My first day back to Missions of Hope International (MoHI)...almost two weeks after arriving in Kenya. It felt good to be headed to the place where I had felt so comfortable, had met so many wonderful people, had felt so used by God.
And - this was my mom's first encounter with Nairobi public transportation!
She could not help snapping a photo of Barack Obama...Kenya's son...plastered to the window of our mini-bus. By the way, she did very well on our two bus rides...although I must say she was glad to get to our destination.
I encountered so many changes! First the small road into the area where MoHI is, had been paved...then the dirt alley from there had been smoothed out...then I saw that much of the building where I worked had been painted!
Here you can see our name and vision statement. The floor just below the sign that starts with "Transforming" is where my office is...in fact the door is just under the word "Transforming" with a window to the left. See on the floor just above? Those are 4th graders returning to their classrooms. We now have 8 schools throughout the Mathare slums educating over 2,500 children...plus a boarding school about an hour out of town, with over 500 students.
The rest of the sign and vision statement...Transforming the valley of darkness into the mountain of God". This whole compound has been built in the past 5 years...and much progress has been made even in the past 5 months since I left for the states in April.
Here I am 'at the office'...with Paul in the background. He heads the department and is clearly happy to have me back. Although I must say that all my friends who came to greet me and meet my mom kept saying "your first day back and you are working??"
Mom took some shots from the balcony right outside of the office...not quite into the slum area.
Yep, I put mom to work too! see her way back there?
A special flask of chai and cake for the 'visitor'...but Paul and I also benefited from the treat.
Mom decided to try to play matchmaker, announcing to Paul that Martha (pouring the water for him to wash) was very pretty. That just made him laugh.
This is a common custom often done before and even after a meal. (although this is a first for me here at MoHI!)
...the pretty Martha...she works in the front office...I guess you could call her a receptionist.
...and lunch is served! hmmm...I wonder what is underneath all those lids?
Mystery solved...here we have sukumawiki (made from cale), ugali (made from corn meal) and stew (with beef and vegetables)...unfortunately the meat was a little tough today.
...and my good friend Josephine! She is the head social worker, and as you can see quite pregnant! I was so excited to see her big tummy and am even more excited to hold her baby in November...in the background you can see Jane, my co-worker. We all call her Mrs. Gacau. The best explanation I have received for why we all call her that is that she is married. But then Josephine is also married...oh well...
My mom joined a team from the states who arrived on Tuesday night...this is Wednesday and she accompanied them for a time of orientation, where she learned the history of MoHI and got to visit one of the classrooms, as well as walk through the community.
This is a 4th grade classroom (or class 4 as they say here)...if I knew how to upload video you would be able to see and hear these kids singing and reciting scripture in English.
Mom was pretty impressed with their command of the English language and also with how obedient and polite they all are.
We are all quite proud of the library! Here is a child learning computer skills. This room is also used as a study room as well as resource center for the kids.
My friend Mary! She is the tailor on staff who is teaching the women of the community tailoring skills. The room has six stations. The classes last 6 weeks, at the end of which time each student is rewarded with a machine, thus enabling them to start their own business. This is a tremendous service to the community.
...and into the community. Mom joined a small group of 4 led by Isaac, one of the social workers on staff, into a nearby 'village'...
...lest you have a misconception of the word 'village'...it simply means an area filled with small homes and businesses divided by narrow alleyways.
Here is Isaac talking with local people and one of the team members.
Her face captured my mom's attention...
...and her ware was even more interesting! Can you tell these are chicken feet and heads? She sells these at a local market...hmm...I have to wonder what they are used for...
This little guy attached himself to my mom...
The group visited the home of Naomi. Living with HIV/AIDS she supports herself and her two children by cooking and selling chips (french fries) in front of her home.
This wall unit and TV set take up half of her small home. Does that give you an idea of how important TV is to Kenyans?
...a smoky shot of the cooking chips...just outside of her front entrance.
...walking through the village...
One of the many children trailing the wazungu (white people) chanting "pikcha, pikcha!"
...they LOVE to have their pictures taken and especially to swarm around the camera, point at their faces and giggle.
...surrounded by the children...who appeared from 'nowhere' and want nothing more than to touch and be touched.
One of the Class 4 boys who remembered my mom...
A local business...typical of the clients we serve at the Micro-enterprise program we run at MoHI...
At the heart of our Micro-enterprise program, Business Development Services (BDS), are the accountability groups. Here is one of three that my mom visited on Thursday.
Every one of these people has a small business; such as Ann, pictured below, who has a small curios shop. She was able to move out of the slum and has even learned English so she can converse with her English speaking customers.
Members of the group meet weekly to bring their savings and loan payments. A different member banks the money each week, bringing a copy of the slip to our office. To the right is Jane (Mrs. Gacau) who is the staff person in charge of this group.
Now they are discussing a member who is behind in her loan payments! What to do? They have several options; pool their money to help make the payments, confiscate some household items to sell, or motivate the member to pay by threatening to take the items. When this loan was issued the borrower put up the items as security for the loan
and each of the members guaranteed the loan....which makes them also responsible.
In addition, no new loans can be issued to anyone in the group as long as any loan is in 'arrears'...
...a visit to the kitchen during lunch preparations. Lunch is provided to the 900+ children who attend this school, the staff of the center, as well as visiting teams.
...dish washing duty is a big job after morning tea was served...the colored cups are from the classrooms.
...serving lunch...I can tell this delivery is for the American team cuz believe me the staff does not get served sodas!
These girls are delivering to a Class One classroom.
These 5 - 8 year old children spoke such good English that Mom was compelled to praise the teacher for her fine work. I think she was remembering her struggles last year in Tanzania working with the preschool children!
Our biggest group, Glorious (each group has a name), is also the longest running. Many of these members began at the same time our BDS program started. Most of them have moved out of the slums and attribute their success to participation in our program.
BDS is one of the many services offered to the parents of our students. These parents have seen their kids grow up in our schools and are excited to have hope for the future. Some of the businesses represented by this group include; tire shop, auto shop, curios shop, used clothing sales, hair salons, small restaurants (called hotels), small grocery shops.
After an exhausting morning in the 'field' she was greeted by a delicious plate of food, served and delivered to our office just for her! This is the food served to the visiting team. The children and staff members ate white rice, beans and cabbage.
The light green stuff is delicious, called mokimo (a Kikuyu dish; consisting of potatoes, corn, and pumpkin leaves)...in front is cooked cabbage, then beef and fried rice. She cleaned her plate, then announced that she would not be cooking dinner for us that night!
Our first week was fun, exhausting and exhilarating. Fortunately we were able to 'hitch' a ride with two American teams visiting the ministry this week. They are staying at a guest house near us and welcomed us into their van...
We are having power rationing on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so once I completed all the paper work for the day we headed out early since I could not use the computers. My new work schedule will be Monday, Wednesday and Friday to take advantage of the power days.
Inside are the cooking pots...big enough to feed over 600 students plus staff every day of the week!
This is githeri, a staple food for one of the largest tribes in Kenya. It consists of beans, maize and potatoes...we were pretty excited to learn we were to have this treat for lunch, only to be disappointed later...however we did enjoy our rice and meat, cabbage and even chipati!
A shot of the quad area and two of the school buildings...
Inside the church, the children are already singing praises to Jesus!
They love to perform...these kids are up in front of the church.
The sermon was delivered by Aaron (not sure of the last name!) the senior pastor from a church in Indiana...one of the two visiting teams - they were 22 strong!
Shane is a member of the other team F.A.M.E - a medical mission team of 12.
The kids listening to Shane's performance. He recited a dialogue called "That's My King! Do You Know Him?"...
And Pastor Oliver Konje...of the Hope Outreach Church, affiliated with MoHI.
...another performance by the kids...the girl to the left had the voice of an angel!
Mary Kamau, director of MoHI...welcomed the teams...starting with the smallest one "Joanna and her mum"...it was wonderful to be 'remembered'...
Me next to the church building...
...mom and Mrs. Kamau...
...and hi-fiving some kids from the community. The church has grown to two services, one for the kids at the school and one for the people in the surrounding community...
...see how this girl is helping her little brother hi-five my mom?
...and Barry - head of praise and worship and boy, is he on fire!
Preparing for lunch...washing our hands...
After lunch we visited three classrooms. The kids were told to go there after church and wait for us...they all had study material on their desks since they had to wait over an hour while we lunched!
Then a visit to the temporary dorms...we saw the girl's dorm...this sign was taped to the door.
This is Anicia, the head teacher, explaining about the facility...
...the bathrooms...
...and the toilets!...
...there are many for the 133 girls who live here! They are up at 5am and in class by 6!
They each have a trunk for their personal items...
...then we walked to the new dorms...there are plans to build a second story so that all the kids can move there...right now there are 336 girls in the new dorm with 133 waiting for their turn to move! I am not sure how many boys have moved to the new building, but I know there are over 600 students total.
Sign inside the building...
Much nicer than the temporary, wouldn't you say?
The restrooms are definitely nicer!
...and so are the toilets!
...and the showers...
Me with Anicia...
Although the bus ride to and from wore us out! we had a great time with the kids, with the staff and with the teams from America. We decided to skip the shopping at a local market and walked home from the guest house where the teams are staying. Within 5 minutes of our arrival it began to rain! Good call to head home instead of shopping...
