Appleseed Travel Journal

— Bikeke School for Destitute Children & Orphans--Possible Land Found!

We have had several days available (before our main conference starts this weekend) to devote to the school and the women’s center.  I’m sure Brooks will have plenty to share on the later. Regarding the school… I don’t even know where to begin.  So, here goes the Reader’s Digest version…
  • The school’s staff has grown larger and is sooooo impressive.  They speak such hope and love into the children and you can see the way the kids are responding with enthusiasm.
  • We have heard so many stories of children who have been rescued from hopelessness.  For example one 12-year-old who was living house to house, from one foster home to the next, was taken in by the school.  He is in first grade because he has NEVER been to school before.  Yes, he makes for a very tall first-grader.  Yet he is flourishing, learning, and being cared for.
  • We may have found our first plot of land that needs to be purchased to firmly establish this school!  Five acres are required altogether in order to be fully registered.  This plot is 1.5 acres in an ideal location.  There are surrounding plots that can be purchased in the future.  We have nearly enough funds available to make this purchase and trust that the remainder will come in.  We feel that it may, very well, be a God-thing that this opportunity has come up while we are here because we will be able to move on it quickly and secure a good price.  We are meeting with an attorney today and appreciate prayers on this.
Note: the public schools are completely failing the Kenyan children because the money needed to provide education is often siphoned off by corrupt officials.  Classroom sizes often swell to over 100 students in a class and many children complete their primary education (6th grade) who are still unable to read! Working with John (the church leader and director of the school) has kept me jumping but there is a clear sense that God is at work and leading.  I so appreciate all of you who are praying with us!

— First Day in Kitale

After a supposed rest in Nairobi from the grueling trip from California to Kenya, we were finally in the Nairobi airport at 7 a.m. Monday morning to catch our flight to the western city of Kitale.  Unfortunately, as excited as we were to be finally going to the place and people we’ve come to love, we were told that there was a slight delay:  our plane was in some eastern beach location and wouldn’t be by to pick us up for another 5 hours.  Not to be dismayed, Roger and I both set up camp at a nearby table with laptops, Kindles, phones and knew exactly how we were going to spend the morning.  

It’s amazing how acclimated we’ve become to Kenyan ways.  Undaunted as we may have been before, now buying a cup of tea, I know that when I’m asked, “White or black,” I’m being asked if I want my tea with milk, as in made with all hot milk, or just water.  Or, if I want a soda, I don’t ask for diet pepsi, I ask for Coca Light or Pepsi Max and sometimes it’s even available!  We’ve gotten quite accustomed to carrying TP with us, in our pockets, just in case (there’s none available), because if it’s needed, it’s probably not going to be a “just in case” time.  It used to be unnerving to be in the minority and have people stare at our glaring whiteness, and now we hardly even notice. And, then there’s American time and there’s African time…need I explain?  But, seriously, what is the big rush??

The hours quickly rolled by and soon we were boarding our plane.  We laughed as we boarded and the British man ahead of me was questioning the steward, “What do you mean I have a seat assignment?  You never have done that before; the seats weren’t even numbered before!”  It was true.  Fly 540, the name of the airline, was definitely making some upscale changes!  We had seat assignments!  And, we were on the big plane.  This was different:  two seats on either side of the aisle.  So, of course, Roger was on the aisle; I was by the window.   I had to laugh as a very excited American gal across the aisle from Roger started a conversation with us.  She and I had a great time, as she eagerly told us about going to see her daughter and grandbabies here in Kenya, and then discussing another daughter’s wedding in July and so and so’s anniversary, and...   It was great!  I loved being entertained for the jaunt, and occasionally we even allowed Roger to add his two bits as we talked over, through and around him!  

Our friend Dawson met us and brought along another friend we knew, Aaron and his “first-born” Nathaniel.  What a great reunion, as I laughingly commented on Dawson’s handsome beard.  He quickly explained, as I had forgotten the usual “Saturday go to town to be shaved” ritual.  He told us he hadn’t gotten there for a while, so this was two week’s growth and he’d be going today.  (I’m sure per wife Elizabeth’s insistence.)  Either way, he looked great to us!

After lunch with the guys and getting settled, Roger and I took off through downtown Kitale to do a few errands.  Kitale town is a large city, but the downtown area is condensed to within a few dusty, hectic streets with lots of shops, stores, vendors and people everywhere.  We were winding our way through the familiar alleyways off to the GigaMart (yahoo, there is Walmart – of sorts, even in Kenya!) when I heard a shout from behind me, “Brooks, Brooks!”  I turned around quickly and couldn’t believe it.  There was Kefir, a church planter and husband of one of the women who helps with the women’s center.  With a huge grin and arms wide open, he greeted and welcomed us so warmly back to Kitale, “Karibou, karibou!”  Welcome, welcome!  What a great way to start our stay in our beloved Kitale town.

Posted via email from Brooks's posterous

— How to Help the Poor

Except for emergencies and crises, often the worst thing we do for the poor is give them a handout. I have blogged about this here quoting Fikkert who says: “one of the biggest problems in many poverty-alleviation efforts is that their design and implementation exacerbates… their feelings of inferiority and shame… In the process we hurt the poor and ourselves.” Still, the question is how to give people an empowering leg-up. Spending this weekend with a Kenyan woman from Nairobi gave us such a great snapshot of what people can do for themselves when given the opportunity. This woman drove us from one corner of this vast city to the other in order to help us find a possible location for our fall leadership conference. She used her car, her gas, and refused any help with expenses at the end of a long day. In the process I asked her at least a hundred questions about her own life trying to piece together how a woman, growing up in the heart of Africa, managed to step into both spiritual and material blessing. Her answers revealed the following, not-so-surprising pattern:
  1. She had a foundation of hope growing up trusting in Jesus Christ’s presence in her life.
  2. She was given the opportunity for a good education and took it.
  3. She had good role models in her life, including her mother, who taught her that, with hard work, she could move up in life.
  4. She used the resources that are available to women even in the poorest of countries: loans, groups who work together to provide revolving credit and savings for one another, and the advice of others.
This woman, though widowed for five years, is now putting her sons through college, owns her own home as well as one investment property. As I reflected on her example, it gave me hope that, with a holistic approach, we can give women who are trapped in poverty a true leg-up rather than a handout. This affirmed so much of what Brooks and Elizabeth (the director of the Women’s Center) are attempting to do:
  1. A spiritual foundation. By discipling these women to Christ, their worldview becomes filled with hope instead of victimization.
  2. Opportunity. By training them in job skills, they have the chance to improve their economic lives.
  3. Modeling. By connecting them with Elizabeth and other women who are taking responsibility for themselves, these women can see the potential of where they can go and can receive great counsel and advice.
  4. Resources. By teaching them business skills and connecting them to the resources that are available (loans, revolving savings/credit groups), these women can begin building toward a future that they could never have imagined before.
The point? Together with you, we really are seeing the transformation of women who would otherwise be completely trapped in poverty. As we head for Kitale this morning, we are looking forward to seeing the progress taking place knowing that God has so much more for the women, children, and leaders we will be seeing. We are very encouraged!

— Heading Out: Surprises Coming

Finally... we leave today for Africa!  This trip will be quite different from any of the others we’ve taken...mmm, feels like I’ve said this before!  Each trip is truly unique and God has so many surprises along the way, for sure.  This trip will be different in that we expect to be in only two locations:  Nairobi and Kitale, both in Kenya.  Instead of trying to get to each country, we found it much more cost effective to bring the church planters from the five other different countries to us where we will meet in Kitale.  Pretty exciting!  The others are coming from Uganda, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, and DR Congo .  We are hoping that Angel and Steven from the DR Congo, who you may remember are the strategic church planters we visited and continue to work with, will be able to join, us as well. The other unique thing about this trip is that we have three other Americans meeting us in Kitale.  One is Desi (30) who is planting simple churches in inner-city Denver, took Roger’s online course a year ago, and is anxious to have some cross-cultural hands-on experience in another country.  The other two are a couple who happen also to live in Colorado.  Walt is a church planting coach and his wife Sharon is an educator and school administrator.  They are on an exploratory trip to Africa, have interest in starting schools there, and also in coaching church planters.  This couple is, Roger says, my age, not his!!  (Whatever!!!)  He’s met these three folks; I’ve never met any of them.  So, we will have our hands full with “visitors”, as well as working with the nationals! As always, it’s a mad dash to the finish line, weighing suitcases not exceed the 50 pound mar, and Roger’s never-ending grimaces translated meaning, “Do you really have to take that?”  But, as full as our bags are, our hearts are equally full of anticipation and excitement to be with people we’ve come to love in nations so desperate for a message of HOPE.

— The Human Side of this Trip?

Where is Brooks when I need her to share the human side of my trip with y'all?

I can't begin to do justice in describing the last few days spent with Chinese-Malaysians in their beautiful country and their incredibly warm personalities.  They scooped me up from the airport, set me down in a wonderful high-rise condo (where we met for three days), and surrounded me with their hungry hearts, incredibly astute minds, and wonderful sense of humor.  They even laughed at my dry wit.

They are well aware that they live in an opportune place right now.  Because top-notch education is available in Malaysia at a reasonable cost, young people are coming from all over South Asia and the Middle East for a college education.  This includes countries that are, otherwise, completely closed off to the Gospel!  With this kind of opportunity, these leaders want to be as equipped as possible to see disciples made who will carry the Gospel back to their homelands.

So, in terms of ministry accomplished, it was exciting to see a new coalition of leaders come together who are committed to effective church planting in their own country and beyond.  They sucked from me everything that I could give them, whether by sharing or by praying for them, and they gave me back much as I fed on their contagious faith.

But, back to the human side...  What I do know is this: with the kind of warmth and care I received for the three days I was in Malaysia, had Brooks been there she would have been crying her eyes out as we left.  That is the level of connection that was built in such a short time.  They made it so easy for bonds of friendship to form in a very short time and I am certain that these relationships will continue to be mutually beneficial.

As I write this, I am just one hour from Los Angeles and a few, short hours after that from being home!  I know y'all have been praying and I can't tell you what that means to me!

So here are just a few of the praise reports from a very gratifying trip to both Singapore and Malaysia:
  • Travel went smoothly and safely
  • Key connections were formed while in Singapore that will help facilitate a conference for church planters in East Africa later this year
  • Plans were laid in Singapore for furthering church planting initiatives in many different parts of the world
  • While in Malaysia (as mentioned), leaders gathered from various parts of the country and they formed a new coalition for encouraging each other in future church planting

Posted via email from Roger Thoman's Posterous

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