Daughter of the Heart

Individuals come in and out of our lives for different reasons, but almost always leave a mark, whether it is a long term relationship, a pleasant memory, or in this case another daughter. God blessed me with giving birth to a son, Jeremy and a daughter, Rachel. But when I moved to Kenya in 2002, He blessed me with a daughter of the heart, Violet.

I first met Violet in a cyber cafe. In 2002, very few people had internet in their homes. Most of us depended on cyber cafe's which consisted of a small room full of computers all connected to the internet. You paid by the minute and it was an affordable way to keep up with the other side of the world. Violet was a refugee from Rwanda and lived in a Catholic compound full of other refugees. They taught these young women skills to help them get ahead in life. Violet is the same age as my son, Jeremy, but at the point in time I met her, she had been a refugee for 8 years. She was only 16 when she was forced to leave Rwanda. I won't go into the horrors of Rwanda in this post. If you are unaware of what happened, just Google it and you will learn more than you probably want to know.

She and I developed a mother/daughter relationship during that first year and it continued until she relocated to the UK. She is now married to Rukundo (also a Rwandan) and has given birth to two adorable little boys. Pictured below is the happy couple.

I was privileged to travel to her home in early December. It was a time of celebration and rejoicing to see her and her family again. Her youngest wasn't even born the last time I saw them.

Here they are! David is now 4 1/2 and Samuel is 2. David remembers me from a prior visit, but Samuel wasn't at all sure about me at first. He later warmed up and we had a great time together. Just as my three grandsons in Tulsa, these boys call me Nina.

David is a very sweet little boy. He's very intelligent and easy going. He is well loved at school and very obedient.

Here are the boys with their dad, Rukundo. He is a wonderful father, full of love for his family.

Violet, is a wonderful wife and mother, and an excellent cook! I am very proud of her. She has come a long way since the days in the refugee center. For the first time in many years, she can see a future for herself.

We celebrated our time together with a party. Pictured here is the family, plus Rukundo's nephew, Evode, who lives with them.

Christmas presents from America!

African animals for the boys!

I think every little boy enjoys Matchbox cars.

My time with them was shorter than we wanted, but of course I had to get back to Kenya. God is an amazing God who gives us more than we deserve. I am so thankful He has brought this family into my life. What a blessing they are!

While I was in the states in October, my sister (Linda), my mom and I drove to Arizona where me met my other sister (Shirley) for some R&R.

In my mom and dad's early years of marriage, they lived in California, while their extended families remained in Oklahoma. When they did manage to drive back to Oklahoma they drove right past the Grand Canyon. Mom always wanted to stop...daddy always said "I don't want to go see a big hole in the ground". So in all those years of marriage mom never had the opportunity to see it.

This trip truly was a trip of a lifetime. With me living in Kenya, Shirley in Arizona, Linda and mom in Oklahoma, getting us all together is a feat. None of us were prepared for the grandeur of the Canyon. Wow! Words just seemed to fail if you tried to describe it.

The signposts along the trail said that at certain spots it was 17 miles across to the other side. Its hard to imagine you can see that far so clearly.

The day was perfect! Beautiful blue skies and soft, puffy clouds.

Mom doesn't normally require a wheelchair, but with the uneven hilly paths, we all agreed it was an easier way to get her from place to place.

Sweet memories were made during that awesome trip with my family. On our drive back to Oklahoma we passed through an area with huge rocks! God is an awesome God. Creation bears witness to His majesty.

More than a year ago, the American teen pictured below, Katheen Crow, contacted me in Kenya and asked about helping her with her school project. The "help" she requested was permission to work through my ministry to complete her school project. She elected to collect books to help with a library in a school in Africa. Her request came at a very good time. There is a government primary school near our property that we have wanted to help. I am such a reader I had been thinking about starting a library there, but wasn't sure how to go about it. Kathleen started the process and many others jumped on board.

I decided to make it a broader project and sent out a request to my mailing list for book donations. A Maasai community I work with recently built a small building to house a community library, but they didn't have books. Then another school contacted us about helping them get a library started. My friends and family in America responded big time and I decided to ship a 20' sea container over here loaded with books and other things that can be put to good use in Kenya. My church in Oklahoma sent two vans full of books!

Before we knew it, it was loading day at the warehouse in Texas. How exciting to see these boxes stacking up in the warehouse.

This is the warehouse in Fort Worth that was used as a staging center for collecting all the items to go into the container.

Loading day! Talk about a packed container. These guys worked hard and long on a hot July day in Texas to get this done. Thank you guys for all your hard work!

Loaded and ready to go. Next stop, Mobassa, Kenya! Please pray with us that it gets here on time (September 15), intact, and that the authorities treat it fairly when assessing the cargo. A special thank you to all who made this possible!

Omeroi School

Recently, one of my dear Maasai Pastors informed me of a village that had started a school. I’m not sure how long this school has been functional, but they recently applied to the Kenyan government for certification so they could be officially recognized and thereby receive any benefits the government could provide. The government’s requirement for certification was that they must have books. They didn’t actually even specify what kind of books, they just said books. This village is so poor that trying to purchase books for 50 students was impossible.

We rose to the challenge of helping this community educate their children. I had six boxes of books sitting in my home, so we donated those books, bought some textbooks and traveled to their village. It was a very emotional day when those precious children and their parents saw us unloading the car.

I only bought enough textbooks for 10 students, not comprehending how serious their situation was. I was feeling guilty and sad until the teacher shared how amazing it was to have books. Their school only has four class levels at this point and we were told that they have only one book per classroom that is passed around from student to student.

Seeing so many books in one place was overwhelming to them. What a wonderful day of celebration – seeing their beautiful smiles and laughter.

The children lined up as we passed out cookies. Then the speeches began. It was such a happy time. The two men are Pastor John Shakai and Jeremiah. John is the one who first told me about this school.

Cookies are such a rare treat. These children were just overjoyed.

The head teacher told the children to sing for us. This is always special to me.

There was a certain segment in the song where the children all started jumping in unison. I tried to snap fast enough to see their feet in the air, but it didn't work. I was pleased to see so many shoes though!

These are the parents who turned out for the event.

My daughter Rachel was honored with a necklace and a pair of earrings made by the mother's in the village. This little girl was so excited about putting them in Rachel's ears.

Then it was my turn. More earrings

Precious faces!

Lives were changed on that day. What an overwhelming reality!

Tea Farm

Most of my life in Kenya is filled with working with the Maasai, but occasionally, I take the time to see other parts of this beautiful country. In June when my daughter and her husband were here, we went to a tea farm about an hour out of Nairobi. This farm sits about 7,000 feet above sea level; the air is crisp and fresh -- a welcome relief after the exhaust fumes in Nairobi.

This is a close up of the bloom on an old tea bush. The bushes they use these days are a hybrid with much larger leaves. This old bush was planted by the owner's grandfather in the early 1900's.

The farm is run by an old British couple. Fiona welcomes every visitor into her home, sits you down with a cup of tea and homemade biscuits (cookies) and tells you the story of this particular farm. She is a very interesting story-teller. Along with the history, she goes into details about tea from bush to factory and even discusses the tea auction in Mombassa, Kenya. I was surprised to learn Kenya has the largest tea auction in the world. All-in-all it is very educational and interesting.

After tea and the "talk" we are escorted outside to see their beautiful grounds, a small indigenous forest, and of course the tea plantation. Pictured below is one of their dogs named Chuma. He is anxiously awaiting the arrival of the troop of Colobus monkeys that live on their property.

We weren't disappointed. They showed up and waited at the edge of the roof, while Chuma danced around on the ground. I believe this is a daily occurrence for the monkeys and for Chuma! One of the workers brought out some pieces of bananas and invited us to feed the monkeys if we wanted.
Rachel was quick to accept and stood on the porch and handed up the banana. It was very entertaining and we somehow knew that the dog and those monkeys know that when visitors show up on a daily basis, they must do their part to welcome them.
When you look at the acres upon acres of tea bushes you might forget they are bushes. They just look so carefully groomed and almost like a lawn. But you can see that they are really waist high.
Well, waist high for some. Ricky is a tall guy!
Rachel took this inviting picture of a perfect cup of tea! What a wonderful day.