Hello! How are you? It’s been a while since I wrote to you from Africa, but here I am again! This time I’m in Kimilili, a small town in the Western Province of Kenya.
I arrived here about 10 days ago after a hectic few days packing up my life at home again. I was a little more organised than last time, but still managed to finish packing at about 2am when I had to be at the airport at 5am... Oops!
Ah well, I made it and got some sleep on the plane before arriving safely in Nairobi on Friday night. I met up with Jo and Jo in Nairobi - two other girls with the best name ever also heading out to work with IcFem from a few months. We had an interesting morning in Nairobi visiting the local market which reminded me quickly of some of the downsides of being a white person in Africa - it took us a good 20 minutes to shake of the guys wanting to “take us round” the markets, for a fee of course! However, once we were on our own, we had a lovely morning looking at some the fabrics and jewellery on sale.
That afternoon we caught out internal flight to Kitale which was on a comedy little plane with about 15 seats - I think our luggage alone pretty much filled the “boot”. Arriving at Kitale air strip was great...no waiting for your baggage to come through to the conveyor belts, we just collected it at the back of the plane as it was lifted out!
A forty five minute drive brought us to the IcFEM guest house which is home for the next three and half months or so. It’s a lovely little place with the bedrooms and dining room set out around a small garden area. I’m currently sat outside our little living room and bedroom block under the veranda looking out towards the mountains, It’s a hot and sunny day but a gentle breeze whizzes by every now and then, making it quiet pleasant. Being three Mancunians, we seem to have managed to bring the rain to Kenya with us and the rainy season has now begun. Whilst we may not be so pleased about this, the Kenyans are delighted as it means it’s time to plant their maize, a long awaited event. Late afternoon most days the sky turns from glorious blue to ominous grey and a pretty impressive rain storm takes over for at least a few hours. The roads are beginning to change from dry dust to dusty with patches of mud and you can tell that as the rains continue the roads are going to get pretty muddy - I think I’ll be investing in a pair of wellies!
I’m feeling quite spoilt at the moment. I have my own room, with an en-suite shower which even has hot water (provided the electricity is on), all our meals and water are prepared for us and our rooms are cleaned as well! Saying that though, we have to wash our clothes by hand so it’s not all roses...but it’s pretty good really!
About 5 minutes walk along a red and dusty, untarmaced road, shared by pedestrians, bikes, motorbikes, the occasional car and many cows and goats, are the IcFEM head quarters. Everytime we walk there we are accosted by little kids asking us how we are - I’m not sure they ever really want to know, they just want to say hello.
Head quarters is home to a nursery, an internet cafe, a tailors, a small shop and library, offices for IcFEM staff and a couple of meeting rooms and a hall. Each day starts with morning devotions at 8am with different things taking place depending on the day of the week. Following morning devotions, people get on with the job in hand, some set off to surrounding villages to carry out their work, others are office based.
Our first week was spent mainly away from head quarters as we went out and about to find out a little about the work IcFEM is involved with. We spent one day visiting schools where IcFEM have helped with construction of buildings. The fact that we were three girls called Jo caused much amusement and confusion whenever we were introduced to a class (or anyone for that matter!) We had a great time at one school where we had an impromptu question and answer session with some of the older kids. After a slow start, we were bombarded with questions mainly about the differences between England and Kenya - ranging from what seasons do you have and are you near the equator to is polygamy allowed and are boys circumcised?!
The following two days were spent visiting eldery people in various villages where IcFEM are active. I guess I need to say a little about how IcFEM works to explain it all...basically, a fellowship of 25 people or more forms within a village. When there are 40 fellowships within one area these join to form a local unit. The fellowships remain distinct, but the leadership and members responsible for different areas of work all meet together at the local unit to encourage and support one another, learning from each other as they go. Through all of this there are 12 “line ministries” such as family unit, eldery, disabled, youth, education, health and welfare, agriculture and recreation & sports. Each line ministry is headed up by a small team who are based at headquarters and go out to visit the local units and fellowships encouraging and supporting them. The different line ministries seek to be practical outpourings of loving our neighbours as ourselves and to challenge attitudes and situations that work against this. The very practical work is based firmly on the belief that peoples lives are improved first and foremost by a right relationship with God and that this is key and central to changing situations and peoples lives in any lasting or substantial way.
Anyway, where was I...oh yeah, visiting the eldery... We spent one day at Chiskake (I think that’s how it’s spelt!) and one day at Sikhendu, both local units. Sarah is responsible for heading up the “eldery” line ministry within head quarters, so accompanied us to the local units where we met with those who were involved at the next level. They then took us out to visit a few people in their community who they know are in need and who they are helping. Help can be in many forms - we spent some time talking with these people sharing their laughter and their sadness, we prayed with them and also gave them a small packet of rice and some soap. Many of these people are unable to get around easily, sleeping and sitting on the floor. They live in small mud huts, some literally a couple of metres square, that are dark and smoky as they double us as bedroom and kitchen. Through the local units and fellowships, IcFEM are able to reach out to these people through their neighbours and those living around them. The fellowships are the hands and feet of IcFEM reaching out to those who are on their doorstep - a visit from a neighbour can make all the difference to an isolated eldery lady who struggles to get by alone.
Another way IcFEM is involved with helping people is through the Coral programme. This involves loaning a small amount to a struggling business that helps them get up and running more successfully. This loan can be used in many ways helping meet the short term needs of the person and their family. IcFEM then work with the person to help improve their business and trading skills, leading to a more successful business which will then support the family adequately longer term. We got to meet some people who had been helped by the Coral programme when we visited Kimilili market last Thursday. It’s a proper african market with rows and rows of stalls set out on the floor. There’s a section for fruit and veg, clothing, shoes, cattle, fabrics, household stuff and of course the smelly dried fish! It was a hot morning in the sunshine, but it was great to wander around an african market again and to meet some people whose lives have changed due to the work of IcFEM.
The rest of the week and the weekend were taken up by filling in forms...yet another way in which IcFEM is helping the local community is the Maize & Beans project. I’m not 100% sure of the full particulars, but they are working with the local farmers (5000 of them) and the bank to help provide small loans that will cover the cost of seeds and fertiliser for farmers which can be paid back at harvest time. Each farmers has to fill out a form which, it turns out, can be filled out in many, many different ways! There has been a massive amount of work generated for those at head quarters amending the forms and compiling lists of who is to get how much of what when it is all delivered to different villages. This hasn’t been helped by the fact that the power has been off lots lately so everything has had to be done by hands. I went on a bit of a mission over the weekend sorting out pages and pages of hand written lists of names, putting fellowships in alphabetical order within their local units so that peoples names can be found much quicker when it comes to the point of delivering the seeds and fertiliser. It totally drove me mad in the end, but you know what I’m like when I get something to sort out!
This week has been taken up by holiday club...I wasn’t going to be involved in this, but as the plans I am making in different areas of work are getting of the ground slowly, it turned out that I was free to be involved. This was great as an extra pair of hands and a loud voice were needed and I also ended up having a great time - although I’m now shattered and have a slightly sore throat! Jo, Jo and Gemma were running the games that were taking place in between the teaching sessions. Some of the games linked into the theme for the day, others were just an excuse to make lots of noise and run around. British bulldogs went down a storm although we renamed it “Ugali” (the kenyan name for enshima). It felt slightly suicidal shouting ugali at the top of your voice and watching 100 kids all charge towards you screaming!!! We also had a great game of Captain Splodge - involving paint, water and chasing the same 100 kids (who are much quicker than us!) round a big field in flip flops! The kids loved it though and spent the rest of the day coming to tell me that I was too slow to catch them...hopefully they will also remember the messages and lessons that were the basis for some of the games played! Jo, Jo, Gemma and I all sat down exhausted last night and noticed that we’re all rather pink after being out in the midday sun for 3 days - even my factor 50 didn’t do the job entirely!
Today has been a welcome slower day. I’ve caught up on some reading I need to do and put my head in order a bit about how to move forward with what I want to do in the forthcoming weeks. I’ve had lots of good discussions with people, but it takes time for discussions to turn into actions!
Well, that’s about it! I seem to still have the knack of writing a long blog even though I’ve felt a little rusty getting back into it. I just want to say something quickly about God’s timing - I’ve been meaning to write this for the last month or two but just not got round to it, so I’m going to do it now! A good friend sent me a text message before I left to wish me well and said that he knew I didn’t need luck as I seem to carry it with me. (You know who you are...so, hello! I know you’ll probably disagree with what I’m about to say, but I know you’ll chew it over anyway!! Missing you bert) It does seem that since I made the decision to set off to Africa where I felt that God was calling me to go, my life has been the luckiest ever...everything has fallen into place at exactly the right time and I have been spending my time doing things I enjoy in amazing places meeting new and interesting people....my time at home worked out perfectly and I met even more great people during my short stay at home...here’s a brief recap for those that can be bothered to read it...
• I met Jon from Dignity 2 days before finding out I was being made redundant - the plans he had set out (and needed volunteers for) fitted almost exactly with the plans I had in my head.
• My time in Zambia was full of little events and meetings with people at just the right moment to be able to help or encourage them and vice versa - I noticed this particularly in the last few weeks when I was on my own.
• My weeks holiday at the end of my time in Zambia worked out perfectly - an extra two day safari trip was being put on the week I was there (I wouldn’t have been able to go on either of the normal trips for various reasons) and I met a great couple who were working in Namibia and off to visit their relatives working as missionaries in Congo. As well as having a great day with them, it turned out Jeremy had been going to Victoria Falls regularly all his life having grown up near by (in African terms) so was the perfect tour guide to walk down to Boiling Pot with, the one place I wanted to go to and hadn’t made it to on my first visit and didn’t really fancy venturing to on my own.
• The very day I got back from Zambia, I got an email from a friend about a job opportunity (the coffee shop).
• The day I met the manager-to-be for the coffee shop (who I was to hand over to as I had only ever been there short term) another friend unknowingly texted me about a short term opportunity at an architects office.
• The period of work at the architects meant I would be setting off slightly later than planned, but would be travelling out and spending time at IcFEM at the same time as Jo and Jo....
....and so it goes on....Now, I know you could put this all down to luck, or call it happy coincidences...but I've been so consistently "lucky" that I cannot believe it is luck! I am convinced that this is God shaking and moving things in the way he does so perfectly to fit everything in place. He doesn’t promise us life will be easy or that times will never be hard, but he is in control and has promised to be sufficient.
The thing that blows my mind whenever I think about it is how God manages to tie it all together, constantly bringing in things from my past and skills he has given me to form my life as it is now...and then I think of all the other people he is doing exactly the same for and, well, at that point my mind can’t deal with it anymore as it really is amazing!
Oh - and I promise this is the last thing...I have to put straight something I said when I was in Zambia. I have to confess I have made a mistake...I said that I met a boy at the Falconer Home called Gary who spells it Gray...well, turns out, I'm wrong! Gary has a twin brother called Gray!!! My apoligies to both Gary and Gray...I did think that Gary did a good job of being everywhere all the time! I am now wondering whether I ever saw them together or not, whether they were playing a great twin joke on me or whether it was just miscommunication! Either which way - I felt I should put the record straight!!
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Thank God for:
- his perfect timing.
- safe travel and arrival.
- a great first two weeks settling in and the warm welcome we have received.
Please pray for:
- clarity about what to do and what not to do!
- renewed energy. I didn’t stop for the 3 months while I was at home and the first 2 weeks here have been go go go! I’m definitely looking forward to the long easter weekend.
- clear communication with people.
