Party time!

Virginia Njoki Kamau is 24 years old and recently graduated with an advanced diploma in Community Development. She is my friend and we work together in the Business Development Services (BDS) department at Missions of Hope. I was quite disappointed that I could not attend the graduation ceremony that was held on Saturday the 27th of October...but i was deeelighted to help her celebrate with family and friends.

This first photo is one of her brothers - the one in whose home we were visiting. In his lap is his precocious daughter Grace...she is just over 1 year old and I fell completely in love! (by the way - the feeling was mutual)
Okay - here I am, as Henry (a co-worker) puts it, "hammering a point"...he is the one who snapped this photo so I guess it is fitting that he should also caption it! I am talking to Jane, another co-worker.
Several members of Virginia's family - she has 6 brothers and sisters, but one sister could not make it...and of course there were children...
Here is Virginia with Henry - we all work together, along with Jane and Paul...
Here is Paul! Virginia asked him to more or less run the show...
Ah, little Grace! pushing on her cousin who is more than a year older! hmmm...for those of you who know my daughter, Amanda, I think you will agree when I say that Grace reminds me of her at that age! maybe that is what drew me to her so quickly...
and no party is complete without singing and dancing...


...then I noticed this little one, sitting in the middle of all this praising of the Lord...and I remembered something my pastor told me - when children are brought up in the faith, they sort of 'absorb' the praising and soon the songs are just inside them...do you think the songs are being absorbed by her right now???
Virginia and Paul - even though I could not understand the words to the songs (they were singing in Kikuyu, their tribal language) I could feel the spirit moving!
This is Virginia's mom - she is nearing 65...several family members and friends spoke to and about her...again I could not understand the words, but I could feel the love!

Nelson is a brother-in-law...he delivered the message - in THREE languages! English for me, Swahili for the non-Kikuyu present, and Kikuyu...as I listened I was delighted to realize that whatever the language we pray in, we sing our praises in or we preach in...God understands them all! In some mysterious way, this made me feel so so close in spirit to all my brothers and sisters around the world.
The gent on the left is Virginia's pastor. He is sitting next to Grace who is sitting on her mama's lap...Virginia later told me that this man has been very influential and encouraging to Virginia and was instrumental in her completing her degree.
This is Virginia's brother - she is the youngest so all the siblings are her 'elders'...
Virginia had her turn to speak...it was quite moving to hear portions of her journey to getting the diploma - most of it was lost on me, but Paul (who accompanied me to my home, since it was after dark by the time we left!) filled me in on some of the stories. One thing she did say in english that touched my heart was "actually my mom is my spiritual mentor"...
Okay - I know this is a lousy picture, but I just had to include it cuz it is so precious of Virginia and Grace...every time I smiled Grace just laughed and laughed!

THE CAKE!...

...being cut into small squares by her sister-in-law...you'll see why in a minute...this photo is actually of the sister-in-law, Virginia and her mother all three cutting the first piece...

...which was fed to Virginia...

...then all these other pieces get fed by Virginia to her guests. She later told me that some people only offer the cake to the most admired and respected people...as a gesture of honor and gratitude, but Virginia fed a piece to each of us to show her gratitude to all who came to celebrate with her...she did, however, start with the most important people...like her mom.
Here she is offering a piece to her brother-in-law, Nelson...and by the way - the cake was really good!
The Parting Shot...this is something I never saw in the states...you may have noticed all the feet were either bare or stockinged...it is customary to remove your shoes before entering a person's home...I just love when all the shoes are gathered outside the door...especially when they are this haphazard!...so I could not resist...my friends here think I am very strange!
I felt privileged, honored and just, well, good to be included in this celebration. Virginia has told me several times how 'touched' she is that I came to her party.

A day in the field with Jane

Today Jane took me with her to do two assessments and then attend a meeting. This first photo is our first assessment - that's Jane to the right and in the center is Regina. On the left is Vincent - he was our 'guide'. What is an assessment, you ask? When a business owner wants a loan we visit him/her to see the business and ask pertinent questions like; how long have they been in business, are they married, how many children, what are their weekly expenses, weekly income, their education level, their age.Meet Regina - she is a tailor who currently makes these flower arrangements to sell. She is married, no children and is only 27 years old! (the same age as my daughter!) When she married last year she could not 'carry' her things so had to leave behind her sewing machine. She is requesting a loan to buy a new machine to continue her tailoring business.
This is David. He owns this 'hotel' AKA cafe or small restaurant. I was fascinated as I waited and watched...
...this young man is apparently preparing food for the next 'wave' of customers (we were there between breakfast and lunch)...
...here is a view from the back where i was sitting out to the front...
...now he is chopping 'choma' or meat...
This is friendly downtown Huruma - the community where Regina and David live and work.
I thought this building was cool and down front you see these men making 'chips' or french fries - yummmm!
We then boarded the #46 nissan to town where we walked to the 'railway' station to catch the #56 minibus to Karangware, which is where our meeting was. This is the church building in which the meeting was to take place...
...and this is the church yard where the goats are grazing!
...and here is the church sign...
The ladies finally arrived (well half of them...) and we started the meeting with a few minutes of praise...that was nice...
...the meeting was quite lively with lots of talking, laughing and even nursing babies!
This little boy is actually 4 years old. I found out he has an enlarged spleen...so he is a sick little guy!
They were busy making jewelry during the meeting. Here Elizabeth proudly displays an earring she made...see the beads in her lap?

I did not catch her name, but I just thought this lady was beautiful...she could be a model!
After the meeting they all gathered in the yard to say their farewells...
Jane and I stopped on the way out of town to buy tomatoes and carrots...I just could not resist snapping this photo of the fish! The big ones are the Tilapia I love so well and the little ones are called Omana...also affectionately known as the Kisumu boys (not sure why)...
It was a good day and the weather was perfect! A little on the warm side but such a welcome relief from all the cold we have been having!

BDS Training

September 11 and 12 were the days chosen to conduct the two day training for our clients. Our clients are the people living in the Mathare slums and other communities who have a desire to improve their lives through the building and growing of successful businesses. I described our ministry, Business Development Services, in an earlier entry so I won't spend time (or space) here to explain what makes us unique...but this training is most definitely a powerful part of why the program is so successful in helping to show people a better way.

Both days began with devotions, led by yours truly! This photo was taken on Friday and that is Henry beside me. He translated for me since many of our clients speak limited or no English and I most definitely speak limited (borderline NO) Swahili! I focused the messages on the power of the Holy Spirit...first challenging them to ask the Holy Spirit to open their ears and minds to absorb and utilize all they would be learning during the training, then inviting them to be 'empty vessels' waiting to be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit (that teaching was based on the story in 2Kings 4:1-7.)
Registration the first day was an interesting process...and started out in the same room as the training, which delayed the start of the program - and my devotions!
Virginia greeted our clients...who ringed the back of the room! I guess some things are the same no matter what country you are in! By the way, this room is known as "the room that is not complete"...it has walls, but that's about it, which meant we were at the mercy of the weather - which was cooooold both days...brrrrr...
Paul, the head of our department, spent some time this first day establishing expectations - of our clients for what they want to learn, and of the team for the clients (like being on time!)
The training was to begin at 8am...here it is almost 9:30 and you see how many empty chairs there are! By the end of the day, all chairs were filled and we added about 20 more chairs!
One of the expectations was participation by our clients...they were great with chipping in comments and questions as they arose...the topics included; Characteristics of Successful Business People, Customer Care, Investment, Record Keeping, Budgeting & Cash Management, Biblical Aspect of Leadership...
Henry is listing the expectations as Paul and our clients express them...

Henry taught the sessions on Characteristics of Successful Business People and
Budgeting & Cash Management

These two fellas were enlisted to help with hanging the pages as they were completed...which was quite a challenge since they were using masking tape on brick...and the wind was gusting on and off both days!

Tea Time!

One of our clients, Tabitha, jumped in to help serve tea and then again at lunch time! We had a chance to chat on Friday and I grew quite fond of her. She is truly working to better her future and is grateful for this ministry...very gratifying!

Here are the first two pages - listing Features of Micro-Enterprise and Expectations...

And of course we had times of dancing and singing! Even though it was all in Swahili, I was blessed every time!
Jane (we call her Mrs. Gacau) led the session on Customer Care - which included Integrity, Faithfulness and Honesty...

Lunch Time! We had rice, greengrams and cabbage - yum!
I got to serve the cabbage (I took over from Jane)

Paul led the sessions on Investment and Biblical Aspect of Leadership...

Virginia led the session on Record Keeping...

Here is Tabitha showing that she absorbed what Virginia was teaching...

Henry finished for Virginia who was freeezing!

I just had to snap this photo of a broken chair propped up - one of our customers got creative in trying to figure out how to use this chair...which prompted me to give up my seat!
Here is Paul adding chairs to the room...see behind him? All of that is building materials...all on this side of the room had to climb over all of that to get to their seats - I love it!

It was an honor and a privilege to watch the exchange between our clients (there were over 90 in attendance - we had expected about 80) and the team. The ones I talked to indicated how much they appreciated all they were learning and believe that it will help them to be successful in their businesses, to be trained in this way.