Some Muddy Soccer

We are home! We did indeed make it to Kipkaren for a wonderful week of learning, listening, teaching, and fellowshipping. 

I grew up in a small town so I love the intimacy of a small community. Mombasa was the last place I ever wanted to be cause its so big, clustered, dirty, and cramped. Going to the village is like a vacation for me even if I am working all day long. The beautiful sunrises and sunsets, the quietness, the green landscape, the cool weather, the simple lifestyle, the fresh produce, the humble people, and the slower pace of life. So wonderful! 

Our hosts were amazing! They have this swanky guesthouse (which was three times bigger than our apartment in Mombasa) fit with the most comfortable beds and steaming hot showers!! They fed us wonderful meals and let us enjoy their family. We learned a lot from them! They too are a mixed couple like Kelvin and I. They have been doing community development in this area for 14+  years. I picked their brains on so many things like their mistakes, triumphs, difficulties, finances, etc. We were so privileged to work with them. 

 We tried to wake up early every morning to have coffee and do devotions together while the sun was rising. Spectacular! 

The reason we were asked to come up there was to help start a youth program similar to ours. The state of the youth in this community really broke our hearts. I was especially heartbroken for the young women most of whom dropped out of school at an early age and got pregnant either by their husbands, someone else's husband, or some random men. They really need someone to walk alongside of them and point them towards Jesus their Healer, Forgiver, Redeemer, Lover, Provider and Father.

Above Kelvin was doing devotions for a group of youth and widows in the community. After devotions, we took the youth and did some team building exercises while teaching them a few life skills. 

 Jayden, the son of our hosts, is too adorable for words. Seriously, he melts the heart of everyone he meets. He is a man of the community just like his father.

 Jayden watching as the boys begin to play soccer. 

 It was really really muddy. It poured with rain every afternoon we were there. I loved the thunder and lightening but didn't so much enjoy standing outside watching soccer in the rain....

....hence the awkward missionary/village/freezing cold fashion. Finally, by the third day of being ridiculously cold, I put away my pride and dressed to be warm instead of trying to look decent.

 We came hoping to find a bunch of youth eager to play soccer. We were told there were many but quickly learned that they only come if there is something they will get out of it (like a ball, blankets, gifts). So our method of reaching youth through soccer didn't work out so well. The show still went on and Kelvin did what he does best: love on youth and point them to Jesus. Here they are praying after practice. 

 We even brought some swanky cones and balls for them to practice with.

 A seriously cute kid! The best part is that he doesn't even speak english (even though his Mom is american)! They taught him swahili first which has kind of inspired me to learn so that my kids will be bi-lingual. 

 Kelvin utterly amazed me the whole week. He was in his element doing what God has created him to do best. It was so amazing to see my husband truly THRIVE in what he was doing. I was so so proud of him!!! 

We have committed to supporting a group of youth in the community. About 50 of them have formed a group where they come together to grow closer to God, grow closer to each other, support one another in their lives, create jobs and do income generating projects together. We hope to go again every couple months to mentor, train, walk alongside, and love on them. 

We couldn't go all the way to Eldoret and not go to Ilula to visit all the kids and my 'family'. We only spent one night but it was just enough to drink yummy chai, sing the latest hits with the girls, goof around with the young kids, and talk and laugh around the dinner table with the Ronos. To our surprise, Emmanuel picked us up in their 'new' car. We had quite the ride to the children's home. At one point a large piece of metal fell off the side of my door as we were sliding around in the mud. It felt so good to be home....

We are back in Mombasa and will be updating you with some exciting stuff soon!!

On the road again...again

We are leaving tonight. I hope.

We were suppose to go  to kipkaren a few weeks ago to work with an organization there and help build up a soccer program for youth. However, stuff happened and we didn't make it. In fact, we missed our bus but that was only the beginning of a rather crazy week.

Tonight we are booked to leave Mombasa at 10:30. We will probably arrive in Eldoret around 1pm tomorrow, pick up some free soccer balls, and then head to kipkaren for a week or so. I am still thoroughly looking forward to our time up there, connecting with friends, and seeing how we can connect with youth. I have packed my socks and sweaters and looking forward to getting a bit chilly.

You probably won't here from me till next week!


PS. Our boys actually won today! They have been having a hard time winning lately and have been getting a bit discouraged. Our goal was phenomenal! If he wasn't there, we would have lost terribly. The goal we scored was kind of lame but, hey, a goal is a goal. Everyone had heavy hearts today after a young man, a friend to many of our boys, was shot dead yesterday by a police man in Kongowea. It was such a tragedy that seems to have rocked a lot of people. My heart goes out to the family, who we know well, who is now having to deal with the loss of a son/brother. I am just thankful that our boys were more interested in watching the MAN U vs ARESENAL game than attending some political rally (where this boy was shot). 

On the road again

We are off again tonight. Feels like we travel every month. We have been invited to a village outside of Eldoret, called Kipkaren, to help develop a soccer program for youth in the community. We are so excited for this opportunity! We don't know exactly how long we will go (probably not more than a few days) and what exactly is waiting for us up there. We know we will be doing a lot of home visits to widows - something Kelvin is very passionate about since his own mom is a widow. We know we will be meeting with youth mentoring them, training them, and playing soccer with them. We know there will be more listening and learning than talking and teaching. I am anxious to work alongside a couple who is like us, black and white, and see how they do community development. I am excited to see some friends who live in that community. More over, I am elated to get out of Mombasa (its heating up again) and immerse myself in village life.

We have also been donated a hefty amount of indestructible soccer balls! Such a huge blessing! A couple in Eldoret is giving them to us so we will be able to pick them up when we get there. You have no idea how precious soccer balls are around here.

Pray for safe travelling. Pray for a wonderful time connecting with the youth and community. Pray that we can discern the amount of involvement we are to have in this project.

I will be back next week with lots of photos and stories!

Discovering Kaloleni

Like I mentioned, Kelvin had this car and this client that he had to drive around. The client's home area is just outside of Mombasa called Kaloleni. After driving there for two days, Kelvin fell in love and said he just had to take me there. Saturday morning, at 7am, we packed up and hit the road. We battled crazy traffic just to get out of the city, but once in the country side, we were in heaven. We pumped up the worship music and cruised through the village. After only a few miles, I understood why Kelvin loved it so much. 

Acres and acres of gorgeous land with humble homesteads all over the place.

 This was probably the worst patch of road we drove on. Seriously, the roads were better than in Mombasa city. 

 This area is FULL of palm trees. It's also a big producer of mnazi, a local palm wine that is cheap and addictive for the locals. 

 I started dreaming of having our own little homestead in this area one day. Of course, it won't quite look like this one but similar.

 Palm trees galore!

All that green is plantations of palm trees. I don't think I have ever seen so many palm trees in my life! 

Who knows, maybe one day we will buy ourselves a few acres, set up a children's home, and life the village life. 

A morning drive

One of our clients asked Kelvin if he could rent a car and be our client's chauffeur for two days. Kelvin quickly agreed. Kelvin loves driving. Actually, we both do but we rarely get the opportunity to. To rent a car for 24 hours costs about $30 plus gas. It's just not worth it for us especially when we can spend less than $2 a day on public transport. 

This deal is pretty sweet. We get the car for two nights. Kelvin has had to be a personal driver for two days but he is ok with that. This particular client is a drunkard so there is no way he could drive himself. Kelvin gets to bring the car home and use it for himself when our client doesn't need him. 

So this morning, we had just turned on a movie as we were eating breakfast when the power went out. I then asked if we could go for a morning drive. 

One of our favourite things to do with a car is to explore all the areas around Mombasa that you can't get to with public transport. It has led us on some pretty fun adventures. 

This morning we decided to go inland behind our apartment building and see the village life. I was surprised that, not too far from where we stay, there are villages with mud houses and all. I guess I think Mombasa is so metropolitan. 

It has also been a gloriously overcast day. That's why the pictures are grey. 

 My personal chauffeur

 We drove past one of the largest prisons on the coast (which I learned that Canada helps fund). I was shocked to see all the prisoners working outside in the fields where there is no fencing keeping them in. Those white poles  don't have any fencing in between them. Those prisoners could totally make a run for it. 

Home sweet home. Well, it's where we live. Not sure I would call it 'home'. Its our apartment building. 

Looking forward to going out to our favourite joint for breakfast tomorrow. I think we'll drive there. 

Clash of Cultures

Well, we arrived back in Mombasa this morning after a long, tiring, emotional, exciting, relaxing, eye-opening trip. It felt so good to crawl into my own bed this morning and pass out for a good 4 hours. 

We took a 14 hour bus ride to Migori which is the closest town to the village where Kelvin's mom lives. It was a long bus ride. We arrived at his mom's place completely exhausted but happy to be home. She welcomed us with fresh lemon grass tea and chappatis. 

I had forgotten how boring it can be with out electricity. We spent most of our first day sleeping or talking or sitting outside or generally doing nothing. I read half a novel in a few hours. Sometimes having nothing to do is exhausting. Nonetheless, it was enjoyable being the simple and quiet environment. 

The next day we headed to Kelvin's dad's ancestral land to check out some land that his father had inherited. Kelvin's dad passed away over 15 years ago and with Kelvin being the oldest male sibling, he takes on a lot of the family responsibilities. The trek to his dad's home land ended up taking longer than we had thought with both of us not feeling the greatest. The last motorcycle we took was treacherous as our driver didn't exactly know where we were going even though he insisted that he knew our exact plot. We ended up getting stuck in all sorts of mud and bumping up and down leaving my bum all bruised. By the time we found his father's land, I was exhausted and a little on the cranky side. We were so far from any sign of civilization that I began to wonder if God even knew this place existed.

It was emotional for me as well. I found it so interesting to meet his father's family when I have never met his father. It also blew my mind to think that this was ancestral land. The same tribe/family has lived on this same land since only God knows when. Kelvin's grandfather had many wives so the land is divided between all the wives and their kids. I ended up meeting all sorts of people who were all related to Kelvin. They introduced themselves to me as my mother or auntie or sister when really they were my grandfather's other wife's child or the 3rd wife to Kelvin's uncle. I couldn't keep track of it all. I just ended up succumbing to the fact that we were related somehow. 

Our purpose was  to see the land that Kelvin's father had inherited and see if we could do some planting on it. That was really all I wanted to do but I guess you can't come all the way there and not meet everyone and have a meal. We sat around waiting for them to cook a nice meal of fresh chicken, traditional greens (which I have realized are just weeds), and ugali. Now, both of us were having tummy problems and had no appetite at all. We tried to get out of it, but we couldn't. When they placed the food in front of us, I just prayed extra hard. I don't think they noticed that I ate very little. Kelvin and I didn't end up eating supper as we were so turned off from our big lunch. 

We headed back home after a few hours there. Next time we will have to plan to stay a night and come prepared. Let me just say that it is an incredibly challenging environment for me. The water is dirty, there is no toilet but just a bush where you hide behind, there is no shop in sight, no electricity, not a lot of food in general, and so much more. I was so happy to get back on the motorcycle and head back home. 

Over the next few days we just hung around home and went into town to do some errands. I think I hit some big culture shock this time around. The first time I went to visit Mom, I was more of a guest and treated that way. However, now I am a part of the family and there are more expectations on my shoulders. It really overwhelmed me. Mom explained to Kelvin that she was proud of the effort I was putting in in trying to fit in. That left me in tears. 

This was a precious sight. This is Kelvin's real uncle. He is the only brother to Kelvin's dad from the same mother. Did you get that? Anyways, he has been taking care of our land while we have been away. He was so delighted to have Kelvin around. He was a very sweet man and had such a lovely wife. 

A little sunkissed after a long day. We took 6 different motorcycles that day. 

We got the chance to go see Kelvin's twin sisters who just joined high school. Usually you can only visit family on certain days but we were given some grace because we told them we had travelled all the way from Mombasa. We only got 5 minutes with these precious girls but it was better than nothing. 

Their names are Harriet and Joan. Do not ask me which one is which. They are completely identical. They do everything together. They laugh the same and talk the same and have the same mannerisms. They will even answer if you call them the wrong one. Kelvin has another set of twins in his family but luckily, they are a boy and a girl. 

A young boy in the village who picked our unripe avocados and chewed on them everywhere. The second after I took this picture, he burst into laughter. 

The environment is truly amazing. Everyday has the most incredible sunset and sunrise. 

Kelvin and his mama. He is definitely a mama's boy. 

We took 10 different motorcycles in 3 days because the places we went to were so far into villages that cars couldn't get there and it would take hours to walk. The two of us straddled the back as we zigzagged through the villages. 

We left Migori to meet up with one of my best friends from college, Marika! This was a complete culture shift as all of a sudden, everything Canadian came back to me. It was SO GOOD to be with a good friend and really reminisce about Canada. It was refreshing for me. I am not sure how Kelvin felt as he has never really seen me in my little Canadian world but he managed well. I am sure he had a bit of culture shock as well. 

We went with Marika and the two girls she came with to a boys rescue centre that they were volunteering at. We had a fun afternoon with 40 rambunctious former street boys. 

Dance session!

I know this picture looks gross but let me explain. Marika wanted to treat us to dinner to celebrate our engagement. We went to this super posh italian restaurant. I ordered this asparagus and parmesan risotto! It was amazing!  We all enjoyed the lavish food. Garlic butter, foccacia bread, balsamic vinegar and olive oil, pizza, fresh rosemary and mint, lattes, grilled vegetables, and so much more! I had forgotten that food could taste so good.

We all went dancing on Saturday and had a blast. It was so incredibly nourishing to relax and fall back into the Canadian Nikole (although I do have a lot of Kenyan tendencies that threw Marika and her friends off a lot.) I am so thankful for my time with my beautiful friend! 

Off to the bundus

This evening we are heading to the bundus for a week. Bundus is a slang term that means upcountry or one's home area. Most people in Kenya have land somewhere where their families have ancestral land. They put up a small house that they go and visit a few times a year. I think many of them move back there when they have retired. They live in the big cities because there is more work and opportunity to make money, but their hearts lie in their homes upcountry.

We are headed to Kelvin's home area. We want to go visit his mom and then go and check out some of his father's land. I personally love going to the villages. I am not a city girl at all so I just thrive in the peaceful, quiet, simple atmosphere of the villages. Kelvin's mom lives in a mud hut with no electricity or water. The toilet is a hole in the ground and you have to bathe in a bucket. We eat fresh kale and beans from her big garden and drink lemongrass tea in the mornings. I love the birds and the sun setting in the evening. I love the glowing fireflies that offer a little bit of light in the pitch black nights. Ah, dreamy.

Then on our way home we will stop in Nairobi for a night to visit with one of my best friends from college, Marika. She is in the country working with an organization she is involved that works with orphans. I can't begin to tell you how excited I am to see someone from home!!!!!!!! And I am excited for her to meet Kelvin.

I am looking forward to a good week!

A few days in the village

I had promised that I would come back and visit the children and staff in Ilula in April since the high school kids would be home at that time. So true to my promise, I went up there for a few days last week. I thoroughly enjoyed the short week I had there. As always, the children were a delight, the staff were encouraging, and my 'family' was welcoming. I had the BEST time reconnecting with the high school kids especially the girls. I was able to sit one on one with most of them and just go through all that they are seeing, experiencing, thinking, questioning as they are now out in the real world. I can see they have a hard time talking to their parents about this as their parents are a bit more traditional and the youth culture in Kenya is changing rapidly. I had a chance to answer questions and pray with them as they continue to be teenagers. 

One night, one of the older girls and I got to talking about everything. She opened up to me completely about everything that had happened in her life, all that she was thinking, and how she was processing all of it. She explained to me about how her parents died within a week of each other and how she ended up in Ilula. We talked about the way girls act at school, the music they listen to, and the boys they meet outside. It was a precious conversation. 

Just as I was leaving, the girl ran to me and handed me a note. In the note, she explained how much she wishes I could be around all the time talking, telling stories, encouraging one another. She told me what a great friend I am and how much she loves me. She says, "nikole you always make me smile, fill my heart with joy. you are important in my life" AH! My eyes welled up with tears. I was so humbled. So humbled that God would use ME in the life of this precious orphaned girl. Honoured that He considers me worthy to experience a love and friendship like this. Thankful that He has put me in this position. Amazing. 

Children eating Githeri (corn and beans) for lunch. 

Dennis is the youngest orphan in the home.

Me and my good friend Mercy Jepkosgei. We had a great time catching up as she just came back from her first term in high school. She has been extra special to me ever since I met her. We are laughing at Dennis who can't seem to take a nice picture of us. 

Prisca cooking ugali for lunch! This mama just had a beautiful baby boy on top of her 2 biological children and the 24 orphans she cares for. Her laugh is infectious. She laughs at everything. 

I had given some treats from mombasa to one of the parents and the little kids were following him around wanting a taste. 

Devotions has been one of my favourite times of day since I first came. 50 of them squished into one gazebo so that I could talk to both of them. Their singing gives me a little taste of what heaven will be like. 

Edison showing me how many cups of uji he drank

Chiri and Me. The first night I spent in Ilula I stayed in a dorm with Chiri and her mom. Chiri was only a year old and had never encountered a white. She was freaked. Now she is all grown up and doesn't fear white skin any more. 

Luka is a cheeky boy through and through. He is enjoying posing for the camera as he drinks his uji. Uji is a millet based porridge that they drink instead of tea. I really enjoy it and I think it is pretty nutritious. 

Timothy is one of the parents' children and is the cutest thing. He has just gotten over the stage of being scared of everyone and is now a delight. We hung out one day together. 

Timo laying in the doorway. Too adorable. 

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.

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!!