King's Kids Village

Again its been awhile, I have a hard time just sitting down to write but I have a great post for you. Two weeks ago I met John, the director of King's Kids Village, an orphanage on the outskirts of Nairobi. Torrey and I were facilitating activities, which was a blast. There was one girl who took a particular shine to me, I would guess she was 12 and had severe autism. She took pride in showing me, her new friend off to all of the facilatators of the orphanage. Where I would awkwardly say "hi" and then she would tug on my arm and take me to my next meeting.

John, the director, took the ministry from the hands of his mother who has moved back to the states with her husband just a year ago. He took the time to tell me the story of the orphanage. It was amazing. When his mother was 25, back in 1950 she recieved word from God that she was going to be the mother of many. She took it to mean that she was going to run an orphanage. Her answer was, "just tell me when and where and I will do it." No word for 50 years and in 2000, the Lord said, I want you to build an orphange now, in Kenya. She replied, "Lord I am 75." The Lord reminded her that Sarah was 99 when she gave birth, and he was only asking her to open an orphange. So she went to Kenya and found the land she was confident the Lord wanted for the orphanage. When her and her husband left for Kenya they sold everything they had and were able to make a down payment on the land but they needed another 100,000 USD. The proprietor of the land gave 3 mo. and they were able to get 3 more. She heard from the Lord again and he said, you didn't believe I could do it in 3 mo. so I am going to do it in 1. At the end of the month they had the money and now 9 years later, they are operating at full capacity and transforming lives.

Bwana Asifiwe

How I became a Licensed Motorcycle Driver

I have a motorcycle but I didn't have my Kenyan License till yesterday. My roommate Torrey and I went to get them together yesterday morning. We had what we thought was all the paperwork you needed but to find out that it wasn't even close. So we got to where the test was to take place and there were over 100 people waiting outside, so we thought we would definitely be there all day. So I went up and talked to someone about how the process worked and apparently we had to sign up with a driving school, and then take the test through them. We hadn't done this but found out there was a driving school right across the road. So we ran over there and payed a man 2000 shillings each about 20 dollars a piece for what we thought was the price of the test.He didn't give us a reciept and I see why in retrospect. We needed to get passport photos and copy our passport, and he personally took us to do all this. Then the best part he took us back to the police station, in the back door, in front of the 100 people and it was testing time.

Now there are 3 parts to the test, the sign test, the table test and the road test. We only took the road test! And this included, getting on a bike, starting it, and going in a circle. I passed with flying colors! The 2000 shillings we payed went directly into the police's pockets and we innocently bribed our way to a Kenyan Motorcycle License!

What I do

Its blog updating time. Pole sana (very sorry) for taking so long to post. Thank you for those, caring so much who have called me out on my lack of updates. There is a silver lining though, because it has been so long since I have updated there is plenty to draw on and this should be an interesting post. My sister requested that I post a little about what I do at work and in the day to day. I thought that was a fair request so here you go.

As all of you know, at least I assume and if not now you do, I work for Tanari Trust. I specifically work with the ROPES program with Tanari. ROPES stands for Rites of Passage Experience. Tanari offers two ROPES programs, ROPES adolescent and ROPES ROYAL. These programs are in place to guide youth through important transition times, the adolescent program falls in between elementary school and high school and the ROYAL program is for high school students initiating them into the market place. Rites of Passage Experiences are long standing in the African context performed by one's tribe. Kenyan youth are reeling from the lack of these experiences. One of the key factors in any rites of passage experience is the tribe or village. For rites to be effective it must fall in the context of a community. The ROPES program is performing these transitions in the context of the church as the community. So my job in relation to all this is program planning and execution for the ROYAL program, and participation where I am needed with the adolescent program. Where we stand now with the ROYAL program is hunting for participants. There is a hefty price tag attached to the program and we don't have an effective way to subsidize it for people who can't afford it. The price stands now at 40,000 Kenyan Shillings, just over 500 USD. That seems like a minimal price tag for a 6 month program that offers a climb up the second highest mountain on the continent, a 3 month internship with a business associated with your field of interest , and invaluable leadership, life skills and discipleship training. As of now we have two people signed up for a program that is due to start in December.

There is a church interested in partnering with us. There are pluses and minuses that come with that. The plus is that we will instantly have significant increase in enrollment but that price tag is scarey and the church may want to alter the program in significant ways to lower the cost, such as replace the Mount Kenya experience with something much more docile. Please pray about our negotiations with the church. If God wants us to give somethings up so more people are reached that we would be open to that, but if it is a necessary component of the trip as I see it now that we may be able to work to shave back the budget in other ways.

There is much more I can write about but I will let you digest that and I will fill you in on my crazy weekend in Homa Bay and the motorcycle that is being delivered as I write this.

Karibu Kenya

Slow traffic, slow internet, slow luggage ... Karibu Kenya. Kenya does lack the efficency of back home even making Houghton often seem like a swiss bank. I had my first day of work today. It wasn't a full day because I had to run to the airport at noon to pick up my luggage but I met most of the staff I will be woking with. Tuesday is morning prayer meeting so that took us throurgh till 11 and then I sat down with Micho, the RitesOfPassageExperience Director and he gave me a lot of information about the program that I have to wade through this week and I will sit down with him on Friday to talk about my specific role with the program. The Ropes program works with adolesence, graduates of high school, and intiates them wholisticly into the working world. One of the issues that we want to incoorporate in the program is how everything that we do is an expression of worship. It is pretty amazing to think about it because this is a theme that I couldn't get away from while I was at home. It seemed everything I would listen to or read would alude to how everything we do is an expression of worship. One of my favorite quotes is from William Temple about worship...

"Worship is the submission of all of our nature to God. It is the quickining of conscience by His holiness; the nurishment of mind by His truth; the purifying of imagination by His beauty; the opening of heart to his love; and the submission of will to His purpose; all this gathered up in adoration is the greatest expression of which we are capable."

You would think God was preparing me, this needs to be the pursuit our lives. He is worthy of our worship.

Some thanksgiving... Living with Torrey Mindreabo is a blessing, he has been able to take me all around and get me aquainted with the area and it is really great to have someone from back home to share life with. God knows what I need. Please continue to pray for the ministry of Tanari and specifically the planning stages of the ROPES program and that the Lord would be involved with enrollement because it will really take His hand to fill it to capacity.

God's Sovereignty

I have been reading Romans in the mornings, and this morning God's Sovereignty was the resounding truth. God's sovereignty is sometimes a hard pill to swollow because it cristalizes our finitude, but it gives me so much solace as I am heading off in faith. I am going to be getting on a plane Friday boldly because I know our sovereign God and He loves me. "We know that that in all things God works out for the good of those who love Him, and are called according to His purpose." - Romans 8:28 I am humbled to be called by God.

God has already been faithful and I am still on American soil. I recieved an email last week from Muhia, the Kenyan Director of Tanari, who informed me that I had more support than I needed. This surplus will go to Tanari and will be there if I stay longer then my prescribed 6 month contract. Thank you for your faithful support!

Please pray for traveling mercies, the work of Tanari as they have a huge ministry entrused to them, the lives of Kenyan youth in Nairobi, and as they work on making this ministry financially sustainable while still ministering to people who can't pay for their services. I will keep you updated on how God answers your prayers!

Bwana Asifiwe

Bwana Asifiwe

Huh? Bwana Asifiwe means Praise the Lord. This is to be the theme of my blog, a place where I can testify to what God is doing in Nairobi. I will introduce you to people I meet, keep you up to date on adventures I am having, post prayer requests, and let you know about the ministry of Tanari. Thank you all for your support both in prayer and financially. I fly out on October 2nd and will arrive on the 4th. I know many of you have questions regarding my financial support I should recieve a financial update very shortly and will pass on the information.