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. 

Counting Down the Days

Can you believe we only have 3 more weeks in Mombasa? Crazy right!?

We are kicking into high gear trying to get everything figured out and dealt with before we leave. Its not an easy process. We will be SO ready to get to Canada once these few weeks are over. Kelvin and I often look at each other and just wish that we could leave tomorrow and not have to deal with selling our stuff, looking after the business and the project, and saying our goodbyes. As each day passes, our hearts are more and more excited to start a life in Canada.

We are also just trying to ENJOY kenya while we can. I was in nairobi this past week. We had some troubles on the bus and what was suppose to be a 7 hour ride took 11 hours. The plus side was that I got to drive through the african plains as the sun was rising and it was completely majestic. Africa is truly majestic. 

Last weekend we decided to check out Haller Park. I can actually see Haller Park from my kitchen but I have never been in it. I was surprised as to how many beautiful animals and wildlife are in my back yard!

 Giraffes will always be so gracefully goofy. 

 These monkeys (and their reproductive organs) always crack me up. Yes, his testicles are bright blue and his 'manhood' is bright red. Maybe it makes it easier for the woman to spot it?

Baby monkey!

I think someone was trying to hide.

 But this someone liked being in the middle of the road.

 Not sure what this animal is called.

They have a few hippos in the park too. Unfortunately, they weren't hungry enough to get out of the water and come eat their food. I was so looking forward to seeing their big bodies as I have only ever seen them in water. Its hard to believe they are the most dangerous creatures in Africa.

 And then it was time to feed the crocodiles. This was the big kahuna.

 For show, they like to tease the little guys and make them all jump for the meat.

These things were just wandering around in the open. They kind of look like something you might find in the mountains near my hometown.

 The greenery was so gorgeous and luscious.

 This tree was so bizarre with its neat roots system.

I used to dream of living in a place with palm trees. Now I have them right outside my window. 

We are trading in the tropics for the snow....

Outpouring of Love

Kelvin and I have been overwhelmed with the outpouring of crazy love that you all have showed us since we announced we are moving to Canada. Thanks to all who have rejoiced and praised God with us. Thanks to all who have assured us that this is God's doing. Thanks to those who have recognized that we take care of so many and now its time for us to be taken care of. Thanks to those who have given to the Rehma Family and to us personally so we can transition smoothly. 

We are definitely feelin' the love.  

Thank you. 

Thank you. 

Thank you. 

After over 4 years in Kenya...

...I am finally moving home.

Let me rephrase that.

We are moving home. To Canada. Kelvin and me. We.

Let me fill you in.

When we got married, we had no intention of leaving Kenya anytime soon. We were comfortable and we were thankful for the work we had. Slowly, we began to realize that it is incredibly hard to make ends meat in Kenya. I, for one, cannot legally work in Kenya. Even if I did manage to find a job, the cost of the work permit would probably suck up all my income. Kelvin has been involved in ministry since he finished high school and never got the opportunity to pursue secondary education. And running a successful business in a slum area turned out to be harder than we thought.

Around April, we started kicking around the idea of going back to Canada. I was against it at first. The thought of leaving Kenya broke my heart. But as we continued to pray, seek God, and see what is going on around us, we decided that going to Canada for a season would be the best option. What is in Canada? Opportunity.  Opportunity to go to school, to work, to start a family, to have decent health care, to save money, etc. It's a funny thing when you get married. You start thinking about the future like babies and careers and retirement and so on.

Let me just say that Canadian Immigration in no walk in the park. It is a journey in itself.

Upon researching the best option for immigration, we decided to pursue Permanent Residency for Kelvin. On the official Immigration website, it says that the average processing time in Kenya is 34 months. We had heard that over 80% of people are processed in 15 months. Yikes! That would mean we wouldn't be in Canada till 2014.

We began filling out forms and getting all stuff together. Finally, we sent the application in on September 17th.

December 6th, we get a letter requesting for Kelvin's passport. His online status said a decision has been made.

January 15th, Kelvin's passport arrives in the mail WITH A VISA TO CANADA!

People, that is less than 4 months!

We are leaving Kenya at the end of February! Why so soon? Well, Kenya is having it's elections on March 4th. It is really uncertain on how all will play out but if it turns out to be anything like last time, we definitely don't want to be here. It would mean a lot of staying in the house and waiting for weeks for things to calm down. Kelvin thought it would be best if we rushed a little to get out before elections.

Crazy, eh? We must thank God. Our Heavenly Father who surprised us with His timing but we are so so grateful.

We are excited and nervous and sad and anxious and ecstatic and all sorts of other feelings. I am not sure what awaits us or how we will deal with being in a different culture. Kelvin will go through culture shock and so will I. We will feel lost and scared and uncertain. But we will also feel loved and taken care of and hopeful. Kenya has hugely shaped the woman I am today and I am leaving a big piece of my heart here. Kelvin is leaving everything that he knows and has grown up with and entering a completely foreign place. I am getting all teary-eyed just thinking about all our amazing youth, family, and friends who we LOVE so dearly. Saying Goodbye sucks. It just downright sucks. There. I said it.

Once we arrive in Canada, we will be living in Castlegar for a while to get our feet planted. We are still praying about work and school and babies. We don't plan to be in Canada forever. Our hearts are still here in Africa. But we feel the need to get better equipped and supported to do the work God has placed on our hearts.

What will happen with the Rehma Family??

Because this has been something we have been planning for a while, we started a while ago to step back and allow the youth to take more initiative in their own programs. Of course some things will stop, but the majority of what we have set up will keep going. We still need a bit more finances before we leave. Currently, we have sponsored 7 youth to go to college and high school. Both the boys and the girls are starting small businesses as a group and need the capital to begin. If you would like to make a donation to help us ensure that all will finish school and businesses will be started, please click the donate button on the left hand side of this blog.

We cannot express your gratitude for all your support over the years. Kelvin is SO SO excited to meet all the people who have loved on us from afar. We will be seeing you all soon!

Tunawapenda sana sana sana!
We love you all so so much!

Twenty Thirteen

For those who don't receive our email updates, here is a newsletter we sent out re-capping this past year we our Rehma Family. If you would like a PDF copy, please shoot me an email and I can send you one. As you can read, God has been good to us this year and we are so so thankful for all you peeps who keep loving, encouraging, and supporting us!! 

Twenty Thirteen has already thrown us a few curve balls but we are adjusting and managing just fine. 

A lot of people chose a word for their year. A word that they live by, that encourages them to be better people, something to remind them of God in their lives, etc. I was thinking about choosing some sort of word but just couldn't come up with one. How can I put 365 days into one word? However, one word did keep popping in my mind. And that word was change. 

Not that I purpose to change, but I feel like so many thing in our life will change and are already changing.

One of the first big changes in our life is these three precious girls below.

Kelvin's three sisters, Tina, Harriet and Joan. We have taken them in to live with us while they are not in boarding school. They have been with us for almost a month now and it has been a big change that has required some major adjustment for me. Not only did I have to learn to cook for 5 five people, but I had to learn to share my space and time with 3 other people. Kelvin and I have been living alone for a year. Throw in 3 extra girls in the house and your personal space and time minimizes big time, not to mention your time with your husband. But I have adjusted and will really miss them when they head to boarding school in a couple days. It's been nice to have sisters around. 

 We took the girls for a day trip to check out their new school and tour around south coast Mombasa. We took some time to stroll the beach. I had forgotten how gorgeous the beach was!

Another big change is the Rehma Ladies. I have changed the program and my approach with these girls. I am backing off and allowing them to create and form a group that they believe will be empowering to them. I am there to guide and help but they create and make decisions. We had an AWESOME meeting today as they came together to share their visions for the group, some rules and guidelines to follow, and discuss an income generating project they want to start for themselves and the community. I am so so happy to see them so excited to work together.

Their first assignment is to plan and organize some sort of outing, event, or gathering for them without my help. I am usually the one who comes up with the ideas and connects everyone together to make it happen. This time, I have given them a budget and they need to plan and organize something for them to do together. I won't even be apart of it. So I am looking forward to see what they come up with next week.

 It was sweet Aisha's birthday today. In my sad attempt to make something special, I just whipped up some chocolate cupcakes and put some 'sparkler' candles in them. Throw in some sodas and popcorn and you got yourself a celebration!

Kenya will go through a big change in a few short weeks. They are doing their elections on March 4th. No one really knows what is going to happen but everyone is hoping that things will be a lot calmer than the last election five years ago where the whole country erupted into violence and 1000+ people were killed. Keep Kenya in your prayers please.

And finally, this time next week, Kelvin and I will be basking in the awesomeness of an air conditioned hotel room! Ok, so its not a huge change but you have NO idea how hot it is here and how amazing air conditioning feels. My family blessed us with a vacation at a local resort. After the crazy Christmas we have had, we are SO looking forward to a few days of pure relaxation.

More changes are brewing for the Opiyos. We will keep you in the loop!!!

Back in Kongowea

Today, Kelvin and I went to Kongowea.

Nicky has been running the business beautifully without us. He is also looking super snazzy these days.   He was wearing his cool new glasses (that we got him because he was squinting so much that it made even my head hurt) and a sleek button up shirt. I am told he finally got his National ID that has his real birthdate on it. 

Allan was busy doing most of the accounting and paper work for the business. He counts every shilling that comes in and out of our business.  He is also the chairman for the boys and takes care of all their accounts. Not to mention, he is a dreamer. He constantly comes to us with ideas on how to empower the youth. He asked if his sister, who just finished high school, can join the ladies group. I smiled and said, 'Of course, she can'. 

Agogo walked by, put his hand in the air to greet us, and then kept walking. He always seems like he has somewhere important to be. It's just the urgency in his walk, I guess.

Noah was sitting there as well. He just finished his attachment at a shipping company and is now looking for a permanent job. He has applied at three companies so far. Somehow he managed to get a flashy new touch screen phone. We all joked at how it looks like Kelvin's iPhone. 

Dula rushed to the office when Kelvin called him. He is joining college to study mechanics this week. He has worked as our 'maintenance manager' for the last year. We promised to put him into school this year since his mom can't afford it and his dad is a junkie. We made plans to go pay his fees on Wednesday. Before he left, he cleaned my centre. It was spotless. 

Eric popped in briefly and greeted me with a smile. He holds a special place in my heart since he lived with us for 7 months and some of my greatest friends sponsored him to finish school. He is growing out his hair now since he doesn't have school ragging on him to shave it all the time. This is the first day in 12 years that he is not going to school. He's just at home waiting for his results. He popped in and out of the office and went on his merry way. 

Maloba tried to greet us quickly and get out but Kelvin motioned for him to sit down. We gave him money last year to pay his school fees as he was one of our scholarship winners. We told him to bring us the receipt so we know that the money went for fees. He has yet to bring it to us. So Kelvin told him he needs to bring it before we pay for this year. 

Nuru popped her head over the fence to see if I was inside. Her brother had seen us walk by and told her we were around. I wanted to catch up with her so we sat in the centre and chatted. She explained to me how she used her photography skills to take pictures of an aspiring MP and then posted them on her facebook wall. Because of it, the MP wants to give her a bursary to go towards her college fees. She also just finished working registering voters for the upcoming elections so she has a hefty pay check coming into her bank account this week. She was asking me what I thought about her trying to help pay the school fees for a young orphaned girl in the community. I told her it was a beautiful idea but to make sure that she can also finish paying her own school fees. I love her heart. 

Linet popped in quickly to greet Nuru and I and then she left. 

Felix and his Dad showed up to talk about school fees since Felix won a scholarship last year. Kelvin explained to him that he doesn't hand out the money but that we go and pay the school fees ourselves. The Father was going to send the bank details for the school to Kelvin this afternoon. 

Abubakar was the topic of our lunch discussion. He had come to the office to say bye since he had just gotten a job in Dubai and was leaving the next morning. His mom made him come to see 'coaches'. She has a lot of respect for Kelvin since the day he sat in the hospital with Abubarkar when he broke his elbow at practice. She isn't even his real mom. She took him in when he was young because he was an orphan. Just as we were talking about him over our plates of biryani, we saw him in car that parked right beside us. He quickly hopped out and came to greet us. "Tommorow morning, I am leaving for job" he told me joyfully. I congratulated him and told him he will be missed. He turned to Kelvin and expressed his gratitude to coach once more. He called over his buddy and excitedly introduced 'Coach and wife wake' to him. Then he skipped on back to the car. 

Kelvin smiled at me. I smiled back. 

The Christmas Feast!

We need to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who donated this Christmas!! Because of you, some sweet young people will be going to school, will be starting a business, and were able to have a really fun year-end party with the whole Rehma Crew!! 

When I had originally started planning for this event, it looked a lot different. It was suppose to be a small community feast but it turned into a large gala for our youth and their friends. It became a bit challenging as I had set a budget and raised a certain amount of money. It was really hard to stick within in this budget and still do all that we wanted to do but we managed to pull it off!

It all went down in a run-down bar...not my first choice of venue but it was actually a really decent set up for a really really good price. We got the whole place to ourselves with a big screen to watch the football games and a DJ to play tunes all night. We had the locals make enough biryani to feed an army so everyone got a plate or two. I had my sweet friend Paulina make us a delicious cake and got these two gentlemen below to help us decorate. Not all things went as planned. My deco was a bit lack-luster, the microphone didn't work, and we couldn't hook the computer up to the projector so we couldn't show them the awesome slide show I had prepared. But we still had fun!!!

 Emmanuel and Ryan came to help us set up and stuck around once people started to arrive. They were troopers as none of my deco ideas worked, the tape I bought was melting, and my scissors dull. 

Then the guests started to arrive! Each one of the youth in our programs were allowed to bring one guest.

 Zizou brought his sweet wife, Saumu, who is doing hairdressing school. Side note: I went to visit her at school this week and the lady teaching her told me that she will hire Saumu full time once she completes the course! Yipee!

 Riise brought his wife too who we had never met!

 Most of the others just brought a friend, brother, cousin, neighbour. 

 Allan brought his mom! So sweet!

 My girls looked amazing!! I saw them walking up to the door in their long, black buibuis. Once they reached the door, they took off their buibuis to reveal their colourful outfits. They were so cute!! 

 I got the staff to take off all the table clothes that advertised beer and then I put up some christmas deco. 

 Seriously love this couple! They are so sweet. 

 Time to feast! Actually, I didn't like the biryani. The meat tasted to 'gamey' to me. But everyone else loved it!

 I think the night was more about looking good than anything else. Everyone came dressed to impress. 

We asked the Dj to stop the music so we could do some speeches. We had a handful of people come up and say how much they loved and appreciated being apart of the Rehma Family. They all encouraged one another to stay together and grow closer so that they can help one another. One young man came up and only had one message "Stop doing drugs". He had stopped doing drugs a while back and is now doing so well in life. He is making lots of money, has a wonderful wife and newborn, and he is happy and healthy. It was also an honour to have Kelvin's mom with us so she can see what we do. 

After the speeches and cake, we danced! and danced! and danced! 

It was the perfect end to a wonderful year with the Rehma Family.