In early June some dear friends, Ron and Janice from Poteau, OK came to Kenya for four days for a pastor's conference. Janice met with the pastor's wives on Sunday and then again on Monday morning, but on Tuesday she and I had the whole day to spend with one another. I took her to one of my favorite spots -- Kitengela Glass. It is a wild and bizarre place where they take bits of used glass, crush it, melt it down and make something new and beautiful with it.

We stayed in a nearby lodge and walked across the field with our Maasai guide/guard to get to the factory. On the way we encountered gazelles and antelope. We also saw this little guy very busy with his buffalo dung. This is a dung beetle. They roll up these balls of dung. It is such a funny sight to see them rolling this dung around, but they are very useful little creatures.

When we got to the river gorge we could see Kitengela Glass across the river, but to get there you had to walk across this narrow, swinging suspended bridge. First our guide had to whistle to get the attention of the Glass employee on the other side. There are actually locked gates on either end of the bridge to keep people off until the attendant can lead them across. After the attendant arrived he unlocked the gates and made us sign a waiver to cross the bridge! Janice and I both wish we had kept a copy of the waiver. It said

"I promise not to hold Kitengela Glass responsible for injury or loss of life from crossing the bridge"

We paid the $2.00 fee and crept onto the bridge. I went first so I could take a picture of Janice. It was scary.

After the bridge crossing you enter into another world. Its as if some hippies from the 60's moved in and created this wonderland. This floor in the "bead" showroom is made from glass.

There were these funny chairs throughout the compound.

This room just sparkles and glows from the sunrays hitting all that hanging glass.

Janice posing on the "lady" lounger

This face was pressed into the concrete sidewalk.

More funny chairs.

This cracked us up. It is an old style travel trailer covered in concrete and glass made in the shape of a dinosaur. Someone actually lives in it.

My turn to cross the bridge last so Janice can take pictures. I had to prove that I actually walked across that scary bridge. I would do it again. Anyone interested?

On Saturday, July 3rd, Rachel, Ricky and I, along with Jeremiah, Pastor John and his wife Maria, traveled to the small community of Iyarat for a women's literacy graduation. This was actually one of the first classes we launched this year, but the teacher took a job and left without telling us, so for three weeks, these ladies were without a teacher. That break in their class time resulted in basically starting over when we located another teacher for them. Now, 20 weeks later, they are excited about what they've learned and we had a wonderful day.

This beautiful lady is one of the first Maasai I became acquainted with 7 years ago when my ministry here started. Her name is Peninah. She has a son, Josphat, who is in Bible School. My ministry, Starfish Charities, has supported him financially by paying for his fees every quarter. When his wife gave birth to their first daughter, they named her "Rhoda" after me!

This lady came to graduation even though everyone feared she would give birth before the day was finished. I knew she was pregnant, but I had no idea it was time! She was very quiet throughout and it was only afterwards that I learned how close to delivery she really was.

These are our proud students, along with their teacher (pictures on the left). We started with 10 and ended with 9.
Passing out gifts to them is one of my favorite things to do. The beautiful wraps they wear get very worn out in a short period of time, so our gift to them was a Starfish bag, a wrap and a handkerchief. To them it was better than Christmas!

Happy faces while they display their new wraps.
You can't outgive a Maasai. They had gifts of earrings and necklaces for me and Rachel and even a necklace for Ricky.


Rachel and Ricky all decked out in their gifts.
We went outside for a group photo session. What a glorious day.

My daughter RAchel, and her husband Ricky came to Kenya in June. I will be posting a series of Blogs in random order about our travels and ministry while they were here. Last week we traveled to Maasai Mara to see God's magnificent creation in the form of animals. I am labeling each picture in case there are some strange creatures you may not have encountered before. Enjoy!

Male Ostrich

This is called a Secretary Bird
Most of you will know these are warthogs. I wish we could have captured them on the run because their tails are straight up like little flags when they are running. They often eat on their front knees.
This is a wildebeest. These travel by the hundreds of thousands or possibly millions in an annual migration from Tanzania to Kenya. We didn't see them in those numbers, but the migration has begun and we saw several clusters of them. They normally travel with zebras during migration.
This beautiful bird is called a Lilac Breasted Roller. (Try say that 10 times fast)

This is a Bustard
We were delighted to see these two beautiful cheetahs before we even entered the gates of Maasai Mara. They were teasing the zebras and wildebeests. They would first run at the other animals and then back off. Then the wildebeests and zebras would run at them. I think the cheetahs were seeing a meal, but it didn't happen while we were there. They eventually ran off into the bush.
This is the Sand River Crossing at the Tanzania border. We walked through the gates and stepped into Tanzania.

Jeremiah couldn't resist touching the skulls of an elephant and caped buffalo at the Sand River Crossing.
I never tire of watching these magnificent creatures. Elephants are so interesting to watch. They are very loving and affectionate to one another.
Additionally we saw the following:

Zebras

Grants gazelles

Thompson gazelles

Giraffes

Topi

Silver backed jackal

Antelope

Hartbeest

Vultures

Superb Starling (bird)

Egyptian geese

Waterbuck

Lizards

Maribou stork

Babboons

Hippos

Mongoose

Cape buffalo

Dik Dik (smallest deer about the size of a dog)

Lion

Hyena

It was a wonderful trip enjoyed with family and friends.

Saikeri Schooldays

This post should have come before the graduation, but I was busy and couldn't get to it. There are some very interesting things about this class, however, that need to be shared, so here goes.

When we choose a community in which to have a literacy class, we first have to find a teacher. Most of our teachers are young individuals who have completed high school. Since this is basic literacy we are dealing with kindergarten - second grade materials. The materials Starfish provides for each student costs about $14.00, then we also provide two chalk boards, chalk, and some essentials for the teacher. Each student pays the equivalent of roughly $2.00 for their packet of materials and then they pay 25 cents per day of class. That money goes to pay the teacher's salary. So with ten students, the teacher is paid approximately $2.50 per day for two hours of class time. Believe it or not, they are excited about that pay in these rural areas.

On the chalkboards below, you can see some of their daily lessons. In this case, the days of the week in English and Swahili.

There were some very interesting relationships in this class. This old man is past 80; has at least two wives and 14 children. He said he has made sure all 14 of his children were educated, now it is his turn. Pictured with him is one of his wives who is also a student in our literacy training.

Pictured below is another man who attended class with his two wives. During graduation he said "I now have something I've never had before. In the past we were in the dark, now we are in the light"
This young man is John Tira, our teacher. Pictured with him is his mother -- also a student. She said she worked hard to make sure her children were educated. Now her son is educating her.
This lady impressed us with writing her name on the chalkboard. Her name is Jerusha. At the graduation, she spoke as a representative for the ladies. She was holding her book as she spoke and said "I am holding this book because I love it." She further stated "in the past women never hold books -- only children. It is because of God that I can now hold this book and know what it says".
For all of you who helped make this possible -- a huge thank you for your help. The prices for their books has gone up and then there are expenses connected to the graduation, but for only $250 you can sponsor 10 students for literacy. I hope more of you will consider sacrificing a little and help us as we prepare for 2011.

God bless you!

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!