Ooleserian Literacy Graduation

On Saturday, June 11, we celebrated with 11 lovely Maasai women as they completed our first adult literacy class of 2011. The church shown below hosted the classes, and the pastor of the church, Pastor Richard, was their teacher.

Due to the fact that I am in the states undergoing cancer treatment, my faithful board members carried on without me and made sure the day was a huge success. A big thank you to Joanna, Jeremy, Pastor Paul, and James and visiting Global missionary, Denise. As they entered the church they saw the ladies' worksheets proudly displayed.

This is Pastor Richard. He is a Maasai from that community and has a great love for his people.

As is customary when visitors attend a gathering, each of the Starfish representatives were given an opportunity to share. Here we see James Weche addressing the crowd.

This lady is Hellen and she is the class representative. They would all share if given the opportunity, but given the time restraints of the program, we always ask for one lady to share the thoughts and hearts of the class. She said "I can open the Bible anywhere and read God's Word. All the Bible is open to me and I can also write my name." We truly take alot for granted, but this was huge for these ladies.

Pastor Paul Ochilo (left) preaches, while Jeremiah (Jeremy) translates.

We always make official certificates for the students to have so they can show others they have completed the literacy training. Joanna stands with each student and Pastor/Teacher Richard as the certificates are awarded. This beautiful lady is Damaris Kaikat

Hellen Parsapayat

Josephine Sammy. Most likely she is married to a man named Sammy. Many of these women don't have official identifications or birth certificates, so they take on the names of their husbands.

Joyce Muntet

Joyce Nina

Lucy Ilanet

Madaline Maseker

Maria Kurraru

Rohda Joseph

The entire class with the certificates

Its always a joy to watch them share their work with the families. The children are thrilled their mom's are learning to read and do math.

We handed out gifts for all the graduates which included a new wrap (lesso) and a goodie bag consisting of toiletries. However, it sometimes backfires on us and there are items in the goodie bags that require explanation. One of the ladies got hair conditioner. Since most of them shave their heads or at the very least cut their hair very closely, it was a difficult explanation. Denise was imaginative when she told the lady the product would make her head soft.

Then of course they had no concept of dental floss! Denise had to demonstrate. You can see how fascinated they were with this demo. Thank you Denise!

Our group - minus James the photographer -- stood on the platform while the class presented them with thanks and gifts.

No celebration is complete without a cake. Joanna's neighbor graciously baked this lovely cake for our special day.

Cutting the cake is a very special thing and highly anticipated.

Joanna was blessed to see the men serving the cake. Maasai men typically expect the women to do the serving, but in Christian circles, more and more we are seeing these servant gentlemen taking on that role. Such a blessing.

Pastor Richard serves his students.

The ladies enjoying their cake and chai (hot tea)

We don't always have a meal at these celebrations, but this group wanted to share lunch with our group. What you see pictured here is their kitchen. Joanna shared with me that the ladies from this community always wear matching lessos (wraps) for special occasions.

Hand-washing time before the meal.

Yum! One of my favorites. Stew and chapatis (sort of like flour tortillas)

This picture made me cry with tears of joy and longing. Its a little hard to see what they are doing, but when Joanna told them I send them my greetings, they cross their arms over their hearts as a sign that they received my greetings. Wow. Very special indeed!

Olopolis Primary School, Kisames Kenya

I love happy occasions! This week I got to experience one of those when Starfish Charities delivered books to a Government Primary School near our property. (For the "back story", please read the blog entry from August 2010.) Our container full of books arrived in October while I was in the states. Jeremiah and I spent the end of December and much of January sorting books so we would only give them age appropriate reading materials. The problem with sorting books is that I wanted to read every one of them! I love to read.

This is how we found the library building when we first went. The empty shelves were heartbreaking.

One of the teachers, Esther, had a desire for a library at this school. She cleaned this building the best she could, and organized the few books they had. However, all her efforts didn't produce the result she wanted for these children. So, she started praying -- asking God to send someone to help make this happen. God is so amazing. After reading the intro of the August 2010 post you will realize that Kathleen started collecting books to be sent to this library two years ago. God already had a plan.

James and Gregory went right to work preparing to plaster the walls so they could have a smooth surface to paint.
Voila! That ugly gray became sunshine yellow! What a difference a few coats of paint made in that room.
In Kenya, the blackboard is really just part of the wall painted black with paint that is actually called "Blackboard Paint". Now instead of the grey board they had when we started, they now have a shiny new blackboard.

On February 17, I went with four Starfish board members to deliver the books and officially hand them over. We asked for a few minutes of their time so we could take pictures. "Our" plan was to hand them over, allow them time to get them organized on the shelves, then come back at a later date for the official event. This is Kenya! Anything good is cause for a celebration.

This gentleman is the head teacher

Our short program turned into a three hour event. They brought in desks, invited all their school committee officials, chairman, and teachers. Each person was invited to introduce themselves and share what was on their heart.

When my turn came, I shared the story about Kathleen in Texas who started the book collection as a school project. (Jeremiah is interpreting for me. He talks with his hands as much as I do!)

These are the committee members along with head teacher.

From left to right are Jeremiah, Pastor Paul, me, Joanna, and James. We are five of eight board members for Starfish Charities.

We were fascinated when this Maasai man began handing out sodas. They didn't have a bottle opener, so he used one capped bottle to open the other one. Amazing. He didn't chip a single bottle.

On the table is a platter of boiled goat meat! Anything worth celebrating is worth having (1) meat (2) bread, and (3) sodas. These are things they don't get to buy often because of cost.

Ruth and I were sifting through the boxes. The teachers were so excited. I can only imagine how thrilled the children are going to be.

And speaking of children. They are the reason for it all. These precious lives are so worth investing in. Thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving to my ministry so we can pass on the blessings to these precious lives. This is an investment in their future. Thank you for helping me make a difference.....one life at a time!

Tumaini (Hope)

From time-to-time, Starfish Charities has the opportunity to be a part of something that is not related specifically to the Maasai. A group of doctors in Fort Worth, Texas donated some used medical equipment and supplies to my ministry. I immediately thought about this very special maternity clinic located in the Korogocho slum in Nairobi, founded and run by Dr. Joe Radkovich of Australia. I have known Dr. Joe and his family since the first year I was in Kenya. When I mentioned the equipment and supplies, he was happy to receive them.

The equipment arrived on my container in October, and on February 4, I went with two of my board members to his maternity clinic for the official handing over of the equipment. We were all blessed and amazed at this wonderful work he is doing. His clinic is well-designed to accommodate these precious women who otherwise may deliver in their homes in very unsanitary conditions. Please join me as we journey through his clinic and the surrounding area.

Martha was our official guide as we toured the hospital. She was extremely articulate in English so it made the tour so comfortable and enjoyable. She is a nurse, but as with all the nurses in the clinic, they rotate duties so they are aware of every aspect of the operations. Here she is explaining the procedure of processing the patients from entry to exit.

This is the scale on which they weigh the babies. Hanging down is a little pouch that you put the baby in to see how much it weighs. Its actually very effective and is widely used among clinics countrywide.

This is obviously the pharmacy. They have a system of record keeping that requires them to inventory at the beginning and ending of each day so they can account for all the drugs.

On to the lab. I'm not sure what all the equipment is in the lab, but I was impressed with its spaciousness and light airy feel. As in every aspect of this hospital, Dr. Joe had high standards which result in efficient patient care.

I could do a whole blog on the mural in the waiting area. It is a story of the gospel. Starting from left to right on the top row and proceeding down to the second row, you have a prefect plan of salvation laid out. The "crown" is God, the stick picture is mankind, and the circle is the world. In the first picture you have perfection with God over man and the world. In the second picture you have sin and the depiction of man removing himself from God's authority and now serving himself, which results in death (3rd picture). Because of Christ's death on the cross, you have an opportunity to make a choice whether to accept his gift of restoration and Lordship, or reject it and be your own master. Every patient who enters that waiting area gets to hear the gospel.

This was immunization day, so all these moms with their babies were waiting their turn for their babies to get their various immunizations.

This is an overflow waiting area. Dr. Joe's teen aged children painted this adorable mural on the wall.

Its wonderful he was thinking about his employees when he made this kitchen and break area. They have a refrigerator, microwave, and two burner hot plate for preparing their tea and meals.

This is the labor ward. It has four beds, but is roomy enough to add several more if needed. Joe says they deliver about 80 babies a month.

This is the sign-in area of the labor ward.

Pictured here is Dr. Joe with a very amused nurse posing for the camera. This is the piece of equipment that was donated by the doctors in Texas.

Any woman who has had a baby probably knows exactly what they are seeing here. But for those who may be uninformed, these are delivery beds.

We really should have had someone sit in this wheelchair! It looks a little forlorn in its half folded position, but the purpose of the picture was that it was also donated and came over on our container to be given to this clinic. They were very excited about it because their only other wheelchair had flat tires!

Here is Martha proudly presenting their washing machine! For most of you that may seem like a no-brainer to have a washing machine. But in many areas of the country they don't even have electricity, much less something like this. You usually see a washing area fill with buckets and basins and ladies bent over hand scrubbing all the dirty linens.

From the beauty of the inside to the disturbing poverty on the outside. What you see in this picture is the Dandora dumping site for all the city of Nairobi's trash collection. The buildings in the foreground are people's homes. Most are probably one room dwellings.

Another view of the dump. As the days grow hot and the garbage heats up and spontaneous combustion occurs setting off little smoky fires. You can't see it in this picture, but there are people sifting through the trash looking for anything usable -- whether it is empty plastic water bottles to be sold, or food that is still edible.

More dwellings.

We were standing on a balcony above this pathway. Mine and Joanna's white skin really shines in this area and we were spotted by these two little boys.

Life goes on. This is everyday for these people. Dr. Joe has built a beautiful refuge for the women of this area. They are able to come to his clinic and receive the care they need and give birth in beautiful surroundings. A very big thank you to the doctors in Texas for donating this much needed equipment. In the true sense of what Starfish Charities is all about you did "make a difference" in the lives of the women in the Korogocho slums.