Kibera Fire and the Women of St. Martha's Ministry

This has been a challenging two weeks for our partners at St. Martha’s Ministry. Oasis for Orphans is partnering with St. Martha’s to build our newest home, The Shelter.  They also have a ministry to HIV widows in the Kibera slums in Nairobi.  They teach them skills in jewelry making, sewing, and in business management.

Around 1am on Monday, November 3, a fire broke out in the Hocus Market area of the Kibera slums.  The fire consumed hundreds of businesses.  That so many buildings were affected is not surprising, as the businesses are crammed together in close quarters and are primarily made of wood.  The St. Martha’s Ministry building was among the affected shops.  It burned completely to the ground. It was a total loss. 

22 Burned Sewing Machines

This week, I had the opportunity to join the ladies of St. Martha’s in their weekly Bible study, the first they’ve had since the fire.  They met to talk about their experiences with the fire and share what God has been speaking to them over the last week.  I was humbled to be in their midst and want to share a few of their words to encourage you.

Caroline:

“I was so down about the fire.  I heard about it in the middle of the night when Margaret came to my door.  We couldn’t go to the area until the early morning, but when I saw it, I became so down.  I lost everything to do with my business in the fire.  I lost my machine (sewing) and all of my inventory. I lost all of my items I had been making in preparation for Christmas.  I lost everything.  I even lost my spiritual heart. 

When I first came to St. Martha’s, I was so down like this.  I had lost my husband and I felt like I just wanted to die.  After this fire, I felt like that and even more so because I felt like I had been fooled by God.   

I walked away from the burning and cried for two hours straight.  Then I went home to my children and they were asking me so many questions.  I didn’t have any answers for them so I took my Bible and left for some time. 

I began reading in Psalm 107 and I felt as if God were speaking to me over and over again about how He provides in every circumstance and that nothing is impossible for Him.  So I’m choosing to put my hope in the Lord.”

Evalyne:

“I was at the hospital when I heard about the fire.  As soon as I left, I went to the market and saw the destruction. For some time, I couldn’t even speak. 

When I went home, my children were asking me so many questions.  I told them our ministry is burned, and we have nothing.

I had no strength in me, but I took my Bible and I read of Job and his trials and how he felt in suffering.  He was faithful to God through his struggles, and in the end, God lifted him up.  I am choosing to be faithful.”

Jacqueline:

“All of the week before the fire, I kept feeling fear, like something was going to happen.  This fire was it.  I have felt very bad since the fire.  We are ok walking around during the day, but we cry a lot at night. 

Though we have nothing, we are alive and walking, so we are thankful.  God will be God, and He is the one who is wiping our tears.”

Eunice:

“When I heard of the fire, it was in the middle of the night.  I did not sleep the rest of the night but was up worrying and praying.  When we finally reached Hocus Market in the morning, I couldn’t even cry.  I was in shock.  We began searching for anything that remained in the ashes and found nothing.  We found the big box where we keep our supplies and we opened the lid.  Fire came out of the box as soon as it was opened.  That is when everything hit me. I broke down in tears and cried and cried and cried. 

Later, when I returned home, I picked up my Bible and God reminded me of 1 John 4:7-11.  This passage talks about God’s love.  I asked myself, “What is God’s greatest gift to me? His love.  Everything that we have lost is not as important as God’s love. We will never lose His love.”

These are just a few of the many stories shared. And yep, I cried through every one.  These women literally live on what they earn day to day.  When they told their children they had nothing, it was not an exaggeration. Each of them talked of sadness, crying, despair, and pain, and then every one of them said they reached for their Bibles.  I love this about these precious ladies!  I love their deep faith, determination, and hope.  I LOVE that God spoke to each of them differently and yet the same.  It was an awesome picture for me of God being with us and sustaining us through suffering.

They ended their time singing this chorus over and over and over:

He has done so much for us that we cannot tell it.

We feel the same…

St. Martha's property in preparation for rebuilding...

Thank you to so many of you who chipped in to help the St. Martha’s widows in their time of crisis.  Their physical needs have been provided for through December and there is enough money to re-build their workshop!  If you’d still like to contribute, we’re still collecting money for the replacement of sewing machines and inventory.  Please send any donations to Inspire 180.  Inspire 180 works directly with the HIV Widows of St. Martha’s Ministry.  

Go to:

https://inspire180.cloverdonations.com/donate/.  Choose St. Martha’s Ministry in the drop down tab.

Vineous

Her name is Vineous, and she was the first child to be cared for by The Valley community.  She never knew her father because he died during a tribal border dispute a few months before she was born. Then, she lost her mother to AIDS three months after she was born.  In fact, the only reason Vineous is alive today is because a well-wisher urged her mother to use medicine when she became pregnant and encouraged her not to nurse Vineous once she was born.  Because of this, Vineous never contracted HIV and lived.

Vineous (left) when we met her in 2012

Baby formula is as expensive in Kenya as it is in the US. However, with an average income of less than $2 per day for a working Kenyan, feeding a nutritious diet to a baby whose mother has died is nearly impossible. Vineous’ shosho (grandmother) found herself smack dab in the middle of the impossible.  She was a widow herself and lived off the yield from her small field of crops.  How was she to ensure Vineous’ survival?   

Shosho struggled for several months, feeding Vineous a thin watery porridge, but even that was a challenge.  She finally took her to the church and begged the pastor for help.  Pastor Moses had compassion on little Vineous and took her into his own home.  She was the first of many children he would come to care for as his own.  When the community heard of this now public situation, they helped… and they brought more children.  And so The Valley Children’s Home began.

Shosho Vineous and Ann

Last week, we had the privilege of introducing Vineous to two of the members of her sponsor family.  Words cannot begin to describe the magic that happened at that moment.  For Kathy and Rose to see, face to face, the child for whom they’ve prayed and sacrificed, and for Vineous, who has clung to a picture and some words on a page, to tangibly feel arms of love wrapped around her - it moved us in the deepest regions of our souls. When God brings two worlds together over the love of a child, it is miraculous and awe inspiring.  We can only rejoice in our simple human ways and praise Him!

Rose, Vineous, and Kathy meet!

Shosho Vineous prays with the Fords.  Two worlds collide over the love of a child!

If you are interested in sponsoring a child at The Valley, please email us at info@oasisfororphans.org.

A Memorable Aberdare's Family Trip

For the first few days of our winter-in-Africa-but-still-feels-like-it-should-be-called-summer break we went to the Aberdare's National Park for some much needed family bonding.  Known for it's beautiful waterfalls and trails, we anticipated hours of hiking to exotic places, enjoying family time together in the outdoors.  It was not exactly what we dreamed it would be…we'll call it a memorable family trip.  We bonded, but not how we expected.

As is typical of the Aberdares, it was cold and rainy about 80% of the time we were there. We anticipated this and brought our rain coats, hats and extra layers - good planning.  We even arranged to stay in some cottages located "just outside the Aberdare's National Park" in the "foothills of the Aberdares" because we didn't want to camp in the rain for three nights.  

However, what we did not anticipate was to experience just about every Kenyan snafu possible.  It began with realizing that the "just outside the park" cottages were actually a three hour drive from the closest entrance to the park in the middle of one of the many (this is significant later) Aberdare foothills.  Hmmm…no wonder we were the only one's there.  After wandering through the many (did I mention this was significant) foothills and finally arriving at the park entrance day one, we decided to modified our plans, to make up for the time we lost actually getting to the park, and enjoyed viewing some stunning waterfalls. So far so good.  We're flexible.  

The Queen's Waterfall

Caleb in the Queen's Cave behind the waterfall

Unfortunately, Google Maps does not work as well in the outlying regions of Kenya as it does in the city and we spent more than five hours returning to our "just outside the park"cottages "nestled in the foothills of the Aberdares." Wow are the foothills of the Aberdares extensive and they all really look identical.  Arriving well after dark (but thankful to be arriving and not sleeping in our car) we were tired, hungry and cold.  After dinner we crawled into bed with our warm water bottles listening to the soothing lull of the heavy rain.

Did I mention that it rained all night? Day two as we ventured out towards the park during a break in the rain, we accidentally drowned our treasured family-sized bag of Skittles (saved for this trip) with our water supply, which overturned when we got stuck in the mud. I'm embarrassed to say our Land Cruiser could not make it up one particularly steep muddy hill, but really, it was only because one of the hubs wouldn't lock.  Don't ask Rick about this…he might still be fuming over it.  We reluctantly (some more than others) decided that reaching the park this day was futile and we were able to slide our way back to the cottages, which we easily located due to the now dropped pin saved on Google Maps.  We changed from our muddy clothes and decided to go fly fishing instead.  We're super flexible! The cottage fishing guide (possibly the cottage grounds keeper who instantly added this to his job description) excitedly joined us (likely because he thought he might get tipped more than because he wanted to fish in the cold mist) and assured us that, "Fish always bite in cold weather."  After fly fishing for about four hours with nary a nibble, we decided to turn in for the day, with our guide mentioning that if he would have been the one fishing he would have caught at least ten fish.  Thanks, that helps. We then settled in to watch a "Lost" marathon on our laptop only to realize that we'd forgotten the computer cord and the battery was at 10%.  Not to be thwarted, Rick rewired the entire front office in order to connect the cottage desk top computer to their TV and our stellar speakers.  Game ON, Rick! 

Our third and last day, we woke up early, packed our bags, said good-bye (forever) to the cottages and arrived at the park excited to tackle the original hike we had planned for day one to the top of the highest peak.  As we entered the gate, we were told we would not being allowed to do this hike without an armed guide (in case we stumbled across elephants, one of which we did not see the entire time).  Fortunately, this armed guard happened to be standing right there at the park entrance.  Unfortunately, said guide's services had to be paid for at a park fee collection station an hour and a half outside the park. Logically, since this hike takes a good part of a day, we didn't have an extra three hours to spare to remit the 1200/= (about $15) payment for the guide.  And no, he would not bend on these regulations, even for a "cup of chai."  (If you're looking for a group of honest Kenyan law enforcement officers, they are located at the remote entrance in the very north end of the Aberdares.) We ended up safariing around the Aberdares slightly disgruntled but beginning to laugh at the incredible amount of challenges we experienced.  We did find a peak by four-wheeling with our now repaired hub lock (Go Rick!) and managed to take a short hike on our own trail (sans elephants). And we did love the many beautiful sights the Aberdares had to offer between the rain showers. All in all, we bonded, which was the purpose of the trip.

We returned home a different route by exiting on the other side of the park.  It took us a mere two and a half hours to reach Kijabe.  Yes, by doing this we realized our actual home was a closer drive than the cottages we stayed in.  But we're flexible.  Ahhh….family bonding.

Below are a few pics snapped during the moments when the rain stopped.  We must say, the Aberdares is a beautiful place with amazingly varied landscape and vegetation often looking quite mysterious and mythical.  Next time, however, we'll make it a day trip.

brilliant orange lichen on rocks

A bush buck…pretty much the only wildlife we saw excluding birds, but what a setting!

 'peppermint' flowers

Family bonding!

mythical hairy moss covered trees

pillowy moss covered trees

mysterious threads covering whole forests of trees

fields of Torch Lilies

Dry Season

As a kid I (Rick) played baseball – a lot.  Although I loved the game, by mid-summer I was typically burned out.  The problem, really, was that each day I would leave my friends and siblings at the pool to put on a uniform and play yet another game of baseball.  Every once in a while, the sky would turn dark and heavy clouds would roll in.  Rain seemed imminent.  My hopes would rise for the blessing of a rain out, but, more often than not, the clouds would pass without dropping any water.

In Africa, rain is also a blessing.  Particularly, in the rural part of Kenya where we are working, the difference between having food to eat and money for school fees depends on the blessing of rain.  Therefore, if it rains at a wedding or a funeral or a graduation ceremony, it is seen as a great blessing and a sign of a hopeful future. 

When we moved to Kenya, we came with the hope that, like the rain, God would use us to be a blessing.  Our prayer was that we would be like a bursting cloud ready to rain blessing on the communities we worked in and, specifically, on orphaned children.  Indeed, when we first arrived we experienced some of the blessing God was ready to give through Oasis for Orphans.  We were involved in bringing 27 new children into the children’s home.  We saw children come to know Jesus as their Savior.  We saw lives spared from urgent medical issues.  We met other leaders who have now become partners through a common vision.  Those first days were not easy, but looking back, we can see the “rain” God brought through our work with Oasis. 

Recently, we have been in a literal dry season.  Although April and May are considered the “rainy season” in Kenya, very little rain has fallen in one of the communities where we work.  Unusually, even the creeks have dried up.  But, this is not the only reason I consider this a dry season.  In regards to being a tangible blessing to that community, it has also been a dry season.  For a variety of reasons that I don’t need to share in detail, God’s blessing has slowed down, as we have had to struggle through some difficult issues.  Like a dense cloud ready to pour down rain, we wake up each morning wanting to be used by God to be a blessing, but instead of dispensing rain, we have been like heavy-laden clouds floating by as we work through challenging problems. 

About a week ago, we finally experienced the beginning of a breakthrough.  The primary issue we have been working and praying through for over a year has finally taken a few steps towards being resolved.  Although there is still a long and windy road ahead, the first big step was taken towards God using Oasis once again to be a blessing in this community.  Simultaneously, for the first time in several weeks, it actually rained there.

I typically don’t write our updates, but I want to extend this one to personally say thank you.  I want to let you all know that we are extremely grateful for your support of Oasis and our family.  Almost four years ago we asked for three things from you.  We asked that you follow us, pray for us, and support us financially.  If you are reading this, you are following us. We know you have been praying for us, as the issues we are facing can only be resolved through prayer. We also see each month how you continue to faithfully give financially to our family. We believe that exciting days are ahead. Thank you for being a part of our lives and for journeying with us through both rainy and dry seasons.   - Rick