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. 

A meeting and a cancellation

Today we met with Terry for several hours to discuss more detailed ideas of how to get the young mother and infant program going. The meeting was good (exhausting, but productive), but it is now apparent that we will need more money than we initially thought. If you would like to see the full cost break-down, or if you are interested in supporting this project, please email us: palkovitz (at) gmail (dot) com (type that like a normal email address… we are avoiding spambots). Also, if you have any questions / comments, we would love to hear your thoughts. You can use email or the comments section and we will try to reply to you ASAP.

All members of the Go Team will be receiving a break down of expenses, so look for it in your inboxes!

Prior to attending today’s meeting, several people offered some valuable feedback about the program. During our time with Terry we addressed some of the questions that we had.

Some of the issues that we addressed were:

1) How do we select the mothers?
2) How do we make sure that the mother’s will want their babies after the duration of the program?
3) How do we prevent this project from becoming something that enables irresponsible behavior in teenagers?
4) How do we address the developmental/attachment needs of the babies?
5) How will money securely be transferred and allocated?

Answer to 1:
There is a much greater need here than we would even attempt to fill at this point, so we will need to come up with a list of criteria that mothers will have to meet to be considered for admission into the program.
These criteria would be part of a legal agreement that the mothers will sign upon enrollment into the program.
Additionally, in the upcoming months, before the official program is started, Terry will begin holding meetings at Pamoja with mothers/expectant mothers. This way Terry will gain a better assessment of who in the community would be ideal candidates (based on who attends regularly, general character evaluations, and an expressed interest).

Answer to 2:
This will be one of the criterion in the legal agreement that the mothers sign upon enrollment.

Answer to 3:
In addition to choosing mothers initially who have shown in some way that they would be ideal candidates for the program, we will also be involved with the mothers as part of this mothers/infants project.
We will emphasize and require regular visitation hours and involvement with their infants.
We will build in a monthly cost for each young mother to either return to school, or receive vocational training (another requirement of the program).
We will also try to implement some classes with the women on general sex education, healthcare, etc.

Answer to 4:
Initially, there will be one Digo mama (live-in care giver) for every 3 infants. The total number of infants will be 9 to start. The same Digo mama will be assigned 3 infants for the duration of her care giving. We will ask the Digo mamas to commit to a certain amount of time prior to accepting this role. The Digo mamas will receive free room and board as well as a monthly allowance.
Additionally, each young mother will be required to interact with her infant on a regular basis. These interactions would increase in frequency and duration as the young mother prepares to transition to becoming the full time caregiver.

Answer to 5:
This project will be registered with the ministry of social services, and a permit will be secured. A board of directors will be established, a Kenyan bank account will be opened in the name of the project. Receipts will be provided for all expenses.

In other news:
Thursday’s presentation of “True Love Waits” was canceled. The head of the school here in Diani was excited for the material to be introduced, but apparently the American woman who funds the school did not approve of the content of the material. I am still foggy on the details of why this American woman objected—I don’t know if it was because it advocated for abstinence, or if it was because it explained “safe sex” practices as part of the material, too—but at any rate, she did not approve of the presentation.

Melissa will be forging ahead in this area, however. She will be pursuing different schools from now until October; after October, the Diani school will no longer be funded by this particular American woman, so Melissa and the head of this school will revisit the possibility of introducing the program there.

AIDS / Sex education in digo schools (lindsay)

This Thursday Melissa, Anne (two missionaries here; one American, one Kenyan) and I will introduce a curriculum called “True Love Waits” into one of the Digo populated secondary schools in Diani. It’s a course that advocates for abstinence from sex until marriage. It also contains sex education and information about sexually transmitted diseases. It was designed by someone from Uganda, so it is more forthright than the American version that I had in my Christian junior high school. This is needed here where many people have HIV/AIDS and don’t realize the implications of sleeping with multiple partners throughout the course of their lives.

Melissa, Anne, and I met today to plan and prepare our presentation for Thursday. Melissa was explaining that the statistics on the HIV/AIDS rate here in Kenya are difficult to gather. The Kenyan government and the public try to hide the severity of the epidemic. Some people say that 1 in 10 Digo people are infected with HIV/AIDS, but others say the actual rate is close to 1 in 4. The figures are difficult to gather because there is such a social stigma associated with the disease. People do not want to get tested because they don’t want anyone to discover that they are HIV/AIDS positive. Additionally, because the Digo people are a separate entity in many ways from the greater part of Kenyan society, I expect that conducting research on their specific demographic would not be of much interest to the Kenyan government or public.

As I consider the HIV/AIDS epidemic among the Digo people—especially as we stand on the brink of establishing our first development project—I am reminded more than ever that Culture is integrated. Each social issue is impossible to understand in isolation from the many different types of causes that compromise that issue. This same principle applies to solutions. For years I thought that if anti-retrovirals were made available to infected populations, the HIV/AIDS problem would be greatly improved. Here I am experiencing quite a different reality. I was shocked to find out that anti-retrovirals are actually free and widely available here to anyone who is infected. Melissa was explaining to me that she has a good friend who is HIV/AIDS positive, but this friend refuses to take the anti-retrovirals because of the shame associated with admitting that she is infected.

Another common problem with HIV/AIDS treatment here is that if people do take the anti-retrovirals, they stop taking them once they start to feel better. This exacerbates the situation because their bodies will then build a resistance to the anti-retrovirals.

This situation illustrates that need is more than just material. The need here is holistic. The solutions must also be examined and implemented from a holistic perspective. As we seek God for how we can love people here in a practical way, we need His guidance to understand and discern this holistic nature of the issues here.

Truly helping people takes time, patience, humility, respect, objectivity (or at least recognizing our biases and limitations) and ultimately, love. I find the process of analyzing the different factors that contribute to social outcomes absolutely fascinating. If there wasn’t such a need for work to be done, I could spend a life time just studying the Digo culture and trying to understand how all the different elements of society, religion, and culture tie together to produce outcomes. But I feel that too many anthropologists get caught in the rat race of academia that they do not apply their intelligence and knowledge.

Sadly, I think that it is too easy for me to do this as a Christian, too. I decided early on in undergraduate school that I didn’t want to be an armchair anthropologist. Even more importantly, I am learning that I don’t want to be an armchair Christian. What is the use of my knowledge is I don’t apply it to good use? What is the use of my faith, if I do not practice it by showing people love in a tangible way? Of course, I am here in Kenya, surrounded by need and inspiring people. I want to keep this conviction long after I return home from this month. It has only been a week, but I am learning so much.

Time marches on (Collin)

A side note about the  political turmoil here.

When we bought our tickets to come here, we chose a route through Tanzania and then overland through the countryside to get here. One of reasons for this round about itinerary was to avoid passing through Nairobi and Mombassa. During the post election crisis, those were 2 of the main hotspots for violence here. With roads being blocked off, busses being flipped over and burned, and people being hacked up with machetes, we didn't think that traveling through those areas would be a wise idea if we could avoid that.

Since arriving, I have been keeping an eye out for signs of the disturbance. I have been asking people about what it was like and what the current situation is. Invariably, people laugh a little bit as you would when someone reminds you of something embarrassing you said when you were a child. The response is always something along the lines of "The fighting is over. Kibaki and Odinga work together now. They share power and everything is good now. There is peace." It is a blemish of the past that is being covered as quickly as possible.

The quick dismissal almost borders on denial. The cottage we are staying is is about 200 yards down a dirt road that is just off of the main (paved) road through town. At the junction of these 2 streets there are piles of burned rubble. A hotel, a restaurant, and several businesses were burned down in the riots following the election. These riots were global news. I read about this specific incident on the BBC website, yet when I ask people about it here, the answer is "those buildings burned, but now they are rebuilt." No mention of riots, unrest, violence, or even intentionality. One man I talked to said that they were burned as a protest, but he was quick to add "but it is OK now."

I know that we are in the south of the country where there was relatively little conflict, so it is probably easier for people to sweep it under the rug here, but the fact is, it DID happen and there are still hundreds of thousands of refugees who were made homeless just a few months ago as well as thousands of people mourning the loss of loved ones.

It seems to be part of people's identity here that Kenya is the peaceful African country and very few are willing to let that go. A comment that one man in Kwale made seemed to sum it all up. "At least we are not like Somalia, Rwanda, Uganda, and Congo. There is always fighting and killing there. What happened here was a small matter and it is over now."

A very exciting opportunity

Today we went back to Pamoja to meet with Terry again. We spent a good deal of time discussing our hopes and goals to see if there is some way for her to guide us or help us. 

Let me give a brief background on who Terry is. She is the manager / director of Pamoja. Pamoja is a relief project that provides food and education to extremely poor children as well as micro-financed loans and business training to women in need. Terry's vision and values are so closely aligned with ours, it is incredible.  Talking with her is much like conversing with an applied anthropology professor who cares very deeply about the people being reached. Her knowledge and insight into the management of community based relief efforts is astounding. Her years of experience, her drive to make a sustainable difference for those in need, and her compassion for those around her all contribute to her being an incredible leader of this kind of thing.

As I  was saying, we were discussing potential relief projects. We were asking her for insight into the felt needs of the community and we were testing the waters to see if it might be possible to partner with her in some new efforts.

Before we knew it, we were discussing preliminary plans for a joint effort that will serve one of the most un-reached demographics of people in need here.

She told us that a huge problem in this culture is early teen pregnancy. It is very common for girls who are 12-14 to get pregnant and have to drop out of school once they give birth to their child. Terry told us that the MAJORITY of babies born in this situation die because their young mothers have no knowledge of how to care for a child and no resources to raise a baby. She said that many of these babies are abandoned to die because the mothers feel that they simply have no choice in the matter. These mothers are still children themselves when they find themselves in this situation. They only will realize the severity and tragedy of their loss once they have matured.

Adoption is uncommon here. Terry told us that in this culture EVERY mother wants their child back at some point. Even if they are unable to raise a baby at first, they want their children back by the time they are able to support them. Family is everything to Digo people. She said that mothers who do give their children up for long term adoption or place their kids in an orphanage wind up suffering terrible guilt ridden depressions when they cannot be reunited with their children.

Terry has a vision to start a home where young teenage mothers can take their children to be cared for until their situation is improved enough to responsibly raise a child. During this initial period while the mothers are finding their feet, the babies would be nurtured and cared for by a staff of Digo women. While the babies are in the home, their mothers will be able to have as much or as little interaction with them as desired. Once these teenage mothers are able to finish school and get a job or get married in order to support their children, they would be free to take the children back to raise them in a secure environment. 

Terry has dreamt of something like this for a long time but she said that she didn't know how it would be achieved or what funds would support the project.

This is something that we could very realistically support. We were talking about the specifics of the costs involved, and there is a good likelihood that we will be able to fund this. Terry said that she will do the research over the next few days to come up with some final figures by Wednesday. 

Another day of learning (Lindsay)

Today’s meeting with Terry went beautifully! We were able to discuss the basics of our vision for what we want to accomplish here in Digoland, and we asked many of our questions. She is a perfect resource for exactly what we want to know. She is a missionary from Nairobi, and she has spent the past 8 years working with the Digo. She is the founder and director of Pamoja, a nursery school and development program for women.

She has a wealth of wisdom from her years of working here with the Digo people. She was explaining to us the challenges and issues that she often faces in her work. An important key to having an effective program, she said, is to sell the vision to the Digo people. This was interesting to me. She works with the community to understand what their felt needs are, but then she really tries to pull the community together to share a sense of responsibility and desire to make the program work. She said that many missionaries overlook the importance of getting the community to take the project into their own hands. She said that many times she has seen missionaries run successful projects while they are physically present, but when they leave, the projects collapse. She was explaining that this is often due to a lack of involvement and shared responsibility from the community.

It was really great to visit with Terry. We got to meet her 2 month old baby boy, David Peter. He was adorable! She is currently on maternity leave, but she still works several hours each day from home. While Terry is on leave, a Digo woman is managing the daily work at Pamoja. Terry said that this is a wonderful sign that the community is starting to own the vision. She hopes that this woman’s involvement continues.

Time flew today while we were talking with Terry, and we decided to get together again tomorrow. Tomorrow will be especially exciting because we will be visiting Pamoja and other projects that are similar to what we want to do in Digoland. In fact, there is a new program in its beginning phases. The initial funding to buy land and build a facility was donated to Terry. The program will be geared towards training and equipping adults with different practical skills (computer training, English lessons, baking, sewing, etc.) so that they can get jobs. The building is already standing, waiting for the next steps. We will learn more about this and other projects tomorrow.

After our time with Terry, we rushed off to have dinner with the Grossman and Rains families (both American missionary families). Our rushing was only an attitude, however, because you just can’t rush things here in the Kwale district. No matter how much of a hurry you are in, the matatus are not going to leave until they have sold more than the caravan’s capacity. When we went to pick up gelato as our contribution to this evening’s menu, it took about 40 minutes for the person to scoop it for us. After living in American for my whole life, and especially after holding a full time job for the past 4 years, it is engrained in me to rush, rush, rush. It seems that there is not enough time in each day for all that I want to do, so I find myself racing through life at break-neck speed more often than not. I have wanted to kick this habit of rushing, and it looks like this is the place to do it.

We did make it to the Grossman’s in time for dinner, and we had a wonderful evening with both families. Each couple has three kids, and they are all under the age of 11. It was really fun to be in a house full of laughter, home cooked food, and English conversation.

Some things that I am learning about myself…

I put a lot of confidence and stress on my plans. I plan and schedule my life. I have a Day Runner calendar/planner that I use to govern my life. I write everything down that I have to do, and I often even write things down in retrospect if I didn’t know that I was going to do them, just to document that I did them. Who plans their life even in the past? Apparently, I do. Being here in the Kwale district for a month is going to challenge me in that area of my life. It’s not bad to plan, but it is good for me to see that life can still succeed without trying to plan every detail.

So much is out of my control here. I don’t have my own car, for one thing. That is a huge difference. The matatus are adventurous and interesting to an extent, but when you are in a hurry there is nothing you can do to make them move faster. Also, there is NO personal space. For those of you who know that I have sharing issues, this is God’s way of forcing me into shock therapy in this respect. These are some American tenets that are being purged from my being: individualism and independence.

Another thing that makes me feel out of my element is that I don’t speak the language. I can’t understand what people are saying. People often talk to us and then talk amongst each other and laugh, and I wonder…what are they saying? This is one area that I feel excited to change. I think that I may start taking Swahili lessons with a personal tutor. It is $5.00 US per hour.

Our lack of knowledge about the details of how much things should cost is also a challenge. We get on the matatu and get charged a different rate for the same ride from day to day. I know that today we got the special American rate for a ride that cost about 20 shillings less per person yesterday. We are learning, though. It’s like becoming a child all over again. There is so much that I don’t know.

So, these challenges are strengthening me in ways that I probably wouldn’t experience in my daily life at home. It’s humbling to be so ignorant and so aware that I can’t control things.

Practicing the following will keep me busy for the month (and the rest of my life):

Ephesians 4:2
“Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.”

I want to end this entry with a note of thanks to all of you across the oceans who are thinking of us, praying for us, supporting us as we are here. It is encouraging to know that we are not alone. Many of you did (or are doing) something specific that is enabling us to be here for this month, and we really appreciate it. This trip is something that is bigger than just Collin and me. You are participants in making this happen. So, thank you, and stay tuned for more.

Great news and a fun story

Today was a fantastic day. We woke up and the sun was shining brightly, the sky was an uninterrupted expanse of blue, and there was a pleasant wind blowing. The songbirds all around our cottage celebrated the beautiful weather.

Lindsay went with M.J. Grossmann this morning (girls' day out) to visit a house church in a nearby digo village. Lindsay was able to visit Mwanasiti, a Christian Digo woman who came to our cottage and cooked us lunch last time we were here. They had a wonderful day, but because I wasn't there, I won't write about it.

I decided to head back up into the hills and villages around Kwale to try to track down some contacts we made last time we were in Kenya. These people manage a non profit called Pamoja (togetherness) that serves Digo women and children in need. From what we know about this project, we have been thinking that it could serve as an excellent blueprint for us to start something similar. At the very least, I wanted to visit and observe what goes on there.

I hadn't been able to communicate much at all with the people who run Pamoja, but I figured I would strike out and hope for the best. I didn't know if I had any real chance of successfully locating them in thousands of square miles of land and hundreds of thousands of people when I don't speak the language, but I figured I could benefit from getting to know the area better whether I found them or not.

I hiked out to the main road and started the hectic Mutatu journey into the hills. As foreign as it is to me, I really enjoy this adventure. For one thing, I love to experience life wherever I am as the local people live it, but beyond that, there is a shared sense of belonging as 23 people pile into a small van and speed down an impossibly bumpy road. It is as though everyone knows, "We are all going somewhere and this is how we get there. Might as well enjoy the ride." Just when you think you have shared enough apologetic smiles to cover the many cramped collisions you have had while settling in as the vehicle slams around corners, the van will skid to a halt and 5 or 6 more people will cram in. This process repeats itself indefinitely as people clamber in and out on the way to their destination.

As I mentioned, I didn't know where I was going, but I vaguely remembered hearing that the project was located in Vuga, a village near Kwale. I had asked to be let out of the bus at Vuga and after about a 45 minute ride, we pulled off the road in the jungle and the driver pointed at me and shouted "Vuga!" I somehow managed to make it out of the van past all of the other passengers. As the matatu sped off and left me standing there on the side of the road I began to wonder just where I was and what I had signed up for. I resolved to make the most of it and explore the area. 

I climbed a path up an embankment next to the road and just as I got over the bluff,  there in front of me was a brightly colored sign that proclaimed "Pamoja!"

I could scarcely believe this was happening to me. I excitedly followed the trail that wound through a maize patch and under a stand of coconut palms. I neared a thatched building with the sound of many small voices singing something in unison. As I rounded the corner, the singing stopped. About 30 little children and 2 teachers stared at me quizzically. 

I suddenly realized how odd it must be for me to come bursting out of the jungle and into their classroom unannounced. I said one of the only things I know in Swahili / Chidigo. "Jambo." 

"JAAAMMMBOOO" A chorus of cheerful voices replied excitedly. Apparently my interruption of their lesson had been forgiven.

After establishing that I was indeed visiting the exact program I had set out to find, I was led through the gardens until we met an english-speaking caretaker named Sayidi.

Sayidi turned out to be a very kind man. He told me that Terry (the contact I met two years ago who manages Pamoja) was not working today, but he offered to show me around and answer all of my questions.

What I saw there was inspiring beyond words. There are currently 55 Digo children enrolled in Pamoja. The program is a daycare / school that caters to poor children who would otherwise never be able to afford to attend school. Every day, these kids receive a nutritious meal and an education for FREE! Sayidi tends a 1 acre garden that grows food that helps to feed the children. He said that, all told, the average cost of feeding these 55 kids for one day is a total of 100 shillings ($1.69)!!!

We spent about an hour or so discussing all of the details of running a project like this. As we walked around the property and he explained everything to me, countless possibilities began to form in my mind. What once seemed like an amorphous dream began to crystalize as a tangible possibility.

We scheduled another meeting for tomorrow when Lindsay and Terry can both be there. I can hardly wait. I have so many things that I am excited to ask. This is EXACTLY the kind of thing that we were hoping would happen on this trip.

OK, now for a fun story.

When I left Pamoja I started to walk towards Kwale. It was really hot out at this point and the road was long and steep. The matatu had dropped me off in the middle of nowhere, so I thought I might be in for quite a walk. After about 15 minutes of walking in solitude, a huge truck loaded with sand came lumbering up the hill behind me. I stepped off the road to let it pass and looked up to smile at the guys who were riding atop the sand in the back of the truck. They waved down to me and signaled that I should climb on. No need to ask twice!

I climbed up into the back of the truck and was greeted by 2 friendly guys about my age. They were grinning from ear to ear and signaled that I should follow them to the front of the load (this truck was like a huge dump truck except it didn't dump... it had to be unloaded manually).

I spent the next 45 minutes in an exhilarated state of happiness. The breeze was wonderful and suddenly the sun no longer felt hot. It was pure freedom. Riding high up with a totally unobstructed view gave me a new perspective on this landscape. I have always known that it is beautiful here, but being out in the open and watching the lush green hills and valleys roll by was truly awe inspiring.

The workers in the back and I talked as much as we could without all sharing the same first language. As it turned out, they were all Digos. One guy named Muhdi knew a lot of English and we chatted for a long time and exchanged contact information.

When we arrived in Kwale the driver stopped the truck to let me climb down. I thanked them for the ride, and we parted ways.

I bought a huge bottle of water and was walking around town enjoying my cold drink when I spotted the truck again. They were unloading the sand with shovels at a site where a building is being built. I walked up to the truck and when they saw me the workers smiled and waved. I climbed back up into the truck to watch them unload (it is so different than an American truck that just dumps whatever it is carrying in a matter of seconds). I saw that they were pouring sweat so I tossed them the my water. They gratefully shared it amongst themselves. After this little break, they jokingly gestured toward a shovel and we all had a laugh but then I figured, "hey why not?" I took off my shirt and grabbed the shovel.

It was exhausting work , but we had a fine time and before too long, we had finished. 

They asked where I was staying and they offered me a ride back to the neighboring town. Rather than cram back into a Matatu after working up a sweat like that, I gladly accepted. We climbed back into the truck and went bouncing down the dirt road.

The ride back down out of the hills was rather eventful. We broke down and had to repair the truck, then once we got going again, we got pulled over by police who were wielding machine guns. I watched as the driver discretely slipped some bills into the policeman's hand and shortly thereafter, we were on our way. I asked Muhdi what had taken place and he laughed and said that we got pulled over for having passengers in the back of the truck. When I expressed feelings of guilt for my part in the crime (I had no idea it was against the law here... you see it all the time) he laughed again and told me that it happens every single day. He said "we carry the whole crew back here every day. We just give him a few shillings and he lest us pass. Is no problem."

When we got down from the hills the truck pulled over at a little thatched pavilion. I asked what we were doing and Muhdi said "LUNCH!" We all went into the little roadside "restaurant" and sat on logs on the ground. They served up boiled cassava and broth. Delicious. They refused to let me pay for mine and insisted that they owed me a lunch for helping them.

I would say the ONLY downside of this day is the stinging sunburn I got from spending the afternoon in the back of a truck with no shirt on, but even that is just a reminder of this great day.

For the future:

Please pray that our meeting at pamoja is good tomorrow.

Please pray that we can gather good information about other initiatives that would be beneficial. 

Back in Kwale

Today was a great day. I decided that when I got out of bed and got to drink a cup of coffee for the first time since last Friday morning. For all of you serious coffee drinkers out there, you understand the joy that a cup of delicious Kenyan coffee brought my soul (espresso roast, by the way). I was able to drink a cup of coffee today because Mark Grossman took us grocery shopping yesterday. It felt so nice to get our kitchen cottage stocked up with food. Besides missing family, friends, and my dog, I feel pretty much at home here in Diani, Kenya.(It’s true, I admit it… I love my dog. I am officially one of those people who misses their dog when they go away. I didn’t know that would ever be me, but alas, it is).

So, today’s highlight was that we went into Kwale town for the first time since we arrived. In order to get to Kwale town from our little cottage, we had to take 3 matatus to get there. (For those of you who don’t know…Matatus are like caravan mini-vans that pack way more people in them than seats).

Taking a matatu is quite an experience. The stops for matatus are chaotic because each different matatu driver fiercely competes for passengers. Several times today, a matatu worker grabbed one of our bags from us and put it on his matatu so that we would have to choose to ride with him to get our bags back. No problem. Nothing got stolen, and we got a ride.

A few times today I felt like a total American klutz/ethnocentric jerk. And it was always accidental, of course, but that didn’t make it feel any better. At one point I took a seat that was towards the front of the matatu, and then felt bad because there were open seats in the back that I probably should’ve taken. I felt a little selfish, but I get a little claustrophobic--- it’s just my instinct to position myself nearest to a fast escape. Then with it being so cramped and crowded, there were several incidents when I hit someone in the head with a stray limb, dangling in some direction trying to stay within the confines of the matatu. At one point, Collin’s leg fell out the door, while he was crouched on the side of the seats on the floor. No problem. He just pulled his leg back in and scrunched in tighter ball on the floor. Meanwhile, the matatu flies on at an unfathomable speed.

As each new matatu ride drew us farther from the hectic pace of Diani, the crowds and the traffic faded away. We moved our way past the rural villages of the Kwale district. It was fantastic to be back to the red dirt, the cool breezes of the shimba hills, and the colorful fabrics that the Digo women wear. Just as I remembered, there was a faint smell of something burning in the distance...some kind of wood, maybe? And the trees and hills are so verdant and lush that it feels like another world. Instantly upon arriving to Kwale town, I remember how much I love this place.

Once we arrived in Kwale town, we navigated (when I say “we” in the instances of navigation, I really mean Collin) our way to the literacy center. This is the new office of Bible Translation and Literacy. We were happy that we found the building after not being here for 2 years. Last time we were here, it was just a plot of land with good intentions and a building permit. It was really exciting to see the building complete. No one was there when we showed up, so next time we will call someone from BTL first to arrange a visit.

After that, we walked around Kwale town, through the market and talked with people while we looked at their merchandise. We had some really positive interactions with people…laughing, smiling, and talking…that helped to erase the sting of my former blunders on the matatu. In talking to one of the women we met in town, we learned that she knows the family of Joseph Mwalonya, (the Digo man who worked as a translator on the New Testament and who we are now sponsoring through bible school to become a pastor)!

We returned to our cottage in time for Collin to start work in the evening, and it has been a pleasant night. I am enjoying cooking here in our cottage. It’s been fun to really settle in and feel at home here.

Some future plans:

Tomorrow I am going in to Kwale again with MJ Grossman and Melissa Rains, two women who are missionaries. We are going to do some ministry/service with the women. I do not know what we are doing, but I will report back afterwards with an update.

We are still formulating our month’s schedule as we are contacting people here in Kenya and setting up times to meet. We plan to visit existing projects similar to things that we would like to initiate. Gideon M’betsa (a leader in the literacy projects) and Teresa Awendo (leader of Pamoja, women and children’s training and care facility) are two people who we plan to meet sometime soon for this purpose.

A safe arrival

We have arrived safely to our destination in Diani, Kenya. It was a really long trip, but all of our prayers were answered. We arrived safely, purchased a visa, got through customs, got our bags, found the right busses, crossed the border, and arrived here safely to find a wonderful cottage (with working internet) awaiting us. Thank you so much for all of your prayers!

The bus ride was long, hot, and very crowded, but we were happy just to arrive alive. There were times that we were certain we would roll over as we skidded and bounced around corners of the dirt roads at incredible speeds. At one point, we passed a tank truck that had just flipped over and spilled its load of oil. There were people crowding around the scene with buckets, bottles, and all sorts of other containers that could be used to scoop up some of the spilled fuel for free. Along the way, we passed other rusting skeletons of vehicles that had apparently gone careening off of the roadway to become testaments to fast driving on these roads.

Soon after arriving in Diani, we met the Grossmann family for dinner. They are a very kind missionary family we met last time we were over here. It was wonderful to see them and to catch up on all the news since our last visit. They were incredibly hospitable and we look forward to partnering with them this coming month. They have offered to help us in any way we might need.

Prayer requests for the near future:

• Please pray that we get rested up from the long trip.

• Please pray that we make the right contacts and form plans that will be very fruitful.

• Please pray for clarity as we try to learn how we can best serve the digo people.