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!

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. 

My Grumbling to God

Yesterday I did some major grumbling to God.

I went to check up on the boys in school, something I haven't done since the before the wedding. Well, the very first school I went to was terribly disappointing. After speaking with the teacher (who, by the way, is lovely), she told me that my boy had not come to class for the first 3 weeks of the term. He told her that he was practicing too hard and that he was having issues with his sponsors. She also told me that he is quite proud. He eventually came to school but missed so many classes that he was going to meet her that afternoon and see how he can catch up.

I told them that practice can never be his excuse as he knows that school is way more important for us than soccer. And I mentioned that there is no issue with his sponsors, but rather he probably couldn't find transport to town (something which we don't provide).

I left the school so angry. I walked down the street grumbling to God, "Seriously?! Another one? What is happening with our boys God? Why all of a sudden are they giving us so many issues? What have we done wrong? I thought this is what you wanted me to do. I thought putting him into school was what you had asked me to do. Did I not hear you right? God am I not listening to you close enough? What do these boys really need from us? Why do we do so much for them and yet they just mess it up. UGH, Help me. Give me understanding. Work in their lives because, honestly God, I sometimes feel like giving up."

I grumbled all the way through lunch. Just thinking and asking God all sorts of questions. I spent the afternoon searching my bible and praying for any sort of wisdom. I just wanted answers.

I came home and told Kelvin the story. He wasn't surprised and just sort of shrugged it off. I am definitely the more emotional one. He said he will talk to him.

Well this morning, Kelvin and I were sitting in our office (which is suppose to be for our business but tends to be more of a counselling room with all the people that come in and Kelvin counsels) when our young man came in and sat down. I spent the morning and some of last night praying for him, that God would truly intervene. So I was anxious to see how this conversation would go.

Kelvin started talking to him about practice, home life, and school. We had been getting  many complaints about him in all these areas mostly concerning his very prideful nature. He listened attentively to Kelvin as Kelvin talked to him and asked him all these questions. He confessed that him not going to school was merely because of transport fees and nothing else. We then invited the mama that he stays with who is actually the mom to another one of our boys who we put in school on the other side of the country. She graciously took him in when he didn't have anywhere to go. She feeds him, gives him a roof over his head, and a place to rest his head all out of the goodness of her heart. But recently he had been quite disrespectful to her. So she came in and we all had a conversation. *Note: this was all happening in swahili so I didn't get all of it. She talked and talked and then Kelvin released her to go while he finishes up with our boy. Almost the second she left, he burst into tears. Yes, our notoriously prideful young man, was crying in the office.

Kelvin took this opportunity to tell him about Jesus. You see, we love our boys unconditionally. We want them to thrive in life and be amazing young men. We want to see them fed and fit. We want to see them be good husbands, fathers, friends. But above all else, we desperately desire for them to know Jesus. We don't discriminate them for their beliefs. We love the muslims just as much as the christians. But deep down, we want them to have a relationship with Jesus.

As Kelvin was talking, I was praying. Our young man sat staring at the floor, tears still dripping down his face. Kelvin eventually asked him if he wanted to have Jesus, and the boy nodded. Kelvin got him to pray and then Kelvin prayed over him as the tears still streamed down his face.

We were elated. God had moved in ways that I never imagined. God had heard all my grumblings to him. I thanked him. My heart was so full.

Kelvin explained that it will not always be easy. Living for Jesus does not always mean an easy road but the best part is that we have the greatest Best Friend in the whole world who is there to guide us, love us, save us, fill us, forgive us, and help us.

Asante Yesu. You are amazing.

Check out the newest hairdresser on the block!

I was working in the office last week when my sweet friend, Saumu, came in to visit me. Her and I have become good friend in the last year ever since we surprised her and her husband, who is on our team, with a whole bunch of goodies for their newborn baby. Since then, she comes to games and brings along the baby (which they have nicnamed Nikole) and we chat away watching the boys play. 

Anyways, her husband has approached Kelvin numerous times asking if we could put his wife into hairdressing school. He just can't come up with the money to do it himself. Kelvin has denied him every time since our main focus has been just the boys on the team. But when she sought me out at the office and asked if we could assist her, I seriously considered it. Kelvin and I had sort of resolved not to sponsor any more people this year since we are tired of finding sponsors and some of the boys have been disappointing. So I really asked God about sponsoring her. Kelvin sat with her husband and talked things through. The four of us finally decided to work together and put her into hairdressing school. We have decided to work with her husband in helping to pay her transport to school and back along with paying her school fees. Her husband has agreed to secretly save money with us so that he can help her start a small salon when she finishes. She has promised to work hard and learn the best she can.

Today, her and I went to town early to buy some supplies that she needed. She is not going to a normal school but is working and learning under a lady. After meeting with the lady last week, I think the set up is awesome. Saumu is going to get some awesome one-on-one teaching from this lady for the next few months. 

 We had to buy her this dummy head so she can start learning to braid (or plate as they say here). 

Saumu was absolutely giddy upon starting today. She had big smiles and tons of giggles. I can tell this is a really good fit for her. Plus I will get free hair cuts for the rest of my life!!!

Helping when they don't want to help themselves

There is one thing that I find very frustrating with some of the mindset's in Kenya. I am finding more and more often that people don't want to help themselves. They expect others to do it for them.

Maybe it is because they are so used to receiving aid from so many NGO's in the country that they feel like they don't have to work for it. I actually believe that Kenya is poor because many people have this mind set of "Poor me. I can't do anything. Everything is impossible. The government is corrupt. There is no work. Life is always and will always be a struggle." If you really think about all the money and resources that are poured into Kenya every year, it's a wonder why the country is still a third world country.

It's like people are taught to think that life is just one big disappointment.

To be honest, this is our biggest struggle with the boys (and other people in our lives).

We are really struggling with one boy in particular. He is one that we have sponsored. He keeps skipping out of school for long periods of time. Eventually he gets his head on straight and goes back only to skip again and again. When you confront him, its like he has this defeated attitude about life. He tells us of how he can't pay rent or buy food so he has to work during the days. He tells of how the schooling is too tough for him or he can't manage to walk there every day. Can you imagine constantly thinking that life is just going to kick me in the butt?

A lot of our other boys struggle with the same things but they reach out for help. They tell us when they can't pay rent or are struggling to find money for transport to get to school. We have actually helped many of them to find side jobs in order for them to make a little money. And they are all doing fine. Actually, most of them are thriving in schools. But they were the ones who took initiative and asked for some assistance and are making it possible for themselves to go school.

One thing I really want to instil in the youth is HOPE. Most of them just lack hope for their lives. The hope that things can get better and that it's not impossible. I want them to start thinking that, 'Yes this CAN happen' instead of "nope, this will never happen." And the fact is that it CAN happen if they are willing to work hard for it. Even without our financial help, I bet most of them could do something really great with their lives.

We are here and willing to help but why help people if they don't want to help themselves? I am not going to do everything for you but I am willing to help you. If someone offered to pay my college fees, you bet that I would do everything that I could to get myself to school. I wouldn't expect this person to register me, walk me to school, make sure all my papers are in order, etc.

Kelvin and I were walking through Kongowea the other day and Kelvin was explaining to me how proud he is of the boys. He said, "A year ago, you would have found most of them lazying around at this time of day. But now, they are all doing something. They are getting up and working and trying to make a life for themselves." He told me of one of the boys who showed up covered in paint from a small job that he had hustled to find so he could help out his mom. That's what we love to hear.

Pray for wisdom. I was asking myself today what would God do in this situation? Does God ever just say, "Well I have helped you enough yet you don't do anything. You keep being disobedient. I am not going to help people who don't want to help themselves"? Or does he suffer long with us and have grace upon grace on us even when we don't want to help ourselves? Pray for this young man that whatever strongholds or negative thoughts he has, they wouldn't hinder him from making something great for his life. Because I believe that they all can do something great for their lives, if they chose to do so.

School Progress

Today, Kelvin and I decided that we had to go check up on some of our boys at school. We currently have four in Mombasa at four different institutes all studying four very different things. 

Our first stop was for a boy who needed us to go pay for him to go on a field trip with the school. We headed to the school ready to pay the fee. Once we got there, we had a chat with the dean of students and the boy's teacher who told us that he was not impressed with our young man. Apparently he was caught cheating in one of his exams. He was asked to bring in a guardian and said he didn't have one (we fill in as his guardians as his parents live in another part of the country). They told him he needed to write three apology letters to the school. When I read the letters, I giggled. They read something like this, "I sincerely apologize for being caught cheating in my exams." He was sorry he was caught. Not sorry he cheated. I think it was just an english mistake but I thought it was funny. 

The dean made the decision that he would not be allowed to go on the field trip because of his actions. Fair enough. The dean began to explain to us some of the crazy things that some kids do in their school. I started to realize that our kid was not out of the ordinary. 

The teacher then let us see some of his assignments and previous exams. We were shocked to see that he was one of the top students in the class. We are not sure why he felt he needed to cheat when he seemed to be pretty bright. None the less, the school handled it well and Kelvin plans to talk to him at practice tonight. There is another field trip in April that he will be able to attend. 

We then headed to the art school where our goalkeeper is studying. We have made pretty good relationships with the staff so they were happy to see us. Upon walking in, the receptionist said, "We tried calling you a few weeks ago but you couldn't be reached." I knew this wasn't good as I had given her my number in case something was not going well with our kid. She explained that he had missed almost 2 weeks of school and they were getting worried. After the 2 weeks,  he called and said he went upcountry for a burial. Kelvin and I looked at each other puzzled as he never mentioned this to us. I am pretty sure it was a lie. The real issue was that he didn't have the money to get to school and back. That made more sense. 

We met with his teacher who said that he is a bright kid with a very natural talent for art. She showed us some of his work (one of which is the picture below) and said that she was happy with his progress. But then she stops abruptly and says, "But he tunes out the last hour of class. The first hour he is focused but the second hour he seems to get tired. He always starts talking about soccer." We kind of giggled just because we know him so well and how he doesn't like to miss practice. We continued to talk to the lady about some other good and not so good things and how we can help. It was a very positive meeting. The teacher seems really invested in him which I really appreciate. 

A few things stood out to me with both of these meetings: 

1. The boys are naturally quite bright however it is their characters/behaviours that are hindering them. I find this all too true in so many instances around here. In as much as we can help people, if their characters/behaviours don't change, then it's hard to move forward. 

2. More often than not, it is poor teaching that makes kids not to do well. As I was looking through some of the marks of the first boy, I would notice that in some classes, no one got over 40% on a test. You can't tell me that all the students just didn't do well. We also had another boy in high school who got all D's and E's on his exams yet he was ranked 11th out of a class of 60. 

3. Parents/Sponsors/Guardians rarely check up on their kids. I think all the teachers we have met are so appreciative that we come and take time to check in with the kids. Sometimes there are some real issues that need to be sorted out but there is not effort from guardians. I think it also makes them pay more attention to our boys. 

4. Education is so different from the West. Half the time I just smile and nod when I see something I don't like or doesn't make sense to me (and that happens a lot). Growing up a teacher's kid and in a great education system is something that I can't take for granted. 

Wachira's Self Portrait

We asked Wachira, our goalkeeper in Art school, to draw something for his sponsors. This is what he came up with:

Impressive? After one month of art school, I think it's pretty awesome. It is actually one of his assignments. It is a self portrait. We feel like proud parents. 

Agogo!

Agogo is one boy who will force you to smile. He walks around with pride lifting his shoulders but when you chat with him, you realize he is just a fun loving young man. He has been a source of amusement for Kelvin and I over the last few weeks with his boyish antics and his naive comments. He has surprised us by stepping up his game and becoming one of our top scorers. When he scores, he just looks at Kelvin with this goofy grin on his face and Kelvin laughs. 

Agogo only made it it gr. 8 and then his family could no longer afford for him to go to high school. He has literally been hanging around Kongowea for the past 5 years. He is a hustler. Despite his lack of education, he has managed to secure himself several short term jobs to help sustain him and his family. Pretty impressive for a young, uneducated dude like him.

Kelvin talked to him the other day to see what he wanted to do with his life. He had always wanted to go for a driving license. He knows that he could get a good job being a driver somewhere in Kenya or even outside the country. So I quickly found someone to sponsor him to do driving school and he is doing his first class this morning! 

Here is Agogo sporting a serious face that I have never seen before. He must be pretty serious about his driving. 

Many of our boys have not made it to high school. They end up finishing gr. 8 when they are about 14 or 15 years old and then can't move onto high school because their families can't afford it. So they literally just live in Kongowea bummin' around trying to pick up odd jobs for years on end. Right now, most of them are too old to go back to high school. It is still possible as some high schools will still take them but their maturity level is a bit higher than the students they would encounter. One of our goals is to meet them where they are right now and try to figure out what the best way forward is for them. Most of them don't want to go back to high school but want some sort of technical training. Many institutes only require a gr.8 completion for you to enrol. Some want to do driving courses. Some just want some capital to start a small business.

Slowly, we are helping to meet these needs. God has been making me to realize that I am not responsible for helping all of them. It's amazing when I have a prayer for a certain boy or even ask someone about possibly sponsoring one of them, and then all of a sudden, the boy has found his own means to go to school. It's amazing to watch God work around us. I feel so privileged to be apart of his work in these precious young men. 

School on Monday

This is an update about my previous post on Andi.

After sitting in the District Officer's office for two days waiting to get one paper signed, we realized we were running out of time. The deadline for registration was the end of this month. We decided to go to the school, talk to the principal and explain the whole situation.

And that is exactly what we did. The principal was more than willing to let Andi into the school and welcomed him with open arms. He knew that Andi will be able to catch up with the rest of the class (since he is one term behind) and was offering extra studies if he needed it.

So 8am on Monday morning, Andi will be sitting in his first Mechanics class!

Praise God!!!!!

Andi's reaction was different. He wasn't overly grateful or bursting with excitement. He was just plain ready to get going. Ready to start life and do something constructive. Ready to learn. Ready to be something other than a street boy.

A friend came up to me after and said, "I hope this boy knows how much you are doing for him. I hope he is grateful. I hope that he realizes this is life or death. It is education."

I was like, "I am not expecting him to show me his gratitude. Then why do I give? Just so I can be thanked? No, I give cause I love and expect nothing in return. I trust that he will be a good steward of the opportunity God has given him."

I then got on facebook last night and found that one of my friends had posted this as her status. I just sat there and said, YES! This is exactly it.

“Do not give to the poor expecting to get their gratitude so that you can feel good about yourself. If you do, your giving will be short-lived and thin, and that is not what the poor need; it will only impoverish them further. Give only if you have something you must give; give only if you are someone for whom giving is its own reward.”-Dorothy Day


Giving this boy a chance to go to school (actually it wasn't even me who funded it. I found others who actually gave him this chance) is it's own reward. I don't need him to tell me how grateful he is. I want him to know how much God loves and adores him. 

Andi

And is the one smiling at the camera.

God put Andi on my heart the first day I met him. After his father died in October, I started to really pray for him asking that God would build this young adult into an incredible young man who is a wonderful member of his society, a good husband and father, and a man who seeks after God's own heart. If you have had any conversations with me about the rehma boys, I am sure I have told you about Andi. His real name is Andrew but we call him Andi or Andrea. 

He recently told us that he wants to be a mechanic one day. His father died in October leaving behind two wives (yes two!) and many children. None of his siblings have attended high school. Andi completed primary school in 2006 and hasn't done anything since. His family struggles daily just to eat. He does some small business to help feed him and the rest of his family but it's not enough. So once we found out he wanted to be a mechanic, I immediately started looking into programs, found someone to sponsor him and am now in the process of getting him into a local college in Mombasa. 

However, we have hit a few speed bumps. 

The deadline to apply for the program is on Wednesday. To be admitted to the program, he has to have a birth certificate. The boy is 21 years old and doesn't have a birth certificate or even a national ID (which you are suppose to have after the age of 18). The ID is free in Kenya. You do not have to pay! So why didn't he get this ID? He was also missing a leaving certificate from his primary school in 2006. We assumed that he had a balance to be paid that's why he wasn't given it. He went to the school and found there to be no balance and was able to pick it. So why wasn't it picked in 2006??? 

I started asking Kelvin these questions and his answer was "ignorance." The boy just simply doesn't know. He never had someone to guide him, take care of him, push him to get these things done. His father only died recently so he must have been around so why didn't his father guide him to do these basic life things?? I started getting really frustrated (mostly at the father who is deceased so really my anger is useless). I cannot blame his father's neglect on ignorance. To me, that is stupidity (ok, now I am using harsh words). Why would you have two wives and many children without being able to give them decent lives? to train them in the way they should go? to provide for them and give them an education? or help them to be productive members of their communities? Why!?

God has been teaching me a lot about justice and His righteous anger towards the injustices in the world. I am understanding His heart towards people like Andi and so many others. The injustices I see daily are overwhelming. I can only imagine how God feels. 

I am so proud of Andi. He desires to DO something with his life. He said the other day, "I don't want to just be a street boy. I want to be a student, or a worker, or a family man." 

Pray with us. Tomorrow we are heading to apply for his birth certificate (we were suppose to today but some forms needed to be signed by some officials who weren't at the office i.e. more frustration) and then going to apply for the school. We are praying that they will have favour upon Andi with the promise that his birth certificate is coming soon. If he doesn't get into school this week, he will have to wait till next year. I want him to be in class next Monday. Will you pray for Andi? Pray that he will be back in school in a few short days. A chance at a good life. 

Your debt is paid

Yesterday was a memorable day. One of my favourites. As I had mentioned in a previous post, we are trying to really get to know the boys and their huge needs. We are slowly gathering information about them and praying about how we can assist them. There are a few that have really been put on our hearts to take action sooner than later. And one of them is Eric. 

Eric is an amazing young man. A silent, humble leader. We have just appointed him the new captain of our team because of his great leadership skills and dedication to the team. If the coach is late for practice, he will start the practice and organize the boys without him. If one of the boys makes a foul play in the game, he will take responsibility and go talk to the ref. On top of all that, he is a really good soccer player. With proper training and support, he has the potential to make it big. However, his wish is to finish school first.

Eric is in his early 20's and struggling to finish high school. His family just cannot afford to put him into school even though his dad has a day job and a night job. He will go for a few weeks and then will be sent home because his fees haven't been paid. Then he will try go back and they will send him home again. So when Kelvin sat down with him, he explained the whole situation and told us which school he went to. Yesterday morning we went to that school ourselves to understand the situation better. I had a giggle because the school's claim to fame is that it is "a school for the bright poor." I guess that sums up Eric. After talking with his teachers, we were blessed. His teachers could not stop telling us what a wonderful student he is. He is bright, disciplined and a pleasure to have in class. His teacher was sad that he was not around anymore. 

We learned of his debt and figured that it was affordable (and praying that someone would help us to continue to sponsor this boy) so we headed to town to deposit the money. 

At practice last night Kelvin and I teased Eric about what a terrible kid he was and the awful things the teacher said about him. He kept saying, 'no those are all lies!'. We just started laughing as he knew we were kidding. As we were laughing I handed him the receipt. He looked at it and went silent. He was stunned, shocked, amazed, humbled. I watched his face for a good few minutes as he examined the paper that meant 'YOUR DEBT IS PAID'. Then I told him, 'Make sure you get up early to go to school tomorrow. Your teacher is waiting for you.'

The boy was glowing. He was so grateful. 

The whole story reminded me about my debt that has been paid. The debt that Jesus paid for me. The wages of my sin is death. That is what I am debted to. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus. Jesus paid my debt. I am debt free. 

Video!

Yesterday, after another tough day, I decided to look through some of the short video clips that I had taken during various adventures this past year. They bring so much joy to me. They are more than photos. When I watch them, I can remember how I felt, what it smelt like, what the atmosphere was like, and so on. So I have uploaded a few of them and will be sharing them on here every few days or so. Most of them, if not all of them, are singing and dancing. I think my favourite part of Kenya is the singing and dancing and worship styles. Kenyans have such rhythm and these loud, almost boisterous, voices.

Ok, these two videos are of the 800 girls that we visited when we went to their high school in september. I love girls! I have such a huge heart for the young girls of Kenya so this weekend was so nourishing and amazing for me. Now, I guess this school has a special theme song which I had never heard before. Our first night there, they started playing the beats on the keyboard and all of a sudden all the girls went crazy. They started screaming the lyrics at the top of their lungs and jumping around. It was so much fun. Imagine being in a room with 800 girls with such excitement.

Teacher Nikole

Just before I was suppose to go to bed last night, my dear friend and work colleague knocked on my door. I invited her in and told her to take a seat. She then proceeded to ask me in this sweet voice whether or not I could teach for her at chapel in the morning. My first thought was "no, I am not prepared so it's not fair. You need to give me more time" but I decided to hear her out. She told me of some things that she was told she must do which was a surprise to her as well and that she couldn't get out of. This is typical here even though it drives me crazy but I have gotten used to it. So I finally gave in and said I would do it. 

Word Of Life has a primary and nursery school. It is a separate entity from our ministry but shares the same name and morals. Every friday morning they have chapel for one hour which we are in charge of. They split the lower primary (gr.1-3) and the upper primary (gr.4-8) in two different sessions. I am often the one speaking in the lower primary with the little munchkins. 

Learning styles and discipline is much different here in Kenya. Their learning style is to get kids to remember as much as they can for their national exams which they do in gr. 8 and gr. 12. The national exam in gr.12 pretty much determines your future. If you don't do well, it is unlikely you can get into a good university. There is a lot of pressure to do well that's why teacher's main focus is to get kids to memorize as much information as possible. Whereas in the West, our philosophy is teaching kids to think, analyze, and learn by their selves. Discipline is also very different. In Kenya they have a lot of threats, embarrassment, and beating. They still do hit kids here when they misbehave (and even when they can't do what the teacher is telling them which I do not approve of at all). If kids are disturbing the teacher, they will also embarrass them in front of the class or threaten them. In the West, if kid are not paying attention in class we are more likely to try and change our teaching styles so they will want to listen and learn. We want to engage them instead of punishing them because we are too boring for them. If we do discipline them, we take away some sort of privilege or call their parents but we never beat them or embarrass them in front of their friends. 

So it's different. And I have struggled teaching these little ones. My teaching style doesn't quite work with them because they are so used to strict Kenyan ways. Also, I don't want to just teach them one bible verse. I want them to understand it and be able to apply it in their lives. It has been a learning experience for me that's for sure. 

We had our class today outside under the tree since some of the other students were doing exams and we didn't want to disturb them. I was unsure how the kids would react to being outside but they did a pretty good job.

Preacher! Ha, I am probably just telling them the bible verse in my slow, kenyan accent so they can be sure to understand me.

We have new visitors from Germany. They will be serving at Word of Life for one year. This is Kathrine. She was taking the photos for me. She is really great with kids!

One thing these kids do that really bugs me is they tell on one another a lot. This little boy walked in front while I was speaking to all the kids and interrupted me just to tell me his friend was disturbing him. I just told him to sit down but 2 minutes later I see him disturbing his friend so I call him up to the front. Our lesson today was "Love your neighbour as yourself" which worked perfectly as I told him that he didn't like being disturbed so he shouldn't disturb others. He just looked down and went quietly back to his seat. 

Ok, then we played Simon Says. It is a good way to pass time and to get them to learn to listen. Hmm, I need to ask my dad if that is a good teaching method or not? I don't think I was meant to be a teacher. But I try. 

Up the mountains, down the valley...

My week away from Mombasa was absolutely fabulous. Although, I am now back at the beach but lying in bed thanks to a wonderful cold that has wiped me out. It was worth it though. I got to spend time in the nice cool weather of Nairobi. It felt like the beginning of fall. It was a lot of driving but this country is so beautiful that I enjoyed all the scenery. I think the coolest thing I saw was a huge heard of about 20 camels on the side of the road! I have only ever seen camels on the beach for the tourists but these ones were in the wild! 

On friday we journeyed to the great rift valley to a girls school with over 850 girls. It was a hoot. Wow, lots of girls all in one place and boy did they ever have energy. We had a weekend challenge with them which involved some preaching, presentations, question and answer time, group discussions, a rally, and just time to hang out with the girls. I encountered girls with ALOT of burning questions. I had a few come and tell me their heartbreaking life stories. I prayed with many concerning family, finances, school, friends, faith, and other things. It was such a blessing to be able to make myself available for these girls. I could see some of them just wanted to talk to someone they could trust and pour their hearts out to. I was happy to be that person for a few of them. 

Yes that is my buddy Peter! He was only 1 of 2 boys who accompanied us for the weekend. He and I were leading group discussion for all the form 1s (gr. 9). There were probably 200 girls involved. They had many questions that were so diverse. We talked about everything from music to boys to Muslims to prophets to family to friends to facebook. Ha. It was a blast. We were all late for lunch because the questions just kept coming. 

We also had a question and answer time with the whole school. Girls wrote down their questions anonymously and placed them into a basket. There were a lot of questions on boy/girl relationships as well as the christian faith. There were also some really funny questions like, "When I go swimming in the ocean, can I get pregnant from the sperm swimming around?" and "Does Deuteronmy 23:1 say that all men are going to hell?" (ha you have to look that up for yourself; it's hilarious). Then there were some heartbreaking ones like, "I was raped as a young girl. Am I still a virgin?" and "My parents are forcing me to marry when I finish school but I don't want to. What should I do?" So we tried to answer as many as we could with the little time we had. However, amongst all the questions, there was one girl who wrote this sweet note to us that really makes everything worth while. 

I don't remember her name but she was cute. She had questions about Canada. She wants to study there along with half of the other girls once they found out I was from Canada. I think they were hoping I could get them a free ticket to Canada's universities. Sorry girls. I told them to search the internet and pray. 

We had a group of about 15 girls host us for the weekend. They did an amazing job of cooking for us, heating water for us to bathe and getting us anything else we needed. They escorted us home one evening and we invited them in for a chat. They know one of our work colleagues who also happens to be a singer. They love him and wanted to talk to him. So we called him on speaker phone so we could chat. The young girl, Maureen, came and sat right next to the phone convincing our friend that once she is finished school she is coming to be his girlfriend so he must tell his current girlfriend and then be ready for her to come to him in a few months. It was hilarious. We all laughed till we almost peed our pants. It was such a sweet moment with these sweet girls. 

"Higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, higher, Jesus, higher" Kenyans have actions to most songs so here are all the girls singing, "cast your burdens  unto Jesus..." 

The highlight of my weekend was running into my sweet friend, Gabriel. He is one of the children from my 'home' in Ilula. He is in a boys boarding school just down the road and his school was invited for the Sunday service. It was such a surprise. I was taking pictures when all of a sudden I heard a voice say, "Nikole?" I turned around and saw this handsome young man that I have been able to watch grow up over the past 5 years. When I first met him, he fit under my armpit but now he is almost taller than me. We got to chat after the service about life. I am so proud him. 

On Sunday, we had 8 other schools join us for the service. It was so cool being surrounded by over 1000 students. It was such a wonderful weekend!!