Compassion Delivers

  It is so exciting to see the donations roll in for the Compassion library at KE214 in Kenya! Thank you for sharing with them in such a way that they will be able to fill their empty shelves with textbooks, resource books and grade level readers for the children and teens enrolled there. I love your generous hearts and I hope you realize how valuable these books will be to them.
   If you are new here, you might want to scroll down and read the previous post on my day at KE214 and their efforts in building and stocking this library.

  This particular Compassion project is also home to a Child Survival Program.
  The Child Survival Program helps save the lives of babies and mothers living in poverty utilizing the local church to assist mothers of at-risk infants and toddlers. Mothers can give their children a fighting chance for healthy development with supplies and training which includes:

Prenatal care
Nutritious food and supplements
Ongoing health care
Spiritual guidance and education
The loving support of a local church

   These are some of the babies and toddlers we were privileged to meet, hold and play with during our day there. The mothers were obviously proud of their healthy little bundles and delighted in the attention we lavished on them.

   The home visits for this project took groups of us to one of the humble dwellings of the mothers enrolled in the Child Survival program. I gained a clear understanding of just how much these women learn from the training Compassion gives them in caring for themselves and their new babies.      

   This woman welcomed us with a  song and led us proudly into her compound. She talked almost non-stop, eagerly explaining all of the ways she was implementing what Compassion had taught her to do.

  
   Here she demonstrated the process of hand washing, after using the "choo", with the water and soap perched on the left. It's something that we are taught to do before we can even speak and it's hard to imagine that in developing countries, hand washing after visiting the latrine is an unheard of practice.

   I followed this woman around her little compound with admiration; for her determination to do the very best with what she had to work with, and for Compassion's success in carrying out what they preach and promote from home. You can read about Compassion's programs and promises and agree that they sound like wonderful interventions and methods of rescue. But when you step into the world of one woman's story and see it all with your own eyes, everything changes. My resolve to partner with Compassion in releasing children from poverty went to a whole new level that day.

   In addition to the hand washing after using the latrine, she explained that Compassion taught her to wash her hands before preparing food (the picture reveals her "kitchen") and before handling and breast feeding her baby. We were led into the area where her little boy sleeps which was covered by a hanging mosquito net and with a newly cut window for ventilation.

   She demonstrated the process she goes through to grow, harvest and grind the different grains she uses to mix with milk from their goat. The end result is a soupy porridge that she feeds to her family and also sells by the roadside to people walking to work in the mornings.
   Her roadside stand also offered different beans and grains Compassion helped her start, as well as handmade soap and eggs from her chickens. She told us the eggs were useful for her own child in providing him with needed protein. (Another score for Compassion!)

   I have so many more pictures and stories from this one home visit. This woman and her husband were living testaments to Compassion's success on every level.  I was reminded that Compassion's goal is not to make these people like us, with our carpeted homes and closets full of shoes and clothes, two kids and a white, picket fence around our miracle grow, green grass yards.
   Compassion's motto is this: The opposite of poverty is enough. 

   Not only was this once splintered family, due to alcohol abuse by dad, reunited and thriving, they were also exuding contentment and hope. It was a beautiful sight. One that I am sure is not fully conveyed in these few paragraphs.
   
   I am still not done reporting on KE214. I met two very special girls on this visit, Risper and Doreen, and I was blessed to hand out many, little, handmade dresses sewn by my good friend Gina. Those stories are up next!

   I am still in pursuit of your gifts towards the remarkable little library housed at this very project. The chip-in button on the right is a simple way to buy a few books and leave your own footprint in Kenya. These resources will be well used and treasured, I can promise you that.
   This effort will remain in place until May 31st. Thank you, thank you, thank you, to those who have given already!

  

TWO Opportunities!

*****Nthiga Has A Sponsor! His Story Is About To Change! Thank You Carrie! *******

***Thank You To All Who Have Donated So Far To The Library! ***

  I lean heavily towards being organized and having my ducks lined up in a nice little row. So I am definitely veering off track here to bring you the next installment of my adventures in Kenya. I should be posting about our day in Dandora, one of Nairobi's largest slums, as this was our next stop following the day we spent with the Maassi. But instead I need to jump ahead a few days. You will understand why if you stick with me till the end of today's entry.

   On Friday, March 23rd, our six van loads of Compassion sponsors and advocates pulled into ACK Karangare Child Development Center and Child Survival Program. It was a short ride from the hotel, but we entered quickly into a desolate, barren area littered with leaning shanties and bustling, crowded streets.
We were welcomed by a crowd of beaming, branch waving mothers who led us in a parade towards the center's gates while singing in Kiswahili, "You've traveled by airplane to get here, now we'll carry you on our backs the rest of the way." (Thanks Chris)

   KE214 is an oasis compared with the squalor surrounding it, and these beautiful children brightened the landscape even more.

   Eager staff proudly led us on a tour of the project and I was incredibly impressed with what they have accomplished through ingenuity, hard work and the training and starter funds offered by Compassion.

   I forget which income generating  business they started first, but each one led to a profit, which in turn provided funds to start another. They had a fish pond which the fathers tended, raising and selling talipia.

   And then around the corner was a rabbit farm, multiple chicken houses and a cow, all fed and cared for by the parents and children registered at this project.

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   The project had earned and saved enough money to add a computer room for the teens registered there and my favorite new addition of all was the library! The room was a simple concrete structure with lots of sturdy metal shelving, but not a whole lot of books.
   Standing there in that humble little library, God spoke to my heart very clearly and said, "This is it. This is where I want you to invest some of the money you were given for this trip. Go buy some books."
   It was so clear on what He wanted me to do, there was no second guessing and wondering if I'd heard Him right. On the last day of my stay in Kenya, I took a taxi with Martin, one of the Kenya Compassion Staff, and went straight to the Textbook Store in Nairobi. With Martin as my guide, we purchased a "trolley" full of textbooks, charts and resource books for KE214.
The photo shows only a fraction of the books we were able to purchase.

   Very few children living in poverty have any access to books like these. A library, which we expect to find in every little town here in America, is unheard of in the poor areas of Kenya.

   Kenyans know the value of an education and will take every opportunity to study and learn. The Compassion children who will use these books have no electricity in their little homes made of sticks and mud, but the project now has a place for them to stay after school and grow in knowledge to their heart's content. I think that is worthy of a standing ovation for the Compassion Staff of KE214 who have worked so hard to enrich the lives of the children in their care.

  This brings me to TWO opportunities for you to get involved. Some people have expressed an interest in donating money towards the purchase of more books for this growing and well used library. And I say, YES! Welcome aboard! Can you imagine the impact of even more books being delivered to this small but thriving Compassion project?

   I have created a chip-in button on the right for those of you who would like to put their hand in on this worthy cause. I am leaving this up until May 31st. Thank you!

I also want to tell you about Nthiga (pronounced THEE-ga), who is a fifteen year old boy there at KE214 in desperate need of a loving sponsor. For 38 dollars a month, you can Change His Story.

Nthiga has been registered at KE214 since 2001, when he was five years old, but has been dropped unexpectedly by three different sponsors. In those eleven years he has received only four letters. His last letter was in 2007. This is very sad and moves me to plead for someone to step into this boy's life and begin a relationship with him. He has several years left in the program and I am asking for someone here to be his hero. Yes, Compassion has taken care of his physical, spiritual and educational needs over the years, but he is missing a crucial part of the care.
YOU.
 Someone to tell him that he matters and that you consider him worthy of the time and effort a letter takes. And of course your sponsorship will equip Compassion to continue to provide for his needs in so many ways.
You can leave a comment here on my blog if you are interested in sponsoring Nthiga. Or you can email me at boothbayharborgirl@yahoo.com
I only have until the 16th of April to advocate for this boy. And this is why KE214 had to be pushed to the front of my orderly line up of days in Kenya.

I have a lot more to tell you about this day's visit. So stay tuned for the rest of the story! Meanwhile, I will be excited to see who jumps in to stock the shelves of our little library, AND to hear from Nthiga's new sponsor.

A World Away....Happy Birthday!

    Meeting Mary in Kenya just last week gave me boat loads of insight into her personality and what makes her tick. She was the most hesitant of the three girls to approach me freely and she was so much smaller that what her Compassion photo let on.

    Here she is at age seven when I first "found" her on the website. An orphan, living with her grandmother, I knew immediately that she was "mine"




    Her photo updated several months ago to a now nine year old Mary.















    Today she turned ten and she is loved so much.

     This bag of markers, pens and pencils was her favorite gift from me. She was completely fascinated and looked at each one individually. She sniffed them, felt them and even wrote on her arm with them! We had to coax her to move on and finish opening the rest of her gifts. I am not sure why these were her favorite, but maybe it has to do with the fact that she wants to be a teacher. She also loved the school books I gave her, so maybe she recognized these gifts to be important to reaching her dreams.
    I asked her if there was anything her family needed, thinking that when I returned to the States, I would send a family gift through Compassion and specify the money go towards whatever she suggested.....maybe a goat, or food, or bedding. But Mary, in her barely a whisper voice, said she would like to have a "Form Five" English textbook, a Social Studies textbook and a composition book, since these were her most difficult subjects.
    Before leaving Kenya, you know what I did. I went straight to the textbook store by taxi and bought her the books she requested as well as an encyclopedia. I left them with a Compassion staff worker and he was to deliver them to her as soon as he could. I am an educator myself and I will do everything I can to encourage her to follow her dream of being a teacher.

     
                           Happy Birthday, Mary Monica!!
                                                                   

Maassi

   I finally feel like I can walk a straight line again after five days of being sick. I do believe that the last two days of feeling unwell and exhausted was because of simple dehydration. Once I smartened up and started downing some water, I felt much better within an hour.

Maassi Land  KE823

   This was our first full day in Kenya as a team of about thirty sponsors and Advocates from all over the United States. I was the only one representing Maryland. We filled six vans after being briefed on our upcoming day with the Maassi. This was to be the first time that a Compassion sponsor team was welcomed into their community and we were enlightened on how to greet men (depending on your age and their age), women (clasp their hand) and children (place your hand on top of their head).
   As our caravan pulled into our destination, we were welcomed by a throng of singing, chanting Maassi women with babies strapped to their backs and some men as well. See the video here.
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   Stepping out onto the dry, dusty soil, my gaze went immediately to one solitary child standing off to the side. She was wearing a purple school uniform and as I explained in a previous post, the sight of her nearly stopped my heart, as she was the poster child of my heart's desire and God's "yes" on the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. I was so grateful and honored and blessed to just stand there and take it all in. I think I could have stood there transfixed all day long.

   Their clothes and beaded jewelery were stunning, especially against the backdrop of the desolate land we were surrounded by. I was told that the Maassi had cut and burned all of the trees in the area for cooking fuel, but that Compassion had organized the planting of over 200 trees to replenish the area with shade and beauty.

  

In Kenya you are always welcomed with tea. They call it "taking tea" and it is done mid-morning whether they have visitors or not. The first order of business is to wash your hands over a bowl as a Maassi woman pours the water for you. Tea consists of steaming hot milk with a tea bag and some sugar if you'd like. Obviously you don't need to add any milk since the entire cup is all milk and no water. Some sort of bread is served with the tea and the type of bread varied with each project we visited.

As we all took part in this ritual, I wandered outside to attempt connections with some of the women and children. One Maassi mother promptly handed me her baby. I looked down at the little fellow and saw flies gathered in the corners of his eyes. As many times as I've seen photos of African children with those maddening flies lighting on them, I finally had the opportunity to brush them away for the little boy in my arms.

The photo album I carried with me containing pictures of my own family was a quick way to bridge the cultural and language gaps. I was soon surrounded by children and mothers all jockeying for a position to see my baby pictures, Moses in Zachary's arms and Caleb zipped up in a snow suit. The Maassi had a distinctive smell.....a combination of wood smoke, sweat and animal dung. Moses (my dog) quickly confirmed this upon my arrival back home when he took great delight in rolling in a scarf  that one of the women there had given to me. I do wonder what I smelled like to them. Maybe a combination of coconuts (Bath and Body Works), pineapple (from breakfast) and sweat masked by baby powder scented deodorant. They are probably still talking about me.

It was incredibly hot there and rain is a rare occurrence for these people. The women walk nine miles one way every day for a container of water for their daily needs. The wind was kicking up clouds of dust and my teeth were grinding sand for a few days afterward.

  Our team broke up into six groups and we headed out for individual home visits. We pulled in to the family's compound and were welcomed with handshakes and smiles. Their home was constructed of mud and sticks and was about the size of my living room. This housed the mother and father, several children plus a daughter-in-law and her baby. A total of eleven people. The parents spoke through a translator and expressed how Compassion has helped them as their young daughter was enrolled in the project. They proudly displayed all of the letters she had received from her sponsor



 They also posed with great pride amongst the small herd of goats they owned. For the Maassi, owning goats gives them status and standing among their people. All of the goats were bought with money sent by their daughter's sponsor and they were very grateful indeed. When you sponsor a child through Compassion, your 38 dollars a month supports the child AND their entire family in many ways. You also have the option to send extra financial gifts through Compassion and 100 percent of these gifts go directly to the family to use towards their most pressing needs.

I thought this young girl was the teenage daughter holding her baby sister, but was told that she was their son's wife and the baby belonged to her. The Maassi have a cultural practice of circumcising their young girls and then marrying them off very early. Compassion has been making progress in teaching the Maassi about the dangers of female circumcision  and the benefits of letting the girls remain children. This is not an attempt to manhandle the Maassi way of life, but to educate them on the true dangers of these practices. I was impressed with Compassion's gentle yet persistent way in dealing with this problem.

I presented the family with a big bag of food from all of us and they in turn hung a strand of Maassi beads around my neck.

When we returned to the project, the women and children performed some amazing traditional dances and songs for us. The women were clearly worshiping God and the children had no fear and were not self-conscious at all. Even with this huge group of white Americans watching them. See the video here

Lunch involved more hand washing and helpings of various vegetables, rice and meat. I never ate the meat at most of our field visits simply because I like to know what kind of beast I am consuming. If it's unidentified, it stays in the pot. There were plenty of other food choices anyways and no one seemed to notice my vegetarian ways. (Well, now that the picture is loaded, I see that I did indeed put meat on my plate. But that was the last time.....

Later in the afternoon the women set up their handmade jewelry and crafts and we all moved in to do some serious shopping. It was a delight to buy from them, knowing that we were supporting their families with some well deserved income.


I will leave you with a few more snapshots of my memorable first day in Kenya.

I had the packet of a little girl named Tampet from this very project whom I was going to post on here in an attempt to find her sponsor. She had been waiting for over eight months, but her wait is over thanks to Shaina.
Thank you!
 I know Tampet and her family will be so excited and encouraged to receive this good news. She is a beauty, don't you think?

Coming and Going

  I'm sick. The kind of sick where you are really and truly grateful to be home with modern facilities and easy access to a change of clothes.
  And I am sleeping........a lot.
  I supose that I picked up a bug on my last day in Kenya where I drove a half hour north to Thika and then three long hours east to visit Naomi. (I will share about my incredible day with her in the days to come.) This was extreme  poverty and extreme heat like nothing I had yet to experience on the Compassion tour thus far. I ate a bowl of overripe fruit that was dished up by the locals; mango, avocado, bananas and papaya. I also had some brown rice but politely waved on the chunky goat stew.
   I hope to be nearing the end of this invasion to my gut.

   In the next few weeks I hope to unpack this African adventure for you and for myself as well and will be writing about each day, as all of them were so unique and worthy of a post all its' own.

   When the opportunity to travel with Compassion to Kenya first became available, I began to dream of the possibilities. But after reading the fine print and realizing I would be on my own in GETTING to Nairobi and then on to the hotel, I quietly closed the door and whispered, "Ummmm....maybe next time."
   There was no way I was going to make a trip of this magnitude alone. Remember now....I am geographically impaired. I get turned around at the doctors office because there are too many exit signs and hallways that connect with each other.
   I follow. I do not lead.
   But through a series of God-designed events, I stumbled across a new friend, Beth, who encouraged me to go and promised to fly with me from D.C. onward. Her enthusiasm and confidence infused me with just enough courage to sign on.
   So after all of the packing and filling out of forms and getting my shots and the building of anticipation for this trip as each day passed, I was finally on my way to D.C. to meet Beth. She is from Iowa and was due to arrive from her Chicago connection about the time that I arrived.
   All of that changed when my cell phone jingled and I learned that she had missed her flight from Iowa and was never going to make it in time to catch the D.C. flight with me.
   I was going to have to go this alone. 
 
  The rest of the story you already know. I made it without any trouble, unless you count the little girl in the seat behind me who vomited at least three gallons of liquid onto her parents, herself and their carry on baggage. Eight hours of flying proved to be a little too much for her and the aborted landing and circular rerouting for a second attempt did not help in the least.
   Thankfully we were landing and exiting the plane when this all took place. I threw my prized package of baby wipes to the dripping mother and told her to just keep and use them all as I was herded down the aisle by passengers who were very anxious to depart.
   I knew I was in Switzerland when this little girl's dress was the first thing to greet me in the airport. Definitely not something Maggie would choose, but adorable just the same.

   A Swiss airplane took me the remaining eight hours to my final destination. And do travel Swiss Air if ever you get the chance. We were treated like royalty with steaming hot, lemon scented towels to freshen up with, Swiss chocolate delivered on a platter and Vanilla Bean  Dream Ice Cream to go with it.

As we drew closer to Kenya, my eyes were riveted on the screen directly in front of me. I was in African airspace now and my dream was becoming a reality.

My seat mates must have thought I was incredibly bored to be staring at this map for so long and with such intensity. And no one seemed to speak any English, so it wasn't like I could explain myself.

If there is one thing I learned to do on this trip, it was to be myself and forget about what everyone else was thinking about me. I was presented with opportunities at every corner to step out of my own man-made ball pit and engage fully with all that was going on around me. It was exhausting and not ever easy, but I did it and will never regret it. I had no time to waste on fear and insecurity. In Africa, I emerged a leader and I have no doubt that God had that in mind all along.