enrichment, greenhouse growing, crop rotation, leaf picking and drip irrigation. Abraham is very open to having us send farmers from Kager to take part in their 11-module program that covers high-production farming from A-to-Z. The training they have created is excellent and we couldn’t have asked for a better outcome for the day. We also met Naman Nyabinda who runs AMPATH’s agricultural extension programs for village-based training and mentoring of farmers (FPI - Family Preservation Initiative).

Naomi Lundman (DePauw undergrad, Notre Dame MBA) served as our tour guide for the afternoon as we toured the town of Eldoret. We wanted to see what farming resources are available in Kenya, so we visited grocery stores, hardware stores and seed stores – the resources in Eldoret appear to be very good. The challenge for any village farmer is gaining access to these resources from both a transportation and working capital standpoint.

After a good afternoon nap at the Indiana University House at which we stayed (jet lag is probably more appropriately called “jet slam”), we had the real pleasure to have dinner (there are good Chinese restaurants in Kenya) with Dr. Joe and Sarah Mamlin (and their friend Jim who is a retired anthropologist). The Mamlins can best be described as “giants” in the HIV/AIDS global relief community and it was fascinating to hear them share about the program they helped start from scratch with Indiana / Moi Universities back in 1990 (if you google Joe Mamlin, you can read more about their work and his Noble Peace Prize nomination). It was very encouraging to share with them the vision of the Jubilee Village Project and the work we have planned for Kager – their response was that “we are spot on.” They said a grass roots, village-based model is just what is needed to complement the top-down, massive coverage model that AMPATH has developed.

It was a truly blessed day and we learned so much. We met the most open and hospitable people at AMPATH/IU/Moi, and we feel we have made new friends who welcomed up with open arms and are willing to share their resources and knowledge with us in the future.

God is good!

Ned

KAGER KENYA TRIP (Day 1 and 2)

(Slideshow at Bottom)

As I boarded the plane to start our adventure to Kenya, it was my only hope our plane would perform better than my nose diving 401-K. The flights to Chicago and London were pretty uneventful, although about ¾ of the way across the Atlantic, I started feeling in my legs thre reason why people pay so much more for Business class.

Our flight from Heathrow to Nairobi was a lot less crowded, which I was glad as it was going to be another eight hours in the air. Of all the flying I have done in my life, I have to say this was the most incredible “look out the window” experience. It was truly amazing as we crept across the top of Africa across the Saharan and Libyan Deserts. For three hours, from horizon to horizon, nothing but sand and rock -- blue, brown and blue and nothing else. The enormity of the Saharan is mind blowing. The barren desert skin is sliced open occasionally by a steppe plateau, but for the most part, it is hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of miles of sand.

From 36,000 feet, I could see great lines of sand dunes crawling across the desert floor like snakes looking for rocks to escape the brutal heat. Then out of nowhere appeared a distant pattern of honeycombs and circles carved in the sand. As we flew closer, I could see it was some sort of man-made oasis carved out of absolutely nowhere. Deep drilled wells and irrigation were obviously the source of life for this community. What it was I have no idea. It left me with a great curiosity to understand why anything would be built in the middle of the world’s largest flying pan.

As darkness set in, we proceeded to sail over the Darfur Mountains and down the Great Rift Valley, the Nile River out of site beneath us, with locations like Luxor and Aswan flashing on my headset map.

As our wheels touched down at Jomo Kenyatta International, I was glad our 24-hour trek was over. Much to my surprise and delight, we breezed through Customs and they didn’t even look inside our big blue tub containing the New Life water purifier system. We were thankful our taxi ride to the Gracia Guest House was not in our hands. After a whole day of travel, I know neither John or I were in the right state of mind to try to drive on the left-hand side, weave through the police roadblock chicanes or avoid the bicyclers and walkers on the pitch black road.

As I lay my head down last night, I couldn’t help but think about the week ahead and how much we have to learn. The thing I am most excited to learn, though, is to discover “the good works, which God has prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). God has been working for eternity in this little corner of His Kingdom named Kenya, and it is so exciting to join Him in His work.