The longest blog post ever

I’m afraid this might be a very long post…

Last Sunday, I went to Juma’s (my Kiswahili teacher) house for church, like I used to last time I was here. It was so good to be back with them! The kids are still a little bit shy sometimes, but they ran to me when they first saw me, so I know they remembered who I was!

Juma keeps his children home on Sundays and teaches them the Bible, instead of going to church with them. It’s usually about an hour, because there are quite a few younger kids who will fall asleep if he goes longer. But he really does teach them, and they really do listen and learn things. They even will ask questions at the end of the lesson sometimes too.

It’s a very simple meeting though. One or two kids will pray, we’ll sing a song, have the Bible lesson, sing and pray more, and it’s over. It’s my most favorite church meeting (because of the simplicity and teaching, not because it’s short).

After the lesson, I went over to Anastasia, who is Juma’s wife. She is pretty quiet unless you begin a conversation. I didn’t talk with her a whole lot last year, but this time, I want to be with her more too. So I started talking to her, and she started talking about being a mom and the way she raises her kids, and the way she teaches them to think about choices they will have to make, and it was really amazing! Typically, Kenyan women do not spend much time with their children at all (as far as I have noticed). Children here are always off on their own. They will walk all over, help with the house work, be in the shamba (garden), but the moms really don’t spend time actually with them and talking to them. And that is why I noticed Anastasia last year. She not only spent a lot of time with them (not working, but sitting and talking with them), but her and her children were always laughing together too! She and Juma have taken in so many children (they have over 20 on their compound), and they truly know all of them, spend time with all of them, and teach all of them. She was saying that during the day, she’ll always have someone following her around as she’s in the shamba, or doing laundry, and she uses all the time that she can, to talk about how they need to make good choices, or they’re going to be on the streets begging like so many others, once they get older. She said they like to be home, so when they’re not in school, them come right back. They don’t go wandering off like all the other children. She said they know who to make friends with and who to stay away from. And she is so proud when they make good decisions! She said when they make good choices, she knows it is God who has done something in them. I will absolutely go to her for advice when I am a mom.

Then, after that, we went in the house with Juma and spent a couple more hours talking. I cannot remember the last time I have been so encouraged. It amazes me that God brought me to them. They are so good to me. They treat me like I belong to them!

Juma started talking about how his wife went to him (that’s another thing – Kenyan women are typically very quiet, and don’t really communicate a whole lot with their husbands – there are a lot of domineering men in this culture) to tell him that they need to be self sufficient, and not rely on anyone else for their children’s school fees, food, clothing, or anything. Because they have so many orphans living with them, there are a few people in the States and Germany who support them. They mainly give money to support the children in school, but sometimes donations come in for other things also. But lately, a lot of the support has stopped. They said some people stopped because finances were getting harder for them, and others just stopped without saying anything! I don’t think people can realize the impact that their support has on someone until they see it. The people who just stopped giving, do not realize how much harder life becomes, overnight, for people like this. Juma does work; he teaches Kiswahili and he’s translating some theology books for someone right now. And a couple of the sons work a little too, so there is money coming in that they make; just not enough to run an orphanage. Yet. So they were talking to me about how, over the next five years, they want to be completely self sufficient. It’s not that they wouldn’t take donations, but they don’t want to count on that coming in. First, their plan is to build a greenhouse. That way, they can grow vegetables all year, and sell them for profit. They also want to lease land in order to begin farming, and over time, they plan on purchasing it. Then they would move the family out there, to live off the land. But these things will take time. And they have a hard enough time putting their children through school, never mind starting a business like a green house and leasing land. Please, please pray for this family. They have a lot of faith, but that does not mean every day is easy for them. Above all else, I can see that they love God because of the way they love each other and their children.

After they told me of their plans, they asked what my goals are in being here. I said after I learn the culture and the language better, I would like to get into discipleship through Bible teaching. When I said that Juma’s eyes lit up, and he said there is such a need for that. And that is when they went on and on, just encouraging me to pursue that. They said if I ever end up with a group of people to teach, I can use their house for meeting. They said they will give me their children to teach anytime I want to (but I am not ready yet). They said they will do anything they can, at all, to help me with that goal. And then they said they wanted me to know that if I needed anything at all they will be there for me. It truly is as if God has given me a Kenyan family here. Kenyans are always very hospitable, but Juma and his wife have gone far above being hospitable, and they have treated me like I’m one of theirs. Juma said I have such a good opportunity to teach here because number one, I am a foreigner (he said people would be more inclined to listen to me because of that), and number two, I am white (and he said people would be more inclined to listen to me because of that also). He also warned me that being white means that when people see me, they will see money, and that is part of the reason they will listen to me. They will listen, and then ask me for stuff. And that’s why Juma said I have such a good opportunity. Because when people do that, he said to point them back to themselves. He said to use that to change the mindset of the people here who think they need to depend on foreigners for life, rather than knowing they can support themselves. Juma was raised by Americans who were missionaries here in Kenya. When he grew up, and they went back to the States, his American mother said not to follow her to America, and not to follow her spiritually. Juma asked why, and she said because they taught him enough to stand on his own two feet; and that God would be his teacher, spiritually. He did not need to go anywhere else. He said that sentence changed his life, and he has never forgotten it. He said for me to do the same – the mindset of the people need to be changed here. Now, I don’t know how to do that. Even a little bit. But I’ll learn.

He and his wife made me feel such a heavy responsibility to use my time here wisely, but they did it in such an encouraging way. The burden they made me feel didn’t overwhelm me, it made me thankful that God would put me in this position. But I understand it will take years before I learn the things I need to know to do this.

Another blessing has been one of my friends who I met last time I was here. His name is James, and he is a gardener. He has been getting our shamba ready for Betsy and I. We have a big area in our yard where there are a lot of garden beds. So he has been coming over, breaking up the land, and planting for us! I asked him if I could help with the work, and he said I could water the garden when he was done everything else. So I said, nonono, I want to help to learn how to take start and take care of a shamba. He was reluctant to let me help him, but yesterday he let me plant! But he still wouldn’t let me hoe, and I’m not quite sure why. Maybe he thinks I’ll cut off my legs (Anastasia told me to be very careful not to cut my legs – the hoes here are quite giant, they’re not like the little ones for little gardens in the States). Although, I did take the hoe a couple of times when he wasn’t looking, so I was able to do a little! I told him I am stronger than I look, and he said he knows I’m capable, but he still didn’t want me to. I’m going to talk to him about that.

Anyway, we were out till after eight last night, and we planted two whole beds! We worked by flashlight after it got dark, which was a bit difficult for me, but he’s used to it. He likes working at night though. I’ll learn.

He is a very good gardener, and he LOVES the work! I had wanted to ask him for help because I don’t know how to take care of a shamba, but he works a lot for other people, so I didn’t want to bother him. But he actually called me one day and just offered to come! And he has done the work so fast. AND he got some avocados down from our tree for us! We have about 4 avocado trees in our shamba, but the only one that actually has the fruit on it is way too high to reach. Like, it is way up in the sky. But it is near our water tank which is more like a water tower. So he climbed the tank, got this really long stick with a wire at the end (someone else had made that to get the guava’s off our guava tree – so it is more like a pole, not a stick) and beat them down. So now we have six! Once our shamba is growing stuff, and our fruit trees start to give us fruit, we won’t have to spend money on those things!!! It is a lot of hard work to have a compound to take care, but I have absolutely loved all of it. Besides doing laundry by hand, and painting. Actually, I don’t love all of it, but I enjoy the shamba!

As far as our house goes, thankfully, we only have a few rooms left to paint. We have curtains. We have a small wicker couch and wicker chair. We’re waiting on another couch that someone is making for us. Our bedrooms are done. So we just have to paint our awful orange doors white (every single door in our house is a ridiculous orange color – I think they were trying to match it to the outside of our house – which is an incredibly bright orange color, but I don’t mind that on the outside). We have to paint our mismatched kitchen. And then paint the hallway! It’s coming along!

In case you want to laugh, I’ll try to explain what our kitchen looked like. The floor has light blue tiles. The wall to the left is white. The wall to the right is painted tan/pink on the bottom and white on the top. All of the cabinets are an astonishing blue. There are three doors in the kitchen, all of them orange, of course. And, to top it all off, there was a strip of rooster wallpaper going across the middle of one of the walls also. Because, clearly, tan/pink, blue, orange, white and roosters all go together like cake and ice cream. Oh, and the curtains were really dirty, with a white and black African pattern. It was so pretty. But not really. But I do love our house, and the property, and I am just so thankful and blown away that God has given this to us! It has been a lot of fun for the most part!

I was also talking to one of my friends about learning Kiswahili. And he said I need to be around it more, to speak and hear it all the time. But I feel bad asking my Kenyan friends to come over just to speak Kiswahili. But, I realized that I can take a lot of opportunities to learn throughout the day, and I think I am learning a little more quickly this time, than the last time I was here. James teaches me a lot of Kiswahili when he is here. He’ll usually speak Swahili, then when I’m really lost, he laughs and switches to English. He’s a very good Swahili teacher, actually, and he knows English really well. One of our guards doesn’t know English well, so we speak some Swahili. And the piki piki guy that always takes me to or back from town (Enok – he’s the same one from last year, and he’s very nice) is starting to teach me too! He doesn’t speak English very much at all, so it’s hard to understand what he’s trying to teach me, but eventually we’re able to figure each other out! Every time I’m on the bike, he’ll teach me some things, so I get at least one or two Swahili lessons everyday!

I am truly thankful for all the ways God is allowing me to learn things here. He’s really placed some amazing, patient people in my life. I’m just enjoying it so much. Living here is hard work, but it’s so good and beautiful too. I’m thankful beyond words that God brought me back. I just hope my friends and family can come see the home God has given me in Kenya someday too.
Thank you all for your prayers, love and support.