Graduation Day at Saikeri

One very important area of my ministry is adult literacy. I am not the teacher in any of these classes, but through the faithfulness of God's people, we were able to provide for five (5) adult literacy classes in remote villages scattered in the Maasai area. What a blessing!

We decided to conduct two literacy classes in the community of Saikeri -- one for men and one for women. We started with two teachers and ten women and ten men. Our female teacher got married about three weeks into our course, so the male teacher taught both classes. Two women and five men dropped after sometime, so we ended up with 13 very dedicated students.

Saturday, June 12th was graduation day! All of the students were special, but the man pictured below is over 80 years of age. He has at least two wives and 14 children. He said "I made sure all 14 of my children were educated, now it's my turn"

This beautiful lady is one of our lovely female graduates.
Two of our five men weren't able to make it to graduation due to unforeseen circumstances. But these three proud gentlemen were all smiles.
This is our women's class. Each of them dressed in their finest for this event.
Gifts -- for me! They made me this beautiful necklace. Its actually called a wedding necklace, but I hesitate to mention that for fear some of you may get the wrong idea.
Jeremiah, on the left, acted as our MC and interpreter for the day. James (Right) is also one of my board members and gave a brief word of praise for the students.
This dear pastor's wife, Maria, helped me cut and serve the cake.
This proud group of thirteen students was so excited about the day's activities. The young man on the right is the teacher, John Tira.
The goal of Starfish in providing literacy for these wonderful people is so that they can read their Bibles. They have lived in the dark for too long. Of course there are many benefits in them knowing how to read. I am very proud of all their accomplishments.

A Visit to Enkoireroi Primary School

A recent visit to this remote village brought some unexpected surprised and blessings! We first became acquainted with this place last June (2009). A young pastor, Daniel, saw the need for a school in his village. The nearest school of any kind is 10 km away (about 6.5 miles). The nearest town is 35 km -- and no one in this village has a vehicle.

Due to its remoteness, this area has issues with wild animals such as lions, leopards, and elephants! It is too dangerous for the young children to walk to school, so many delay their education -- if they even get to go to school at all. So Daniel decided to change that. He decided to start a village school in his small mud church.

He began this school with no resources. They have wooden shutters on the windows and he used the wood as a chalkboard to teach the children their lessons.

Last year we took enough books for 20 children although they had 50 students at the time. Additionally, we provided two chalk boards, chalk, exercise books, pencils, and a few other things to get them started.

Cookie time! (Biscuits as they call them here) This is such a rare treat for these rural children.
They all knew we were coming, but when they saw my car, there were smiles of welcome all around. Then when they saw our camera, they all want their pictures taken.
We brought many surprises this time. Pastor Daniel had requested a soccer ball. How could I refuse this sincere and much needed request? In addition to the ball, we also brought four jump ropes. It was so much fun watching them try to master the ropes!The young man in red was home from his school that day. He was so excited about the ball and he knew exactly what to do with it.
He ran and played and entertained. Those children were so excited.
Meanwhile, Pastor Daniel and I were inside the church/school sorting through the educational materials we brought. You can tell by his beautiful smile that he couldn't wait to share the news with the children.
Picture time! We lined the children up outside and handed out books. The children knew that there were far too few books for everyone, but the excitement of just getting to hold a brand new book was enough for some.
The blessing of knowing that soon, many of them will be able to read these books was overwhelming. I can't get enough of their smiles.
This small and woefully inadequate gift to this precious school will be life-changing for many of these children. Daniel shared that because of our help last year, 11 of his pupils were tested in December at the local primary school and were admitted into 2nd grade. That is an amazing success story. He said 8 of the 11 ranked in the top of their class at that school during the first term which ended in March of this year.
Pastor Daniel gathered the children and we went inside for presentations and speeches.
First came the singing! They made me cry. They sang a song about Moses being called to go to God's people. Then they changed the words and sang "Rhoda was called by God to go to His people....." Wow! It touched my heart.
What can I say? Their smiling faces are irresistible

We were welcomed by one and all, but when we were ready to leave, these three ladies showed up singing as they kept the beat with their drum. What a send off for a perfect day!

Popcorn Anyone?

As Americans, we get very accustomed to electricity and running water. It is not at all uncommon in the rural areas of Kenya to be without both. Such was the case on our recent trip.

My daughter bought me a Whirley-Pop popcorn pan for Christmas last year. I decided to take it with me on this trip to treat the rural Kenyans to hot, fresh popcorn. So one of the mornings we were there, they requested that while the fire was hot, could I please make some popcorn! I had just taken a basin bath and washed my hair, but sat myself down in front of the fireplace and started the process.

I had to add wood to the fire to get it going better, then I put in the oil and popcorn......

The rest was easy! Every kernel pops into light fluffy popcorn. I had to make three pans full before everyone was satisfied. Then, and only then did they crank up the generator so I could dry my hair! Such is life in rural Kenya. What fun!

A Day in the Tea Bushes

On our journey back towards Nairobi last week, we stopped at Kaplong to visit a fellow Global Outreach missionary, Elijah Kosge and his wife Janet. Elijah had asked me to prepare a lesson to teach on Sunday morning in his church and we had planned to show The Passion video on Saturday night but couldn't because of broken equipment.

We woke up Sunday morning and as we were having our tea in the house, we could hear children singing outside the windows. I stepped out and realized that one of the Sunday School classes was being held under the trees. It was so much fun to just watch and listen as they sang then listened to the lesson.

After out walk to church (about 2km) we enjoyed numerous "choirs". First we heard from the children's choir, then the men, then the women. The one pictured below is the older girl's choir. Kenyan's love singing and they love choir presentations, so we were entertained for over an hour.

Then it was my turn. My interpreter was amazing. Many Kenyan's have a problem with my Texas accent, but he stayed right with me throughout the lesson.

After church, Elijah wanted to show me the land they recently purchased. They plan to build a Bible school on it, so he was very excited for us to see it. Pictured below is their church. We had to walk through the tea bushes to get to their new plot -- which was two plots over from the church.

I never realized how tall tea bushes are. It looks like a solid mass of green, but when you are walking through them, you realize they are planted in very straight rows. It was new experience for me as we pushed our way through the maze of bushes.
All in all, it was a great experience for me and my team. Kenya is made up of 42 tribes. Included in our group was Elijah, a Kipsigis; Jeremiah, a Maasai, and James and Jackie, who are Luhya's. And of course the American!

Everyday Life in Kakamega

My ministry, Starfish Charities, recently acquired some equipment which would enable us to show Christian videos like The Passion of Christ and The Jesus film in remote areas. On this recent trip to Western Kenya we were scheduled to show the films in two different villages. Unfortunately we had some technical difficulties and we weren't able to do so.

There are times in our lives when we have to take the lemons and make lemonade. This was one of those times. The villages were so disappointed and we will definitely have to plan for a future trip to fulfill our promise. When our projector overheated, we hoped we could make the necessary repairs to the circuit board in the nearby town of Kakamega. James is a technical saavy guru with amazing skills. While he was in the electronic shop repairing our machine, the rest of us sat in the car and watched the busy market area.

Morning tea is an essential to Kenyan life. This little girl is standing in front of a beauty shop drinking her tea and watching the world go by. Notice the words painted on the door. The word "perm" was self explanatory, but when I reached the second word "calkeat" I thought I was looking at a foreign language. Jeremy and Jackie help me sort it out. It really mean "curl kit" -- meaning hair rollers! The intricacies of another culture trying to adapt to the English language can sometimes be so baffling. Mostly, I laugh at myself when I try to wade through it.

We had the usual inquisitive passers-by who sometimes stopped to see what we were doing. This man was so drunk he could hardly stand. He was carrying a trash bag full of empty soda and water bottles. He told us a wild tale of being an "announcer" on a local radio station and asked if we had ever heard of him. We know he was looking for money for his next drink and hoping for a handout. As funny as he was with his wild tales, my heart broke for him but I felt so powerless to say or do anything that would truly help him. Even sharing the Love of Christ and the hope he could have in Him was lost due to his drunken state.

Everyday life on a market street.

These ladies were setting up their shop and displaying their wares, getting ready for a busy day.

James was in the shop upstairs. We could see him with many interested guys crowded around him. The people on the street below we going about their business oblivious to anything else.
The hour we spent sitting and watching was entertaining and in many ways life-changing for me. Experiences like these remind me that while I am an unusual site in these people's daily lives, their friendliness and acceptance of me reminds me that they are so much like me and the obvious differences quickly recede as we share in the human experience called life!

Precious Memories

Two weeks ago, I traveled to Western Kenya for a multipurpose trip. I will do a series of Blog entries sharing different aspects of my trip. Traveling with me was Jeremiah, and another board member and his wife, James and Jackie Weche.

We were in James' home area and he needed to stop by his son's school. While he was inside talking to the administration, we sat in the car. It was recess time so the children were outside trying to figure out what we were doing there. There were no other cars and that in itself was a site to behold for them. They were very interested in us and what we were doing but they were cautious about approaching the car........

Finally, they got bolder and approached my side of the car. Seeing a white person in this rural area is a rare occurrence and they couldn't resist. After I stuck my arm out to greet the first child, the others swarmed the car to "touch" the mzungu (white person). I'm not sure what runs through their minds when they touch me, but their smiles and joy were so contagious and provided me with a precious memory.

Adult Literacy

Early February found us in the bush preparing to start new adult literacy classes. The ladies in the first pictures are from Iyarat. They are so excited to have the opportunity to read.

The men you see, hoped to join the class with the ladies in this village, but we told them we would have to start another class for the men in the future. We have tried, but other than these few men, we couldn't get enough together to start a class. Hopefully, the future will find us there teaching the local men also.

This is our lovely teacher. She is young, but seems very dedicated to helping these "mamas" learn.

The next week, we started two classes in a community further down the road in a place called Saikere. We began two classes there -- one for 10 men and one for 10 women. They are so excited. I brought numerous reading glasses to Kenya last fall. This is one of our male students so excited because he can see well again. What a blessing!

Helping these precious people learn to read and do simple math is a joy. So many of you have helped make this possible. We buy the materials and they pay about twenty-five cents per class time to come and learn. That twenty-five cents per student per day goes to pay the teachers. The cost of training materials for 10 students is only $200. If you want to sponsor a village, please contact me at rabquilt@yahoo.com and I'll give you the information you need to help us make a difference...one life at a time.