Mail Call

Writing to sponsors is always a big event for our kids.  The kids want their sponsors to know how grateful they are for the opportunity to be at The Hope Center, but many of them lack the language skills to communicate freely and independently in English.

They’re pictured here copying a letter from the whiteboard that they collaboratively  dictated to me.  Concentration and focus are at a premium as they intently copy each word in the best penmanship they can muster.

Many of them draw or color pictures to  include, and several of them send pictures of themselves. Unlike many of us with digital cameras who snap shots without discretion, pictures are a more precious commodity to our children.

For you to understand what a sacrifice it is for them to send pictures, you must realize that they each get about 3-5 pictures of themselves at the beginning of the year when Sherwood and I return from the states.  As much as they’d like to keep their  pictures for themselves, their desire to share them with their sponsors is even stronger. 

                                                    

They have a good grasp on sharing their possessions even though they own so little.  What a poignant reminder of the story of the widow’s offering from Mark 12:41-44:

Jesus. . .watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury.  Many rich people threw in large amounts.  But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a fraction of a penny.

Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others.  They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything.”

A Concert in the Dark

Can you remember back to the last time your power went out?  I know it doesn’t happen often in America—after an ice storm, maybe a severe thunderstorm, or a bad accident, but can you remember what you did?  First there was certainly a blind scramble for a flashlight or matches and candles since there’s not a need to leave them in prominent places around the house when power outages are rare.  What did you do after the candles were lit?  Did you take a moment to enjoy the silence and stillness without a TV, computer, radio, video game, or some other device with a plug blaring, or did you anxiously check the battery level of your i-phone, laptop, or Kindle and breathe a sigh of relief when you realized there was surely enough juice to last until the power company restored power?

The dorms were out of kerosene for the hurricane lamps during a recent power outage casting the compound into utter darkness after the sun set behind the foothills to our west.  It was a Saturday night, and our normal schedule would have included packing 30-something dusty children into our living room for a much-anticipated movie night.

As Sherwood and I sat wondering when the power would come back so we could use our electronic devices, we heard a choir of girls’ voices drifting through the darkness and our open windows.  The sound of their no-frills singing was beautiful in its simplicity, and it brought to mind precious memories of old friends gathered at my childhood home on Christmases past for caroling.  As the girls’ singing continued, Sherwood and I ventured into the darkness to get a closer perspective.  The girls were gathered on the lawn in front of their dorm in a semi-circle that moved to the rhythm of their singing.  Their untrained voices harmonized in a folksy melody that was beautiful in a different way from highly polished choirs with traditional training.  I can’t explain the sound of their voices or the experience of watching their bare feet strike the dusty lawn in the darkness illuminated only by the starry hosts of the southern hemisphere, except to say that it felt pure and in rhythm with the earth, somehow in harmony with the natural world.   

There are moments when the realization that I’m living in Africa washes over me.  These are times that have a heightened sense of the mysterious and romanticized power and force of the land that is Africa.  This was one of those moments.  

Highlights from 2012

Our three fish ponds became the local hotspot when we announced to our neighbors that we’d be selling fish.  The community came out in droves with buckets, baskets, and cooking pots eager to purchase their evening meal.  All told, it was ordered chaos as the locals bargained for better prices and some even requested that they be given fish for free.  While no one got free fish, everyone went home happy—except, of course, the fish.  

We hosted our first annual Jungle Jog 5K. Children from Kenya Relief Orphanage joined in the fun with juice, cookies, and awards following the race.  The day wound up with a soccer game and lunch of rice and beans to feed over 100.

In the spring, we held our annual Staff Appreciation Dinner.  This was a fancy event with a big dinner of fish, chips, chicken, tomato salad, chapatti (fried flat bread), rice, and sodas.  We had a raffle and door prizes in the dining hall, which was decked out in Island decorations and boasted tropical music.  Our island-themed party was thanks to Life Way’s donation of leftover Aloha VBS materials, complete with a 6-foot blowup pineapple.  The oversized pineapple was a crowd favorite and much-envied door prize.

Temple of Christ, Opasi built a widow’s home out of mud and corrugated tin.  Sherwood helped with the construction and I visited with some of the local teenagers.  Everybody had a job, from the men who built the frame and put on the roof; to the grandmothers who cooked lunch and dinner; to the women who mixed manure, dirt, and water to make mud for the walls; to the teenage girls who fetched water for cooking and to make the mud. 

We think it’s important to teach young people the value of serving others.  As a starting place, we enlisted several 8^th graders to lead the children’s Sunday school class.  It’s been rewarding to watch these kids, some of whom are generally quite shy, blossom into capable leaders and examples to the younger children. 

International Sports Fellowship sent a team to us for two weeks this summer.  They did sports evangelism in the local schools, encouraged teachers, passed out Bibles and prayed with people at the hospital, shared with the women’s Bible study group, Ran a VBS for kids in the village, and spent lots of time pouring into the lives of our children.  This outstanding group of young people had more energy and passion than is typical, and we were all grateful for, and encouraged by, their visit.

After receiving a sizeable donation of clothing from a Kenyan family of six sisters, our children who received clothes experienced the joy of giving when they went through their old clothes and selected items to donate to the children at Bright Future Children’s Home, a needier Kenyan-supported orphanage with no western support. (No pic)

Our friends, Reverends Sonji and Sonia, conducted an HIV/AIDS and abstinence interactive workshop with our kids in the fall.  I’ve never seen so many creative and engaging activities that afford the opportunity for hands-on learning in such a condensed period of time, but our friends kept the kids active and engaged for hours at a time.  Later in the weekend when the reverends shared with the youth Sunday school class at church, over a dozen youth prayed to accept Christ.

We sponsored our 3rd annual Flip-Flop 5K in Migori with Carol’s House and Bright Future Children’s Homes joining us for the race, soccer game, and lunch.

A medical team through Vision of Hope came to our village and stayed at The Hope Center while they treated many individuals in our community.  This team also loved interacting with our kids and spent invaluable time investing in them.

Sherwood’s family came for their second visit.  While they were with us, among other activities, they helped construct a church building on land they purchased so they won’t have to keep renting space for Temple of Christ, Opasi.  They also built a widow’s home.