Nairobi, Sunday May 1

Trying to catch up this morning while being almost at church!!  The Methodist Guest House has a wonderful praise service that lasts all morning long.  It is wonderful to just “pop in” for a while, but then still enjoy the music while I update you on what has been going on.

Yesterday we took our last trip to Wildebeest to say good bye or more exactly so long to the children and to take some last minute group pictures.  I really believe they had a great time while they finally were faced with the reality that tomorrow or the day after, "I will be on my own".  Our one-on-one career counseling had a big impact.

Children playing games at Wildebeest

The sign reads "We Shout! RHCC Rocks!! Thank you"

From there, we headed for Ray of Hope, a clinic and community center located in Kawangware, another one of Nairobi’s slums.  This center was co-founded by Florence Muyundo, Dr Teresa Gibson and former NBA player Kermit Washington.  Please check their website www.rayofhopeinternational.org for details.  KOP has partnered with Ray of Hope since 2003 as they have provided medical care to our children and continue to do so today.  As you will see on their website, in addition to the clinic, Ray of Hope is also a learning center providing both day school and after-school programs to the children living close by in the slums.  Although it was Saturday the children were there when we arrived, ready to greet us with the usual Kenyan welcome: songs and dances and forever present huge smiles!  We enjoyed an excellent lunch of rice, beef stew and spinach prepared by the staff.  Our group then split in two and we followed the children in the slums to visit their homes and meet their guardians.  It was quite an experience for the team members who had never been exposed to a slum environment.  They had a chance to experience first-hand the poor living conditions and promiscuity that go along with slum life.  However, the warm welcome we received in each home visited made up for the long trek on dirt roads shared by people, cars, vans, cattle and everything from goats, sheep, ducks and geese to cats and dogs!!

So far from home, but surrounded by friends

The children then brought us back to the Ray of Hope clinic.  KOP wanted to recognize the first children ready to take their KCPE (Kenyan Certificate of Primary Education) by sharing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, milk and cookies.  Taking the KCPE is quite an accomplishment for children raised in a slum environment.  We wish them luck and hope they will move on to further their education with four years of high school.  As usual, it was a great time enjoyed by all.

All smiles!

 Today, Sunday, five of our team members are on their way to a safari in Nairobi National Park. Tim is on his way to church and will meet some of his friends here. Sharon, Bob and I have a meeting this afternoon with a lady I met on my previous trip, trying to find a way to get the children their birth certificates without having to pay bribes or go through 20 levels of bureaucracy!

The weather is great here, sunny and warm but not hot during the day and cool and breezy nights.  We do get surprise showers (more exactly downpours) once in a while, but this is the rainy season and a blessing for the people in Kenya.

On this beautiful first Sunday of May we thank God, praise him for His accomplishments and ask for his guidance and blessings in the coming week.

Asante sana Y'all !!!!

 Monique

First Week Summary

Like the children would say:
“Hello everybody and greetings in the name of the Lord!”

First week is winding down and it seems impossible that so much has already been accomplished.  I have said that many times now but this time it is really true: we have the best team ever, the dream of every mission trip leader.

This past Thursday, several activities took place.  Jim Stratakos, Tim Klund and I went to the Korogocho slums together with Sharon, our Kenyan Coordinator and three of our children: Nelly, Teresia and Rosemary.  All of them came from this slum which is the second biggest in Nairobi.  We were also accompanied by two off duty police officers and two of the children’s guardians.

Visiting Rosemary Wahu's family

Korogocho is another world, impossible to describe and to render the desperation that is seen on every face, particularly on young girls.  You also have to share the space there with pigs, ducks and chicken, not to mention avoiding falling in the trash or in the raw sewage pit that borders the dirt road.

Entering the Korogocho slums where several of our children come from

The highlight was to visit with the children’s guardians or relatives who welcomed us with open house and open arms.  All they had to offer us was a one room shack, a glass of rancid water and a hug.  We declined the water but gave the hugs!

Most homes in the slums are made with pieces of tin or plastic but this one is made with mud

 I came out of that two and a half hour with one major question: Why doesn't the government do something about birth control? There are children everywhere, behind every wall, behind every corner, children carrying children,  teenagers carrying children and mothers and grandmothers carrying children!

I will take this smile back with me and try to forget the desperation on hundreds of people's face living in the slums.

Where are the men?  Good question that does not seem to have an answer.

Leaving the slums

While we were in Korogocho, the rest of the team continued to work hard assessing the children and guiding them in their future career.  Jenni and Tim took the Lakeview kids to the pool at the Methodist guest house and they had a ball playing and trying to teach them to swim.  Ramona has small sessions with groups of kids – sex ed – and provided sound advice on abstinence but also precautions.  The teenagers appreciated her open mind approach and asked her tons of questions.   In the evening, the children gave us a talent show with dances and skits and we all rolled over the floor, laughing so hard it hurt!!!  They sure have lots of talents these kids.

Since everybody was asking and praying for the rainy season to start, my single request to the Lord to delay it by one week did not reach Him and we were face with downpours and power interruptions.  However, in Kenya, everything always seems to work out and we managed.  We did make different arrangements for Friday though since it was so important for us to complete the entire one on one interview with the children.  We rented two conference rooms at the Methodist Guest house where the team is staying and bussed the children back and forth.  This worked well and with the help of Paul, a young Kenyan youth counselor, huge progress was made.

Next door, Jim Stratakos and Sharon transformed that room into an art studio where the kids waiting to be interviewed learned the basics of drawing and created jewelry patterns, hats, clothes, shoes, etc.  Jim will tell you more when he has a chance.  I popped up a few time in the room and the kids were so concentrating on what they were doing you could hear a fly land!!!

After a long day and a quick dinner, it was our turn to treat the children to a birthday party.  We had prepared “goody” bags, had cake and ice cream and of course sang Happy Birthday to them”.  We roasted Sharon a little before wishing her a happy birthday too.  We then had silly question time with prizes for the winners.

Bob Boekhout’s question about how old he was turned out results varying from 61 to 82 and my question about when I would be back in Kenya brought back an interesting answer: “God knows”.

Today we are getting ready to visit Ray of Hope in another slum, Kagwangare (much safer than Korogocho) where the participants will all have a chance to see what real need is.  Ray of Hope has an after school program and although it is Saturday, the kids will come to entertain us.  Of course we will also treat them with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

As I finish this, I cannot thank you enough for allowing us to do this with your financial support and daily prayers.  It is only a ray of sun in a child’s stormy life but his or her appreciation for it is our daily reward.

We will keep you posted as we enter the second week and tackle visiting the school that the children are attending.

For all that is being accomplished here, we give God the glory and praise.

Blessings to you all

Monique

In Country

*This was sent out by email newsletter on April 28th.  Update coming later today.

Greetings from Kenya!

We thank God for a safe trip to Kenya, where all of us enjoyed smooth plane rides and recovered all of our 16 pieces of luggage at the airport!

After a short night sleep and a trip to the money machines as they are called here, (ATM) to get Kenyan cash, we arrived at Wildebeest Camp where the children were already busy playing and having fun with thanks to  Al Reinken who had spent the previous night there.  What a great camp leader!

The morning was spent getting organized, reconnecting with the children and taking all kinds of pictures.  Jim Stratakos,our retired photographer is in paradise and already ran out of batteries!!!

In the afternoon we split the teams and tackled the serious work with children evaluations and introduction of a Kenyan youth advisor who will help us guide our kids to the right school after their secondary studies.

Kelli Dawkins, who has spent hours and hours preparing for this, made it look very easy and got the kids attention and then their questions once they started to open up.

The elementary kids found themselves involved with Jenni Dugan, and from all over the place you could hear giggles and good hearty laughs!  Not sure who is having the most fun here!!!  I will admit that I dropped what I was doing and joined them for a session of "goofy pictures" that we will share with you soon.

Tim Klund, Ramona Havas and Bob Boekhout are all over, giving a hand where needed - three great mission trip buddies!

Now if you wonder what I AM doing??? Enjoying myself and as usual cracking the whip on others' backs!!!  I tell you, this ministry is really special.  Sure I am prejudiced but  believe me, God is watching over this every single minute of the day and distributing blessings to each one of us, one after the other.  If you do not believe me, wait until you ask the others!

Hopefully by tomorrow we will get the blog going and we will try to put in some pictures for you to see.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers: it works!

The children are sending their love and best regards to their sponsors!

Blessings

Monique

Return to Kenya!

KOP is conducting a Mission Trip to  Kenya for the first time since 2009!

Eight of us will be spending time with “the children”, visiting the boarding schools they attend and having fun activities such as a trip to a local public swimming pool!  And of course, it is our intention to bring back tons of pictures to show you what your support and prayers are accomplishing in Kenya.

Final Days

Saturday

Hello Everybody,

Although I believe there is always a reason why things happen, at the moment, I can’t figure out why I am still in Nairobi and not on my way to Amsterdam! Bob and I and Marshall showed up at the airport at 5 AM this morning to be told that the flight was cancelled due to lack of passengers!!! This is not Air Timbuktu, this is KLM!!! None of us could believe that nobody contacted us, no phone, no e-mail, not a thing.

After about two hours of running around from one terminal to the other and going from one counter to another and issuing tons of paper work, while carrying all our suitcases, the three of us together with about 20 other passengers are now in this 5 stars hotel, on the 9th floor overlooking Nairobi and the country!! We have been rebooked on the night flight leaving around 10 PM tonight.

The airline bought us one hour of Internet (for about $5!!!) and thanks to Skype, we were able to cancel our room in Amsterdam and change our car reservation. Marshall will try to reschedule his appointments in Amsterdam too.

Other than that, these past two days have been probably the most hectic of my life. But… thanks to that wonderful team of ours, our goals have been reached!!! By the time we left on Thursday, all the bunk beds and desks were built and moved to their proper location. In addition, Nash had taken on a new project: fix all the bicycles that were in storage. We bought new tires and inner tubes and this young man, with the help of our own kids, repaired and fixed all the bicycles!!! You should have seen our kids! They love the bikes and had not had a chance to use them in a long time. I bet you that Nash will be their hero for a long time!!!

I am coming home with a carry on full of the children art work that Chuckie and Brady and Karen did with the children. All the kids, little and big and all the teachers had a chance to spend time and learn the computers thanks to Jennifer and Kristin. I am also bringing home for the sponsors the letters that the children typed and printed by themselves. They took pictures with our digital cameras, printed them on our little printer and are sending some of them to their sponsors too. Our computer room was not very big and the computers took a lot of space but still at times there were twenty kids in that room!

Teresa and her two girls, Ashlee and Morgan spent countless hours with the children and so did Patsy and Sonia. They had class activities in the morning and outdoor games and fun in the afternoon. Several times, I heard the kids laugh so loud that I had to go see what was going on. The children loved every single minutes of what they did. We spoiled them with cookies and treats, gave them goody bags and hats not to mention prizes for the race winners.

Karen spent a lot of time explaining why we need to protect our planet. She tried to convince our teachers to enforce a trash policy, took them on a field trip around the campus to show them what she was talking about. She and Richard explained how to make compost and re-use the things that we discard. Will it work? I have my doubts but at least, we tried. I hate to say this but we had an egg hunt on Friday for the kids and by noon, there were tons of empty half eggs laying all over the place!! But, this is Kenya and things take time to be accomplished.

Laura, Wallace, Rye and Stu not only worked like beavers but they also taught the kids while assembling the beds and let them use all the tools except the saw. In return the kids provide the additional manpower that allowed us to complete the project earlier than expected.

On Thursday night, six of the team members had to say good bye and that was tough on them. On Friday, the rest of us had to do the same and tears were flowing on both sides. I would not want to try to speak for the team members but I could see how they had bonded with the children. All of us received notes from them telling us how much they loved us and how much they will miss us. One of them even reassured me that I would not have to worry in my old days, she would take care of me! Isn’t that sweet!!!

How do I feel myself? Torn between two places. My heart tells me that I have to stay there but my mind knows that my time is more valuable in the States where I can raise the money to continue to support them. I have seen these kids grow over the past six years and I am so proud of what they are becoming: beautiful children who had nothing earlier but now are giving and teaching so much to people like us visiting them.

We have taken about 25 additional new children and they all will need sponsors. That will create opportunities for me to visit new churches, talk to new groups and brag, brag, brag about my 133 children from Africa.

Thank you all for your continued prayers. To God the glory of all that was accomplished. And to our mission team participants my deepest gratitude for helping, sharing and loving these children.

Asante sana! God bless.

You are being called!!!

Hello,

I will be running out of minutes shortly. things continue to go well. The first piece of tin are now on the roof of the new high school. It will definitely be completed by Friday. Alleluia!!!
We took lots of pictures today. Found some Christmas shoe boxes in the container that had not be distributed and gave them to the kids. Ready for the Birthday party this noon. Will have Kenyan hot dogs and chips!!! Will take pictures!

John and Jen went shopping with the kids as I was tied up with meetings. All of them had a ball and it was good for Jen to get out of the computer room and get some fresh air. Both have contributed tremendously to the kids and all of us.

Richard and Anna will be off to safari this morning. Will dearly miss them. Somehow I bonded immediately with Anna and I could not have survived without her. She put in a tremendous amount of work every day and made my job so much easier. As Bob commented: "Richard has done an outstanding job in the construction room, not to mention starting a compost project and starting repairing the bicycles. The kids can't wait for them.

Our thanks and glory to God for what is being accomplished at JCC.
For the mentors who have not come to Jubilee yet, as the kids would say:
"You are being called"!!!

Blessings to all
Monique

setting new records

Tuesday

We made very good time in the morning and were at JCC by 7:30 AM. After devotions by Teresa, everybody eagerly headed to their respective stations.

The construction was a beehive of activity with several of our children helping and given the opportunity to use power tools which they love!!! The team is not only good with making bed but the time spent with the children is so valuable for these young adults. Of course the little ones are not admitted for safety reason and the windows are loaded with heads peaking thru and trying to find out what is going on.

The construction team is so good that they are setting new standards and new records! We thought the previous teams were pretty good… well, this one is outstanding. By the time we left last night, 13 beds had been completed in two days with two in different stages of completion! Today they will start building the desks. They way they charge through their assignments, they will probably have a chance to spend the last day playing and interacting with the children which will be great.

The ladies are doing wonders too with the other children. The “Obama” project is completed and pictures will be taken today thanks to the Chumney ladies. We will come home with ton of artwork from the children. Everybody, including the teachers have had a chance to go to computer classes and I see them handling power point and words almost like pro. Typing is a little slow with two finger but I am sure that will improve.

Anna and I prepared the goody bags for tomorrow’s birthday party and Patsy and team are ready to spread 700 and some egges filled with goodies for the first ever Easter hunt! It will be interesting to see the children’s reaction.

The progress are constant in the high school and it should be under roof by Friday.

Bob and I are a new scary experience last nigh. We went to the ATM machine to withdraw money, $500 equivalent. The machine counted the money, spit the card back and a receipt but not Kenyan shillings. I felt my heart sink into my feet! Of course there was no bank around, just the machine so we did not really know what to do. A wonderful lady stopped by and offered her help and told us to go to the Barclays bank in the Ya-Ya mall that stayed open until 8:00 PM. We went and hopefully straighten things so our account in the States will not be debited. Amazing how bad things happen and good people are sent to help! Thank you Lord!

The rains are sporadic, not enough yet to insure proper crops and it rains at night mainly so it does not interfere with us playing with the children.

I am not the only one believing that Jubilee is particularly blessed by God and we give Him all the glory for what is being accomplished. In addition to that, all of us are experiencing His power in our hearts in ways we cannot describe. What an experience. Blessings to all in the USA!