Two Weeks To Go!

The countdown is officially on. In two weeks today, we will be flying high on our way to Canada. 

I was the hostess with the mostess this past weekend. We decided to do a couple big goodbye get togethers with our fav people. Saturday, all my ladies came to my place for the whole day. They taught me to cook the real biryani swahili style. Most of my girls are true swahili people and make the raddest food around. I observed every step of the process with the hopes that I can make it for Kelvin on those days he is getting a bit homesick. The ladies had way too much fun trying manoeuvre all my 'american' kitchen items like the garlic press and stove. The whole day was a complete blast. These girls are some of the coolest people I know. 

A lot of chopping of vegetables. I loved that the recipe was made up of fresh everything - except for the gallons of cooking oil. 

One of the girls says to me, "Let me go stand outside on the balcony so I can know what it feels like to be one of those people who stand on balconies". Sometimes I forget how poor their community really is.

Blending the spices.

We actually deep fried the onions and potatoes before we added them to the stew. We used an absurd amount of oil. I think I will have to modify that when I cook it myself.

This was me the whole time: taking notes and hovering over people as they cooked.

Food was finally done and we all sat down to eat. My muslim girls just spread the food out on a cookie sheet and at it with their hands. 

I invited some of my friends to come and chat with the girls a little bit about their future plans. Its nice to know that my ladies will have other women to help guide them even when I am gone. They of course loved Ndela, who is a famous musician and a make up artist. Ndela gave them some good make up tips.

The day was such a blast. We ate, laughed, DANCED, and just enjoyed one another. I am going to miss these girls WAY too much. 

Then Sunday came along and we invited all our best friends from church over for the afternoon.

The men took over the living room and talked politics for four hours straight. No joke.

 

Meanwhile, us ladies took over the guest bedroom and giggled our way through the afternoon. 

I have such beautiful friends.

 The men took a small break from politics talk to summon the women to make tea. Ah, yes, we are still in Africa.

A good little african wife I am serving tea to all the men!

It was Kelvin's birthday the next day so we decided to celebrate with everyone around.

The night ended with a couple of speeches from us where I turned into a teary mess at the thought of not seeing my dearest friends for a long time. So many of them of getting married this year or starting off their careers or planning for children. Makes me sad thinking we are going to miss all of it. Afterwards, Kelvin and I knelt in the middle of the room and all our friends gathered around us in prayer. It was such a beautiful moment to listen to our beloved friends bless us as we start this new chapter in our lives. 

They Will Be OK

I often wonder what will happen to our youth if Kelvin and I end up leaving Kenya for a time. We don't plan to leave too soon but we know it will happen eventually. I always think about how our youth will continue or if all will go back to the way it was before we came. There are some things that will not continue because the money will not keep coming in and we haven't quite found someone who has grasped our vision and is capable of taking over. But I would like to think that we made some sort of an impact and that some of the things we have started will continue.

We do have a young man who coaches the boys which takes a lot of pressure off Kelvin to be at every practice and every game. We are able to leave for long periods of time (like last week when we went for the youth camp) and know that practice and games will continue to the standard that we expect.

We also have a committee complete with a chairman, secretary, and members which is all made up of the boys. This committee makes all sorts of decisions mostly concerning finances and the team affairs. Kelvin offers support when needed (and directly mentors the chairman) but they run quite smoothly on their own.

So Kelvin mentioned to me last night that the boys have created their own little soccer tournament. Apparently, they have split the team into two I guess it is quite the competition between the two teams. Every Friday, they play against each other. The winners get money. During the week, they raise this money. I don't know if they ask people or they contribute themselves, but they get a hefty amount of money (and I am now wondering why I fundraise money for them when they can apparently do it themselves). This friday, they have managed to raise $50 to split. The winners get $30 and the losers get $20. It's a win win situation. However, there is a catch. The team may have won by 3 goals but if the chairman feels like their conduct was not good on and off the pitch, they will lose and the other team will get the money.

I love it!

I love that they, as a group, created this little system and it works for them. I love that the community donates. I love that they put more emphasis on good conduct than on winning games.

They will be OK if we leave.

FUNdraising

"What is it? Fundraising is forced humility, forced community through dependence on others, and forced action on spreading the story God has called us too. All the tough pieces of FUNdraising are actually really fun. I can say with full honesty that I LOVE being forced to depend on God and His community, I LOVE not counting on my own work but only His favor, I LOVE placing the needs of family and future in HIs hands and not my paychecks."

I read this on another missionary blog this morning. 

I wish I could write the same words with so much zeal and vigour. I want to get there. Actually, I am there at times. I get so excited connecting with people who so generously give and support us and our work. I do love watching God surprise us and pull through when I notice more donations have come in through paypal. I do love that I am forced to rely on God more than my own work, skills, doings. I do get excited when I get to see my husband truly thrive because he is using his passions, gifts, and talents to reach people. 

But there are lots of time where I am tempted to get impatient, nervous, or overwhelmed with all this "FUNraising". Especially when there is a lull in giving or things just keep getting more and more expensive. I get discouraged when I watch TV and see what people are spending in the West on the craziest things for Christmas and yet my sweet girls can't even get  $50 a month to go to college. (Side note: I was at a friend's house who has satellite TV and I got exposed to the show about Coupons. I felt sick to my stomach watching people gather so much stuff for themselves. I, as much as anyone else, love a good deal but do you really need 400 rolls of tissue paper or 80 packages of pasta?)

This morning I am sending out letters to all who have donated to us this past year or so. I am utterly amazed at how generous people have been and how much God has provided. As I am writing each name on the envelope, I am praying blessings upon blessings on these people's lives. I am so deeply grateful for the sacrifices they have made so that food can be on our table and our young people can have a future and a hope. 

Noah: Our latest graduate!

Time for me to brag about another one of our youth. 

Noah graduated! Noah is one of the young men on our team. He approached us last year and asked if we would be willing to help him go to college. By the sounds of things, his parents aren't so supportive of him. They live upcountry and don't really bother to provide or help him. Noah is a young man of really noble character. He is the kind of boy who might lie to you and then feel so guilty about it and come confess right away. 

He did a one-year clearing and forwarding course (something to do with the port). We used to go check up on him at school and the teacher couldn't stop saying good things about him. He passed all his exams and was even able to find an awesome internship. We are now praying that this company will hire him full time once his internship is over! 

We attended his graduation on November 3rd. We were the only ones who could attend as his family had other things to attend to. It was a very long ceremony. We arrived at 8 and left around 1. By the time we left, they were still doing some presentations and opening numbers. Yes, they hadn't even handed out the certificates yet. Noah was gracious and let us leave early. 

So SO proud of this young man!! Congrats Noah!

Learning to take good photos

Our wedding photographer, Ben Kiruthi, started a project called the Imani Initiative  where he trains young photographers or photography enthusiasts in the basics of taking a good photo. When I first read about it, I immediately thought it would be a great idea for our youth not to mention that I really wanted to learn from this awesome photographer(seriously, he is one of the best in kenya. Don't even try book him, he's full). 

He agreed to come down this week and spend some sweet hours with a handful of our young people eager to learn something different. Some just wanted to be challenged, some are taking related courses in school, some wanted to learn to take good photos, and some really just wanted to come hang out with us. 

It was such an awesome couple of hours. I learned a TON about photography and was totally inspired by Ben using his gifts and talents God has granted him and totally thriving in life. 

Our youth were pretty impressed with all the celebs he takes photos of and the fact he makes more money than doctors. I hope they are starting to dream big now. 

During a break, he let them use his fancy camera to take a few shots and this is what they came up with:

 Caught me a little off guard. Or maybe this is how I normally look due to the intense heat and humidity.

 Playing with 'depth of field'. See how Irene is clear and Nicky is blurry?

 Oh, now Nicky is clear and Irene is blurry. Aren't they cute?

The whole group with Ben. 

Kelvin and I are using more of our awesome friends to mentor the young people we work with. Our friends are slowly falling in love with our youth and our youth are really begin to grow and develop into the people God has created them to be. We are so proud of them! Almost half my girls started college in the past few weeks! This is a dream many of them never thought could happen but it is happening and they are making it happen. We are so so proud!!

Thanks Ben for coming to hang out with us and share your knowledge!

Ants in my buns

I feel like I have SO much to tell you - you, out there, reading this, whoever you are. This last week and a half has been a flurry of random, overwhelming highs and lows on so many levels. That is how jumbled my mind is about all of it. Let me just tell you a few of the events of the past 10 or so days:

• Two of our phones broke, including the brand new one that Kelvin bought. I had to pull out our old iPhone that doesn't work unless its plugged in. It may sound nice to have an iPhone but its not. This is one screams difficulty. But its what we have until our two other phones get fixed. 
• I discovered one of my girls' sister tried to sell her off to an old man because she needed money. No wonder my girl ran away from home.
• Kelvin and I both have been having tummy issues. We have been taking medicine (including daily injections into our buttocks). The side effects of the medicine are worse than the discomfort we were feeling. We had our last injection today so hopefully tomorrow we will stop limping. Those things are painful! 
• My cat wouldn't let the vet take her stitches out today. The vet said that it is not normal behaviour for a cat to be THAT violent towards other people. He says we spend so much time with her that we are the only ones she trusts. In other words, I baby my cat. 
• Kelvin has challenged our boys to come up with an income generating project for the team. We sat with them today and listened to their brilliant idea to supply cheap satellite TV to people in Kongowea. They have really thought it out and done their homework. We were thoroughly impressed. We admitted that we couldn't have done that good of a job. They are brilliant - they just need the opportunity to use their brilliance. This project will hopefully provide for all the team's needs and more. That would mean that they could be self sustaining and not rely on donations. How awesome would that be? 
• Tomorrow, the photographer who shot our wedding is coming to do a session with a handful of our youth on the basics of photography. I personally can't wait to learn from such an awesome photographer. I hope my youth will show up on time.
• Police have increased in Mombasa these last few days. There is a group in Mombasa who believes that the coast should be a separate state from Kenya and they are causing raucous. They are threatening to disrupt students exams which are going on. So far, all is well just a whole lot more police  carrying around overbearing AK47s. 
• We got news yesterday that Kelvin's twin sisters returned home yesterday from boarding school. Apparently the grade 11 students burnt down the dormitories in protest of something. If the school doesn't find who did it, all the students have to pay 10,000KES ($120) to get back to school. Twins= 20,000KES. We are thankful that they weren't hurt. Unfortunately, in another school, some kids didn't make it out when their dormitories were burnt on monday morning. So sad.
• I have been baffled by the amount of lying that is ingrained in this culture and the people here. It seriously blows my mind how many people blatantly lie about everything and they think nothing of it. I will write a whole post on this soon. 
• Kelvin has been doing the dishes a lot lately. It's been nice. 
• Last night I made some yummy buns to go with our vegetable stew. I wrapped the leftovers in tin foil last night only to wake up and find that an army of ants somehow made their way under the tin foil and into my buns. That was the breaking point. Tears started flowing after that. Yes, I cried because ants took over my buns. 
• I then went and laid in bed to just relax. Meanwhile, Kelvin came and snuggled me. It was just what I needed. I adore him. 

And this is only the beginning of all our shenanigans but I will use some discretion and keep the rest to myself. I can't tell you enough how amazing my husband is. We have walked through all this stuff together and have come out stronger. I am in awe that God has grant me the amazing gift of my husband. 

CV and Interview Training

The unemployment rate in Kenya is ridiculously high (something like 50%). It is really hard to find work in Kenya even if you have a decent education and some good work experience. Sometimes I think the best thing I can do for people is to open a big company and create lots and lots of jobs for people. 

Our youth really struggle...like I mean really struggle to find anything that can make them some money. Although we can't personally find them work or employ all of them, we can help equip them with the proper skills to attain work. 

On Saturday, 12 of our youth (boys and girls) went to a seminar on how to write a proper CV and how to conduct themselves in a job interview. The session was put on by a good friend of ours who is the Human Resource guy at a large resort. 

The information he was able to give these young people was so valuable! Even I learned some new things! One thing he did was encourage them to change their thinking from believing there aren't many jobs and you have to know some to get a job to being more positive about their job search. 

They made us feel so special and plastered our names on all these signs. Did I mention our friend did this for us for free!? 

We made sure that the ones who came were really interested in learning and not just wanting a day by the pool (which was also part of the package;)). The ones who came were so engaged, asking lots of questions, and even boldly asking for work at the resort! We also had a few good laughs.

 After the seminar, we split up and did our own things. I went swimming with my ladies while Kelvin watched the game with his boys. A few weeks ago, we made these bracelets with the girls. 

I had the camera so naturally I got more pics of the girls. I just adore them. Praying that they will be able to get good jobs!

Rehma Youth Scholarship Winners!

It's time for me to introduce to you the winners of our Rehma Youth Scholarships! We were suppose to only have 3 winners but our committee said they just couldn't pick only 3 but they wanted to choose 4. Here they are...

Nuru Juma

This young lady has a heart for people living with disabilities. Her huge heart literally oozes out love and compassion for these people. Every time I meet her, she never fails to tell me a story about some people she has just helped or some ideas she has for people with disabilities. Her mother is disabled and has overcome huge obstacles so Nuru wants to inspire people to do the same. We are currently praying and researching about the right program that she should go into in order to reach her goals. We are also thinking of starting some sign language classes with her! 

 Asha Ishmael

This girl is feisty! I wouldn't be surprised if she ends up as President one day. She loves to seek justice for all people. Her dream is to become a lawyer and work specifically with women's rights. She is the most vocal of all my ladies and is involved in every program in the community which seeks to better the lives of young people. Her parents both died of cancer a few years ago and she now lives with her aunt and sister. Pray for her as we search for the proper program for her to begin her studies in! 

 Felix Faithfulness

We will miss this young man as he has just left to attend a school on the other side of the country. However, we know that he will be getting a better education and more opportunity to play soccer. His family is the poorest of the poor and truly struggles to put food on the table. For some reason, everyone who knows Faithfulness has the utmost confidence that he will succeed! He has an incredible ability to inspire people around him. We are praying for the best for him in his new school!

Justus Maloba

This sweet young man comes from a family of seven. His parents are divorced and his mother is their sole provider. She makes a small living selling fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, its not always enough. Justus has had to repeat several grades because there hasn't been enough money to pay the school fees. One thing about this boy is that he is not much of a complainer and tries to keep positive no matter what comes his way. He is a pleasure to have on the team and is a force to be reckoned with on the field. He dreams of being a lawyer and a business man. We are praying for him as he finishes his last  2 years of high school!

Noah isn't one of our winners but is a young man we sponsored to go to school last year. He finished his course and was trying really hard to find an internship. Yesterday he called Kelvin to ask if they could meet. When they met, Noah told him how that morning he had sat and prayed to God really honestly about getting an internship soon. I think it was a really heartfelt prayer. Well, he went to town the same day and went to another company. To his surprise, they hired him on the spot and told him to start now! Noah was just elated to tell us the news last night. I think he was more amazed at the way God really pulled through for him. Anyways, we are super excited for him. 

The team has been playing a lot in the last couple weeks. Here's a few shots from their games.

 Warm up - I am always amazed at how rhythmic even their warm up is! They seriously don't miss a beat. 

 A somewhat dysfunctional team shot. I love how our goalie is saving the ball...

 Our team captain, Lolo. He came straight from school to the game. When was the last time you dressed like this to attend your college classes?

Our faithful servant/coach/co-worker Nicky. I will have to do a better introduction of him in another post. Kelvin and I are so thankful to have him! 

Our boys are getting a little discouraged lately as they haven't won many games. They keep drawing (or tying as we say) and their morale is a bit low. Some have even stopped practicing this week. Kelvin says they are playing the best they have in the past 2 years but its still not enough to put some wins under their belt. We hope they can overcome these small hiccups.

Keep praying for our youth. Our numbers are a bit low right now and we are not sure why. Even many of my girls have missed meetings the last few weeks. It's hard because we can't force them to come but we know that they are missing some good opportunities with us. One of our biggest challenges is dealing with stubbornness, pride, lack of perseverance and commitment, and other social behaviours. It's not just a couple of them - many of them have these traits that are just ingrained in them. Pray with us as we try to reach them on their levels and shower them with a lot of love and hope. 

Catching Up

I think the past 3 weeks of craziness has finally caught up with me. I woke up this morning with a terrible head cold that has forced me to lay on my couch and drink lemongrass tea all day. 

It's also giving me the chance to just catch up on emails, accounts, updates, paper work, etc. 

I travelled to Nairobi on Sunday night to renew my passport. I am so used to travelling with Kelvin that going alone has become a lot more nerve-wracking. Before I met Kelvin, I used to travel all the time by myself and it was no big whoop. But now I get anxious with out him. I also think I am more aware of the dangers of road travel in Kenya. Even as we were going to the bus station on Sunday night we saw a nasty accident between a motorcycle and a semi truck. I am pretty sure the dude on the motorcycle didn't make it. So sad. 

I did make it to Nairobi safely. I went the Canadian Embassy and applied for my passport to be renewed. Every time I step on that compound, I feel like I have been transported back home. Everyone is so kind, there is native art on the walls, our flag is plastered all over the place. They even built it in true Canadian fashion. I noticed that the toilet paper and soap dispensers in the bathrooms are ones from Canada! If only they would open a Tim Hortons there. 

I decided to spend the night at Word of Life where I went to bible school. It was so refreshing seeing old friends and spending time in the peaceful, quiet, cool village setting. I left on a 1pm bus yesterday (which didn't actually leave till 3pm) and arrived home at 10pm. Kelvin met his snotty-nose and overly tired wife at the bus stop, escorted her home, and prepared supper for her. Yes, I love him. 

Anyways, looking forward to getting a bit of rest today, catching up on some 'work', and snuggling with my kitty. 

Here are a few photos from the boys' game on Saturday. They have finally started up their leagues again after Ramadhan and the riots. 

Remember Kadenge? We were kind of disappointed in him since he returned back to Mombasa. He has sort of been avoiding us and the team. Usually the boys avoid us when they are doing something they know will disappoint us. We figured he had fallen back into his old habits of drugs and shady company. But to our delight, we found out that he was actually working hard to start his own chicken business! He discovered his family had a plot near by so he has been working hard on preparing it to start up his business. He has even been getting some of the boys involved to train them and help them out financially! Amazing! He came to us and asked if we could help him build a small structure for a caretaker on the property. We offered to help only if he promises to donate monthly to the team once his business starts! Amazing what God has done in Kadenge's life. 

 Some of the boys who didn't make the first team for the game. They still came out to watch. They also cleaned up pretty well if I do say so myself.

 Andrea and Kelvin. We have worked hard with this boy. We are praying for him and the decisions he makes in his life. He is a really good kid and is very devoted to the team. 

Noah has also just passed his Clearing and Forwarding course that we sponsored him to go to. He did really really well! We are praying that he can find an internship soon so he can graduate. 

See number 11? Yah, thats my husband. I could go on and on about how amazing he is. But I will do that another day. 

Let's hear it for the boys

Since I was doing my girls camp, Kelvin decided to finally put together the under 15 boys tournament he had been wanting to do for months now. Once he got the go ahead from me (cause he has to consult his wife ;0) he went right to it inviting teams, buying trophies, meeting with coaches, etc. 

A small glimpse into how it went: 

 For the final match, we marched with the two teams, the supporters, and a couple of guys playing some drums from our office. It was cool. In true Kongowea fashion, everyone came out to see what all the fuss was about. Then they probably went back to their houses and gossiped about it the rest of the day.

 Um love the kid in the superman outfit.

 Kelvin towers over the kids. It's rare for Kelvin to tower over anything.

 Kelvin and his committee?

 I didn't realize how big of a deal trophies are around here. I actually got upset at Kelvin because he spent so much money just on trophies. Now I realize how much they mean to people and why he really wanted these teams to have them. This kid was enthralled with them!

 I think I enjoyed all the little kids who came out to watch the most. When a goal was scored, they would all run out to the field dancing and screaming...

...and then they would run back once someone came after them with a stick to get them off the field so the game could resume. 

Can someone tell me what kind of hat that is? 

At the end, some of the older men gave some advice/encouragement to all the players. 

The winning team! It was a really exciting match. They are actually the team from our pitch. They play on a small dirt patch beside our pitch. The next Rehma boys?