Adventures in Africa: April 2008

I finally have some time to sit down and type an email, a blog.

As most of you are aware, Daniel is back in Kenya. He arrived in Kitale last Thursday evening, along with his hilarious and fun parents, Larry & Danel. It’s been a busy few days so far, planning our schedule over the next four weeks while Larry & Danel are here and then visiting all of our TI projects so that they can see what we do.

On Sunday, Larry, Danel, Daniel and I went to Eldoret to visit a children’s home that Daniel and I both used to be a part of. Daniel and I hadn’t been there since November and Larry and Danel hadn’t been there in two years. It was great to see the kids that we’ve seen grow up over the past few years. It was nice to be so welcomed and missed by them. We got to spend a lot of time with them, especially the high school kids that were home on their break, like my sweet son Derrick, whom I’ve missed like CRAZY.

Yesterday was back to the routine of work. We had a usual Monday morning TI staff meeting which consisted of a lot of catching up on all of our parts from the past 6 weeks of Daniel’s absence.

After our meeting, we headed to the hospital to visit one of our children, Benard, whom I told you all about a week or so ago. Benard was released from the hospital today and we wanted to go down there and see him and pay the medical bill for his family. Benard looked SO much better then he did when I saw him a week ago. He was wide awake and sitting up. The doctor, who had been on his case, came and greeted us. She went over a few things with us including the results of an HIV test that was done on Benard. The result was what was thought for awhile now. Benard is HIV positive.

When the doctor told us this, I immediately looked at the grandmother and saw the sadness in her face. She looked at me and I saw her eyes fill with tears, for just a moment and then she looked down. I suddenly felt my eyes fill with tears and I had to turn to Danel and look away from Benard and his grandmother to control the tears from falling.

The doctor explained to Anne, Daniel and I that we can apply for assistance for Benard through EMPATH, a government organization here that provides medication to HIV/AIDs patients, should they qualify. This is something that we’ll be doing this week.

While I was standing at Benard’s bed, a woman came up to me and asked if me and my friends would come and pray for her baby. Anne suspected that the woman may have remembered me from the week before when we prayed for the children in the ward. After we were done with Benard, the woman again approached Larry & Danel, asking them to pray for her child. Daniel asked the woman what was wrong with her child and she said that she was born prematurely; she was born at 7 months.

The four of us followed the woman in to a small room. There were two beds on either side of the room; the one on the left had two women and a little girl sitting on it. The other bed on the right hand side had a sweet little baby with the biggest eyes, laying down but staring up at us. There also seemed to be another baby lying on that bed too but was covered in a few blankets.

Up against the wall in front of us was another bed which had a lady lying down, asleep and in the corner to the right was an incubator with the tiniest baby inside. Daniel asked what the baby’s name was; the mother said it was Michelle. So Daniel began to pray; we all began to pray for this little girl, this little, sweet, innocent child, born way too early.

As we left the hospital, I said to Daniel, “It’s déjà vu…remember the last time we left this hospital?” It was when we heard that the street girl, Josephine and her son Mark-Isaac were both HIV positive.

Yesterday a man showed up at our compound gate. He told me that someone told him about me and that I may be able to help me. Daniel and I listened to his story. His wife had died a few years ago of AIDs and he is now fighting the disease himself. His second wife left him not long ago as he had hit a really weak time in his fight of AIDs and therefore she couldn’t handle it and ran away. This man is getting medical assistance from EMPATH and said that he is doing better but he is still very weak and cannot work.

The reason for his coming to our gate was to seek assistance, not for him but for his seven children whom he cannot properly care for. Since he cannot work, he doesn’t have an income and therefore his children are starving. The sadness in his face, the plea of help for his children was evident. He showed that his plea wasn’t for him but for the sake of children. He wanted to somehow know that they would be taken care of now and once something happened to him.

We will be looking at his story, looking at his case….perhaps we can see what can be done.

This is the world we live in here. HIV/AIDs is all around us; we here of stories, deaths, situations almost daily of this disease and what it is doing and has done to so many families. It doesn’t make it easier; it doesn’t make me more numb to the sufferings. In fact, it angers me, it saddens me, it makes me want to do more to protect and care for the children of this country…for they’re the innocent ones.

That’s all I have for you today. Oh yeah, I’ve posted lots of pictures on my blogger the past few days. You’ll need to check them out.

Love you all!
Meredith
xoxoxo

My apologies for not writing an update sooner. Things have been very busy around here and with the start of rainy season approaching us, the internet and electricity have been on and off.

TI has had a team from California here for almost two weeks now. It’s been fun having them here and the things that they have been doing are AMAZING. Two of the men, Hank & Guy have been assisting in building a kitchen for our children’s home, Hope Bright Future, out in their little village while the ladies (Dolores, Mary & Linda – and our social worker, Anne) spent time visiting other ministries in the area to work with children and then in the afternoons were out in two communities doing women bible studies. The first community, they kept the number controlled to just about 100 women. The second community couldn’t keep the number under control and by the last day, they had over 300 women there.

At the beginning of their trip, the women visited Graceway Academy, a free nursery school for children in the slums of Tuwaini. It’s run by our friends, Africa Connect, who is Eva Joy and her family (you all know who they are or heard me mention Eva Joy a few times). The ladies brought in a bible story, Noah’s Ark, and a felt board for the children to be able to watch the changes in the story. We then did a craft with the children and then took them outside to play with balls and balloons. They were SOOOO excited and happy to have visitors there.

In the afternoons, the women would go to their women’s bible study. They were at the first community for three days (of about 100 women) and the second community for four days (over 300 women). The ladies shared stories and struggles of some of the women the bible; they shared their own testimonies and found some of these widows in the communities sharing their struggles and testimonies. The widows participated in a craft and all received a certificate at the end of the series for attendance. They were so happy to be a part of something. A lot of these women were shocked to hear that bad things can and do happen to white women as well. It was a comfort to them in some ways knowing that we, as white women, can and do understand some of the struggles that they go through. One of the ladies in the group lost her son a few years ago and then a year later, lost her husband. She could relate to the loss that these widows endured. In hearing the testimonies of the team, it brought them a sense of closeness, a sense of “I’m not so alone in my thoughts, in my emotions, after all.” At the end of the women’s conference, a widow stood up and said thank you to the team. She said “Thank you for not just giving us a fish but for teaching us how to fish. We have all learned so much for you these past few days.” The ladies from the team were completely humbled and thankful for the time they were able to spend with the women.

Us ladies then did five mornings at Oasis of Hope, the street kid drop-in centre that I so love. The children were read a bible story, with the felt board images to go along with the story, every morning. We sang songs together; we did tons of crafts together. The ladies bought them brand new footballs (soccer balls) and brought skipping rope for the girls. It was an amazing time with the kids and this was the hardest place for the ladies to leave.

This past Tuesday, I went to Eldoret to pick up two of the last team members: Adam & Harry. They’ve been mostly hanging out with us women and going to the places we go to.

Friday was an emotional day for all of us. The day before, I got word that one of our children in our sponsorship program, Benard, was rushed to the hospital. He hadn’t eaten in about five days and was going in and out of consciousness. Anne, our social worker, had gone to the hospital and was keeping me updated. It was touch and go with Benard for awhile. Then on Friday morning, Anne was at the hospital and sent me a text message stating that they had diagnosed Benard with meningitis.

So I told Anne that I wanted us, the group (minus the two guys going out to the construction site) to go and pray for Benard at the hospital. And we did. Wow, what a sad sight it was…the hospital as a whole. The children’s ward is just packed with children; the smell of urine burns your nostrils. The hospital is not at all sanitary; the beds are of thin foam, sunken in, dirty mattresses. The children are all lined up in beds (a typical ward), needing to share the bed with their parent/guardian. Anne led us to the bed that Benard was in. There he was, wrapped in a white blanket, being held by his grandmother who sat on the bed and rocked him back and forth. Benard may be almost 3 years old but he is the size of a less than a one-year old. It was such a sad sight to see. He looked so incredibly tiny and weak.

Benard was sleeping but I did see him try to open to his eyes twice but he just couldn’t muster the strength. The grandmother looked tired and sad. You could see the worry in her face over her grandson. The grandmother had just been told that Benard would need to stay in the hospital for another ten days as he is at the worse possible state right now and they need to monitor him closely and to continue to pump fluids in to him. The grandmother has been staying with Benard but upon hearing that he would need to stay in the hospital for a longer period of time, she grew concerned over her other grandchildren still at home. We are working on things to ensure that the other grandchildren are taken care of and being monitored.

So, I asked the team to gather around the grandmother and Benard and we laid hands on them and Harry started us in prayer. We all said something for Benard and for his grandmother. The grandmother was so thankful for us to come in and pray for them, to check up on Benard, to show that we cared.

After we prayed for them, we all decided to go amongst the rest of the children in that area of the ward and lay hands on them and pray for them too. The parents/guardians were SO thankful for it. I prayed for this one beautiful little boy Isaiah, who is also suffering from meningitis. I prayed for his mother too, who was there by his side. Afterward, she said she was so thankful that us “white” people would take the time to come in to a hospital like this and spend time with them, praying for their sick children. She was so grateful.

We said our goodbyes to everyone. I wrapped my arms around the grandmother, hugged her tightly and told her that she was loved and God was so proud of her for the way she loved her grandchildren. She looked at me and smiled a big, somewhat toothless smile and said, “Asante Sana Mama.”

As we left the hospital, I could see the emotion on everyone’s face. I could feel the emotion in myself stirring up. I looked over at Adam, one of the team members, and saw the complete devastation in his face, the tears about ready to come down. I came up beside him, grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. I didn’t have to say anything; I didn’t have anything to say; I just wanted him to know it was okay to feel whatever he was feeling at that moment.

After the hospital, we headed to the place, behind the market, where all the street girls hang out. I was excited for this. I have missed my girls.

As Harry, Adam and I were walking to meet up with the ladies (us three walked to town, the others took a taxi), I heard my name being shouted. It just so happened to be two street girls: Lillian and Leah. We came running toward each other and gave one another big hugs. I told them to come with me and the three of us walked hand and hand and hand down the street. We then grabbed the ladies and all headed for our usual stairwell behind the market to sit and hang out with the street girls.

For the most part, the morning turned out to be fun. We had not only street girls but street boys as well. It’s been awhile since I had been back in this area so I got bombarded with kids asking me why I had been so lost and was I here to stay. I confirmed that all was fine and that I was here and not going anywhere. I introduced the kids to the team and they warmed up to them.

One of the street boys asked if I had a camera so that someone could take a picture of him and me. Of course I had my camera on me so I took a picture of us. Well that started a whole craziness of wanting to take pictures so every street child had to sit next to me so we could get our picture taken together. Even this old Turkanan woman wanted her photo with me, so I took it. She was killing herself laughing when she would see the picture of her. I wondered if she had ever seen what she herself looked like. One picture I took of her and me, she was laughing, her mouth wide open, showing the bad shape her teeth were in. When I showed her the picture, she immediately closed her mouth and covered it. I could see the embarrassment in her face so I showed her the picture again, pointed at her photo, then pointed at her and told her in Swahili that she was very beautiful. She looked at me with a wide, bright smile, started hugging on my arm and then laughed hysterically. She couldn’t stop laughing after that even if I had wanted her to (not that I wanted her to). She had tears rolling down her cheeks from the laughter and looking at her pictures and the pictures of the kids.

Then it started to get crazy. It was great having all of the street kids around but then it started attracting the street men who were either extremely high or extremely drunk. One of the ladies had some crafts in a bag that she had tucked under her skirt. Well in a second, one of the street men, reached for the bag of crafts and started running with it. In less than two seconds, he was chased by almost all the street boys that were with us, thrown down, the bag ripped from him and returned to me. The boys then brought the “thief” over to me and asked me what they can do to him for me for stealing. They asked if they could beat him for me or if they could burn him.

Yes, burn him…a normal occurrence/consequence of being caught stealing. They put a rubber tire over the thief, arms locked in to the tire so he can’t free himself and then set the tire on fire. The thief burns alive and all the while a crowd of people watch, most of them cheering at the thief getting what he deserved and listening to the sound of his screams and cries of pain until he becomes silent, dead.

It was clear that this street man (probably around 20 years old or so) was so high and so messed up; he didn’t know where he was, what he was doing or even who he was. The other street kids were looking at me, wondering what I would have them do to this guy. When they brought him over, he hung his head down, managed to look up and say he was sorry. I asked him if he wanted me to call the police, to throw him in jail and have the police deal with him. Again, he said that he was so sorry….in a mumbling, barely audible way. I told him that he was forgiven and told the boys to let him go. I think they were a bit shocked, wanting or expecting more. But I would never have a kid beaten or burned to death. All I can do is forgive him.

That’s when things started to get a little rowdy. The older street men started to get a bit violent in their words and coming toward the team. I looked at Anne and said, “Time to go.” She agreed. The street men were yelling at us to go, get out of there….if we weren’t going to give them money or anything, then we had no right being there, etc. Everything was fine with the street kids; they weren’t asking for anything (because Daniel and I have set boundaries with them and they know that we just like hanging out with them) but the street men, they have different agendas. They don’t care about us, they just care of what they can get from us.

I started to round up the team and told them it was time to go. As we all stood up, one of the drunken men started shouting at us and heading toward the team to scare them off. Without even thinking or caring, I got between this big 6 foot plus drunken man and the team. Although I came up to his chest, I stood tall, got in his face, pointed my finger at him and firmly said, “You will NOT talk to my friends that way, you will NOT go near my friends and you will NOT tell us where to go. Do you understand?” The man was shocked as were a few of the other men around him. He immediately put his hands up, backed away and said, “I’m sorry Mum. I’m sorry. It’s okay.” One of the shop owners, I think, or maybe his friend, started laughing. “Hey, you’re a strong one! This one’s an African.” And he started pointing at me.

Harry asked me if he should take up of the back of the group as we left but I felt more comfortable doing it myself, knowing these guys. I told him it was okay, I would take up the back. It even got to the point where the street men, were running up to me, telling me it was okay for me to come back and stay, that they were sorry for trying to send us away. But we continued on.

We took the street girls with us and took them out for lunch. We went to a restaurant, got a big table and we all sat around it. It was SOOOO much fun spending time with them. There were only five street girls with us and one little street boy that Linda grew fond of. The kids devoured the chicken and French fries and their sodas. One of the street girls makes necklaces and goes around the street with her baby on her back selling them. So I let the kids pick out a necklace they liked and bought each of them one.

After the lunch with the street girls (which gave the team a bigger view of the street life here – they watched Glue Boys and now seeing things in the reality and not just on TV, really hit them in a big and good way), we went to visit a children’s home named Church of Christ. It’s the oldest children’s home in Kitale and is managed by the most amazing people EVER, Bosco and Nancy. I love these people and I could seriously sit and talk with them all day long.

And here’s the coolest thing EVER. We got out of the taxis at Church of Christ and started to get greeted by a number of little children. All of a sudden, I felt this hand on my shoulder and a familiar voice say my name. I turned around to see the most beautiful face that I have missed for so long. It was my sweet street boy Daniel that used to go to Oasis of Hope.

I can’t even describe to you the emotions that I felt at that moment. I seriously grabbed on to him and hugged him for dear life. I picked him up and swung him around; I kept looking at his face to see if it was really him. I covered him with hugs and kisses. I wanted to burst in to tears at the sight of him; I wanted to burst in to laughter in thankfulness that he was okay. Another add-on to the emotional day.

I hadn’t seen Daniel since before the riots started. I had been in contact with Oasis of Hope but they didn’t know where he had gone to. They were told he was at some other home and when I contacted this home, they said they had never heard of him. I have been asking street kid after street kid where Daniel was and none of them knew. Even at Oasis this past week, I was asking some of the older boys that I knew Daniel hung out with in the past, where he was. They didn’t know either.

But there he was…standing in front of me, the beautiful smile that I so loved. It turns out that he approached the Church of Christ pick-up truck in town one day and told them that he believed his sister, Margaret, was living there. It turned out that she was and Bosco and Nancy saw how well behaved he was and thought they would give it a try with him and reunite him with his sister. Nancy said that he is just an amazing, well-behaved boy. And then Daniel brought me over to a beautiful girl and said, “Mary, this is my sister Margaret!” I immediately saw the resemblance (they are full brother and sister) and just wrapped my arms around her and hugged her tightly. I was SOOO happy to meet her. And then of course, I wanted pictures of me with them….so we did. Margaret didn’t know what to think at first of me but then she quickly warmed up.

Daniel told me that he was first in his grade six class after the recently completed first-term exams. I was so proud of him and I just couldn’t stop hugging him. I was still in awe of seeing him again. He was so proud of being in a home and he was so happy to show the team around the boy’s house and where his bedroom was. Bosco and Nancy spoke so highly of him and said that he is such an amazing boy. I was so happy to hear that and Daniel looked really happy too. Wow, I could gush about Daniel for hours.

So that’s pretty much it so far. Lots of pictures of the past two weeks. Will get them up soon.

Please pray for Benard, our little boy in the hospital. Please pray for his grandmother.

Please pray for this team, that the remainder of the trip will be just as powerful and eye-opening as the beginning of the trip.

Please pray for Daniel as he prepares to come back to Kenya next week. I can’t wait to have my friend back here.

Love you all!

Meredith

xoxoxoxo

Adventures in Africa

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Sadness & Anger....

Monday, April 21, 2008

My friends at Oasis of Hope....

Random Photos...seriously.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Pictures of some of my kids....

Monday, April 14, 2008

Busy & Emotional Moments...

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