Mission to Kenya 2006

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January 2006

Mission Trip to Kenya

This weblog records a United Methodist Church sponsored mission trip to Kenya January 12-28, 2006.

As this is a "weblog", the posts are in chronological order with the most recent entries at the top. Working backwards, there are posts about a party we held March 25th to honor Daniel Kibe and his wife. Daniel's firm provided our ground tranportation during the mission. Below that are posts about the reunion brunch we held February 25th after we returned from Kenya. The very first posts (bottom of blog) relate to getting ready for the mission. The actual entries from and about Kenya begin with the post actually dated January 14 but titled "Day 1: Thursday, January 12, 2006 ."

You can read about this mission in an article published in the Oklahoma Conference newsletter CONTACT April 20, 2006.

Want to Lead A VIM Team to Kenya?

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If so, click here to view a Leader's Suggested "TO DO" Check List, a draft Team Member Manual and a collection of possible handouts.

These documents can also be obtained in digital form from the Oklahoma Volunteers In Mission office in Oklahoma City.

Reunion Party for Daniel & Velosia Kibe

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On Saturday, March 25, 2006, members of all three teams from Oklahoma to travel on a mission trip to Kenya gathered for a party with our tour company operator, Daniel Kibe, and his wife, Velosia. Daniel's company is Kenya Adventures Tours and Safaris. Here are some photos from the Kibe's three-day visit in Oklahoma City.

Dinner at Nichols HIlls United Methodist Church

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Fellowship Hall, Sat evening

With Bishop Robert Hayes, Jr.

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Oklahoma City University

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Visit with Dr. Mark Davies, Dean, Wimberly School of Religion and Graduate Theological Center, Oklahoma City University

Visit to Volunteers in Mission Office

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Velosia Kibe, Shannon Lemmons, Jean Warner, Daniel Kibe

Team Reunion - Feb 25, 2006

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The team held its first reunion on Saturday, February 25 at the team leader's home in Oklahoma City. All 15 members of the team were present and several brought their spouse or "special friend." We were especially blessed to also have Florence and Fridah Mubichi with us.

We discussed fundraising to reimburse Steven Mubichi (he covered much of the cost to get the container out of the Port of Mombosa and to Meru) and also to pay for the water line at the School for the mentally Handicapped.

We looked at one anothers photos of the trip and Jean gave everyone a CD with a Powerpoint presentation featuring over 300 photos related to the mission. She also gave everyone a handout about "Reverse Culture Shock" and we enjoyed a pot luck supper.

Man standing on tree

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Safari

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Library

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Library with Board of Governors, workers and team members

Visit to Maua Methodist Hospital

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Unplanned Visit to Mukuiru School

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Mount Kenya

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Transport

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Worship at Kaaga Methodist Church

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Painted Classroom Including Blackboard

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Classroom Before Being Painted

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Tour Saturday CDC Program at Kaaga Church

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All Trim Gets Painted Green

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Wilson In School's Shop

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District Supt Helps With Mural

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Kellye Painting Walls Blue

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Touring Dorms at School for the Deaf

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Tea With Teachers & Staff

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Installing Sidewalk

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Makena Textile Workshop

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Library Walls with Primer Coat On

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The New Library Building

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Work Site

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Final Days

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On Thursday, January 26, we took an animal drive in the morning and saw the ranch that had belonged to Joy and George Adamson (read the book or see the movie "Born Free"). Joy rescued two lion cubs after their parents were killed and raised them for several years. When Kenyan authorities wanted the Adamsons to place the cubs in a zoo, Joy determeined to release them back into the wild. It had never been done and everyone said it couldn't be done, but they were successful.
After lunch, we loaded up the vans and rode to Nairobi - arriving at The Methodist Guest House around 6 pm. we checked in and freshened up before going to dinner at The Carnivore Restaurant.

On Friday, we began our day with devotions on the rounds of Karen Blixen's home in the Nairobi suburb of Karen. Then we enjoyed a guided tour of the home. Next, we shopped at the Utamandani Craft Center and bought Kenyan coffee beans at the Nairobi Java House. We got a driving tour of Nairobi and viewed the slums of Nairobi from a distance (see the movie "The Constant Gardner") where 800,000 people live without water and electricity. We also shopped at The Catholic Bookstore and then had a late lunch downtown. Finally, we shopped at Maissa Market at the The Village Market on Limuru Road.

We returned to the Methodist Guest House to reclaim our luggage and have dinner - only to be told we didn';t have reservations for dinner. (So we started and eneded our mission by being turned away by the Mrethodist Guest House!) So we drove to the airport, said farewell to Daniel and his drivers, checked our luggage and looked for somehting to eat. Sadly, there are very few places to get food at the airport so many on the team were pretty hungry by the time they got on our 11 pm flight and were served a meal!

At Heathrow Airport, we had a chance to eat lunch and enjoy some Starbucks coffee. Our trip home was uneventful but long. Kellye left us in Chicago to fly on to Dallas, Texas. The rest of us were mightly glad to see our loved ones when we arrived back at the Okahoma City Airport Saturday evening on January 28, 2006.

--Katie McLain says...

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my observations are as follows: -We are quite a novelty to the kids here. The children at Kaaga School for the Deaf, as well as other children we encountered at the church and other places, were fascinated by our skin and hair. They all grabbed our arms to observe the white skin (“So white!” one little girl whispered to her sister about my arm). African children have their hair braided so that it doesn’t come undone. When I took out my ponytail in front of the kids at the School for the Deaf some screamed and some laughed and they all wanted to feel my hair.

-Every living room we’ve been to in Kenya is stuffed with as many couches and chairs as it will hold. Really, who needs blank wall space? It’s better to have your house ready for at least 20 guests at any time. Just in case.

-There is no carpeting in any house, school, store, public building, etc, that we’ve seen so far in Kenya. Only tile and wood floors. (dirt roads + shoes – vacuums = mopable floors)

-Children here walk to school alone (that is, without an adult). In the mornings we see kids from ages 3 to 13, boys & girls alike, walking beside the road on their way to school in their blue & green school uniforms.

-Hospitality is a big value here in Kenya. We’ve never been treated better in our lives!

-“School Zones” are created by large speed bumps in the roads in front of schools, forcing cars to slow down when they pass.

- There are “police checks” along the roads where police randomly stop vehicles for illegal substances and whatever else. Luckily they don’t stop tourists.

-There is much bureaucracy to deal with here (even when all one wants to do is collect a package they sent themselves). Much much more bureaucracy than any that one encounters in the States. I’m learning to be more appreciative of our government.

-The plumbing here is not as good as we’re accustomed to. This is probably the hardest thing for the group to get used to. Flush toilets don’t work well, and outhouses are common. Also, shower heads and sinks have very little water pressure compared to their U.S. counterparts.

-Nearly everything here is cheaper than it is in the United States. With one exception: gas costs the equivalent of 4.00 to 5.00 US dollars per gallon, making all forms of transportation a large expense.

-Time is not taken as seriously in Kenya as it is in the US. Teachers at the Kaaga School for the Deaf offered to cook us dinner one evening, so the group split up & went to their various houses. My group was 30 minutes late to dinner, but dinner wasn’t served until 30 minutes after that. It could have been a coincidence, but our other Kenyan guest arrived just as dinner was ready. Fellow team member (and world traveler) Kellye Johnson says that it’s “only the U.S. and Japan… and parts of Europe” that are so concerned with punctuality. She once lived in Malaysia, and says that “it was considered rude to show up at a 7 o’clock dinner before 7:30” and guests should preferably arrive around 8:00. One Kenyan woman I spoke to put it like this: “In Kenya, time is not a commodity. When you meet someone in the street you always have time to ask, ‘how are you? How is your family?’ etc, and you have time to listen.”

-Kenyan workers are not paid by the hour. Many Kenyans I spoke to were shocked to learn that I was.

It is apparent that Kenya used to be a British colony:

Kenyans say “queue up” instead of “line up”
English is an official language of the country
Christian Kenyans have 1 Kenyan name and 1 Anglo “Christian” name. I was surprised when Kaaga school teachers introduced themselves with names like James, Lucy and Joel.
Kenyans have “tea time” twice a day: once at 10 or 11 am (lunch is eaten around 1pm), and again at 4 or 5 pm (Kenyans eat dinner around 7pm). At tea time we have Kenyan tea, instant coffee, and “drinking chocolate” to choose from. There are 3 thermoses: hot water, white water (water with milk), and milk available for whatever beverage you choose. There are also either cookies or sandwiches (sometimes with tomatoes, sometimes with jam) to eat. If you aren’t hungry at tea time (because you just ate a large Kenyan breakfast of eggs, Kenyan pancakes, tea, mango juice, sausage, bacon, beans and cereal) don’t think you can get away with only a cup of tea. Be prepared for a Kenyan to comment with one of the following: “Are you watching your weight?” “You’re a growing girl. Go eat something.” and “You forgot your cookies. I’ll get you some.” I’ve forgotten what it feels like to be hungry.

-Kenyans speak several languages. Kiswahili and English are the official languages of Kenya. Here in Meru, there is another called Kimeru, but those aren’t the only 3 languages one will hear on the streets here. All signs are written in English (convenient for us). The amount of difficulty we have understanding Kenyan English is equivalent to the amount of difficulty we would have understanding British English. Some have thicker accents than others, but it’s just a dialect that the ear has to adjust to.

-“Building a library” has much more significance than I realized before I came. In America, books are plenty and cheap, and I take it for granted that I can read any book on any subject at any time. I also take for granted my easy access to the internet: a limitless source of information available whenever I need it. But in Kenya books and internet aren’t as easily available to all. While the deaf students at Kaaga are taught to read in their classes, they don’t have any reading material to exercise this ability. Imagine how much books will expand their worlds, as well as the worlds of the students from other nearby schools.

-- Becky LaMunyon says:

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Greetings from Africa!! Today is Sunday, and it is hard to believe our work week is already over. We have had an amazing week working at the School for the Deaf. We arrived the first day and were warmly greeted by the teachers and students. We were very frustrated we could not communicate with the students much- mostly we could just wave hello and smile. We pestered the teachers every day during tea time to teach us more sign language, and by the end of the week we were able to have conversations with the kids- although they were very butchered and took a long time.
My favorite part of the library is the mural we painted on one of the walls. Drew was the artist, and everybody else helped paint. Rachael was the master paint mixer- we began with cans of red, yellow, and blue paint, and with those she mixed up an entire palette of colors. We hope the children really like it and hope it will make the library a place where they want to spend their time.

--Cliff Hanoch says…

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I have discovered that I have many brothers and sisters in Christ here in Kenya. I like the sukuma wiki that is served at most meals. Alfred says that it is similar to collard greens. It was great spending 6 days with the deaf children. They had many questions. I had to explain several times about my sunburn. They also had questions about toilets on airplanes and what happens when you flush. When we first arrived, I didn’t know that everyone had a sign name in addition to the name that they spell out. I gave myself a sign name using my whole body. They thought it was hilarious because their signs use only the hands. One of the older students worked with us everyday but didn’t come to tea because only the adults were invited. We didn’t realize that he had been left out. The last day the children staged a revolt and demanded that Joseph be allowed to have tea.

I was attacked by a large monkey because we took its picture and didn’t pay him. He was a large monkey and it was alarming when he ran towards us and grabbed hold of my leg. I kicked and yelled at him and he backed off a little.

--Kerry Hanoch says…

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The food has been very wonderful. We have breakfast foods such as eggs, bread, Kenyan pancakes, passion fruit juice which is very good, and several other foods that have varied. For lunch and dinner we have had mashed potatoes that usually have something added to it like vegetables, we have many wonderful fruits like passion fruit, watermelon, pineapple, mangos, and several others. We also have different types of meat like chicken, goat, and lamb, fish, and several others. Stephen has named hard boiled eggs “chicken fruit”…but we’ve learned now not to believe anything that he says. The Mubichi family has been very hospitable- at least the ones who are here in Kenya, Florence (the mother) and Fridah are back in Oklahoma City right now. Stephen (the father) and Ravena are here and have been extremely kind.

Becky LaMunyon, Ravena Mubichi, Rachael Hanoch, Kerry Hanoch and Katie McLain had a girls’ night where we watched a movie, ate peanut M&Ms (the best kind) and got to talk a lot.

Day 14: Wednesday, January 25, 2006

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Today was a full day with 2 safari drives and a visit to a Women’s Samburu village that was equivalent to our “Women’s Shelter” – it was a village of Samburu women and their children that was set up by the women themselves because they had been discarded by their husbands or chose to leave because of the abuse (primarily beating) their husbands gave them.

Some team members stayed at the lodge for a variety of reasons for one or both of the safari drives, but for those who went, the animals seen today included:

A leopard in a tree was the highlight of the morning drive
Giraffes (During the afternoon drive, we got to watch one get a drink of water and that was pretty cool.)
Elephants
Zebras (a highlight of the afternoon drive was watching one playfully run around).
Kari bussard
Gazelles
Impalas
Oryx
Vultures
Cheetah (Two were laying under a tree but they never got so that we could fully see them; still, this was a highlight for the afternoon drive.)
Dik dik
Martial eagles
Batleur eagles
Warthogs

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 13: Tuesday, January 24, 2006

2006-01-24T23:48:00.000-08:00

Well, Jean assured us that we would have a “very bumpy van ride to Sarova Shaba Lodge” – and we did, at least the last half. The first half was actually not too bad; however, the latter half was filled with bumps in the road (when we were on it) and some bumps off the road (which was about half the time)! We arrived about 10:30 and had our luggage in the rooms by 11:30 and then “rested” until lunch at 12:30.

This afternoon, we went out for our first safari drive and were blessed with many sitings of a variety of animals. We were able to see the following animals:

· Grand Gazelle (generally in herds)
· Impala (in a group of males only as well as a group of females with a single male)
· Ground Squirrels several places as they scurried about
· Gerenuk. This is an animal that stands on its hind feet to eat but is part of the antelope family (not the “giraffe wanna be’s).
· Oryx (several times in groups. These animals have long sharp horns that they use to spear predators with – including lions).
· Prairie Chickens / Guinea
· Baboons (smaller ones in small groups; nothing really large or intimidating)
· Grevy Zebras: These have a narrow strive and their stomach remains white
· Common Zebras (whose stripes are a little wider and continue around the stomach area.
· Sumari Ostriches (far away). These have a blue neck and legs and are located on the north side of the equator only; the ones on the south side have pink necks and legs. The gestation period is 42 days; and the predominant female (i.e., the first one to lay an egg in a communal basket) and the predominant male (who is attached to the predominant female) are the ones who sit on the nest: the male at night and the female in the day time.
· Elephants
· Water buck (several, but always by themselves)
· Crocodile sunning
· Several giraffes
· Water / Cape Buffalo
· Maribou stork (far off, but we saw one)
· A female lion. Part of the thrill of seeing this lion was watching her as she went from resting in the sun to rising in pursuit of a gerenuk. They ran in front of our van; the gerenuk managed to escape on this night, and the lion walked off.

Thanks to the lion, we were late leaving the park but the guards seemed to be understanding as they realize that tourists don’t always see the animals they come in hopes of seeing.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 12: Monday, January 23, 2006

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Today was a long, but eventful day as we experienced African time more than once! The team was ready to leave for Maua at 8:00 a.m. this morning in order to be at the hospital by 9:30, but the van was not present. After calling at 9:00 to inquire as to what was happening, we learned that the van had a flat tire that had a puncture and was being repaired. We sat back down and waited for things to get done and did not leave until 9:45. Once we were on the road, we began thinking that things would now move smoother as we enjoyed the scenery.

We were then stopped by one of the policeman at one of several checks. He wanted to give our driver a ticket because one of the stickers was out (there are about 5 on the windshield. Had Stephen not been along to explain to the policeman that they had taken the van for inspection but the place of inspection was out of stickers and they were told to come back, the driver would probably have received the ticket. (Now you figure this one out, the sticker had expired several months ago – not just last month . . .) We also learned that this was the spot in the road where Stephen’s wife was often asked for tea as she commuted back and forth to work when she was here. “Tea” in this sense was not tea to drink – but was instead some money (a bribe) in order to avoid being ticketed for something.

We made our way along thinking that we were now fine only to start smelling – and seeing – smoke coming forth from around the stick shift. We stopped the van along the side of the road as the smoke continued to come forth and evacuated the van. John and Alfred quickly discovered that the problem was that a water line had come loose (and the van was out of water just as the light had indicated – but that we were told to “not worry” about). There was a retired school teacher, Joyce, sitting on the side of the road that we approached. She told us that she ran a canteen across the street and was waiting for someone. She gave us some water and then offered to take us to the primary school whose entrance was just a few steps away from the broken down van. We were eager to see the school as we left John and Alfred working with Moses on the van (while Stephen had meanwhile called the hospital to send a van when we were not sure what was going on AND had called Ravena to come for back-up just in case as well).

Making our way down to the school, we saw a few children coming out of their classrooms for recess as we greeted the headmaster (whom Joyce had taught as a student) and made our way into one of the classrooms. The classroom had a dirt floor and bench type seating where there were typically 3 students to a desk. There were a total of 46 students and one teacher in the Standard 8 (8th grade). We stayed only a few minutes before heading back outside, followed by the students shortly thereafter. Meanwhile more students (a total of 530) had been gathering outside and the headmaster was lining them up. Once all of the students were in place, they sang the national anthem for us in Swahili, and then they were “released” and we mingled with them. They were quite curious about us with our white skin moving about with them and shaking their hands. After a short while, we were told that the van was repaired (thanks to John and his handy pocket tool working along with Moses and Alfred). So, we were on our way again and did not have another opportunity to delay our arrival at the Methodist Hospital in Maua and were greeted by Stanley (whom some of the team knew from his school days in Oklahoma).

The 254 bed facility was sparse by American standards but one of the best facilities in Kenya. Upon arrival we had tea and then did a quick tour. Then, we were served lunch (rice, stew, chapattis, fruit, and sodas). As we walked the facility, we were told and observed many things. From the operational aspect, we learned that the hospital:

Has one of the most active programs for HIV, VCT (testing for Aids), and treatment of Aids patients in Kenya thanks to a grant provided by the United States to provide medication. They are very grateful to President Bush and what has been able to be accomplished for Kenyans through this grant money.

The hospital offers support groups for guardians of 200 – 250 of over 1000 orphaned children whose parents have died from Aids.

Every staff contributes 5% of their salary for HIV insurance.

The hospital works with the churches in the area to provide support in an attempt to help take care of the adults so that the adults can continue to live and not leave their children orphaned.
The cost of the treatment that is available for AIDS in Kenya is 9000 Schillings a month (when the average non-skilled laborer makes about 100 Schillings a day (and a skilled laborer not a lot more!).
The grant money is for a 5-year period; they are at a loss as to what will happen after the grant money has expired and Bush leaves office.
The grant money can treat only about 600 in the community; this is estimated to be about 30% of the people that actually need it.
Several homes have been built for orphaned children; a typical home that is 12’ x 24’ costs 130,000 Schillings ($__).
Clinics are offered for surgical, medical, obstetrical, and palliative care.
The patients, not the staff wear scrubs (deep blue ones); the staff wear regular clothing. This helps to identify the patients when they are out of their bed. It also helps to identify staff prior to their departure!

Many patients stay in the hospital longer than is required simply because they have no one to come and pay the bill for them. As one enters the hospital compound, there is a double gate with the registration / check-in / check-out area located between the two gates. Upon leaving, one is supposed to pay before proceeding out of the second gate. However, this has still not solved all of the problems; sometimes, family members will sneak clothing into the hospital for the patient to change into (I’m not sure how this is accomplished given the lack of privacy that I observed) and then just walk out. Often mothers stay for several days, or even weeks, instead of the 1 – 3 days common in the States because of their inability to pay.
The facility has a Mobilization / Equipping / Training program in which youth are trained for 5 days. They then go out into the villages and try to reach people from the ages of 10 to 30 giving them information about “abstinence and fit-fullness”.

The hospital has a van that is used for an ambulance. Often people are brought to the hospital via public transportation or are carried.
There is a house / cottage on site for visiting physicians who want to come and work in the hospital for a while.

The facility has tripled in growth of built area since 1980.

From a physical-plant standpoint, we observed and/or were told:

There are 254 beds of which the majority are in a ward environment.
A typical ward consists of 30 beds that are sub-divided into pods of 10 beds. A typical patient area consists of a bed and a nightstand; the adjacent bed is within arm’s reach. There are some cubicle curtains which may be drawn only in a patient exam or procedure environment. There is not an abundance of electrical outlets or medical gases or things to hang an IV on (we did not see any electrical outlets on the typical headwall and there might be one location for every 3 beds to connect a regulator).

There are a total of 71 designated labor and postpartum beds (there are no LDR’s or LDRP’s here) with 2 nurseries (each can hold up to 16 infants) and 18 nurses.
There are 51 bays for Surgical Recovery with 10 beds in the “Advanced Unit” (similar to our Critical Care Unit).

The Medical Ward has 30 beds for males and 30 beds for females.

The Children’s Ward has 62 beds.

Patients needing Isolation (including TB patients) are currently mixed in with the general patient population; however, in the children’s ward, there are a couple of private rooms. In order to address this need, there is a new building being constructed which will have 40 private rooms for patients requiring isolation. There will not, however, be any special ventilation / HVAC system to address the air filtration. Each room will have a window. This is being funded by a donation from a group in the Netherlands.

In the children’s ward, mothers were there with their children trying to feed and/or comfort them. They shared the same bed as the child.

Imaging consists of 2 pieces of equipment in a single room: a general unit with a chest bucky on one side of the room and an ultrasound machine on the other side of the room.
Within Surgery, there are 4 Operating Rooms (called “theaters” after the British model here). Two of them are from major procedures; 2 are from minor care (and one of these is used for c-section deliveries).

The facility accommodated 2400 births last year; they have accommodated up to 3000 previously. There is no LDR concept. They do have labor wards and a couple of delivery rooms and then a postpartum ward for the moms and 2 nurseries for the infants.

Emergency consists of 2 couches; however, they are wanting to build a “Trauma Center”.

The Laundry consists of 3 large washers and 1 large dryer (commercial size for all). However,
The dryer does not work and is locked into place so that it is taken away. The blankets are not washed in the washers; instead, they are washed in concrete sinks in an adjacent room. Drying generally occurs on the lines for sheets but on the grass for other items.

There are no facilities provided for endoscopy, bronchoscopy, cardiac cath, angio, CT, MRI, etc.
There is a place for burial of bodies for those who die in the care of the hospital and are not claimed; this is located behind the hospital near the mortuary. We were told that typically those who are left behind are single adults who are not married and do not have children because they are considered “worthless” by “society”.

After we left the hospital, we drove back to Meru with no complications and visited the School for the Mentally Handicapped as a group (not just Jack, John, and Kellye) to see the facility and discuss / present a solution to the water line problem.

The children who are accommodated here generally have Down’s Syndrome, autism, epilepsy, and/or dyslexia. (The latter two really surprised us.)

Children are housed in dorms consisting of 30 beds per dorm (i.e. one large open space) and a house mother who also has a cot in the large room. Some, but not all, have mosquito netting that may be used.

There are 2 dorms for girls and 2 for boys. There is a need for more beds.

We were able to tour some of the classes and see the children being taught different skills.
They have a workshop which provides vocational training (carpentry, jewelry making, and some sewing skills) for both boys and girls once they are older.

There was a group of children who sang and danced for us. They recited, “I can do all things through Him that strengthens me.” They also sang a song welcoming the “mwanambei” who has come to help them; the words translated into something like this:“A wonderful son or daughter visiting them coming with many things. For example, milk, millet, maize, goats, chicken, etc.”

The school was started in 1970 and moved to its current location in 1982. They have grown from 9 students in 1970 to 110 students today; staff has increased from 2 teachers to 17 teachers plus 21 support staff.

The school raises some maize, watermelon, and cows. They also have a mill to grind the maize into flour.

Support staff and materials are provided through government funding.

There is a long waiting list; however, they do not have sufficient classroom space or dorm beds now to accommodate more children.

VIM agreed to work through the Mubichi Foundation to leave enough money now to buy the land for the intake and get an intake built. Then, the VIM team will return to Oklahoma and work with them to try and get the water in place as soon as possible with additional funding.
The VIM team was thanked and asked to consider helping with 2 other projects: (1) providing at least 4 new classrooms, and (2) creating a home science project.

The children and staff were invited to use the new library at the School for the Deaf.
It was clear that the teachers had a love for and patience with the children; likewise, the children appeared to care for the staff about them and were happy to have visitors.
Gifts were provided for the churches represented.

Once we were finished with tea, the tour, the speaking aspects, and the exchange of gifts, we went back to the hotel for supper. Tonight, we had samosas (vegetarian and meat), beef stew, rice, mashed potatoes (this one had maize, peas, and greens in it), and fruit salad with ice cream for desert. After dinner, we met briefly for devotions and to discuss logistics for the next phase of the trip. We then disbursed so that people could pack their bags for an early morning departure.

Submitted by Kellye J

Kenyanisms

2006-01-23T13:55:00.000-08:00

The speedbumps (everywhere) in the roads = “Sleeping Policemen”.

African Time: Don’t worry . . . things will not start when they are supposed to, other than church.

Every time someone says, “Praise God”; the response is always, “Amen”.

When someone greets you with a handshake, it will linger as they ask, “How are you?” They linger and inquire with the emphasis on “you” because they really do want to know.

Day 11: Sunday, January 22, 2006

2006-01-22T23:41:00.000-08:00

This morning, we went to the English (and Swahili) service at the Kaaga Methodist Church. The service was about 1 ½ hours long (and they had to quit because they had another church service – the one in Kimeru that we attended last week – to follow.)

The order of worship was:

Opening: welcome and prayer

Reading: Psalm 60

Hymn: “I Know Not Why God’s Wondrous Love”

Reading: Genesis 4:1-5

Music (Youth Choir): “I Want to Love You Lord” (in English and Swahili)A young girl led this song and was “followed” / “joined” by 4 young men; all were teenagers.

Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16

Reading: Matthew 4:1-11

Hymn: in Swahili . . . don’t have a clue as to what it was other than beautiful and “led” by Doreen.

Children’s Time: All of the children came to the front; there were two solos (one by a small girl (Anita) and one by a small boy with a group song led by a small girl and a memorized verse quoted in-between the two solos. A prayer was then offered for the children, thanking God for them, asking a blessing upon them, and a sending off to their Sunday School. The children then all left the service.

Combined Choir: “One More Step” which had a chorus of “Keep me traveling along with you.”

Hymn: “Be Still”

Message: Given by Francis Iminea on the “Temptation of Jesus”. The questions posed were, “How many times have you been tempted? How many times have you won by knowing the Word of God?”

Solo Music: “Through the Night, my Jesus Asked for Me”

Prayers of Intercession

Lord’s Prayer

Announcements / Welcoming of Visitors / VIM Team Announced Bags of tea were given to each team member; plaques were also provided for each representative church.

Offering done while Hymn “O Jesus, I Have Promised” was sung.People took their offering to the front of the church and placed it in a basket / wooden bowl and then returned to their seats.

Sending Forth Chorus: ”We Thank You Lord”

After service, we had a brief tea at the church and visited a little more with the church family. Then, we went for lunch at KenTrout, a nice restaurant about 1 ½ hours drive from Meru.
The drive was quite interesting as the scenery changed very quickly from jungle to farm land (maize and wheat) and to dry land without much on it at all.

As we left Meru, several saw an elephant standing to the side of the road in the jungle area.
We ate as soon as possible upon arrival at KenTrout, and then we walked around the grounds looking at the fish ponds (where one could feed the trout), the cattle / goats / sheep, and observing the monkeys (and in Cliff’s case, having a monkey observe / attack him. Cliff was okay; he had something from a tree that the used to get the monkey to let go.)

We then drove back to town and went to the Mubichi home for supper. There were several from the church there and we had a good evening of food and visitation. As we closed, Rhoda presented each team member with another bag of tea (and we accepted very graciously as we have come to really like it!) as well as a cloth for each church represented that was made by the girls at the School for the Deaf. We visited a little more before heading back to the hotel where most were able to be in bed by 11 p.m.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 10: Saturday, January 21, 2006

2006-01-21T23:38:00.000-08:00

Today was another busy day. We went to work this morning hoping to finish work on:

Painting the green trim around all of the windows
Installing the remainder of the upper window panes of glass
The mural.
Painting the classroom (which we had not even started yet).

Work progressed well; we were supposed to leave and be at the church to see the works of the Compassion program – but we were on Kenyan time and did not get there until noon.

Once at the church, one of the Compassion workers (Nancy) provided us with an introduction of the program:

Very poor children, from ages 6-22 come and spend the day with them on Saturday.
The day is begun with some Bible study and then the children are offered health classes, social development classes, and skills training. The schedule has Bible study from 8:30 – 10; then porridge from 10 – 10:30; class from 10:30 – lunch; lunch; afternoon sports classes; allowance of children to leave at 3:30 so they can walk home.

Lunch is typically rice, stew, and fruit. (Today’s was rice, stew, and mango or banana. There was also a little of the cracked maize with water for those who wanted it.)
Children walk from a distance of 5 kilometers (3 miles) or less one way.

The program also offers some medical screening, home visits, and counseling during the week when they are needed.

The workers are paid for being there on Saturday; they hold regular jobs Monday thru Friday. Children know their sponsors (via letter) and write to them 3 times a year. There are 10 criteria for children who are eligible. The children can begin the program between the ages of 4 – 7 (most here start at 6). They are the neediest in the community (orphaned, abandoned, single parents, poor but with both parents, or refugee).

The current mix of 403 children works 60 six and seven year olds, 55 eight year olds, 65 nine and ten year olds, 62 eleven thru thirteen year olds, 90 fourteen thru sixteen year olds, and 71 seventeen thru twenty two year olds.

Today, we observed a variety of classes being taught: music, hair dressing (washing, rinsing, blow drying / styling), making “donuts”, embroidery via machines, tailoring (they were making slips / petticoats), and just general classes with the two youngest aged groups.
The local program has raised 500,000 Kenyan Schillings for the new classroom building. Compassion does not provide the building(s) themselves; however, they do pay the staff once they are working.

After lunch, there was a small program in which several people spoke brief words and a group of children did some singing and dancing for us. We were given a hand-made bookmark to remember our visit; we left candy canes and small gift bags for the children that were present there today.

We then went back to the worksite to finish our task; thankfully, the local workers had remained busy after their lunch and we were able to do so as we arrived. Basically all that we had to do was start and finish paint the wall of blackboard and clean up.

It rained literally all day today. The rain woke us up this morning as it was quite hard; it softened during the day but continued.

At the school, one of the things that “got” everyone was watching the children eat termites (large ones the size of small moths) that apparently came out with the rain. They were catching them and eating them; they discarded the wings. They were able to convince Cliff to help catch some and try a couple. The rest of us were not so brave. We confirmed later that this is not uncommon; some adults eat them too!

We left the job site at 4:45 in order to be ready to be picked up by 5:30 (for some, it was closer to 6); and tonight we ate in the homes of some of the church members. We were split into small groups so that we could be easily accommodated. We were able to enjoy some quality time one-on-one in the homes of the local people and have a home-cooked meal.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 9: Friday, January 20, 2006

2006-01-20T23:35:00.000-08:00

Continued progress was made today on the painting. However, by day’s end, it did not look like we had done as the day before because we spent much of our time cleaning the windows before we applied the green paint for the window frames. Before painting the frames, the team focused on:

Removing the silicone caulk that was on the metal frames
Sanding down / smoothing down the weld locations (at least 9 on each window)
Cleaning out the grooves between the metal pieces to remove debris
Wiping down the frames with turpentine to make sure they were clean

After lunch, several members of the Board of Governors met with us and thanked us for the gift of the library to the School for the Deaf. It is truly a dream being realized by the Kanana Mubichi Foundation and School for the Deaf as it will allow the children to learn to read and discover the world through books. Words thanks and gratitude were expressed by several for:

The physical work of the team and the progress made on the building in a short time
The sharing and dedication of the team
The willingness to work with them
The “elevation” of transitioning from “new friends” to “brothers and sisters”
The lessons taught (and learned) by people of all ages, including the reminder of doing manual labor and working hard

With respect to the container, it is still in Mumbasa (but it is in Mumbasa instead of on a ship somewhere in route). The minister who has yet to sign was only in his office on Wednesday of this week and sadly did not sign the paperwork; the hope is that it will now be completed on Monday. There was an assurance that the arrival and unpacking of the container will be photographed so that the team can see the end result. There was a promise of more books for the library by the VIM team.

The VIM team also expressed their thanks and gratitude for:

The gracious hospitality and caring of the Kenyans for the team
The help from everyone including laborers, teachers, and students
The patience of the laborers and staff and their willingness to work with the team.
The expression of the warm hearts and open faith and the blessing that they have been.

We closed the meeting by attempting to learn a new song with a Kenyan rhythm. It went something along the lines of:

When you greet somebody in Jesus’ name,
When you tell them that you love them in Jesus’ name,
Tell them that you can live together in Jesus’ name,
Smile and tell them that you love them.

A Kenyan saying that we learned today, “One man’s meat can be another man’s poison.”

After the meeting, the team went back to work on the windows and the mural. Good progress was made today.

Class pictures were also taken of each class in the hope that we will be able to print them and share them with the teachers and children while we are here.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 8: Thursday, January 19, 2006

2006-01-19T23:33:00.000-08:00

Today was a very good day for painting the inside of the library as we began applying the final coat on each of the walls.

On one end wall of the building, a mural was begun as Drew sketched out several items in pencil. Several members of the VIM team as well as a couple of the deaf students worked hard on the mural all day long; they made very good progress with painting an elephant, giraffes, trees, a Bible, cross, the sign for “I love you” as well as a banner with “Jesus loves you”, and a child reading. The remainder of the walls had a coat of light blue paint applied (and it will ultimately be the “sky” in the mural).

John worked all day outside with mixing and placing concrete. The front porch was poured and smoothed out; they did a fine job of covering up all of the places where we chiseled out yesterday for the top coat to bond properly.

The glass in the fixed glass windows was all installed by the end of the day. The welder also finished installing all of the metal frames for the upper windows. Tomorrow, the team will need to insert the glass panels (280 of them) as well as paint the frames for the windows.

This afternoon, the women of the team, Phillip, and Alfred went to the Makena Textile Workshop (a woman’s cooperative) where local women make yarn via spinning and the dye it and weave it into rugs of assorted sizes. They also make tie-dyed / batik material and then fabricate it into a host of items from clothing articles to potholders, to small zippered pouches, etc. While the prices seemed way too high, most everyone purchased something to support the good cause. (The beautiful spinning wheels, by the way, were imported from New Zealand.)

Lunch today consisted of chapattis, rice, stew, cooked cabbage salad, lettuce / tomato / carrot salad, and fresh mangos and passion fruit. When the team went back to the library after lunch, many of the deaf students were there wanting to get inside to just look at the mural – they were clearly very excited about seeing it.

Supper tonight was also good: chicken cooked with onions and green peppers, mild vegetable curry, rice, ground maize mixed with water (similar to idli or potella) and fruit salad (complete with mango, banana, passion fruit, and avocado).

The team played “fruit basket turnover” in terms of accommodations switching out who was staying with the Mubichi’s versus at the motel. All seems to be going pretty well.

All were exhausted tonight after a long, but good day’s work.

Submitted by Kellye J

Post 3

2006-01-19T06:57:00.000-08:00

written by Katie McLain

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

Jambo, rafikis!
Hello, friends!

Sorry about our lack of entries, our access to the internet is limited and the internet itself isn’t very reliable here in Kenya. I’m currently writing from an internet café (a small shop just big enough to hold 7 old computers offering dial-up internet connection, groan) down the street from our hotel. We’ve attempted to blog a few times already, but each time we’re told that the service was down “in Nairobi.” This happens fairly frequently: Kenya’s internet provider, JamboNet (based in Nairobi), goes down and all of Kenya is without internet until it comes back up.

My roommate, Kellye Johnson from Hurst, Texas, has been keeping a journal via her laptop, and it is the best account of the trip we have so far. I’ve written a few notes of my personal experiences (mostly for my own reference) & will write more later, but hers is more complete & much better written.

TRAVELING:

The first thing that needs to be said is that everyone in the group is healthy & happy. Alfred & I have been fighting coughs, but we’re both past the worst & getting better every day. The Mubichi (I hope I am spelling that correctly) family is taking very good care of us all: from letting a few team members stay in their home (the rest of us are staying at a hotel), to sharing their doctor, and driving us all over town running errands (poor Ravena! We’ve been keeping her and her car very busy).

Right now it is 11:30 AM here, meaning it is 2:30 AM for the people back home on Central Time. When we woke this Wednesday morning at 7:00 AM, you were still enjoying your Tuesday evening. So from now on whenever you glance at your clock and notice that it’s 9:00 or 10:00 PM, you know we’re just beginning our day. (and no need to worry about the world ending “tomorrow,” because it is already tomorrow here and all is well).

We began our journey Thursday, January 12 at Oklahoma City’s Will Roger’s Airport. 29 ½ hours later (feel free to gasp here), the group finally arrived safely in Nairobi.

We had 3 flights: the 1st from Oklahoma City to Chicago, the 2nd to London, the 3rd to Nairobi.

By the time we boarded our 2nd plane in Chicago at around 5:30 PM (central time), it was getting dark outside and our last normal (12 hour) day was ending. We then flew for 7 hours in the dark, in the opposite direction of the sun, so when we arrived in London it was dawn (a very short night). I thought this was interesting: we were served dinner at the start of the flight and breakfast at the end.

Our 3rd flight was 8 hours long, and we saw the sun set again in the midst of the flight. I was fortunate enough to get a window seat. Every seat on the flight had a miniature TV monitor with 18+ channels, one of which was a map tracking the location of the airplane. I looked out my window when we flew over France (even got a picture of the snow covered Alps), when we crossed into Africa via the northern border, and I tried to look out when we were over the Sahara, but the window was so hot and the light outside so bright I couldn’t. We arrived in Nairobi (Friday January 13, 2006) at 9:30 PM Kenya Time, 12:30 PM Central Time, and tried our best to sleep.

We spent the night at a Methodist Guest House in Nairobi, and when we awoke we drove north for 5 extremely bumpy hours until we reached our final destination: Meru. We had to share the road with other cars as well as bikers, pedestrians, donkey carts, etc. This comment from Jean Warner says all that needs to be said about the condition of the road: “Are those potholes or bathtubs?” Still, the drive was a great opportunity to see Africa’s people, their shops and farms, and the breathtaking scenery.

- Katie McLain

Post 2

2006-01-19T06:55:00.000-08:00

Wednesday, January 18

Jambo! Greetings from Kenya!

We've been having days of trouble with the internet here (I've been on a computer now for 1 hour and 20 minutes), so we will try to post more later. This is just to let everyone back home know that we are all healthy & happy.

-Katie McLain

first contact

2006-01-19T06:39:00.000-08:00

written by Jean Warner

Jambo (Hello) and greetings from Meru, Kenya: Our flights were exhausting but uneventful. We arrived in Nairobi on schedule and were met by the smiling face of our friend and driver Daniel. He and his employees got us loaded into Danvelo vans and to the Methodist Guest House. After putting our luggage in our rooms and securing all of our "extra baggage" in a locked room for the night, we held a brief devotional and got to bed about 1, 2:30 pm Nairobi time.

The next morning we ate breakfast at the Guest House, paid our bill with a credit card and reloaded the van. Daniel, Peter and Simon loaded all of our luggage in one van and us in the other two and drove us to a bank where we converted US dollars into Kenyan shillings so we can all spend money - yeah! Then we went to a nice store like Albertson's and bought bottled water and a few other items. We grabbed lunch at a Steers Restaurant which is akin to combination of McDonalds, Subway and a pizza place and left tor Meru about 12:45 PM.

Our drivers pointed out lots of significant buildings, plazas etc. during the ride through Nairobi. Soon we were headed north and seeing all sorts of commerce - rice paddies, Eucalyptus tree farms, quarries, pineapple, mangos, coffee, tea and lots more. We stopped for a break at Isak Walton Inn in Embyu which was lovely. Then we continued on to Meru arriving about 5 pm. We went straight to the School for the Deaf and were met by teachers, members of the school's board of governors and key leaders of Kaaga Methodist Church. We had tea and speeches and then saw the library.

Oh my gosh it is much larger than I expected and beautifully built. There will be a separate area for little children and an Internet cafe with a photocopier which will generate revenue for the library. After that, Daniel and Peter and Simon took us to the White Star Hotel. It isn't really walking distance (well, not for lazy Americans) but it is very, very nice - much more spacious and modern than the Maua Basin Hotel. We had a nice dinner at the hotel where we were joined by Steven and Ravena Mubichi. Then we all went into the Lounge and had an excellent devotional.

Today we slept in, had breakfast at the hotel and went to church. The Hanoch daughters and Drew went over for the start of the English language service and then went to participate in the children's Sunday School class. The rest of us arrived at 10:45 and attended the Kimeru service. It was filled with joyful music and an excellent sermon by the District Superintendent and Jean presented gifts to the church.

After the service, we had lunch in the fellowship Hall with church leaders and Sunday school teachers, toured the parsonage and classroom building (both under construction) and then held a brief meeting with the Sunday School teachers.

At 4:00 we went to the Children's Home to meet the children and hear about that program. Amazingly, while we were there, we got a long heavy rain! Meru has had drought for months so everyone was thrilled. After that we rode in Steven's car and a van he has chartered for us to his home. There Ravena welcomed us and we are enjoying a wonderful meal - including goat!! Soon we will hold a devotional and head back to the hotel. Tomorrow, we begin work on the library.

Rumor has it that our shipping container may arrive in Mombasa on Tuesday. When it does, Steven and representatives from the board of governors will make the 12 hour drive to Mombasa to see the container through customs and get it trucked to meru.

God has protected us and blessed up greatly. Katie and Alfred still suffer from colds but otherwise we are tired but well.

More news and pictures to follow soon.

Day 7: Wednesday, January 18, 2006

2006-01-18T23:28:00.000-08:00

This morning at the work site, volunteers focused on finishing the prime coat on all of the walls;
chipping away the top layer of the slab along the front of the library so that a top slab can be poured; digging a trench along the front edge of the library so that a base coat of vertical concrete “plaster” can be applied to the rock to prevent moisture from getting under the foundation and working on the window installation.

The team was able to visit a couple of classrooms this morning; it was very enlightening to watch the younger children being taught. The children are not divided by age; instead they are divided by their ability to sign. For example, one class had students who were aged 7 – 11 years, but they were only on their second year of sign language.

In the first (“nursery”) class, the children were learning the alphabet. The instructor had the letters written on the board and would ask the students which one knew how to make one of the letters from “a” through “j”. After signing all of the letters, the teacher than had a series of blocks on a table with letters on them. The teacher then asked the students to go and pick up a particular letter when she signed them. In the second (“primary”) class, the children were studying mathematics; it was interesting to watch the students count.

The team learned some of the basics at well. Kathy H. was able to participate in a classroom with older children studying algebra. She was more of a guest than a guest lecturer, but she had a wonderful time with the students and the students were glad that she took time to come to their class.

The Bishop of the Kaaga Synod, Rev. ______, also came to the site with the Superintendent and visited with the team.

At tea time, Kellye, Katie, and Kerry went to the internet place in an attempt to send e-mails since the service had been down for 2 days and to allow Kellye to post an assignment. What an experience that was! Two hours and 500 Schillings ($7), they had managed to send the minimal amounts of e-mails and do the minimal amount of posting because of issues like:
Kellye could not send e-mails from either of her addresses (it could not find sbcglobal.net and it wanted to load some version of Microsoft Office on the machine). Katie’s service “timed-out” on her after taking over 10 minutes just to get it. We assumed that everyone was trying to use the service since it had been down for so long.

For lunch, our team went to the site of the Michigan team and had lunch with them at the high school where they are working. Sandwiches were provided; a highlight was samosas which were brought by us for the other team to try. The team leader for the other group is Marilyn Brenchley.

During our lunch there, we learned a bit more of the history as to how the Methodists came to the Meru area and established the Kaaga church:

They first came in 1912 – 1913; they were sent to the area of the “medicine men” with the thought that if they could withstand them (and their curses), then they could stay and would be okay. The land on which the Methodists first settled contains the School for the Deaf as well as a Boy’s School.

Bishop Imathiu was the presiding bishop for 20 years +/- and has been very instrumental in the development of many of the schools. Some were actually developed prior to him becoming bishop; however, it was he who brought them along to where they are today.

Kenya Methodist University (KMU) began as a dream for Bishop Imathiu back in the 1980’s; much of the physical development of this campus may be attributed directly to him.

Only 20 – 40% of the kids make it to high school because of the fees; it is the current desire to make it possible to provide high school education for more students despite the fees. The high school that the Michigan team is working on has its first class of juniors who would not otherwise be in a high school in Kenya.

After lunch, we went to Kenya Methodist University (KMU), the only Methodist University in Kenya. This was begun in the 1980’s under the previous bishop (Stephen Mubichi’s brother). We had a quick tour and enjoyed seeing the campus. There is still a considerable amount of construction going on there, and they offer a limited number of degrees (but they will have more as they build more).

Then, the team went back to the site to do some more of the same work that occurred during the morning hours before having afternoon tea / devotional time with the staff and then leaving.

Over the course of the day, beginning very early and completing very late, Drew worked hard to secure the correct painting supplies for the walls and mural that is to be done tomorrow.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 6: Tuesday, January 17, 2006

2006-01-17T23:50:00.000-08:00

This morning started off with a meeting with the deaf children around 8:00 a.m. They were having their morning assembly in which they sang a song and offered a prayer. Then, the VIM team distributed small gift sacks to each child. Each sack contained a hacky sack, bandana, mints, cross necklace, stickers, Christian message postcard, chapstick (which the boys thought was lipstick). The kids were quite intrigued with the gift and their faces were brimming with excitement and smiles; but, they were quite puzzled as to how to open the ziplock bags. It was wonderful to watch the children as they received their small bag of gifts.

This morning, Kellye, John, and Jack attempted to obtain more information on the water line problem for the Home for the Mentally Handicapped Children. This consumed most of the morning as we went to the proposed site for the intake (via a hike down a trail on a muddy mountain) with the head teacher of the school and a couple of folks from our Kenyan team, Wilson (who has had some experience with other intake issues) and Simon (our driver). We then walked the proposed route observing and attempting to check things out.

The stream of good running water is only about 18” – 24” wide in most places. There are already 170+ intakes in place along this stream. The School for the Mentally Handicapped does not feel that it can tap into the intake for the School for the deaf because of different “management”. There is a “bit of trust” that others will not tap into their line (once in place) based on culture and tradition. There is a fall of about 80 meters (about 25’) in height from the intake source to the proposed site. In most places, the lines would be placed 4’ below the surface. However, at the Catholic Retreat Center where there are already 2 large retaining walls in place, the pipe would have to be encased and placed 6’ below the walls. When the pipe reaches the area of the primary school, there is still a bit of question as to exactly the pipe would cross the playground area and/or go to one side of it. In this area, there is a sewage containment area of one kind or another beneath the playground (the cattle and egrets really seem to enjoy the green grass in this area). It is thought this part of the pipe in this area would also have to be 6’ deep. The school has 110 students who are in need of the water today. They range in age from 6 to 30+ (there is one man there who is over 30 but has no place to go; this has become his home).

While these three were out, most of the remainder of the team was at the site beginning to paint – putting the first of two coats of primer on the concrete walls. They had made great progress by the time this small contingent returned.

During the course of the day,

Albert was taken to see a local physician for his cold. He was given some medicine and says he’s doing better. Based on the connections of the Mubichi family, he was able to get in and get out as well as get very speedy processing at the pharmacy. Katie went along for the experience and got to see a little bit too. They had lunch back at the hotel when they finished and before coming back to the site.

Kathy B went to a preschool and observed much about early childhood development here. They did a lot of finger games and were learning the alphabet. There was not an abundance of supplies anywhere around in the classroom. The building had a dirt floor, but the 80 children with 2 instructors were having a good day.

Kathy H was asked to teach algebra class tomorrow.

Gay went to buy a freezer for the Children’s home.

A visual treat this morning for Jack, John, and Kellye was seeing Mt. Kenya while standing on the playground at the primary school. The skies were very clear, and the image of the remote mountain was good. One could tell that there was snow on the mountain, and we were told by the locals with us that seeing Mt. Kenya from Meru was typically not possible.

Another highlight of the day was having lunch with the children. We were served first, but we spaced ourselves throughout the dining hall. Then we were followed by the Kenyan workers and finally the children. The meal was plentiful: cracked maize and beans (as close as they get to rice and beans – but thicker here as the cracked maize is more like lumpy mashed potatoes); mashed potato/banana dish; stew with bits of beef and sliced carrots (and a few other vegetables); cooked shredded cabbage salad; and a whole (small) mango. At each table sat children and workers (both Kenyan and American) – this was great for us, but apparently not traditional! There were some other tables and then there were just benches – they don’t have near enough tables (nor room to put more) for even all of the children at one setting (and they always feed in one setting just by nature of preparing for the food, etc.)

After lunch, the team painted some more, adding another coat in several places and attempting to finish the first coat in some. Jack made us some great roller extensions out of scrap lumber – it was much easier to use the rollers on these extensions than climb the ladders that they’ve built! At the front door, part of the team started chipping away at the cement; they’ve decided to add a step at the entry and they need to rough up the place where the step will be poured in order to have the step bond better.

Cliff started working on some of the windows for installation, and the welders continued to weld some of the frames for the upper windows. (The welders work 12 hour days in Kenya for very little money.)

At afternoon tea time, Kellye and Katie left the site in an attempt to access the internet since we could not yesterday because the service was down at the Mubichi house. We went to an internet café and we learned that the internet service is down in all of Kenya; the hub / network (whatever it is called) is down in Nairobi. The internet café person told us that this was the longest that it had been down – but this was not a lot of comfort for us trying to connect. We left our number of the mobile phone that we have access to in hopes that he would call if/when it comes up.

It rained again late this afternoon – third day in a row and the locals are so happy. They have thanked us for bringing them rain. We’ve assured them that we need rain in our homes and that it was not us that brought it.

Supper tonight was very tasty: chicken masala, beef curry, rice, cream of chicken soup, spicy fried potatoes, and fruit (pineapple and plums).

Decisions to be made:

What to do about water line for the School for the Mentally Handicapped. The ground appears to be dirt, and no rock, all the way. The cost appears to be about double of what it was. The children need water, but this needs to be a separate VIM project – we can’t tack it onto our current project with either the funds we currently have or the time we have to do it. It is just difficult to imagine the children living there without sufficient water. For those who were here last year, it is even more difficult to imagine since they thought that if the pump was purchased, then their problems would be solved . . . and they are no where close to being solved at this point in time!

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 4: Sunday, January 15, 2006 (cont.)

2006-01-16T20:00:00.000-08:00

After church on Sunday, we went to fellowship hall and were served lunch (buffet style) which consisted of rice; arrow root; a dish made of mashed potatoes and bananas; a dish made of mashed potatoes, peas, maize, and greens; and fresh fruit (watermelon, bananas and melon).

After lunch, we took a brief walking tour of the grounds surrounding the church to see both the parsonage and a children’s classroom building well under construction.

Both of these buildings are being constructed of stone; while the first inclination is that this construction would be cost prohibitive in the States, the stone comes from a nearby quarry and is the most easily accessible material here. Very little wood is used here at all; these buildings, however, do have a roof structure made of wood supporting a metal roof (unlike the new library in which we were told that they could not get the wood in a timely manner). The parsonage appears to have a living area, kitchen, 3 bedrooms (the master one with a bath), as well as a guest bedroom with bath. The children’s classroom building has 3 large classrooms.

We then met briefly with multiple people involved with the Sunday School component of the local church. Like the worship service, they offer Sunday School in both English and Kimeru languages. There is not sufficient enclosed meeting space currently; and the majority of the classes are held outside on the grass. However, the new childhood classroom will provide 3 additional rooms for this function.

Each Sunday School has 2 teachers; and like in the States, teachers are hard to come by.
We discussed the idea of using a rotating schedule for the children where one teacher teaches the same course 4 times to 4 different groups of children and each week the children change instructors. The Methodist Church provides the basic program for the teachers; they are asked to come up with ideas on how to teach the courses. There is not a lot of visual material to use (nor is their the easy ability to hang a poster on a tree either). There is a desire to have moveable partitions within the fellowship hall to create even more classrooms in the future.
There is also a desire to have sufficient teachers and space to provide teaching to the children based on age rather than language. Sometimes, there are 400 – 500 children present.

We then drove (a very short drive, but quicker than “cutting through” by way of walking) to the Meru Methodist Children’s Home which currently accommodates 32 children and 15 workers. We were welcomed by several choruses sung by the children and then given tea, a brief history of the home, and a walking tour of the grounds. The home was a beautiful home and run by an administrator, Reverend David Riungu. The organizational structure appeared to be comparable to a Boys Ranch or Girls Ranch at home.

The home was begun in 1996 as a feeding program for children who were living on the streets of Meru on their way to school. These children were orphaned children living on their own who often found minimal shelter under the large trucks (called lorries here); but they were also often picked up by the police and treated as thieves.

The program then expanded to try and get these students more active in school and then went on to providing them more than one meal a day.

Currently, there are two very nice houses on the property; each is divided into a pod for 8 children and a housemother. Each has a living / kitchenette area, 2 bedrooms (with 2 sets of bunkbeds in each room), and then a bedroom for the housemother, and a bath. There are 3 additional buildings under construction so that they can not only care for 20 more children but also to provide some better separation between infants (which they currently do not have) and older youth.

There are more boys than girls living here, but all are welcomed. There are 3 boys who are currently in secondary school (high school); of these, one is at the top of his class and hopes to go to the university.

After the tour, we met briefly again with all of the students and gave them each a small bag of gifts. The whistles appeared to be a very popular item. Each also contained a hacky sack; Drew showed them how to play with this and there were a couple of boys who seemed to be figuring this out very quickly. We – and the Kenyans in particular since they have been experiencing a drought – were then blessed with rain and we stayed a little longer than intended as it was literally pouring outside. The children sang another couple of songs for us and blessed us on our departure.

From here, we went to dinner at the Mubichi’s home where we were once again served a feast: goat, roasted chicken, another kind of chicken, rice, a mashed potato dish (this one with black beans and green), greens, chapatti, fruit, and ice cream for dessert. We had a very good time of fellowship and ended the day with devotions.

During devotions tonight, some of the following “God sightings” were noted:

The blessing of the rain today
Being hugged by the older ladies in the reception line at the church
Hearing the stories at the children’s home, seeing how far the kids have come, and being able to see Jesus in the hearts of the children
The overall sharing of people as they share the love of God through their actions
The fact that “time” is not a commodity in Africa; and the Kenyan thought that this has helped them become more spiritual since they take time to talk and develop relationships.
The question posed by many people, “How are YOU?” with a desire to really know rather than ask just to be polite.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 4: Sunday, January 15, 2006

2006-01-16T16:02:00.000-08:00

This morning, Jack, John, Kellye, and Katie went for a short walk outside the hotel. There were not a lot of people on the streets milling around, and most of the ones who were out appeared to be headed for church. We notice many small churches off to one side or the other of the main street. One church was singing “Amazing Grace”, another “When the Saints go Marching in”; the others all had something going to – we just could not understand it. It was interesting to contemplate the growth of Christianity within Kenya over the last 50+ years as we walked. Jack was approached by one man, dressed in suite, who was asking Jack’s advice about what to do next in his personal walk.

The Hanochs, Philip, and Drew all went to the church early. The kids were having lots of fun learning some of the hand string tricks from the Hanochs. The rest of the group joined the early goers before the worship service began and walked around the yards some. It was good to see many smiling faces. Gay said “hello” in sign language to one of the groups of deaf children, and they all wanted to talk to her; she could not remember more, so she shook their hands – and they seemed happy enough. Later, Kellye was taking pictures; the kids about knocked her down when they saw the image on the back of the camera – and then they all wanted to look through the lens.

With the exception of the sermon and our introduction of ourselves, the service that we attended was in the native language of Kimeru. It was longer than our services, but very interesting. Things that were noted included:

While we were seated together initially, one of the first things that happened was that the congregation was asked to come and retrieve us to sit among them – so we quickly became dispersed from front to back and each of us had a translator to assist us.

Hearing in Kimeru the familiar: God is good -- all the time. All the time, God is good.

“Thank you for sitting next to me” seemed to be equivalent to “passing the peace”.

There were 2 choirs: one had robes on and contained both males and females; the second was just women.

When it came time for the offering, the first thing held up was a small black bag of eggs; someone offered 50 Schillings. Then, the next thing held up was a half-gallon +/- size container of milk in a plastic bag. This one started at 50 schillings but ended up at 60. These were all that the people bringing them had to offer – but they seemed to be very well received! After these items were given to the highest bidder, the offering baskets were placed at the front, and the people proceeded very orderly from their seat, up to the baskets to drop their offering in, and then back to their seats.

The sermon was entitled “1 + 1 = 1” and it had to do with God’s plan to reach man. It was given by the Superintendent, and he offered a good message.

2006-01-16T14:00:00.000-08:00

The drive was only 225 kilometers (135 miles), but it took us 5 hours (with a 10 minute rest-stop half way) to travel from Nairobi to the Kaaga School for the deaf in Meru. One we arrived in Meru (population estimated at about 100,000), we were taken first to the school to meet people and look at the job site. We were given very warm greetings upon arrival, and there were a host of people from the Board of Governors for the Kaaga School of the Deaf, the Kaaga Church, the Kaaga School for the Deaf itself, and the Mubichi family. We were then offered a warm and gracious afternoon tea, complete with tea, coffee, hot chocolate, and fresh fruit (mango, pineapple, and watermelon).

The dream of bringing a library to the deaf children is becoming a fast reality. The construction was begun only 2 months ago (November 17, 2005) and much progress has been made. Decisions made along the way which have changed the building slightly include:

A decision not to cut and fill the site creating a portion of the building which had a raised interior floor (5 steps and an adjacent ramp); the reason cited was because of additional expense that would have been incurred for sitework.

A change from solid concrete columns to columns made with enclosed steel (including 4 – 12 mil. Rebars in each column) to be extended vertically in the future.

A change from wooden trusses for the roofing to steel ones (the wood was not available whereas the steel was).

The stone in the exterior walls is a quarry stone that was cut about 15 kilometers (9 miles) from Meru.

The doors and window are “done” and in just need of installation.

We also learned a little bit more about the pump / water situation at the adjacent School for the Mentally handicapped. The goal there is to get water from a nearby stream to the school. Two thousand dollars has been given through Oklahoma VIM in order to provide a pump to solve this problem; the issue, however, is that while the funds will pay for a pump, they will not support the maintenance of the pump. So, the question is one of how to consider re-appropriating the money in order to solve the problem at hand but perhaps with a gravity-fed system that would not involve a pump that has to be maintained. The Kaaga representatives asked that part of the team address this problem on Monday or Tuesday of next week.

Dinner at the hotel tonight was good: cream of chicken soup, spinach, rice, naan, a vegetable dish with peas, carrots, and potatoes as well as fried chicken. For dessert, we had fresh plumbs, mangos, and small bananas.

After dinner, the team met for devotions. We sang several songs (in part trying to discern which one we will sing tomorrow at church), spoke of why we were on this particular mission, and learned a little more from Mr. Mubichi.

Submitted by Kellye J

Library Upon Our Arrival

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Day 3: Saturday, January 14, 2006 (cont.)

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As we drove in Nairobi, we learned:

Nairobi is a city which had 3 million people at the last census count; however, Simon felt that there were many more at the current time as people continue to make their way to the city in an attempt to look for work.

There is a designated corner across from Nairobi University commonly referred to as “God’s corner”; it had 5 churches and a synagogue consolidated on a small parcel of land surrounded by busy streets.

The drive north was a beautiful one, it became both prettier – and greener -- as we approached Meru. The first half of the drive was on relatively smooth roads with multiple police checks (which we were generally just waived through); the second half was still on paved roads – but roads filled with speed bumps and pot holes that were dodged when possible. The road generally had one lane of traffic traveling in both directions (and was called a carriage-way); however, when there was no one else in sight, the entire road was used for one-way travel in an attempt to dodge the potholes.

Along the route, we saw and learned much regarding the seemingly lush crops and vegetation that we were passing:

Kenya is in need of rain, much like other parts of the world; this year has been a dry one (but vegetation is still considerably green when compared to all of our homes).

Tea and coffee are the primary exports; however, the third was surprisingly flowers. As we passed several greenhouses, we were informed that Kenya ships 20,000 stems daily – mostly to Europe.

Del Monte plays an active role in the ownership and production of pineapple here (and we attested at breakfast and later at tea this afternoon that the pineapple here was very tasty).

Papyrus was sold multiple places along the route. It was cut into designated lengths and placed in bundles or screens. The locals use it on their roofs to help stay cool.

Subsistence farming is common.

Maize, bananas, rice, mangos and papayas were seen growing in abundance at different sections of the drive.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 3: Saturday, January 14, 2006

2006-01-16T08:00:00.000-08:00

An alarm clock was not needed this morning even after such a short night! We awoke to the beautiful call of a single bird that seemed to enjoy his simple call of “good morning” from 5:30 – 6:00 a.m. (at least). At 6:00, he became silent as the sun began to rise; a crow then began cawing and this was followed by the chirping of some other birds and finally the rooster began crowing at 6:30 a.m. when it was as light in our room without a light as it was outside.

Breakfast was a wonderful buffet spread with cereal (hot and cold), ham and sausage, boiled eggs or hand-made omelets, bread (multiple kinds) and jam, and tea and coffee.

We left The Methodist Guest House a little after 9 a.m. in pursuit the finding a bank to change team money, a store for buying water, and a restaurant for obtaining lunch prior to our journey to Meru. Money was exchanged at the bank; the rate was surprisingly not as good as it had been at the airport, but all seemed pleased that they now had 1000’s of Kenyan shillings instead of a few dollars. The grocery store was uneventful in that we were able to buy water in both large and small bottles, as well as a few sodas.

Lunch was at Steers, a fast-food place similar to combined fast food place in the States. One could order hamburgers, fried chicken, etc. from one side of the counter or pizza and hot Italian subs from the other side. The intent was to place our order (around 10 – 10:30), go to the grocery store, and then come back and pick it up for the journey to Meru. But, by the time we finished at the grocery store and returned, it was 11:45 so we all just went ahead and ate before loading into the vans and heading north.

Submitted by Kellye J

Rev Grace Imathiu at Nairobi Airport

2006-01-15T20:00:00.000-08:00

Grace is an ordained elder in the Methodist Church of Kenya. She has served in congregations in Kenya; Washington, Ohio, Tennessee and Wisconsin, where she served two years as senior pastor of First United Methodist Church in Green Bay.

As a preacher and Bible study teacher, Grace is in constant demand all around the world. She has ministered in Germany, Denmark, Australia, Malaysia, Brazil and England. Rev. Grace Imathiu was educated in Kenya, USA, Israel, and Cambridge University, England. Grace is also a founder member and associate director of Kenya Methodist University in Meru, Kenya. She is author of Words of Fire, Spirit of Grace.

Day 2: Friday, January 13, 2006

2006-01-15T09:00:00.000-08:00

Friday, the 13th! What a day to start one’s travel in a foreign country. As we deplaned in London’s Heathrow airport, we were first driven quite a ways on a bus (so that one could have a good feel of just how large Heathrow really is) before we began the first “adventure” of the morning – getting in line and trying to remain calmly in line (a LONG line) as others tried to cut in – just to get through security. Two hours and forty minutes after landing, we were finally through security and sitting at our gate for departure.

In the process of moving to the gate (once we were through security), we encountered another group of Methodists from Ann Arbor, Michigan who were also traveling to Meru to work at the Methodist polytechnic high school. Traveling with them was the world-renowned Grace Imathiu, the Kenyan daughter of the previous Methodist Bishop of Kenya, Rev. Lawi Imathiu. Rev. Imathiu was born in Nairobi, received her higher education in Britain and the United States, and is currently senior pastor of Brown Deer United Methodist Church in Wisconsin. She speaks and preaches at venues all over the world and was the Pope Lecturer at Nichols Hills United methodist Church in 2002.

She spoke with our team leader for a few minutes, and we concluded that we may meet up with her again in Meru at some point in the journey. In addition to accompanying a VIM team to Meru, Kenya, Rev. Imathiu was coming home to Kenya for a special service honoring her father (which he did not yet know about) for his service in the World Council of Churches.

Due to the time that it took us to get through the security line, very little shopping was done at the airport’s “mall” other than a trip to Starbucks by some and a trip to the drugstore for Alfred who needed medicine for his persistent cold.

During the next flight, another 3 hours were lost but since we were technically flying during “daylight” hours, it did not seem so bad. Perhaps this could be attributed to:

· Being able to sleep / doze much better on this flight (there is indeed rest for the weary!)

· The lack of crying infants / children

· Our goal for resting had changed for only a “nap” instead of a “night’s sleep”.

We touched down in Nairobi around 9:20 p.m. Nairobi time after leaving London around 10:30 a.m. (8 hours of travel time with the loss of time factor). And for those trying to keep track of Oklahoma, Arkansas, or Texas time, in Kenya we were 9 hours ahead of “the game”. At home, people were grateful that it was their noon hour on a Friday afternoon of a long work week; here we were grateful for a safe (but long) journey and eager to reach our place of residence for the night – the Methodist Guest House.

It took us an hour and twenty minutes to leave the airport (obtain a minimal amount of money, get through customs, collect our baggage, and be met by Daniel Kibe and his host of drivers: Simon, Peter, and James. We then drove about 35 – 40 minutes to the Methodist Guest House only to find out upon arrival that there was no confirmation of our reservation for the night – but they did have the reservation for the Ann Arbor team.

By 11:45 p.m., we all had rooms. The front desk ultimately concluded that the Ann Arbor team was not coming and allowed us to have their rooms, and we very graciously took them. (We learned later the hotel actually contacts rev. Imathiu's group and arranged to reroute them to another hotel.)

At midnight, we settled in a conference room at the hotel for a brief time for evening devotion and team meeting (gives new meaning to “morning devotions”) as we began with a feeble attempt to sing “Sanctuary” and “Open the Eyes of My Heart, Lord”. Our vocal cords were as tired as the rest of our bodies.

Submitted by Kellye J

Day 1: Thursday, January 12, 2006

2006-01-14T19:00:00.000-08:00

The majority of the team left out of Oklahoma City without a major glitch; Kellye left DFW an hour late. However, we all had plenty of time in Chicago to wait thanks to the early departure times from our respective homes. So, there were no major glitches in departing Chicago as a full team when the plane boarded on time.

We were forced to contend with the notion of “losing time” (like it was ours to gain or lose) as we crossed the Atlantic Ocean and had a short night enroute to London. For those reminiscing, the sequence of events went something like this:

5:30 p.m. Departure from Chicago

6:00 p.m. Beverages were served along with breadsticks that had been marinated in Worchester sauce (no amount of liquid was enough to get them down)

6:30 p.m. Supper / Dinner in tandem with a 2 hour movie; no there was not time for one before the other if there was to be any rest at all.

8:30 p.m. An attempt to “settle down for the night:” and get some sleep (or at least rest for those who can’t seem to sleep on airplanes).

5:00 a.m. London time. This is where the loss of 6 hours of time occurred with the realization that one had only had the opportunity to doze for about 3.5 hours +/- available.

5:30 a.m. Breakfast with a kid’s size serving of tea or coffee (certainly not enough to rouse one from their dozing activities), a muffin, orange juice and cup of flavored yogurt.

6:20 a.m. Touchdown with the cry of a child, “Our plane is sinking”; a weary gratitude and an acknowledgement of not being even “half way there yet” after re-assessing the reasons we had stayed awake:

Our knees were touching the back of the seat in front of us and the person sitting in that seat wrestled “all night” with the thoughts of "jumping in Grandma’s feather bed”;

The non-harmonious but concurrent cries of at least two infants / small children;

The turbulents that the pilot managed to find as he sought to stay awake rather than doze.

The realization that your feet and ankles (particularly the right one on which you broke 2 toes about 3 weeks ago) were swelling and there’s no way to massage them given the tight seating in which you literally have to crawl out of sideways just to get to the aisle.

Submitted by Kellye J

Thank You, Donors

2006-01-07T01:00:00.000-08:00

Thanks to all who have donated towards this mission. We raised over $40,000 for books and construction of the library and our shipping container arrived safely.

Jean Warner, February 22, 2006

Where We Are Going

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Kenya is located on the east side of sub-Saharan Africa.

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We will fly
into Nairobi,

ride in vans
to Meru,

go on safari
north of Isiolo,

and fly home
from Nairobi.

2006-01-06T10:00:00.000-08:00

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Dec 2005 Team Meeting

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Team members and honored guests including Florence and Fridah Mubichi gather at team leader Jean Warner's home in December, 2005 to hear about the mission trip.

Planning This Mission Trip

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This mission trip was conceived on a beautiful day in May of 2005 when Florence Mubichi, Jean Warner, Fridah Mubichi and Marshall Lauen met in the cafe of the San Noble Museum of Natural History on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman, Oklahoma.

Progress on Library

2006-01-02T09:37:00.000-08:00

The Children's Library
Dec 29, 2005

By the time the team reaches Meru, the roof will be on. Our job will be to install windows (including glazing the panes) and the doors and painting the building. And we will need to unpack the 20 foot shipping container full of books for this library!

Mission Team Co-Leaders

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Jean Warner has a PhD in Political Science and is a women's empowerment activist in Oklahoma City. She currently serves as Lay Co-Leader at Nichols Hills United Methodist Church.

Marshall Lauen is former Director of Student Ministries at Blanchard United methodist Church. He now holds the same position at Santa Rosa Beach Community Church in Santa Rosa Beach, FL.

Jean and Marshall both went on the VIM mission trip to Kenya in January of 2005.

Etiquette Do's and Don't

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To read etiquette tips for this mission, CLICK HERE.

Attention Team Members . . .

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To read the Team Member Manual on trip particulars including costs, deadlines, insurance, what to pack, etc, CLICK HERE.

Trip Itinerary

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As of January 5, 2006. This schedule is tentative in that events in Meru may vary slightly.

Our goal for this mission is to function as a cohesive body. We are a team and we plan to do everything as a team. While each mission member brings different gifts and skills to the team, all team members are expected to participate in all scheduled activities.

Each day, the team members will have a brief morning devotional and an evening devotional as well as a time to share and reflect on the day. In addition, it is likely that the Kaaga Methodist Church will invite us to make a presentation at the two church services we will attend in Meru.

Thursday, January 12

10:45 am – Depart Oklahoma City International Airport on United Airlines flight #6910
12:35 pm – Arrive Chicago O’Hare Airport
5:35 pm – Depart Chicago O’Hare on British Airlines flight #296

Friday, January 13

7:15 am (Friday morning London time) - Arrive Heathrow Airport in London, England
10:05 am (Friday morning London time) - Depart London on British Airlines flight #65
9:20 pm (Friday night Kenya time) - Arrive Nairobi, go through customs, claim luggage
9:45 pm – Team is met by Danvelo Tours vans and drivers (Daniel Kibe Munderu)
10:00 pm – Load luggage into 1 van, team into 2 vans; ride vans to Methodist Guest House
10:30 pm – Each team member checks into hotel, transports luggage to room for the night

Saturday, January 14

Between 6 & 8:30 am – Breakfast (hotel restaurant), take luggage to front desk, check out
9:00 am – Load luggage into vans. Exchange money & buy bottled water and snacks
11:30 am - Steers fast food restaurant for box lunch. Eat there or in the van on the way.
Noon – Depart for Meru in Daniel’s vans via the Embu route (estimate 3 ½ hours)
1:30 pm – Stop at Isaak Walton’s Hotel in Embu to use restrooms (“don’t eat the food”)
3:30 to 4 pm – At School for the Deaf in Meru, view work site, meet Steven and others
5:30 pm – Ride to White Star Hotel and check in.
7:00 pm – Dinner at White Star Hotel
8:15 pm – 30-45 minutes for devotional.

Sunday, January 15

Between 6:30 and 8:30 am – Eat breakfast in White Star Hotel
10:30 am – Ride from White Star Hotel to Kaaga Methodist Church
11:00 am – Attend Kimeru-language worship service; present gifts.
1:00 pm – Lunch in Fellowship Hall with church leaders.
2:00 pm – Visit with Sunday school teachers, tour CDC Classrooms Building.
3:00 pm – Walk to Kaaga Children’s Home for presentation of gifts and tour of facility.
5:00 pm – Ride from Children’s Home to Mubichi’s home
5:30 pm – Dinner with Steven and Ravena
9:00 pm – Ride from Mubichi’s home to White Star Hotel

Monday, January 16 through Friday, January 20

During this week, team members will be working – along side volunteers from the Kaaga Methodist Church – on the library at the Kaaga School for the Deaf.
7:00 am – Breakfast in White Star Hotel
8:00 am – Ride from hotel to School for the Deaf (Steven to arrange)
10:00 am – Morning tea and fruit/bread (provided by School for the Deaf)
1:00 pm – Lunch at/near work site (provided by School for the Deaf)
3:30 pm – Half hour break (maybe devotional at this time?)
5:15 pm – Ride from School for the Deaf to White Star Hotel (Steven to arrange)
7:00 pm – Dinner at White Star Hotel
8:15 pm – 30-45 minute devotional

Saturday, January 21

7:30 am – Breakfast at White Star Hotel
8:30 am –Ride to School for the Deaf
9 – 11 am – Maybe paint a classroom or finish work on library
11:00 am – At church, observe the Kaaga Children’s Development Center
1:00 pm – Lunch with children outside on church lawn
1:45 pm – Present gift to CDC officials and present each child in the program with a small gift
2:30 pm – Walk to the School for the Deaf to either work or visit with children
4:00 pm – Ride from the School to Hotel
5:30 pm – Be picked up by local hosts and taken to their home for dinner.
9:00 pm – Dinner hosts bring team members to Hotel

Sunday, January 22

7:30 am – Breakfast at White Star Hotel
8:45 am – Ride from Hotel to Kaaga Methodist Church
9:15 am – Attend English-language worship service
11:00 am – Depart for lunch at Mubichi’s home; possible tour of Kenya Methodist University.
7:00 pm – Dinner at White Star Hotel or Mubichi’s

Monday, January 23

7:30 am – Breakfast at White Star Hotel
9:00 am – Depart from Hotel for trip to Maua
10:00 am – Meet with Maua Methodist Hospital staff, present gift, tour “AIDS home”
12:30 - 1 pm – Ride from Maua to Meru (box lunches)
2:00 pm – Arrive back at White Star Hotel
3:00 pm – Ride to School for the Mentally Handicapped, present gift, view new water line.
5:00 pm – Ride from School for the Mentally Handicapped to Hotel
7:00 pm – Final dinner at White Star Hotel with guests

Tuesday, January 24

7:00 am – Breakfast at White Star Hotel
8:00 am – Ride from Meru to Sarova Shaba Lodge (Daniel’s vans)
11:30 am – At lodge, register, put luggage in room, eat lunch, rest.
3:00 pm - Depart on afternoon safari game drive (Daniel’s vans)
7:00 pm - Dinner at Sarova Shaba Lodge

Wednesday, January 25

6:00 am – Ride in Daniel’s vans for morning safari game drive (leaves at 6 am sharp)
10:00 am – Return to Lodge, freshen up, eat mid-morning buffet brunch at Lodge
Noon – (Optional) Visit to Samburu village
3:00 pm – Ride in Daniel’s vans for afternoon safari game drive (leaves at 3 pm sharp)
7:00 pm – Dinner at Sarova Shaba Lodge

Thursday, January 26

6:00 am – Ride in Daniel’s vans for final safari game drive (leaves at 6 am sharp)
10:00 am – Mid-morning buffet brunch at Lodge
11:00 am – Check out of room, load luggage into one van, depart in other vans for Nairobi
1:00 pm – Stop at Equator for photos and rest rooms
6:00 pm – Check into Methodist Guest House
6:45 pm – Ride in vans to The Carnivore Restaurant (Daniel’s vans)
7:30 pm - Dinner at The Carnivore Restaurant
9:00 pm – Ride from restaurant to Hotel (Daniel’s vans)

Friday, January 27

7:00 am – Eat breakfast at Methodist Guest House
8:00 am – Check all luggage at the front desk for the day
8:30 am – Utamaduni Craft Centre, former home of Karen Blixen (aka Isak Dinesen)
1:00 pm – Lunch at a Steers Restaurant
2 to 5 pm – Brief driving tour of downtown Nairobi
5:30 pm – Ride in Daniel’s vans to Methodist Guest House
6 pm - Dinner at Methodist Guest House
7:30 pm – Collect luggage from front desk, load vans, ride in Daniel’s vans to airport
8:30 pm – At airport, check in with British Airlines
11:32 pm – Depart British Air flight #64

Saturday, January 28

5:05 am (London time) – Arrive London-Heathrow Airport
9:20 am – Depart London on British Airlines flight #295
Noon (Chicago time) – Arrive Chicago O’Hare Airport, go through US Customs
3:05 pm – Depart Chicago on United flight # 7031 (arrive Oklahoma City at 5:21 pm)
(NOTE: This last flight is a change)

Construction on New Children's Library in Meru, Kenya Begins

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With the help of mission trip supporters throughout Central Oklahoma, we have raised and sent $18,000 to the Board of Governors of the Kaaga School for the Deaf. The school, working with members of the local Kaaga Methodist Church, has obtained permits, purchased building supplies, laid the foundation, and started construction. This modest building will house a new children’s library.

20' Container of Books & Gifts Shipped to Kenya

2005-12-07T16:12:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday, November 30, 2005, we shipped a 20 foot shipping container to the Port of Mombasa in Kenya. Our local coordinator will arrange to have the contents moved to Meru when it arrives at the port on January 8, 2006.

The container held 20 pallets of children’s books from an Oklahoma City nonprofit organization, Books for Children of the World. These 18,000 books were purchased with funds donated by our VIM trip supporters. A member of Nichols Hills United Methodist Church paid for the freight costs. Also shipped were 600 books for a preachers’ library at the church, 90 Bibles, 50 children’s religious books, 6 boxes of used Sunday school curriculum, 200 used novels, 450 used children’s books, 325 new children’s books, 150 baby dolls, 50 beanie baby toys, 220 pairs of socks, 230 small coloring books, 1560 pencils, 50 boxes of crayons, 40 children’s book bags, 290 baby blankets, 38 knit baby caps, 200 pairs of newborn’s socks, 4 walkers, 118 sewing patterns, 75 tubs of Play Dough, and 3 cases of Theraflu cold medicine.

Mission team members will present these items to leaders at Kaaga Methodist Church, Meru School for the Mentally Handicapped, Maua Methodist Hospital, and Kaaga School for the Deaf.

We Will Bring Gifts From MAKE A JOYFUL NOISE

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Jeff and Pam Thompson of Make a Joyful Noise Foundation in South Oklahoma City have donated many, many wonderful items for us to bring or ship to Kenya. Thanks to them, we have gift packets for all of the 750 children we will be interacting with in Meru including those at the School for the Deaf, the School for the Mentally Handicapped, the church's Saturday school and the children attending Sunday school at Kaaga Methodist Church. Above Jeff and Pam Thompson greet Florence Mubichi of Meru, Kenya.

A Pastor's Library for Kaaga Church

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(Left to right) Fridah Mubichi, Rev. Neal Baumwart, Rev. Jack Terrill-Wilkes, Alfred Walker, Rev. Rebecca Morton, Kathy Baumwart, and Rev. Grayson Lucky. Alfred and Kathy will travel to Meru, Kenya in January of 2006. Rev. Morton went on the 2005 mission trip to Kenya.

With help from Rev. Neil Winslow, materials for a Pastor's Library at Kaaga methodist Church are being collected at Nichols Hills United Methodist Church. Books from the following United Methodist ministers fill over 25 boxes: Grayson Lucky, Rebecca Morton, Jack Terrell-Wilkes, Neal Baumwart, Neil Winslow, Don Hull, Scott Keneda, Phil Davis, and Les Meyers. The books will be sent to Kenya in a shipping container in late November.

ABOUT THE JAN 2006 MISSION TRIP

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We will be serving in “the highlands” of Kenya.

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Meru is located on the east side of Mount Kenya.

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The temperature here ranges from highs in the 80's to lows in the 50's Fahrenheit.

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Vans provided by Daniel Kibe (above with his wife and Jean Warner enjoying fresh cold fruit juice last January) provide our ground transportation. Each team member will bring two suitcases that get checked onto the flights plus one small carry-on bag. One of the two checked suitcases will be filled with gifts for institutions and individuals in Kenya.

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While in Meru, we will enjoy a dinner at the home of Florence and Steven Mubichi. They and their daughters have lived and attended school in Oklahoma City and have many friends in the United States.

Our Hosts: Kaaga Methodist Church, Meru, Kenya

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We will be working with Kaaga Methodist Church leaders while in Kenya. We will attend two worship services - one in English and the other in the local language, Kimeru. This church conducts four Sunday worship services each Sunday (English, Kimeru, deaf, and children).

Besides books to start a Pastor's Library, we are bringing 6 boxes of Sunday school materials and look forward to interacting with the Sunday school teachers. We hope to paint murals (or at least outlines) in the church's three new Sunday School classrooms.

We Will Visit the Church's Saturday School

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On Saturdays, Kaaga methodist Church hosts a school for 400+ area children. They receive free instruction from 8 am to 3 pm and enjoy a hot lunch. As many as 60 children sit in a semi-circle to listen to their teacher (see picture above). We are bringing 40 extra-large story books for the teachers of this wonderful school.

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Saturday lunch at Kaaga Methodist Church.

Our Mission Site: Kaaga School for the Deaf

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Kaga School for the Deaf is located across the way from Kaaga Methodist Church. Many members of the church will work shoulder to shoulder with us on our mission projects.

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Students taking carpentry classes at the school will lend a hand.

Fill the Library With Books

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Our goal is to provide books to start the children's library. Members of several area churches have donated 15 boxes of childrens books. We also hope to purchase many "nearly new” school text books, reference books and library books from Books to Children of the World - a nonprofit in Oklahoma City (see photos of their warehouse above). They will select, pack and load their books -- as well as ours -- onto a 20 foot container that we will send by sea to Kenya in November 2005.

Our Major Source For Library Books

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BOOKS TO CHILDREN OF THE WORLD

Rev. David High and Richard Banks with Books to Children of the World discuss shipping library books and school text books to Meru, Kenya with Gay Abarr and Florence Mubichi.

"Partnerships’ connect Enid, Africa

2005-07-17T11:27:00.000-07:00

Story in The Enid News & Eagle on 7/14/2005
By Scott Fitzgerald, Staff Writer

Florence Mubichi’s stay in Enid was short, but the registered nurse and Methodist Church lay preacher from Kenya welcomed the opportunity to spread the word during her time in the city Wednesday.

“This is what the Methodist Church is able to do. The church sees the needs of people and is trying to have people facilitate themselves. We form partnerships — hand-in-hand. We share customs and faith beliefs,” Mubichi said.

Mubichi sat in the living room of Shirley Davis’ home in Enid when she spoke her words of praise. And those words specifically were directed to a Volunteers-in-Mission team from the Methodist Church Davis was part of in January that visited Mubichi’s hometown of Maua and Maua Methodist Hospital.

The mission team, the first VIM group from Oklahoma, helped in day-to-day duties at the hospital and also did lots of refurbishing work.

Davis, a retired registered nurse, said she worked in the surgery ward, helping on procedures and providing after-care assistance. Other volunteers cleaned the pediatric ward and painted.
They provided new mattresses and pillows.

“It was left looking very clean and rewarding for the Kenyans,” Davis said.

Because transportation and communication avenues in the African country are not as advanced as those in many Western societies, the hospital has directed much of its efforts to community work in the surrounding area, Mubichi said.

About 17 clinics have been established, she said, and people have been trained to deliver babies and provide effective aftercare.

Education also has become a priority in helping to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. The disease has been declared a national disaster in Kenya and continues to claim many lives — especially in rural areas, Mubichi said.

“Our life expectancy used to be in the 50s, but now it’s 44 for men and 48 for women,” Mubichi said.

Mubichi said she helped establish partnerships through the Methodist Church here during her undergraduate days at Oklahoma City University and her graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Health Sciences.

“This is the beauty of being Christian. It’s beautiful to see peace when two cultures come together in one name,” Mubichi said.