New Borehole Makuka Kenya 2014

Boreholes!  Most Americans would call them water wells, but whatever you call them, they make a life-changing difference in whole communities.  As they say "water is life" and it is very evident in the lives of individuals who have had life-long struggles with finding water for their families and their animals.

I was recently connected with Pastor Brandon Rainey of First Baptist Church, Rogersville, AL.  His church has connections in Kenya and they were made aware of the need for a borehole in Makuka, which is several hundred kilometers from Nairobi.  The need is great, and the church began raising funds to make this possible.  I was asked to help facilitate the drilling process and oversee this worthy project.

A few weeks ago, I went with the local pastor, Pastor Bosco, and Paul, of Great Ventures Company Ltd. (the drilling company) to Makuka for a site inspection.

If you could put a big red "X" between these two men, you would see where the proposed borehole will be drilled.

Our welcoming committee!  The local children saw the car pull up and surrounded us with welcoming smiles.

Pastor Bosco is from this area, so of course, it is a must that we visit his family while we were there.  This is his brother's home.  I was introduced to his sister-in-law, and was shown the home I will be staying in next week when during the drilling.

The traditional structures in this area are very different from the Maasai homes I am accustomed to visiting.  The building on the left is the kitchen, and the structure on the right is a storage area.

This is the chicken house.  In keeping with the Kamba culture, when we were leaving I was given a live chicken to take home with me!  I have never carried a live chicken home in a sack.  Life here is never boring.

As we were leaving the village, they wanted me to see where the local women get their water now.  I am not sure how far we were from the village, but it was not close -- perhaps a couple of kilometers.  The women have to carry 40 pound containers of water back to their homes.

We are standing on a dry river bed.  When they do get rains a few times a year, this dry bed swells with water, but most of the year, this is how it looks.

The women have to dig until they reach water.  Its not clean water, but their families and animals have to have water to sustain life, so they do what they must.

This is where they are currently getting water from.  They began with a small hole, but as the water table drops, the hole gets larger and deeper. The mounded up dirt is from the digging.  They surrounded the "pit" with scrub to warn others of its presence, and to hopefully keep children out of danger.

We entered the gate and began our walk downward to see the hole.

I am amazed at the depth of this hole and how much digging it requires.  It is sandy and loose.  We often slid as the sand moved.

This is the pit.  The branches you see below, are put across the opening to try to stem the collapse of the hole.  It doesn't always work.  Women have lost their lives as the hole collapses and they are buried under all that sand.

They most likely do this as a team, with some brave soul literally descending to the water level and passing the water upward and handing it off -- over and over again -- til everyone has their containers filled and the troughs outside the pit are filled so the animals can drink.

I zoomed a lot and got this picture of the actual water hole.

Here one of the men is standing on the supporting branches.  Very scary for me.  I can't even imagine this as a daily event in my life.

You can see how far down we were.  Those aren't natural hills behind us.  That is the sand that is mounded up as the women dig deeper and deeper.

We were running late that day trying to get back to Nairobi before dark.  I asked if we could bypass this hole and see it when I return for the drilling.  They said "no, because if it rains, the hole will collapse, the river will flow, and there will be no evidence it was ever there.  Can you imagine having to do this over and over again through the year between the rains?

Please pray for the drilling of the borehole in Makuka Kenya.  Pray for a successful well.  Pray for the safety of all concerned.  Pray for me as I travel to this remote village next Wednesday.  I plan to stay in the village for three days, and hope I get to see the water flow!  Please check back to see my blog update after the borehole is drilled.  I know you will see many smiles on the faces of the villagers.

2014 Literacy Graduations

Each year, since 2008, Adult Literacy has been a huge part of Starfish Charities.  It never gets old!  In each community we have reached into, we have observed the transformation that occurs when individuals learn to read.  Some will move very quickly through the curriculum, while others move very slowly.  We have always tried to keep our numbers below 15 per class/teacher so we can give them our best.

This year, however, one of our classes had 22 students.  They were so eager to learn and our teacher recruited a helper, so we said yes.  Below are pictures of the graduation of those 22 individuals.  What a joy it was to see the smiles on their faces.

Addressing the students and their families and encouraging them to keep on keeping on is always a pleasure.  I was in the States most of the time this class was running, but our two faithful teachers kept things going.  They even held some nighttime sessions when needed.  I am so proud of all of them.

One of our students on graduation day.  They show up in their finest.  Their beautiful beadwork is such a part of who they are in their culture.

This is the pastor of the church in which we held our classes.  He never had the opportunity to go to school, so he was thrilled to join the class and learn.  Here he is demonstrating his ability to write his name.  That doesn't sound like much, but prior to this, when he had to sign a legal document, the best he could do was put an "X" on the signature line.

Meet, James (middle), our faithful teacher.  He taught Kindergarten in the local school in the morning hours, then continued with adult literacy in the afternoons three days per week.  Also pictured with me and James, is Pastor John Shakai, one of my board members.

Gifts are always exchanged on these celebratory days.  I started with beads that had been given to me in the past, but they just kept adding more.  This sweet lady is showing off her new lesso (wrap).  We gave each lady a new one, along with a couple of other gifts.

My friend, Gloria, joined us for the day.  They also gave her a necklace.  They are always so excited to have visitors.

Another friend, Ellis Townsend, was here in Kenya and decided to join us for the day of celebration.

You can't have a celebration without a cake.  Cake is a very big deal in these communities.  So, we cut the cake at the end of the day and then had lunch!  Americans think of cake as dessert.  Kenyans look at cake as part of the celebration.

Me and the pastor after the ceremony.

The whole class and teachers, and a few children.  They love having their pictures taken!

Later that week, we had another graduation at another community.  Isek is a much smaller community, so we had a much smaller class.  Also, during months of July, August and September, they experienced a severe drought.  When that happens, they have to move their animals to greener pastures.  Some of these communities almost literally clear out until the rains begin.

This class only started with 12 students.  Eight attended for several weeks, but in the end, we only had four graduates who met the attendance requirement to graduate.  We felt it was important to acknowledge these faithful four, so we had a celebration just for them.

This is one of our teachers.  We didn't really need two teachers, but these young ladies are best friends and wanted to do this together.

Pictured here are both of our teachers receiving their certificates and gifts.

Our graduates with their teachers. Their ability to read enables them to read their Bibles.  That is our ultimate goal! 

And, of course, the cake!  Notice the misspelling on Succes?  Maybe our baker needs to attend class.  No worries, it tasted great!  

A special thank you to those of you who support Starfish Charities on a regular basis or even just occasionally.  Every little bit helps make a difference in the lives of these precious people. Never think "little" is too little.  It all adds up to help me continue the work God has led me to do.

Pastor Training with Thomas Trock

During the month of March, I had visitors from Orofino, Idaho, my good friends, Thomas and Jenny Trock.  Thomas teaches on a weekly basis at a local prison near their home.  He was very excited about spending time with the Maasai pastors.

Emmanuel translated for Thomas  They were quite a pair!

Outside during break time the pastors enjoyed the sun and fellowship.

Thomas taught, then broke them up into small groups for discussions.  This is pastor Joseph sharing what his group had discussed.

Our faithful cooks, Teresa and Anstaciah.

Thomas tried desperately to get them into groups of four.  It didn't work.  They just kept migrating to their friends and staunchly refused to budge.  This group had five!

Small groups.

Tea time!  It is a must in this culture and gives them time to check their phones and catch up with one another. 

Yummy lunch outside.  The weather was just perfect.  The fellowship -- priceless.

After lunch.  Back to small groups.

On Friday, Thomas had a foot washing service  This was an incredibly humbling event.

Many were just overwhelmed.

Here's the group with Thomas and his wife Jenny.

Pastor's Training in New Training Center

It is very difficult to express the utter joy I feel when I look at these pictures and remember these moments.  The Starfish Charities, Biblical Studies has begun!  We are starting with the pastors we know and working our way around to as many others as possible.  The books are on the shelves, the building is furnished, and the pastors are eager to learn.

A small percentage of the Maasai pastors are literate, some are even graduates of denominational seminaries, and other Bible colleges.  However, a larger percentage are semi-literate or totally illiterate.  Pictured below is a group of literate pastors. 

One thing I have noticed about the Maasai, many have vision issues.  I don't know if its because they have spent their lives outdoors in the wind and dust, or perhaps its due to the smoky fires in their homes.  The result is they sit in class and squint.  Many of you have purchased reading glasses from the dollar stores and put them in my hands.  I can't tell you what a difference it has made to these pastors.

Sleeping under the trees is a common site during breaks from our training sessions.  As nice as our facility is indoors, they love being outdoors when the weather allows.

We were given a flat screen television and 5 laptops by Mentorfish.com.  Using that equipment, we used a training curriculum from Jesus Alive ministries, which was provided by Life Outreach International.  The combined gifts from these three ministries, allowed us to launch our training program.  The beauty of the DVD curriculum is it comes in 7 different languages.  Here we are training our literate pastors in English, but the next week, we trained illiterate pastors using the Swahili version.

Meet our two cooks, Anastaciah and Teresia.  They do a fabulous job of taking care of our pastors with yummy food, but also doing general housekeeping.

The pastors were a bit overwhelmed, but fascinated by all the books available for their use.  Here they are just pulling books off the shelves and learning how to do research.

One day, I left my camera behind when I had to go run an errand.  This was the result!  They really enjoyed their antics in front of the camera.

One of our faithful board members, Penina, dropped in for the day and is seen here serving tea.

The benefit of this training facility to these pastors is beyond measure.  My hope is that eventually we will be able to keep it open every day even when we don't have scheduled training sessions.