Out of the Streets

This Afternoon I was Powerless

2011-04-11T12:46:00.000-07:00

In Kisumu this afternoon I was powerless.

Moses, Paul James and I

We broke down.

There was nothing for it, we had to get out of the car and push.

It was hot, we were in Nakumatt supermarket car park in the middle of town and we were trying to bump start the little Toyota 110 whose battery had sadly failed us.

We pushed it down the short ramp, out past the shopping mall entrance and down towards the busy back street, lined with wooden shacks hung with t-shirts and shoes, bags and phones and all manner of amazing things. Bicycles, tuk-tuks, cars and motorcycles plied this route for business, it was no place to be stranded and we pushed as hard as we could.

But we had no luck.

Rather than risk the wrath of the van drivers, motorcyclists and tuk-tuk drivers we pushed the car up against a wall to the side of the road.

This, rather unfortunately, turned out to be the wall at the entrance to the Kenya Post depot, into which lorries regularly turned to pick up and deliver their loads.

We were, to be frank, a bit of a nuisance.

Well actually, it was only Paul James and I that were a nuisance, as by this time Moses had put the bonnet up, hit the battery with a pair of heavy pliers a couple of times and then run off to find someone who might help.

A friend of his worked in the Supermarket and the car’s mechanic only worked around the corner, so cries for help were sent out into many directions.

Just the other side of the wall was a kiosk selling fresh meat.

That statement may be the biggest lie on this blog to date, but I can factually guarantee that it was a kiosk and it did sell meat.

We bought a kilo of goat meat from it just yesterday for 300 shillings (£2.50) and then Moses turned it into a stew with groundnuts and chilli. But, as we stood waiting, the smell from the kiosk was less than pleasant in the afternoon sun.

Eventually Moses returned from his sojourn into the depths of Nakumatt with a new battery. It was clear that the old one had no life left at all, despite the encouragement from a passer by to fill it with coca cola – guaranteed, apparently, to get it going again.

Ad so we returned, somewhat later than planned, to the hotel.

It was just as well, as this evening we had planned a wonderful supper.

Moses returned home to change into his finery and to pick up Tatu, his naturally beautiful Tanzanian wife, and then returned, with Paul James, at the customary 45 minutes later than we had agreed.

We jumped in the car and headed to town.

We have been to the Thai restaurant there a number of times before. I always try to go out with Moses, Tatu and Paul James at the end of my trips and we always discuss where to go. There are good Indian restaurants, African, Italian, but the Thai always wins.

Whilst Moses parked the car (some distance from the kerb) we headed inside.

The restaurant is upstairs in a small shopping mall, above the Fly540 offices and next to a foreign exchange. It is unassuming, but welcoming, lit with red lanterns and a warm smile.

We were shown to our table and ordered the mandatory prawn crackers, which appeared a few minutes later with a fiery red chilli sauce, a tamarind dip and onions.

We feasted. We enjoyed chicken and ribs, satay and prawns, shredded pork and pineapple rice – tasty, well cooked and full of flavour.

Moses was curious to know how things were cooked. After his success in the kitchen with the goat and the mushrooms he is looking at oriental cuisine as a logical next step.

In particular he loved the spare ribs and tried to guess the flavours. I told him that good spare ribs are marinated for a long time so that the juices flow into them and slowly flavour the meat before they are cooked on hot flames. He was intrigued.

As we ate chicken wings - sorry, as Tatu ate the chicken wings and the rest of us tucked into the spare ribs – we reflected on the time we have spent together.

Moses shared how easy it had been, how we haven’t rushed about this time, how we have shared and had time to mull over ideas and thoughts, how we have agreed on so many things without it seeming like much effort.

And it has been good.

As we talked we looked back over the ten years of the Trust.

We talked about this wonderful place, about the need to spend time here and get to know it, to get to know the people and to get to an understanding of the culture.

There have been times when we have tried to go too fast, times when we have worked in our own strength and tried to force things to happen and times when we have waited to see and understand the best thing to do.

But we all agreed that, over the last ten years, this place has been marinating us, seeping into our bones, getting under our skin, helping us to understand. And we are much better for the experience.

The flavours coming out are good, this trip has left a wonderful taste.

Our evening was over so soon, three hours in an instant. It was lovely to spend time with my Kenyan family.

How good it is, when brothers and sisters dwell together in unity.

Thanksgiving and Prayers

2011-04-10T10:56:00.001-07:00

Sunday.

And so to church.

Not just any church though, this is African church. Worship here isn’t the reverential singing of a few songs from hundreds of years ago. It’s a celebration, a party. It’s dancing until you can’t dance any more, it’s repeated harmonic rhythms sung out from the front and repeated by the congregation. It’s jumping and clapping and dancing and singing until you think there is nothing left in you.

And then it is thanksgiving.

Not a prayer from the front, not a formal time, but a mass participation event where everyone in the church raises their voice and gives thanks for all the things God is doing in their lives. They may be the poorest of the poor, they may live in the mud and thatch huts that surround the church and our land, but they manage to give thanks for 10 minutes at least. Everyone talking at once, their own personal prayers lost in the melee of voices and left to the beneficiary of the thanksgiving to sort out.

Then the music starts again. Soft guitar rhythms, “wewe bwana, ni wewe Bwana yangu” and then the joy wells up again, the music gets louder, the voices swell and the church starts to party.

Our church in Kibos is not a grand building. It’s a few mbati sheets (corrugated iron) around a wooden frame, sunk into increasingly fragile ground as the rains cause the sandy soils to shift underneath it. It has stood for almost 7 years now and needs reinforcing with steel posts, but nobody minded.

The music these days is limited to Moses guitar, a donation from well wishers in the UK. We had a keyboard, but last November, when the rains caused a blackout the pastor here, Hezbon, borrowed a generator and plugged the keyboard in. Within an hour it had fried, quite literally.

After an hour or so of praise and worship, thanksgiving and dancing Moses invited me to preach the sermon. It was quite short by Kenyan standards, just about an hour, translated by Moses into Swahili.

My local preacher training at the Methodist Church has had little influence on my preaching here in Kenya. I am often led to tear up my notes and preach from the heart. This morning I shared from Isaiah 35 – The future Glory of Zion

He will come and save you

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped

Then the lame shall leap like a deer and the tongue of the dumb shall sing

For waters shall break forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert

The parched land shall become a pool

And the ransomed of the Lord shall return ....

And they will come to Zion with singing

With everlasting joy upon their heads

They shall obtain joy and gladness

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away

The worship that followed was wonderful, we prayed God’s kingdom down upon us and his peace upon all we do. I greeted everyone like old friends. I love it here.

I left tired, sweaty and hugely uplifted.

One day, just one day to have English worship like they do here!

This morning we took three new boys into our home at Mamboleo. The space has been made available over the last couple of months as schools have started and three boys that were with us have been resettled at their homes, with parents, grandparents or guardians.

As a result of going through the budgets yesterday we recognised that we were able to support the new intake of boys.

I know for Nicky and I this is a wonderful moment. It’s why the Trust was started in the first place, to help the most desperate off the streets. It’s the reason for the name of this blog.

Paul James and John Odhiambo, our Director and Social Worker respectively have been meeting the boys in town for some time now, taking them to a small cafe for some food and chatting with them, getting to know the reasons they were on the streets, their family background and circumstances.

They recommended them as soon as funds were available and we were delighted to welcome them today.

Brian, Fidel and Silas have been on the streets for 1.5, 2 and 2 years respectively. Their stories are different, but are all equally tragic. The loss of parents, living with elderly grandparents who aren’t able to cope, single parents who drink and beat the children. They left their homes in rural Nyanza for the streets of the largest town here, Kisumu.

On the streets they have found food at various outreach centres, even gone to a different home for a few days, but ran away again because they couldn’t cope with the regime.

I hope we are a different kind of organisation. We have small places with, what feels, to me at least, like family units. Boys treat other boys like brothers, teasing, joking, but ultimately caring for and loving one another.

But not all boys stay. About one in 5 will leave and choose a life on the streets. They struggle with the discipline of waking up each day for school, doing chores and contributing to the running of the house, washing their clothes and doing their homework.

Those who do make it are a joy and a blessing beyond measure.

And they are many. I was lucky enough to talk with a number of them this afternoon as we sat at Kibos. Atenas, Shadrack, Winnie, Evelyn, Dominic, John, Florence, Isaiah, articulate children blessed by the work of people here with funds from generous supporters in the UK and thankful for a second chance in their lives. I just wish it could be for so many more.

It is 10 years this October since Nicky and I first came out. The first boys we took in 2003 are now in secondary schools and the most delightful young men. 28 street boys have gone home and are in school, 34 are in secondary school and looking forward to their KCSE exams, 13 this year will take KCPE and graduate from primary school. 3 have completed secondary school and are looking at colleges and university.

They could never of dreamed of this.

It’s worth giving thanks for.

Our new boys got fresh clothes and a good bath this morning. They have been playing football in front of the house with the other boys this afternoon.

It will be a long road for Brian, Fidel and Silas. My prayer is that they, along with those who have made it so far, will

come to Zion with singing

With everlasting joy upon their heads

They shall obtain joy and gladness

And sorrow and sighing shall flee away

I hope, in another 10 years time, we will be giving thanks, Kenyan style of course, for their emergence from the shadows of the streets into the fullness of maturity. If you have faith, please say a prayer for them.

Budgets & Blessings

2011-04-09T11:51:00.000-07:00

I sat with Moses and Paul James today to do budgets.

It doesn’t sound like something to look forward to very much, but it was a really good day.

We sat in the garden at Sunset Hotel and went, one by one, through each of the programs that we support, each of the children that we look after. We talked about the programs, whether they are achieving what we envisioned and hoped for, whether we need to make changes, whether to prune or to invest.

The garden at Sunset is a wonderful place, full of tall, spreading trees and colourful plants, a lovely green lawn leading down to a woodland canopy lining the shores of Lake Victoria.

The beautiful purple jacaranda, the flame trees with their glorious red flowers, the fig trees where the monkeys chase each other with dog like barks and squeals.

The birds are equally beautiful, the superb starlings have a wonderful blue sheen, catching the light of the sun on their backs, the small blue green sunbirds, with their slender downturned bills, perfectly formed for coaxing the sweetest nectar from the willing plant producers.

The scarlet-chested sunbird, flitting from branch to branch looked, for all the world, like its heart had opened and was displayed for all to see. Maybe it just loved the richness and variety of this equatorial garden.

Fish eagles sat, imperious on the tree branches, overlooking the lake and Black Kites circle in the skies above, watching, waiting, soaring on thermals, never flapping, but graceful and skilled in flight.

Next to Sunset, by the lake shore, sits the impala park and a newly opened entrance from the hotel grounds gave glimpses of impala, the male with its long curved horns proudly surveying the harem of which he was king.

And through it all we talked. Each program in turn, Kibos, the boys, all those who look after them, the cooks, the gardeners, the land, the problems with the electricity supply, the monthly reports and inspections from the provincial children’s office. The land we own, our plans for gardening and farming, greenhouses and chickens.

The Mamboleo, the boys there, Paul James, his cook, security issues in the area, schools and resettlement programs

Then farming, our street outreach, Kachok, the rubbish dumps, the slum programs, the resource centre and its paintings, how to make the boys more independent, how to withdraw support slowly so they take responsibility, so we can support the more needy.

We talked of the education program, of agreements with guardians, of problems and expectations on the work of the Trust.

We talked for hours.

Moses battery ran out on his laptop and I took it to charge while we ate a late lunch of chicken and fish under the shade of the fig tree. Then more tea to wash it down, and back to work. We drafted agreements, wrote plans and set budgets.

It was work, but it was not work. We achieved a lot, agreed a lot, debated and confirmed a lot. We didn’t drive anywhere, meet anyone, see anything. We sat and opened our hearts, our thoughts, our plans, like the scarlet chested sunbird looking on from the branches above.

I was reminded of Psalm 133

Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!

It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Coming down upon the beard,
Even Aaron’s beard,
Coming down upon the edge of his robes.

It is like the dew of Hermon
Coming down upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the LORD commanded the blessing—life forever.

Who knew that a day of budgets and forms could be a day of commanded blessing.

Perhaps we need a different anthem

2011-04-08T11:43:00.000-07:00

It was a long drive today.

Moses and I went up to Kitale, to meet with Vincent and Rose. Vincent heads up our farming activity, running the farm that produces the maize that we use almost everyday in the staple food of this part of Kenya, ugali.

Ugali, for the uninitiated is a kind of maize stodge. It is essentially a blend of maize flour and water, cooked into a dough like porridge, formed into a large heap and piled onto a plate. It is traditionally eaten by taking a small piece from the pile, kneading it for a moment or two in your hand and then using it to scoop up sauce, gravy, chicken, fish, vegetables or whatever else is available. It is starchy, filling and inexpensive.

Kitale has been called the bread basket of Kenya. It is a green and fertile land to the north of Kisumu in Rift Valley province. It sits at around 7,000ft and consequently is cool and rainy. Perfect for agriculture.

I wasn’t looking forward to the trip. The last time I went, with David Lee, we travelled for more than four hours to get there on awful pot-holed roads. I am glad to say that, soon after our visit (though not because of!) the government embarked on an improvement program and the road is now a positive billiard table all the way to Webuye. It has cut two hours off the journey and made the town much more accessible.

We arrived at 12:30 to be greeted by Vincent and Rose and their beautiful children, Princess, Precious, Prosper and Perfect (2 girls and two, gorgeous, 6 month old twin boys).

Vincent, for reasons best known to himself, is an Arsenal supporter. He loves them as if he were brought up within a stones throw of the Emirates. I had stopped off on my way here to buy him a new Arsenal shirt. It hurt me to do so I have to admit, but I knew it would make him happy. That’s commitment!

Vincent was delighted and promptly put it on. He then waxed lyrical for ten minutes about “beautiful football” and how “we just lack goals”. Well, that’s the point of football as far as I can tell.

Anyway, he was happy.

So we moved on to talk of farming. We have big plans for our farm in Kitale and Vincent, as a teacher of Agriculture, is key to helping us realise them. But we aren’t quite ready to start this year, so we talked about farming the 10 acres we have farmed for the last few years.

Maize prices have rocketed and are currently 50% higher than two or three years ago. This puts a huge strain on our food budget for our work in Kisumu, so we have been growing our own for 7 or 8 years now. If things go well this year we will harvest more than 200 bags on November, enough for our work and a healthy profit to enable us to farm again next year.

Before we travelled back to Kisumu Rose prepared a wonderful meal of chapatti, Okra, Green Grams and Beef (and of course ugali for Vincent and Moses!). It was a feast and washed down with English tea (black with a little milk, compared with the Kenyan way of very milky and at least 3 teaspoons of sugar) - Rose has known me long enough to know I prefer it the English way!

As we ate, the TV screen broadcast images of Kenyan leaders live at their pre-trial hearing at the International Criminal Court in the Hague (six leaders are charged in connection with the post election violence in early 2008).

The court proceedings were formal and official, but I was amazed to see the number of politicians who had travelled from Kenya to the Hague to offer support to those suspected of inciting serious violence. Nothing to do with the trial, which is only a pre-trial to decide if there is a case to answer, the politicians had, nonetheless, travelled all the way to the Netherlands to appear on TV showing support.

As the news channels broadcast pictures of them stood outside the court, singing the Kenyan national anthem in support of their indicted colleagues inside I couldn’t help but reflect.

The cost of a flight to Amsterdam and a hotel in the Hague for 4 or 5 nights is the equivalent of our farming 10 acres to support over 75 children in orphanages, rehabilitation and home resettlement programs.

Maybe, just maybe, we should be singing a different kind of anthem. One for the hungry children, widows and orphans of this beautiful, fertile, rich land.

As I got back to Kisumu it was raining. At last the rains we have hoped for had come. Better than any man’s, perhaps we have God’s blessing on our work.

I study because I like to know things

2011-04-07T09:50:00.000-07:00

This is Samuel. He hasn't had the greatest start in life, but I was lucky enough to spend half an hour or so talking with him this morning.

He is the most delightful young man.

He is in the first term at Rang'ala Boys secondary school. And he loves it.

He never believed he would go. Four years ago his marks at primary school were poor. You need at least 250 out of 500 to get a secondary school and he was getting marks in the 100's. But Samuel found a place to settle in our home at Mamboleo on a hillside on the outskirts of Kisumu.

He also found inspiriation in a another pupil who befriended him at his primary school.
His friend, a girl in the same class, encouraged him to achieve more. She was scoring around 300 and looking forward to secondary school.

Through sheer hard work Samuel studied and studied. His marks improved each year until, by class 8 and his KCPE exams he managed the remarkable score of 280.

He was overjoyed.

Still he didn't get a letter calling him to secondary school, so Moses and Paul James set about finding him one. We already have 2 boys in Rang'ala, Shadrack and Atenas, both in Form 2 and both loving it, so Moses and Paul James went up there to see what they could do.

After much pleading they agreed to take Samuel, knowing what good students Shadrack and Atenas had proved to be.

Samuel started in the middle of February, 3 weeks after everyone else, but his attitude is the most refreshing I have come across in all of our children.

Other boys there ask him what mark he got in KCPE, he simply says that it isn't about the past, but the present and he only lives in the present. He says that they only passed their exams by cramming, but he studies because he likes to know. He is sure he will overtake them

Despite missing 3 weeks of the first term he has scored above average in the end of term exams. He reckons he will be in the top 10 before he reaches form 3.

You know, I think he just might

Bio Sand Water Filters

2011-04-06T10:41:00.001-07:00

I knew Moses was serious about this trip. Last night he left me saying that he would pick me up this morning at 8:00am. In Kenyan time, 8:00am means anywhere between 9:30 and 11:00 depending on how slow breakfast was and what else proved to be more interesting in between

But this morning Moses showed up at 5 minutes before 8 o’clock.

I also knew that this was a serious trip, because he showed up in the land rover, not the little Toyota for running about town.

“Are there going to be some rough roads today?” I enquired naively. His reply was non-committal, which I took to be a firm yes. Kenyans say so much without words.

Moses, it turned out, was good friends with a man, Sebastian, who was now a bishop somewhere in the middle of nowhere. He used to be in Kisumu, running a thriving church, but his wife, also a pastor, had begun a church in their rural home and this too was doing remarkably well. They took the decision to move away from Kisumu and found a new pastor for their city centre church.

Whilst in Kisumu Moses and Sebastian had forged a friendship, based partly on their mutual calling, but also on their love of engineering and technology. Back in the rural home Sebastian, never one to sit still, had heard about an organisation called Connect Africa and begun to work with them.

Connect Africa are based in Kampala, Uganda. Their Director is an energetic and passionate Canadian man called Trevor. Trevor travels the world on behalf of Connect Africa, looking for technology and innovation to bring back.

But he doesn’t import things, he instead finds local technicians, engineers and scientists to make African versions from local materials.

And so it was with the Bio Sand Water Filter.

In essence, it’s a small concrete case filled with sand (the type is important) and gravel. You pour in water and good “living organisms which grow in the bio layer” (see, I did pay attention) filter out the things that could kill you or make you sick. When you are ready, you pour in more water and you get the clean, processed water out of a spout conveniently located at jerry can height

It was developed by the Universityof Calgary, Alberta and made by 12 local men from rural kenyan villages, from local materials

We travelled the bumpy dusty roads of Nyanza province to a homestead in the rural area where Trevor, Gilbert, his chief technician and the rest of the team had set up a demonstration area.Mighty impressive it was too.

From there we travelled with Trevor and the team as Connect Africa donated filter units, manufactured by local people in Busia, to schools and community groups around the region. At each place we were warmly received and the filter units accepted with joy.

We talked about possible applications for the units in the slums of Kisumu where we work. Places where clean water is next to impossible to find and sickness takes away too many lives.

Trevor and his team donated a unit to us and promised to come and see us again, to talk about a possible partnership. We could be enabled to make units ourselves, for slum support, home repatriation and rural reintegration programs.

Whatever comes of it, I have enjoyed a day with people passionate about making life better for ordinary African people.

Africa may well be better, connected.

Encounters with Chameleons

2011-04-05T10:45:00.000-07:00

This afternoon in Kibos we went for a walk, to look around and pray over the acre or so plot that we are roughly farming.

There was me, Moses, Tatu, Paul James, Kennedy, who has been working over the land and planting maize and John and Dominic, two of the boys from Kibos who broke up from school this morning for Easter (pictured at Kibos this afternoon)

We crossed the dusty red road, rutted from the tractors that run up and down with their full loads of sugar cane bulging from iron cages pulled behind them.

As we walked down an older man was burning wood close to the road side, filling the air with smoke as he turned branches into charcoal for the cooking fires.

Close by his wife gathered the smaller branches into bundles to sell for firewood. They would well for up to 100 shillings per bundle at the market (about 80p) – enough to put a small meal on the table.

By the side of the road Tatu suddenly stopped and stared. I had walked by before I noticed, but turned round to look. There, crawling out of the grass, getting away from the fire, was a chameleon, bright green against the red road.

It struck me that, if this chameleon was any good, it would have been red by now, but, vivid against the dusty track it wandered forth and began to cross.

Fearing for its safety amongst the motorbikes, cars and tractors that plied this route Moses dashed over and, as his wife recoiled in horror, bent down and picked the chameleon up.

The little lizard spat and tried to bite, not realising that he was only meant well, that he would soon be put in a lovely patch of greenery, away from the dangers of the road.

As I shared in fellowship at the Kachok rubbish dump this evening it struck me what a metaphor the chameleon provided.

The boys we look after often find it hard to change their colours quickly. The life they have known is one of hardship and struggle, one with no discipline, where no social skills are required, they are in a grass that is slowly burning around them, and they don’t know how to get away.

Some of them take the quickest route, straight into busy roads.

For them, the vehicles often get them. Their four wheel drives, tractors and motorbikes are glue, drink or drugs. Death may be slower, but it’s just as inevitable.

And then there are those who are picked up and turned around. They may kick or bite a little in the early days, but they soon find themselves in patches of green. I sat with one such boy this afternoon in Kibos. He had found it hard to settle, but now felt at home. The other boys are like his brothers and Moses and Tatu his mum and dad.

The colours of his street life have gone and he is studying for his KCPE exams, with hope for his future and security at home.

Its better in a safe place than wandering the streets, whether you’re a small green chameleon, or a child without a home.

Big dreams and small footsteps

2011-04-01T08:23:00.000-07:00

It's that time again.

I am preparing for another trip to Kisumu. I feel a mixture of anticipation and excitement at seeing old friends again and sadness that I will be away from home for a couple of weeks.

It's always good to see Moses and I am really looking forward to meeting up with him. 2011 has been a hard year for him. We always struggle in January and February.

We have so many children who need an education, whose hopes for the future rest on getting through primary and hopefully secondary school.

But the fees are crippling. I don't know how ordinary Kenyans manage.

It costs about £350 to put a child into secondary school, and then you have to buy uniforms and books and shoes and all sorts of things on top.

We have more than 30 children in secondary school this year, children we believe are the Isaiah Trust's family. In return for support, love and care we expect the children to work hard and make the most of the opportunity they have. For some this is easy, but others struggle with the discipline required to study and with sitting in classes with children much younger.

There isn't an easy answer, I guess if there was then many of the problems that have beset the continent, let alone just this country that I have grown to love, would be solved by better men than I.

It's just that, when we are trying so hard to get our children into schools and to give them the best that we can give, the schools don't seem to want to help.

They have become really petty in checking all the equipment is correct. One child was sent home from secondary school where they had reported because they didn't have the correct tupperware plate, another may have been missing a jumper. Not a reason, I don't believe, to deny them classes at the start of the school year. Not when we are running around trying to get lots of different children into lots of different schools.

How is a country going to get out of poverty when it sends its children home from school for stupid reasons.

I have felt really sorry for Moses and Paul James. Normal parents have 2 or 3 children to sort out, but every January they have nearly 100. I don't know where we would be without their faithfulness and their love for the children.

So I am going to spend 10 days in Kisumu. I plan to visit schools and meet with some of the headteachers, encourage the children to do well in their exams. This is the fruit of the hard work that Moses puts in.

As for the children, I will carry good wishes from England, encourage them in the studies and try to give them a picture of hope for their futures.

Big dreams start from small footsteps

A Bigger Vision

2010-09-30T11:51:00.000-07:00

It's that time again.

I fly to Kenya in the morning, to meet up with Moses and the team in Kisumu. I am excited about this trip. I am going with David, a friend I was introduced to by Nicky. David is feeling a real call to supporting the work in Africa by doing what he knows best. Farming.

So this trip is all about the farm. And about making some of the work out in Kenya self sustaining. It will be a challenge. For the last few years we have leased 10 acres of land in the fertile highlands around Kitale, some three hours to the north of Kisumu. The land has provided enough harvest to ensure food supplies for the project for the year, with over 200 bags of maize filled up. We use about 100 for the work with the street children and in our orphanages and homes, the rest we sell to pay for the following years harvest.

But we have a bigger vision than that.

Our hope is to rent more land, to see a bigger harvest at a lower cost. We would like to ship out a couple of tractors, which can plough the land and make a rental income when they are not working for us. We would like to grow higher yield maize. We would like to establish a training centre and college where the boys currently on the streets or in care can come and stay and learn a trade and profession. We would like to earn enough from the surplus to fund, not only the college, but a buillding program to take more boys off the streets.

In short, we would like to make the project more self supporting and give the people who work out there food security. In Africa, that's a big goal. It's only a dream. We only have a vision and a prayer.

But we will see what the week brings.

I am excited.

Tim's Great North Run

2010-09-20T09:19:00.000-07:00

Just to say a huge thank you to everyone for their support during the Great North Run.

I completed the run in 2 hours, 25 minutes and 57 seconds, just as the heavens opened and the rain poured down on South Shields. It had been a really good experience up until then….

It’s an incredible feeling, standing in a crowd of 50,000 or so people, all of them running to raise funds for causes close to their hearts. As we were taking our positions at the start, on the central Motorway in Newcastle, the tannoy announcer asked us to take a couple of moments just to take in everything around us and to remember those that we are running for. For some people this was a poignant moment of reflection and recollection of loved ones no longer around, for others, perhaps, the thought of a cause close to their heart.

For me, as the strains of Abide With Me played over the loud speakers, my mind went back to Kenya, to the children there that we help and support, for all those that help to change lives amongst some of the poorest and most neglected communities.

“I fear no foe with Thee at hand to bless;
Ills have no weight, and tears no bitterness;
Where is death's sting? Where, Grave, thy victory?
I triumph still, if Thou abide with me.”

The music stopped and I looked around. It was almost time to go. What was that line? “I triumph still …”

On the big screen Ant & Dec set off the wheelchair runners, then the elite women and then it was our turn. They introduced Haile Gebrselassie and I knew then that the competition for this race would be a bit stiff. Oh well, it was never going to be easy.

And then we started to move forward, edging slowly towards the start line. I took off the bin bag which had been fashioned into a raincoat to keep my warm and dry until the start, excitement and nerves tingling down the back of the neck. This was it.

I crossed the start line 16 minutes after the illustrious Mr Gebrselassie, the chip timer firmly fixed to my running shoes beeped loudly, along with the hundreds of others attached to my fellow runners, and then we were off. Running down the motorway towards the Tyne Bridge the route was lined by hundreds if not thousands of people who had, rather sensibly, decided to watch instead of run.

After half a mile I rather wished I was one of them.

As I approached the Tyne Bridge I heard a roar. Thinking that maybe a large supporters group had just spotted me going past I looked up, just in time to see the red, white and blue smoke trails of the Red Arrows arcing over the iron girders of the bridges arches.

In front of me a sea of people, jogged inexorably towards South Shields.

The rain that dogged us prior to setting off had given way to a cloudy, muggy morning as we ran down to the roundabout, where Blaydon Races played out through large speakers, welcoming us to Gateshead.

I ran past a group of army guys in camouflage gear (must have missed them at the start?), running along with ridiculously heavy packs on their backs. As if it wasn’t hard enough! I sped past Wonder Woman, Spiderman and a shark, before being overtaken myself by the Fun Running Criminals.

A water stop at the 3 mile mark was very welcome, as were the bands on route who provided a musical backdrop to the pain I was feeling in my legs. The crowds had come out to the roadside now the rain had stopped and they encouraged, clapped and shouted as we went past. A group of young lads had obviously been for a raid on the Aqua Pura stand, as they had an array of squeezy bottles, which they aimed at vulnerable looking joggers.

The miles ticked past, 5 miles, then 6, then the halfway marker. In my mind I began to run back from places I had trained. “Well, if there are only 6 miles to go, then that’s like running back from Salterforth, along the canal, by Foulridge Wharf. I’m sure I can manage that”. The trouble is, the 7 mile marker never came. I strained my eyes ahead, thinking it must be imminent, but all I could see was a tide of runners heading for the coast.

Then, as I headed over the brow of a hill, the 8 mile marker approached. Oh, the relief! A whole mile further on than I thought!!

At about the 11 mile mark the run reaches South Shields and the dual carriageway is lined with houses and shops. Outside the houses, set up on the pavement, were all manner of tables and chairs offering sustenance. Jelly Babies, orange segments, drinks of water and coke and, almost unbelievably, one chap offering plastic cups of beer. He seemed to be doing brisk business, but I have to say that I declined his kind offer. I would save that pleasure until the race was done!

Then, suddenly, the road falls away, down towards the sea. The crowds increased and clapped and shouted encouragement. I headed down and turned left, to run the final mile along the sea front. The distance counted down, 800m then 400m then … well, you get the picture. It was quite moving.

I crossed the line, some two hours after the aforementioned Ethiopian, but in truth we both won our respective races. His was to confirm his status as one of the worlds greatest ever athletes, from humble beginnings in Africa, running the 10km to school every day clutching his school books, to the top of the world stage.

Mine was about humble beginnings in Africa too.

Thanks to everyone who has sponsored me, or any of the other 13 people who ran for the Trust this year. If you are inspired to make a difference, why not think about running next time?

We all met up on a grassy bank overlooking the sea in South Shields, clutching our goodie bags and medals, wrapped up in shiny space blankets to ward off the cold and the rain and etching a smile into pained faces as the camera flashed away.

Then the heavens opened.

It absolutely poured down. Rain like they only do in the North East. Or one of those tropical downpours we get in the afternoons in Kenya. But not as warm.

I looked around at the tens of thousands of other people who shared in this moment, at the friends and colleagues who had put in hours of training, covered hundreds of miles over the previous days, weeks and months, just to get to this cold and wet bit of coastline. And I was proud of us all.

"Who like Thyself, my guide and stay can be?
Through cloud and sunshine, LORD, abide with me"

Images of Kipsongo

2010-04-13T09:29:00.000-07:00

I posted about Kipsongo slum in Kitale a week or so back.

Whilst I was there I didn't take any pictures, it didn't seem appropriate as the people there were clearly suspicious of the motives of those who go.

Moses has just emailed me with the following, so I will post them here to give an idea of the slum

Beautiful Country

2010-04-09T13:06:00.000-07:00

And so it's home time.

The streets of Nairobi are relatively quiet as we drive through to the Mvuli House B&B I have booked for the overnight stop. It's an unusual situation. When I arrived, two weeks ago, it took over 2 hours to drive the 15 kilometres to the city centre.

But today is different. The roads are quiet going our way. There are queues the other side of the road, but on our side things manage to keep moving. So quiet are the streets in fact that Wilberforce, my driver from Kenatco, the government run taxi company who operate from Jomo Kenyatta International airport, thinks I am a lucky man. “Mr Tim, God is on your side” he says. And means it.

All things considered, it was fortunate indeed that the normal Nairobi traffic had chosen to clog up roads elsewhere, as Wilberforce ran me speedily to Mvuli road, Mvuli Park and a number of other Mvuli's, before stopping to ask someone if they knew where Mvuli House was.

They didn't

Eventually Wilberforce asked me if I had a number for the place. “I do” I replied, and passed it on to him.

A phone call later and the problem had been established. We were in Westlands, on the other side of Nairobi to the airport. The guest house though wasn't on Mvuli Park, Mvuli Road, any other Mvuli or indeed anywhere near Westlands. It was in Nairobi West, just 10 minutes drive from the airport.

And so we made our way back across town, through the traffic queues, around the roundabouts, just about avoiding contact with the matatus and their drivers, who I swear have to pass a test in a dodgem car before they are allowed on the roads.

Mvuli House, it turned out, was pleasant enough. The room was clean, the staff extremely friendly, the wifi free and surprisingly quick and the location, close to the main road, made the transfer from the airport simple (unless you go via Westlands).

Best of all, it is at least half the price of the many international hotels in the city centre.

We eventually arrived at 8:30pm, I checked in and arranged to meet Wilberforce again the following morning at the ridiculously early time of 5:00am, to ensure we were at the airport in good time for the flight home.

I asked the receptionist if there would be a discount, as I would be leaving before breakfast the following morning. “It's no problem” she said, “I will put you down for early breakfast. Is 4:30 ok for you?”

The TV in the lounge area was showing Man utd vs Benfica. The first football I had seen in 2 weeks and even better when I found out the score.

I enjoyed a cold Tusker and started to relax.

After the game I went back to my room wondering whether to bother with the mosquito net. I have never been bothered by mozzies in Nairobi, though I generally get bitten to death in Kisumu, especially in the rainy season when it seems soft white flesh is the requisite hors d'ouevre for insectkind. On this trip I suffered a number of bites around my ankles, elbows, wrists and knees. I can understand my elbows and wrists, as they are generally exposed, but it must take some kind of special commando mozzie to suck blood from my knees through trousers.

“Platoon, Ten Shun! To the Knees, Quuuiiiiccckkkk Flyyyyyyy!”

As I considered the need for the net I heard the unmistakeable sound of mosquito song. It's not the most tuneful sound, a single note, held for as long as flight is maintained. The silence is worse. It's then you start to wonder where it is. Your skin becomes extra sensitive and you feel it biting all over, when in truth it's probably just landed on the wall for a bit of a rest!

I decided the net was required, and began untieing it and tucking it around the mattress.

It's quite cosy, snugged under a mozzie net. It's like the feeling you get wrapping a duvet around you when the rain is beating on the window pain on a wild, stormy night. You know things are out there, but you feel safe and sound.

And I slept. To the sounds of Mombasa Road and the song of a lone mosquito.

About 10 minutes later the alarm went off. It may have been a little longer, perhaps even four or five hours, but it seemed like 10 minutes.

I dragged myself out of the mosquito sheltered coccoon, washed and dressed and made my way to “early breakfast”

The kitchen was alive with activity. Bacon, sausage, beans, some funny root looking thing, toast, eggs, juice.

As I walked in the waiter turned the dining room lights on and gave a cheery “Habaria za asabuhi?” “Nzuri” I replied sleepily.

I don't know if they are up at this time every day, but it was really nice to be looked after.

I decided it was too early for baked beans, and anyway the people on the plane may not welcome an unfavourable tail wind, so rustled up a bacon and sausage buttie from the assorted trays.

At 5:00, on the dot, Wilberforce arrived for another tour of Nairobi suburbs.

I checked out with a warm, friendly and smiling receptionist and got into the car.

I chatted with Wilberforce on the short journey back to JKIA. It turned out that he had been working all night, since he dropped me there the previous night. In fact, he had been working since the previous morning. The taxi company run a system requiring 24 hour shifts to be worked. He would finish work at 9:00am and then report back tomorrow morning for another 24 hour shift.

In spite of this he was happy to be working and chatted all the way to the airport.

My experience of Mvuli House and Wilberforce is common to all my experiences in Kenya. People are really friendly, nothing is too much trouble and if you need breakfast at 4:30, well then so be it.

It's a beautiful country, made all the more special by the ordinary people who struggle to make a living in it.

Flesh and Blood

2010-04-08T00:03:00.000-07:00

It's my last full day here in Kisumu.

Two weeks have passed so quickly and now it's time for home.

Tomorrow I return to Nairobi, then Amsterdam and a short flight to Manchester.

It's so hard to be a long way from home, but the people here, the things they have said and shared and the look on their faces have been worth every moment.

When I felt God called me to this work, He spoke to me about Isaiah 58. In particular he said I was to “share my food with the hungry, clothe the naked, provide the poor wanderer with shelter and not to turn away from my own flesh and blood”

It was the perfect description of those who find their sustenance on the streets.

What I suppose I hadn't understood fully at that time was how that last bit of that was going to be fulfilled.

“My own flesh and blood” had always meant my family.

But this is my family. In a very real way.

Moses is my brother, Tatu my sister-in-law and all of the boys and girls my kids.

I know Nicky feels the same.

God has blessed us with as many children as Abraham! No wonder Isaac ran when he saw me coming.

On Monday we arranged a football tournament for all of the boys in Kisumu. We had about fifty players in four different teams, representing Kibos (the rehab centre), Mamboleo (our second house), Kachok (the rubbish tip outreach and education program) and then a fourth team of players from a mixture of those, plus Phil and Tom from the UK.

Each team played all other teams, on a typical Kenyan pitch – rough ground with a couple of goals located some distance apart, the lines marked out by running a stone through the dried red earth.

About 50% of the boys played in shoes, the rest barefoot.

And it was stony ground.

I don't mean that in the biblical sense of the sower and the seed, but the actual, small, sharp, stony sense where if you or I were to walk on it we would be letting out little gasps every step.

It's like walking down a pebbly beach into the sea, but playing football on it.

Not to mention kicking the ball with some force on an exposed instep.

But they loved it.

Each pretended to be the player of their choice, enhanced by the provision of football shirts brought over by Becky, Phil, Tom, Hil and Kate

The best one was given to Steven, a boy from Mamboleo, who found himself with a red Liverpool shirt with “Gerrard” on the back. Cries of “Steven Gerrard” went up from the crowd every time he touched the ball!

We had a great day.

The mixed team, featuring the international talents of Phil and Tom, floundered in the afternoon heat, losing all of their games. The highlight though was their only goal, scored by Phil running onto a long ball from the back, which he lashed past Isaiah in the Kibos goal. He ran back to the halfway line, shirt pulled over his head with the team wildly celebrating.

Mamboleo and Kibos were tied going into the last games, but Mamboleo won the tournament, defeating Kachok 2-0.

I ended up refereeing each game, as the boys didn't trust any of the other leaders not to be biased, as they are all associated with one program or another!

It was a really great day, if a little on the warm side!

And then yesterday we took all of the girls in the program out to the Impala Park.

Just over 25 girls, all different ages, but all enjoying a new experience. We walked around the enclosures looking at the cheetah, lion and leopard and then around the grounds with the herds of impala and zebra. Then we played ball games by the lake shore in the cool breeze of the morning, before going to eat fish in the shacks in town by the lake.

The girls looked so relaxed and really enjoyed each others company.

The Isaiah Trust has never felt more like a family.

Like “our own flesh and blood”

Kipsongo Slum - Kitale

2010-04-06T12:30:00.001-07:00

It's been a long day today.

An early morning start for the drive up to Kitale.

Kitale is known, with good reason, as the bread basket of Kenya. The fertile lands and temperate climate combine to give excellent harvests and Kitale tea and coffee is rightly considered amongst the best available. Alongside the commercial crops many, many people run small farms producing maize, the food staple of Kenya.

We have farmed in Kitale for a number of years now. Last year we planted 10 acres with Maize. The harvest has usually been sufficient to feed the whole project for the year, giving us food security and protection against rising prices or the regular food shortages that accompany the years of poor rains.

Last year though, the rains failed and harvests were less than half what they were in previous years. Fortunately we still have enough for our own needs, but we have previously been able to sell the surplus to fund the following years planting, something which we wont manage this time.

Vincent his wife Rose look after the farm, as well as four ex street boys from the local area and I was looking forward to catching up with them. They are a delightful couple, the only downside of which is that Vincent is a very keen Arsenal fan. Fortunately their relative league position allows me a little gloating.

This trip was a little different to others however, as we had a particular objective in mind. Four of the boys we look after in Kibos originally come from Kitale. They are from the Turkana tribe, who inhabit the very north of Kenya, near the Sudanese border.

Many Turkana's have been displaced as a result of the regular border scuffles, often caused by cattle rustling (cattle having a cultural value beyond the meat or milk).

The four boys came from a Turkana community which has established itself in Kitale, however with no land rights they have been forced to build temporary homes in a slum on the outskirts of the town called Kipsongo.

During the post-election skirmishes the boys were grabbed by relatives from our home in Kitale and forced back onto the streets to find food. When things had settled down we relocated the boys and talked with their relatives, who agreed that they would return to our care, to school and to their studies, but this time back at our base in Kibos.

The boys are now flourishing in school and have fitted into the community at Kibos with ease. Our purpose in going back there was to meet with the community, update them on the progress of the boys and visit the home (a simple mud and thatch house) of one of the boys mothers, which we helped her to build.

As we drew up to Kipsongo the extent of the poverty here was obvious. I have walked through many slums, in Kisumu and Nairobi, but none quite as basic as this.

Most of the houses were traditional Turkana structures, igloo style construction of mud and sticks, with a rounded roof covered in anything and everything to hand, from sticks to paper, plastic bags, tyres and flattened bottles

We met with Pastor Edward at the entrance to the slum. Edward is an assistant pastor at a local church and a Turkana himself. Moses had contacted him during the troubles, and between them they have established a Christian fellowship in the slum. They meet every Tuesday afternoon and, this being Tuesday, we intended to make this our first stopping off point.

Edward greeted us warmly and led the way.

As we walked downhill through the slum we drew all eyes upon us. They were suspicious of the strangers in their midst, but accepting of us, as they saw we were with Edward.

We walked through a jumble of traditional homes, children in scrappy clothes played barefoot, but stopped to stare at us as we passed.

After about 10 minutes we arrived at the door of a hut, which Edward turned and entered, beckoning us after him. As I ducked my head to enter the low slung doorway it was apparent through the impenetrable darkness, that that the single room was packed with people. As my eyes adjusted from the bright sunshine to the relative night of the dwelling I realised it was standing room only.

This fellowship, begun less than a year ago amongst a people where there had been no church, had grown to some 40 or 50 people. Far more than a little hut can hold!

As we squeezed into a chair where people had moved to give us their place, the numbers of curious locals outside grew and grew.

Pastor Edward introduced us and Moses stood and greeted everyone. He spoke for about 10 minutes, in Swahili, whilst Edward translated into Turkana. At one point he introduced me, and I greeted the group warmly.

I shared about the charity, about our purpose and objectives. I shared from Isaiah 58 about what I believed we have been called to do. I shared about little Moses, Amos and James, the Turkana children we look after.

They were delighted to hear news of them, and even more delighted to know that they are in school and getting good marks.

Then Edward, and later others from the group shared. They thanked us for beginning the fellowship, for the very small funds we provide to help the community on a regular basis (about 5,000 shillings a month) and people shared how it had helped them, one with some hospital fees, another with some medicine and so on.

When the meeting finished we asked to visit the homes of the boys relatives, to greet them and to see and understand where they came from.

We left the hut and walked back out into the heat of the day. This time, rather than just Edward, we had a full entourage of people walking and chatting with us. Everyone wanted us to see their homes!

No longer full of suspicion we were walked around the village. They explained that many people come and take photographs and promise to help, but not many return. They believe that people use the pictures to raise funds and then keep the money. Maybe they are right, maybe not, but it is a fact that nobody seems to be helping them.

I was reminded of something I read once “A lot of people talk about the poor, but not so many talk to the poor”

We walked through the slum, past a kiosk set up by a single mother selling charcoal to help look after her 2 children and elderly mother, past a butchery, selling the meat (the squeamish should skip this bit) of a calf foetus, pulled from it's slaughtered mother and past countless hands, trying to pull me in a particular direction, to see a particular thing, to hear a particular need.

It would be good to help them all, but I know that is impossible.

We saw little Moses mothers house, a simple, single room mud and thatch structure which now sleeps her and 5 children. We say James relatives house and Amos's home.

There is absolutely no doubt, whatsoever in my mind, that they are better where they are. And so say their relatives. I thought I had seen communities with nothing. But I hadn't seen Kipsongo.

As we waked through the slum back to the car, still pulled this way and that, in spite of my protestations that I don't speak fluent Turkana I reflected on what a little money and care might do in this community to improve the lives of the children who live there.

Helping families can make a huge difference in stopping children ending up on the streets.

We left for the three and a half hour drive back to Kisumu in a reflective and thoughtful mood. It had been good to join the fellowship and although it is a small beginning, it is still a beginning. In such a way much can be accomplished.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta: -

“Today, it is very fashionable to talk about the poor. Unfortunately it is not very fashionable to talk with them.

When a poor person dies of hunger, it has not happened because God did not take care of him or her. It has happened because neither you not I wanted to give that person what he or she needed. We have refused to be instruments of love in the hands of God to give to the poor a piece of bread, to offer them a dress to ward off the cold. It has happened because we did not recognise Christ when, once more, he appeared under the guise of pain, identified with a man dying of hunger, when he came in a lonely human being, in a lost child in search of a home.”

See, I am doing a new thing.

2010-04-04T10:39:00.001-07:00

Yesterday it rained.

And what rain.

Rain like someone had taken the whole of Lake Victoria and turned it upside down on the town.

It was the day we had planned to visit some of the children in their homes.

Mistake.

The skies were black as we negotiated the land rover through Nyalenda slum. It isn't a great place at the best of times, the largest slum in Kisumu, home to over a quarter of a million people. The mud and thatch houses cost 400ksh per room per month (about £3.50), but they offer minimal protection from the worst of the rainy season.

As we drove down muddy alleyways, barely wide enough for a car to pass, children called out “Mzungu!” (white person) at us. It is a term of endearment, surprise, delight and abuse, all rolled in to one! A chorus of “how are you?” rang out from the littlest of children barely old enough to walk. It is one of the first things they learn in school. When their teacher enters the classroom the whole class cries out in unison “Good Morning Teacher, how are you?”.

I wish I could write it with the same lyrical voice that they sing it.

We reply with a wave and a “Fine thank you, and how are you?” before we are past them and onto the next.

Children it seems are everywhere. Little boys with dirty clothes and muddy faces eagerly chase a makeshift football, scoring a goal against the baked mud walls of a house, whose owners seem remarkably tolerant of their play.

People come out of their houses when they hear the land rover pass, wondering what is coming their way. The odd motorcycle taxi is the normal traffic in this, the poorest of areas.

Eventually we pull up and John (one of our social workers, responsible for the children in Nyalenda and Kachok) invites us to leave the car. It's soon apparent why, as the road has narrowed such that we can only pass on foot. We grab our things, and walk for a few hundred metres, being careful where we put our feet.

And then the heavens open.

The last place you want to be caught in a storm is a slum. Firstly, because there is nowhere to hide and secondly, and perhaps more importantly, because the water table is high and as the water overflows it brings with it that which was originally in the toilets.

You get the picture.

So we jump, from one small mound to the next, careful where we walk, slipping and sliding in the mud.

The rain is pleasant on the body, the heat leading up to the storm becomes greater, and the relief of the cool rain is lovely. The people here consider rain to be a blessing, watering and refreshing the land, but here in the slums it must be less so. The footpaths turn to rivers, the iron sheet roofs leak and drip onto the floor of what goes for a living room and all thought of talking to each other is put aside by the crashing sound of every raindrop above.

We visited Alex, who I talked of in my last post. We also visited Violet and Collins.

Violet lives with her father and 5 younger sisters. Her mother passed away two years ago, her father is suffering. He has “the big disease”.

People don't talk of HIV, the talk of the big disease. They talk of “living positively”, and hope to meet a partner in the same situation “with a view to marriage and a long term relationship”. But HIV is taking away a generation. It is more common here for children to be with a single parent, with relatives or with grandparents than it is for them to have what we would consider a “normal” family.

Violet is in our program. She is 17 years old. She was in the education program until recently, but the pressure of studying, whilst also looking after the growing family and her sick father was too much. She has missed a lot of school, and is only now in form 6 of primary.

So she asked if she could do a college training course instead. We found her a place on a dressmaking and tailoring course at the local Rotary Youth Training Centre.

She is loving it. Learning a practical skill on a two year course will help her earn a living when she completes it. It was the best she could hope for and she is a strong young woman, with hope in her eyes and determination in her soul.

We left Violet's house with a real sense of hope. In the midst of this worst of places was a girl who was dreaming of her future. In eighteen months time, if she completes her course, we promised to get her a sewing machine of her own.

A treadle one

The sort you work by moving your feet to the rhythm of your heart, the kind we used to use in England before electric ones took over. But here the electricity is expensive and not reliable and pedal power is free and only takes a little getting used to.

Whether it is me or Nicky that presents it to her, I know that will be a proud day for us.

We then we fought our way back through the mud and the rain to meet with Zablon.

He is 15.

He shares two rooms with his father and his 12 year old sister. Zablon's father has TB, his mother left some 8 years ago and they haven't heard from her since.

Zablon is in secondary school.

His father can no longer work, so the Trust pays the small rent for the house.

When Zablon arrives home from school he boils eggs, which he then takes to the market to sell as snacks. Depending on how early he sells out, he may come home and do a second batch. Then he comes back and makes some food for his father and sister.

Zablon is a picture of hope and optimism.

You would expect him to be unhappy and forlorn, but not a chance. Zablon shines. He s delighted to be in school and dreams of college or university. He is a bright boy, and has every chance of fulfilling his ambition.

As we walk back to the land rover we find that the front tyre has a puncture. We have to mend it before we can go, and the rain continues to fall, but we are in good spirits. In the midst of darkness there is light. In the midst of despair there is hope.

Well, it is Easter after all.

Isaiah 43: 19

Forget the former things, do not dwell in the past, for behold, I am doing a new thing. See, I have already begun! Do you perceive it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland.

Good Friday

2010-04-02T01:29:00.001-07:00

It's the morning of Good Friday.

It's been a hectic week, trying to see as many of our children in their schools as possible, meeting the teachers, looking at their marks and encouraging them to study hard. Schools here have so little and yet everywhere we have been, without exception, the teachers have known our children well, the children have respected and liked them and the teachers have talked to us about the children's home situations. They care about them and it's so good to see.

We have heard from some of the children too. They have talked about school, about home life, about they things that they find good and enjoy and about the things that they find difficult.

We met Alex, a bright boy of about 16 years, in form 1 of secondary school. Bright in school things, but anything but bright in personality. Many of the children we have visited are smiling and happy to see us, absolutely delighted to be in school, but Alex looks different, the way he doesn't smile at you, the way he carries his shoulders as if there is a weight upon him. This isn't a boy bursting with hope. He is doing well in school and has made the transition from primary to secondary in a positive way.

But when he goes home, everything changes.

His mother died some years ago now. His father drinks too much, probably in order to get away from his work. He digs and empties long drop toilets. Possibly a contender for worst job in the world, ever. So he drinks.

Often to excess.

And when he drinks, things can turn nasty.

Alex has been beaten and chased from the house. He has been forced to help his father in his work, surely not the best or the healthiest thing for a teenage boy to be doing.

So when we meet Alex, he looks defeated. He loves his school, but the first thing he says to me when I ask him of we can do any more for him is “My shelter, it is so poor”. He continues to stare down at his feet, eye contact is as elusive as his forgotten childhood. He is only in school because of the Trust, he was forced to drop out and work for his father before we met with him at Kachok outreach and were able to help him with school fees.

Alex so desperately needs to move on

And then there is Ruth.

Ruth was one of 9 children we met at St. Pauls, Kanyakwar, near Mamboleo where we have a small house for 12 boys.

Ruth is 14 years old. She began to share with us something of her life story. She shared how, when she was 12 her mother became ill. Ruth can remember every detail of the week leading up to the night her mother died. She remembers where she went, the kind of juice she drank, every word her mother said to her as she lay in hospital, and then lay at home.

Her mother was taken ill one day, and went to hospital where she was admitted. Ruth doesn't know what the problem was. After two or three days Ruth's father began to plead with the hospital to release her. The bill was already 10,000 KSH (about £90) and the father knew that he couldn't afford even that, let alone any more. Ruth went to church and prayed and prayed for her to be released.

Eventually, later that day, she was and she came home. She lay on the sofa, weak and exhausted. A day or two passed, Ruth trying to help her mum as much as she could, her mum in return appearing bright and encouraging.

Until Monday night. Ruth's mum never woke up.

As she tells us her story she presses her hands to her eyes, crying, her tears so deep and heavy it is as if it was only yesterday.

She misses her mum a lot.

From that night onwards Ruth has cared for her six younger sisters. She has been their mum.

After school she arrives home at 6pm and her father leaves for work as a night watchman. He drinks too much, there is no food made, no washing or cleaning done. Ruth has to do that.

She makes food, if there is any available, for her sisters. Then she washes them, washes their clothes, cleans up and falls exhausted into bed at 11pm. She rises at 4am to prepare for the day, to get everyone ready for school and to finish off from the night before.

Ruth's has 6 sisters, one aged 12, twins of 8, then a 6, a 5 and a 3 year old. It is no life for a 14 year old girl. She had given up hope for herself and was trying to do the best for her sisters.

Since we met her Ruth has been going to school. She is doing her final year at primary school this year, sitting for her KCPE. For the last month or so we have moved her into a boarding school, so she has the very best chance possible of getting good results. Her only way out of this poverty is to complete her education. And she is a bright girl, capable of secondary school, university and a good job one day.

We have also put her sisters into school. Kazir, her eldest sister is in class 4 and the twins in class 2.

We are going to help them board at school as well. The boarding is run by a delightful lady who knows and loves the children. They eat 3 meals a day and have space to play and have fun.

Ruth's father's sister will look after the smaller ones, so they are not left alone at night.

Ruth's tears for her mum still walk with me as I visit other children and other schools. We are taking them out for the day on Wednesday, to visit the Kisumu impala park and then to eat fish by the lake. In fact, we are taking all of the girls in the different programs on this trip.

For Ruth and for Alex, and for hundreds of thousands of children like them, may their tears be heard and their hopes and their childhood be rekindled. May the old life die this Good Friday and may their new, risen, hopeful life begin in it's place. Surely that's what Easter is all about.

For God's sake, let's give Alex and Ruth a chance.

Fresh Manna, Kibos

2010-03-28T09:37:00.000-07:00

Church was good today. The sun was hot on the iron sheet roof of the church in Kibos this morning. It is on our land, next to the rehabilitation centre, where we look after some of our children. The church was established pretty well 8 years ago this week, at Easter 2002. As we entered, the morning teaching session was in full swing, Hezbon had a blackboard and was sharing on praise, and how we should always praise, even in difficult times.

And my goodness, do these people know difficult times.

It's so easy to sit back and say how much we have compared to them, how much we take for granted compared to those who have none. It's easy to sit here and condemn the corruption in the government that means that international funds don't always get to the people who need it. But in the end who will make a difference if we don't. What is the point of being a light in the world, if we never go to places where there is darkness.

I shared a message from Mark 1:14-20. Jesus called ordinary people to follow him. Simon, Andrew, James, John. They were just ordinary guys who dropped out of school and learned the family trade.

But Jesus believed in them. He chose them to be his disciples, not some well schooled graduates of Rabbi college, but 4 fishermen. And he told them to follow him. To come after him. Even then, at the start of his ministry, he knew he was going away. And he wanted those who would follow him. To be his hands and his feet, to go to difficult places, to go where he would have gone.

Jesus believed in them, believed that they could be like him, believed that they could fill in when he wasn't around any more.

And for the people of Kibos and the kids on the streets of Kisumu, God has the same call - "I believe in you". You may have dropped out of school, you may not think you can be anything in life, but "I believe in you".

Whilst we are so busy feeling guilty for what we haven't done for God, kids are sat on the streets needing food, people are going back to their homes empty, with tears in their eyes, with sadness in their hearts. "and he will turn their mourning into laughter?"

We need to get the message to them - that God believes in them, and in all they can be.

And then we sang. Moses played his guitar and we sang and we danced and we celebrated all that Christ had done in our lives. We sang in Swahili and in English and then we sang in Luo. I didn't understand much, but I sang just the same. Because all around me people with nothing lifted their hands and their voices in praise and worship to the one person who has faith in them, the one who is a light in the darkness. And the ones who sang the loudest were the men of Kachok.

Kachok is the location of the city's rubbish dump. It is also home and workplace to far too many street boys, who eke out an existence picking amongst the rubbish for things that can be recycled or sold. The tiny money they earn is enough for some little food for the day. We started an outreach program in Kachok about 5 or 6 years ago. We have helped many boys off the tip, but there are many still there. And a number of them catch a bus to Kibos church every Sunday, to worship and to fellowship at our church. And they sing the loudest, they worship with their whole hearts, because they have found someone who loves them, someone who believes in them, someone to give them hope and a future (Jeremiah 29:11).

After church we shared food. Chapati and green grams and rice.

Too soon the day is done, the rains came, lightening and thunder crashed around and the roads turned to rivers of red African mud.

Pity those sleeping out tonight.

Mark 1:16-20

16As Jesus walked beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and his brother Andrew casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. 17"Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." 18At once they left their nets and followed him.

19When he had gone a little farther, he saw James son of Zebedee and his brother John in a boat, preparing their nets. 20Without delay he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired men and followed him.

Beginnings

2010-03-26T03:09:00.000-07:00

I am sat in a crowded internet cafe in Nairobi, catching up on emails and passing the day before Julie, Kate and Hil arrive tomorrow. We have a fun morning planned, visting the Sheldrick elephant orphanage and then Giraffe manor, before heading back to the airport for our flight to Kisumu.

I hadn't even heard of Kisumu 10 years ago. Then a friend, Nicky, said that she had been told of a Kenyan minister, who I got to know as James, and his wife, Sabina, who were in the UK with another charity - Skills for Living, raising awareness of the problem of street children in Kenya. She aksed If would go along with her an meet up with them.

I told her I would go and listen, but that I didn't feel called to start an orphanage.

Later that year we found ourselves on a small Kenya airways twin prop from Nairobi to Kisumu, to see with our own eyes what James and Sabina had told us about. We spent an emotional week, meeting the youngest of children who had lost their parents and now supported themselves and their younger brothers and sisters, children who were missing out on an education because they couldn't afford the fees or uniforms. We met so many children in so many desperate situations, that much of the week was spent with tears not far from our eyes.

But the day that changed my life was on the city rubbish tip. Hundreds of children made a living by sorting through the rubbish, finding what they could recycle and selling it for a few shillings. Often the younger ones would have that little money taken from them by gang leaders with self preservation in their minds. Children as young as 5 or 6, fighting off the effects of cold and fear by sniffing glue from small plastic bottles provided by the older ones, messing up their brains and missing out on life. It was heartbreaking stuff.

There was no way we would see that and walk away. No chance. We resolved there and then that we would do something. We didn't know what that would be, we knew it was a massive commitment of our funds and our work, but if we could help give just one of those kids an education, a family, hope, then it would be worth it.

I read a lovely story of a little girl, walking along a beach with her mum after a storm. Along the beach, washed up on the sand, were hundreds of starfish, stranded by the tide, drying out in the sun. the little girl went up to one, picked it up and placed it carefully back in the water. Her mum said to her to stop, that the couldn't possibly make much of a difference to all of the starfish on the beach. The girl replied, well maybe not to all of them, but it makes a difference to this one.

Over the last 10 years we have helped a few starfish into the water. We set up a charity, The Isaiah Trust, dedicated to helping and supporting street children. The Trust now runs 3 small centres for the children and a number of outreach programs to help and support them where they live. We care for over 60 children full time either in our centres in Kibos, Mamboleo and Kitale, in home resettlement programs or in foster homes, provide training for another ten or twelve and education for more than 100 children from the poorest slums.

From humble beginnings.

So tomorrow, Julie, Hil and Kate arrive, and next week, Phil (Nicky's husband), Tom and Emma. Nicky is gutted that she can't be here herself, but since she was last here in January she has been really unwell and had to undergo surgery for a problem which goes back a number of years. Though she is recovering, she has been advised that she can't yet travel.

So I am here instead, looking forward to Kisumu, to seeing Moses (who runs the operations) and Tatu, his wife. And of course, all of our children. The last time I was here was August, with my wife, Pam and our son, Harry. I am missing them already, but excited to be here with my extended family.

It is good to see God at work amongst the poor, the hungry and the naked. And more than a privilege to be a part of it.

Isaiah 58:

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?

⁷ Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe him,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

⁸ Then your light will break forth like the dawn,
and your healing will quickly appear;
then your righteousness will go before you,
and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.

⁹ Then you will call, and the LORD will answer;
you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.
"If you do away with the yoke of oppression,
with the pointing finger and malicious talk,

¹⁰ and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday.

¹¹ The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

For me and for Nicky, that sun-scorched land is Kenya and the banks of Lake Victoria around Kisumu. Tomorrow with the elephants and giraffes will be fun. But the real Africa needs a bit more looking for.

www.theisaiahtrust.org