Josephine

Just a few miles north of the equator in western Kenya lies the Vihiga District.  The main town there is also named the same and is on the southern edge of Kakamega Forest.  We’ve passed through this forest area once before where I was shocked to see a huge baboon scampering across the road.  This time we were lucky enough to see 25 or so large baboons being chased out of town down the main street where they had once again wreaked havoc stealing vegetables and trinkets from local shopkeepers. We stopped at church planter Amy’s house to check out some of the projects Appleseed is involved in with folks there and in the area.  For example, we got to meet a woman there who had just harvested her beets and was getting ready to dry them.  Close by along the road, there were many girls all crammed into a tiny space with huge smiles, lots of laughter, all excited and committed to learning tailoring skills.  Then there was another gal with rabbits for selling.  We met others, a disabled man weaving baskets, another husband and wife working in their hotel (restaurant).  We got to visit with group after group of people who are really lifting themselves up, facing some challenges for sure, but so hopeful for their newfound futures. Then we were led across the main road to head for Alice’s home.  We trekked some distance down a red dirt, thick foliage bordered road “Jambo-ing” (hello-ing) everyone along the way, some with baskets or sacks of beans or potatoes on their heads, others herding two or three cows, a group of men animated and fiercely talking about Kenyan politics.  After a time, we reached Alice’s small vegetable stand signifying the entrance to her home.  She smiled sheepishly and invited us in where we were pleasantly surprised to find that we were coming together with others for a house church gathering. The home was typical with dirt flooring, two windows filling the room with light, and adults taking up every square inch of the tiny living room.  We clustered around the coffee table where I knew African tea (milk, sugar and tea boiled together) would be served later.  Some of the women were those I had met with the day before, so I felt very much at home and happy to see familiar faces.  Others, typically Kenyan, were warm, friendly, and relaxed with us as each one shared introductions. We had a great time in worship, prayer, and Bible study together.  And, then the moment happened, as always does in a house church meeting, the moment you have been waiting for, when the Holy Spirit reveals something to you personally.  That’s when Josephine began to speak. She shared her heart, what house church meant to her.  Before coming to this gathering, she felt so despised as a woman, even as a human being, that no one cared about her and not only was she worthless, but there was no hope for anything better.  She had no family and “was very, very low.”  When she started coming to this group, people accepted her for who she was.  They loved her, cared about her, lifted her up both in a spiritual way and physical way, empowering her by reading the Word of God and her receiving it and believing it for herself.  Now she says she has the “boldness and confidence of a man!”  She has family and is confident to share her testimony and the Word of God with others.   She no longer hides from life, but participates in life.  She has grabbed a hold of the opportunity before her to learn skills with the other women in her house church - skills like beading and crocheting, making things to sell at the larger market in the larger town of Kisumu on Saturdays.  She’s committed to a better way of life, learning business skills, life skills, work skills.  She is passionate in her faith in the God who loves her, picked her up from the trash heap and set her in a family to believe with her, in her and encourage her. Tea came.  Conversation extended, then the traditional handshake good-byes.  Saved for those you know well and love, I was given not only a handshake, but then first a kiss on the left cheek, then the right.  I, too, felt accepted and cared about.  I, too, get to experience what it means to be part of a house church family. Alice's house: Alice's vegetable stand: House church family: Harvesting beets: