Wrapping Up in the Kwale District

Over the last couple of days, we've spent time in final meetings with several of our contacts here. After much dialogue with Terry and some people from back home, we have a lot of good leads to discuss when we get home. We are still not sure about the final details of what our future involvement will be here in Digoland. I hope that you've enjoyed being part of this exciting beginning, and I hope that you will remain interested and involved in some way as we go forward.

Tomorrow is our final day in this region, and we will spend it with Terry in a small Digo village. We will be visiting with girls who are potential participants in a future project. 

Wednesday we start our journey back home, via Nairobi where we will have two important meetings. We will be meeting with Noah Gitau who will be explaining the role of the Association of Vineyard Churches in East Africa as it pertains to our involvement here. 

We will also be meeting with Joseph Mwalonya, a Digo Christian that we met and befriended during our first trip to Kwale in July 2002. He is currently attending Pan African Christian University for his BA in Theology. Our church recently decided to help sponsor him through school.

After these meetings, we will be flying home! 

Now that we are leaving the coast, we are not sure whether we will have internet during our last few days here. So, thank you for reading our blog during this month of May, and thank you for all your support. 

It has been quite an amazing month, and we look forward to what the lasting results will be. 

With all the challenges in full consideration, I can still honestly say that this has been a rewarding and wonderful month for us in Kenya. We really have appreciated our time here, and we thank you once more for helping us make this happen!

Doing what's necessary (collin)

Today we traveled back to Kwale to meet with another group of young mothers who could be potential participants in some of the projects we are thinking of starting. We interviewed each of the girls about their individual situations. We are starting to see a much better picture of the felt needs here in the community and some interesting trends are emerging.

A quick overview of the projects we are considering:

We are thinking of piloting a new relief project that targets very young teen mothers and their babies. The project would include a home for the babies, schooling / vocational training for the mothers, and jobs for marginalized digo women in the village. If it all plays out well, this project could make a drastic difference in 3 generations of Digo villagers at one time.

When we sat down to figure out what all would be involved in bringing this project to life, we were a little bit shocked at how much it looked like it was going to cost. I knew that the figures we came up with were well beyond our reach at the current time. This was somewhat discouraging to me because I really didn't want to put a ton of time and energy into planning a project and then never see it get off the ground due to lack of funding. 

I would rather start small and help just a few people than aim for the stars and wind up helping nobody.

The need that we wanted to target is dire. How could we ignore something so essential? The idea just seemed too perfect to let it go so we have continued to meet with different groups in the villages to discuss their needs and see what we may be able to do.

As I said, we have seen some interesting trends emerging from our focus groups and interviews. We are finding that, while there there is definitely a need for a home like we had envisioned, this represents a much smaller percentage of our current demographic than we had initially projected. In addition to this small group, there is presently a larger number of capable mothers who wish to remain the primary caregiver for their child(ren), but they are in desperate need of assistance with vocational training.

So... there is certainly nothing set in stone yet, but it is looking like we might realistically be able to start the brand new project that sounded so wonderful (the home). However, this would start out on a small enough level that funding would be much more attainable. Due to the fact that the home would be on a smaller scale than we originally thought, this would free us up to be able to partner with an existing project to aid some of the other mothers in receiving vocational training. A portion of the profits from the training program could be invested back into the projects, and over time they could become self supporting.

It could be possible to see new growth in the projects coming from within. Ideally, this would lead to Digo people running, growing, and ultimately funding relief projects for other Digo people. This kind of exponential growth is theoretically boundless when a vision is embraced by the community.

In closing, I will leave you with an appropriately inspiring quote from St. Francis of Assisi that Lindsay read to me today.

"Start by doing what is necessary, and then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible."

Back in the saddle (collin)

Thank you all for your kind thoughts, prayers, and emails. I am feeling MUCH better and we are getting ready to head back up to Kwale to keep working through the details of the potential project.

My illness has mostly passed now. I still don't know for sure what it was or how I got it, but I have not been that sick in as long as I can remember. Over time I suppose I have come to take my general good health for granted, but now I feel truly thankful for every minute that I am not violently throwing up. 

After I wrote about being so busy the other day, we received several emails from people telling us that we needed to "take a sabbath" in order to keep ourselves from burning out. As funny as this may sound, the past 2 days of being sick has forced us both to stay in and rest up. We feel restored and excited to be heading back out to do what we came here to accomplish.

Stress

Today we had planned on visiting Pamoja center to meet with the women’s group there to discuss our project and gain their insight. When we awoke, however, Collin informed me that he had spent most of the night sick in the bathroom vomiting. True to form, he protested when I suggested that we call Terry to cancel; so, we set out to go to Pamoja. As we walked down the lane from our cottage to the main road, Collin stopped mid-sentence to vomit in the bushes. At that point, I made the executive decision to call Terry to tell her we couldn’t make it today. Terry was, of course, completely understanding and supportive of our decision to stay back and rest today.

So here we are, back at the cottage, and Collin is asleep. I am here with some time to reflect on what this month has meant for me so far. For the first two weeks, I was elated and driven by the emotional high of all that we were learning and experiencing. Then something shifted and my undaunted enthusiasm plummeted. For two and a half days I remained in downward spiral of negativity. I felt over-stimulated, overwhelmed, over-tired, and I felt like the source of my energy was just over. Discontinued. El fin.

That horrible spell of oppression has been lifted. Thank you all for your encouraging words, your prayers, and for sharing the vision that we have for this community so far from home.

I have many reasons to which I can attribute the sense of struggle and oppression. There are some practical challenges. It is difficult to wear a long skirt and a short sleeve shirt in humid tropical heat. It is invasive and trying to not have control over our own transportation. It is difficult to have people asking for money or aggressively yelling at us to buy something from their shops as we walk on the road. It is overwhelming to feel and see so much need and know that we are limited in what we can do. It is even more complicated to know how to truly help and not exacerbate matters, even with good intent. How do we avoid enabling dependency on handouts and funding? How do we overcome the widely held belief that all white people are rich? How do we know who to trust, and how do we know that the funding that we give will be distributed appropriately?

We Americans call the feelings conjured by complex issues such as these, “stress.” It’s a culturally assigned name for physical/emotional/psychological effects that are caused by the feelings of powerlessness, inability to control things out of our reach, a sense of fear, anxiety, and a sense that our circumstances are overwhelming us. Isn’t it interesting that there is something so real, so tangible, so validated by our culture that is completely invisible? It seems contradictory to so much of what our culture believes. There is no blood test that will show you are stress positive. As far as I know, there is no pathogen or bacteria or virus from which stress originates. But yet, it is real. It does have real physical effects. High blood pressure, heart disease, insomnia, depression, and a host of other maladies that seem to be consequences of people under too much stress.

I am convinced that stress is part of the human condition. Stress is here in Digoland, back at home, and probably across the universe. What is it? That is what I want to know. We know what it feels like. We know many of the causes from our own lives. We experience many of its direct physical repercussions. But what is stress? How is it that we as humans all experience this seemingly universal entity that is invisible, elusive in treating, and difficult to conquer?

How do we combat it? I try to balance my life and eat well, exercise regularly, sleep enough, and invest some time in experiences that are restorative. I pray. I try to improve my ability to overcome challenges by reading my Bible and applying it. I spend time meditating. When I slack in one area of combating stress for even a day or two, it seems that it is right there crouching at my doorstep ready to devour me. And sometimes, even when I am trying to be proactive about making peace in my life, it feels that the external factors of stress are pushing on me from every side.

Here are some verses that have helped me in my pursuit to understand what stress is, its effects, and how what cures there are for stress, according to the Bible:


“Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21

“A man’s spirit will sustain him in sickness, but a crushed spirit who can bear?” Proverbs 17: 14

“For the foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.” 1 Corinthians 1:25

“For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen in eternal. “ 2 Corinthians 4:17-18

“To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” 2 Corinthians 12: 7-9

“Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4: 5-7

“Anxiety in the heart of man causes depression, but a good word makes it glad.” Proverbs 12:25

UPDATE:
The above was written several hours ago. After a day spent sleeping between bouts of nausea, Collin is feeling much better. He hasn't thrown up in several hours. He is still feeling very sick, but we are confident that he is on the mend. Thanks for your prayers and emails!

Getting Focused.... and a little exhausted (collin)

Today we met with Terry again. She had arranged a meeting with several young, single, Digo mothers. We spent a few hours getting to know these women and talking to them about the issues that they face. Essentially, this was a focus group for our project.

We heard all of the stories behind each situation. It was incredible to hear about some of the things that these girls have faced in their lives. Some have been thrown out of their families and forced to find another place to live. Some have been kicked out of school. Some have been abused in ways that are difficult to comprehend. All of them have been left by the father of their child(ren) and forced into a marginalized existence here.

We met with the group all together, and we met with each woman individually. We wanted to hear about each of their specific struggles and hopes in an individual setting so that they would not be influenced by other girls' answers.

We learned a lot about this demographic in Digo villages. We have a much better picture now of the group that we will be trying to serve. Of course, this was just the beginning of our interviews and research. We will spend this entire week meeting with young mothers, school teachers, village elders, and community members. We are hoping that at the end of this week, we will have more of a clear direction about the specifics of the project, what needs to happen still, and who, specifically will participate in it.

On an personal note:
Linds and I are starting to feel rather worn. We know that our time here is extremely limited and once it is over, we won't be able to do what we came here to accomplish. Because of that we have been keeping a breakneck pace. The difficulties of daily life here are feeling more frustrating and tiring than when we first got here. The owner of our cottage killed himself a few nights ago (a few doors down from us). That has cast a strange pall over the place where we are staying. Also, as funny as it was to ride the Matatus when we first arrived, that has become an exercise in patience. (WARNING, this next part is ethnocentric, but I'm just being honest) Spending a couple of hours per day crammed into a van next to, on top of, and underneath of countless unbathed strangers is... trying... for an American. Today the guy next to me got in a fight with the guy behind him. The yelling and screaming escalated to pushing and hitting and ended with one man being pushed out of the van and left on the side of the road with everyone in the van shouting at him as we sped off. Lack of sleep, long days, and stomach sickness from unfamiliar food doesn't help in dealing with this sort of thing. If you are the praying type, your prayers would be very appreciated. 

Digo Literacy

One thing that we wanted to do while visiting the Kwale District was visit the Digo Literacy Center and survey all of the projects connected with Digo literacy. This project is very dear to us for several reasons.

It was through sponsoring the literacy efforts here that we learned about the Digo people in the first place. Over the past 7 years we have seen the Chidigo language be transcribed for the first time in history. The New testament, cultural stories, books on medicinal plants and folk remedies, as well as children's stories have all been published and are being used to teach literacy in the tribe's mother tongue. Having a written language gives a people group power that cannot be possessed by any other means. Written communications, recording of history, and governmental representation are now becoming possible in a new way here. Thus far, we would consider the project to be a great success.

Yesterday we traveled 3 hours in each direction to visit Gideon Mbetsa, the head of the Digo Language Project, at his home in Kinango. The trip was especially grueling because of the fact that it is the rainy season and the narrow dirt roads have been washed out and become rather deadly. We decided that, with our limited time here, it would be best to get all of the information we wanted to gather about the literacy project in one long day.

We learned a lot about the literacy efforts here. Some of it was encouraging. Some of it was frustrating. All of it was difficult to interpret.

There has been a mass exodus of staff in the project. One of the literacy workers retired. One has been fired. 2 of the translators / trainers have moved on to another Project. Joseph Mwalonya, the other translator / literacy workers, has left the project to be trained as a pastor. This is excellent news because he is such a wonderful person. He is so gentle and sweet. I could not imagine a better candidate to be the first Digo pastor. However, since he has left the project, this leaves Gideon Mbetsa as the only employee and overseer of the project. Essentially he IS the literacy project. He cracked a rib in a motorcycle accident over a month ago and has not been teaching any literacy classes since then. The center has been closed and will remain that way for at least another month. He also told us yesterday that he wishes to leave the project to attend bible college in about a year and a half from now.

Over the past 2 weeks we have passed the literacy center about a dozen times or more and it has never once been open. No classes. No teachers. No visitors. Given what we learned yesterday, it all makes sense now.

He told us that when it is operational, there are general literacy classes 3 times per week. There are teacher training sessions. Also, he said, there are materials in development to be used in primary schools. All of this sounds excellent, but unfortunately that is on hold for now and we were unable to observe or verify any of it.

One bit of good news is that we were able to change our tickets to leave from Nairobi rather than Dar Es Salaam. Joseph is currently located in Nairobi. We are hoping to visit him to talk about the state of the project when he left. We will try to learn all that we can from him. We are looking forward to seeing him.

Getting to know the American Missionaries

The past two days have been dedicated to spending time with the wonderful missionary families that we have gotten to know here. The Grossman and the Rains families have been so helpful, informative, and kind to us during our time here in Kenya. One of our objectives set forth by the GO Team was to get to know and encourage the missionaries who are currently working in the area here. Achieving this goal has been a joy for us on this trip. 

Yesterday we drove through Shimba Hills National Park (right outside of Kwale) with the Grossman family. Today we went to Tiwi beach with the Rains and the Grossmans. It was a lot of fun. They have told us again and again that it is so great to have fellow Christians, fellow Americans, which are two rare characteristics here in Diani. Many of their friends and relatives have opted not to visit them this term due to the political unrest that Kenya was experiencing this past winter.  You can imagine that they have been longing for a sense of familiarity; I feel that we have been able to bring that to them in some measure during our time here.

Over the past two days, we have discussed our project ideas with the Rains and Grossmans. They have a wealth of experience working with the Digo people, and they have been open with us in sharing what they have learned in their time here.  They offer a unique point of view for us because they are Americans who understand American expectations and ideals, but they also have their hearts and energy invested in working with the Digo people. 

A bit about these families:

Mark and Melissa Rains are a young, married couple who have three boys--Joshua, Andrew, and Elias-- who are 5, 3, and 1, respectively. The Rains have worked with the Digo people for 5 consecutive years. All three of their boys have grown up here and call this home. 

Mark and MJ Grossman are in their early 40s and have lived in Kenya for 16 years as missionaries. They have worked with the Digo people for 8 years. MJ has given birth to all three of her children here in Kenya. Jane is her oldest, and she is 11. Josiah is 9, and their surprise third child is James who is almost 2.