The members of the 2005 Kenya Mission Team are eager to share their experiences with you! Before telling some of our stories, we would like to briefly list our church's main mission outreach projects in the Meru, Kenya community.
KenyaHELP Program
33 poor but academically talented students are attending high school through your sponsorship. The team spent a day and a half with the students doing home visits, a community work project, a presentation ceremony, and sharing a meal together. One elderly woman walked a long distance and waited for hours to thank us personally for making a difference in her grandson's life. Next year (starting in January 2006), we hope to expand the program to 40 students.
Vacation Bible School
Our team was invited to run a VBS for a new church, St. Luke's. Between 100 and 350 children attended for three mornings, learning to "spread God's seeds of love". On the final day, each child was presented with a tiny Bible; for many of them it was the first book they ever owned! Who knows what God's Word will do in their lives? Gifts from FUMC were also gratefully received. (See Peggy Schroeder's article for more information.)
Painting work project at Kithoka Primary School
Four classrooms were painted with the help of parent volunteers. (See Lee Lewis's article in the November issue.)
Ruithi Boys Rescue Center
Last year we visited this struggling orphanage for street boys who had been recently abandoned. Taken in by Christian women in the community, the boys from this slum area now, at least, had a roof over their heads, but not much else. This year, we visited them again. When they admitted that they don't always have enough food, our team decided to go shopping, buying supplies like maize, rice, blankets for their beds, soap, cups and bowls. Our donations also helped to pay some staff salaries and nursery school tuition. One volunteer was in tears, saying of a simple plastic wash tub, "Who would have thought we'd when we woke up that we'd have our own place to wash clothes when we went to bed?"
Bikes for Pastors in Developing Countries
Two of the nine bikes purchased with loose coin offering money were delivered to pastors in rural Kenya. It took each pastor three months to reach each congregation once by traveling on foot in the past. (See Lee Lewis' article.).
Reaching out to the needy in the community
Each team member reached out to those they met along the way, meeting needs as they encountered them. Someone supplied welding hoods and gloves to Kithoka Polytech to prevent students in the welding classes from losing their sight. Another person paid for medical attention for a young lady with skin cancer, who has now been healed. School supplies were left with three schools and St. Luke's. Medical supplies were donated to the Meru Hospital. People on the team (as well as their friends and families) donated ponchos, clothing, shoes, and dental supplies to those they met. Perhaps most importantly, we worked to glorify God by sharing our faith with the people of Meru through our songs, stories, time, friendship, and prayers.
Here are some personal memories from our mission trip:
"When I went to Kenya, I was looking forward to visiting horticultural and agricultural operations, which I did find interesting. What I found the most moving, however, was a visit to Tabitha's home (one of the KenyaHELP students). Tabitha led us to her home through a maze of narrow streets and alleys in an area that I wouldn't want to walk alone in the daytime, not to mention at night! The home was on a hillside in the downtown area. It was a small 6'x 8' building with a dirt floor; you could see through the walls to the outside. They had two narrow cots on the floor for sleeping for her mother and sister and the sisters' two children. She said that she slept on the floor when she isn't at school. When it rains, the water must run through the house and everything must get all muddy. I don't know how she can keep anything clean. One of the small children lying on the mattress was very listless and seemed ill. The child was apparently alone as there were no other adults around. The house has been marked with a big red X which means that it will be demolished someday soon for they are squatters with no rights to be where they are or means to find another place to live.
Lee Lewis asked Tabitha how she felt about our visiting her home. She said she was glad to have us visit her home as Blaise Nyaga (Kenyan Liaison) had explained how important it was for us to see how they live and what their needs are. Through you, KenyaHELP is working to give these young people a better life." ~Charles Schroeder
"The Kenya Mission Team was privileged deliver two of the nine bikes FUMC purchased through the loose coin offering this past May. These bikes were left at the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi for two recently appointed pastors. We were able to share a meal with one of them, Pastor Jon. We met him at Kenya Methodist University in Meru while he was visiting his family. Pastor Jon is a 2004 graduate of the University. In September 2004, he was appointed to a circuit of 13 churches about 50 miles north of Mombasa. The bike will help him to travel between the churches in this relatively flat and isolated area of Kenya. He stays in a rented room centrally located in his circuit area. Although Pastor Jon is married with a wife and two sons, his family continues to stay at his father's home in Meru so that he can pastor these congregations." ~Lee Lewis
"I volunteered to be the coordinator of the Vacation Bible School for St Luke's Church in Meru, Kenya. It was a new experience for the people of St Luke's, for they had not a Bible School before. After months of planning at home and a meeting to organize the Sunday School teachers in Meru, we simply prayed that all would go well. God definitely answered our prayers above our expectations: although we were expecting about 70 children the first we had over 350 children were present that first morning, too many to even fit in the church building! Our theme was "Spreading God's Seeds of Love". Students shared planted seeds with family and friends that week and passed out seeds packets to the congregation during their presentation of songs. The program included a Creation skit and went very well. The children had a great time learning how to share God's love with others. Along with the children's program, we presented the congregation with the quilt, the map of hands, and the pictures that children had made in our VBS at FUMC. They were very pleased to receive these gifts and, in return, sent back a world map surrounded by the hand prints of St. Luke's children. It is my prayer that Doris, one of our superb translators and volunteers, will lead the Vacation Bible School at St. Luke's next year." ~Peggy Schroeder
"There was no hesitation to return to Meru, Kenya this year. I took it upon myself to see more deeply into the lives of the people that we are involved with. Last year I found that my head was on a swivel, just trying to capture the moment and not really taking it all in. This year was a shorter visit but within the nine days I feel that more was accomplished. We visited the Kenya Help student's homes and got a look at the conditions that they live in. (Can you say 1800's?) We also did community service work and stocked a Boy's Rescue Home (an orphanage) with supplies. The mission was to get more involved and bring back a message with more impact, to tell others what is going on in another part of the world. The message I want to share is: "we (Americans) are working for wants because necessities are at our finger tips every second of our lives, while Kenyans are living for necessities or simply working to survive. Kenya has had massive poverty for decades. We have the power to change our lives because we have opportunities; Kenyans would take those opportunities if they had the chance." ~Paul D. Manke