a while ago, we began sponsoring a child through compassion, then at clan a couple of years ago, we began to sponsor two children, one in India and one in Peru. At Church we then really began to get going sponsoring children, and as we did this we starting thinking about becoming partners with a project somewhere....
Compassion invited us onto a church leader's trip to Nairobi in Kenya, part of me wanted to go, really wanted to go, part of me really wanted to stay at home, comfortable and safe, but through it all, God seemed to be saying, "the time is right son, get going". So Donna and I packed our bags left the kids with Donna's mum and her friend Eva, and off we went.
We travelled from Edinburgh, in the snow, flight was delayed, arrived at heathrow, had to change to terminal 4 from terminal 5 and we were panicking about getting checked in on time and there we met John, who was calmness personified (and would be for the entire trip, indeed I think he is more laid back than me, I know!!), we checked in no problem and we met the other intrepid explorers on our team, Hayley, Andrew and Ricky from Northern Ireland, and Ros and Ian from Eastbourne on the south coast of England, panic over we relaxed for a bit at costa before heading off on Kenyan airways, overnight to Nairobi!
I think Andrew was the only one to get a good snooze on the flight thanks to his cunning plan of praying that no one sat beside him, this prayer was answered, and he managed to stretch out, but even in a single seat I had the chance to watch a movie and get a snooze without any wonderful kids grabbing me, so I enjoyed "wreck it Ralph" (the selection on Kenyan airways was not great! However it turns out there was a good selection but impossible to find until 20 mins from the end of the return flight!)
Anyway, we arrived bleary eyed on Monday morning in Nairobi, through the airport no probs and then on to the hotel, it was a short journey maybe half an hour, but the country had been in lockdown due to the uncertainty of the elections (last time there was horrendous violence that resulted in many deaths) and this was the day when everyone went back to work. Suffice to say our journey took a wee bit longer than regulation, Nairobi traffic is awful, if you brought traffic lights to that city you could make a fortune!
Eventually through the "friendly checkpoint" with obligatory AK- 47's outside the Israeli embassy and through the gates and airport scanners we arrived in the fairview hotel, safe and sound. The hotel was excellent and looked after us so well, for me it was a constant source of guilt that we were living very comfortably and yet 10 minutes drive away there were people living in abject poverty (ones that we had come to visit), however if we had stayed with them we would put them and ourselves at risk, so I guess I had to live with it.
So first day, we had a bit of a snooze, got up had some lunch and then an opportunity to explore a bit of the country before the work began in earnest, we ended up at a crocodile farm with a tour guide who was very able at hitting grumpy crocodiles with a stick, and to be honest I wouldn't do his job is you paid me a lot more than what he would ever get paid!
There was also some ostrich, and a reticulated giraffe (google it!) and even some rabbits who wanted their freedom, but for me the highlight was driving across the city and the country, seeing a bit of how people were living. Even with all the traffic on the road, everyone seemed to walk, there were so many people on the road. I don't think I could ever imagine people in Britain walking the distances that some of these Kenyans seemed to be walking, but I guess needs must. We are so comfortable in our safe world.
So then we began in earnest on the Tuesday morning,
Where to start? This day was a significant day that I will not forget in a hurry.
First of all we met with the compassion staff, singing "days of Elijah" was fun as Andrew one of our team used to play with Robin Mark, and he loves this song! We also sang a song called I think"thank you Daddy" and one "here I stand and I give it all to you", this is my pledge to you Lord.
in the afternoon we got in the bus and we drove to a child survival project for mums and soon to be mums, for kids from 0- 3 years old. they welcomes us with such joy and laughter it was a delight to behold! It was amazing to see the work being done there, all tied in with the local church, the kids were so beautiful, the project is all about helping the mums to stand on their own two feet and survive, the mortality rate in this project is equivalent to the mortality rate for kids in the USA, outside of the project it is far higher.
We then went on a home visit to see Benson and Jane and baby Rachel, in total they have 6 kids and they live in two rooms, they seem to have so little, but Benson was a man of peace, full of hope, he has his diploma pinned to the sheet of metal that is one of his walls where he took extra time to study theology so he could help in his Sunday school at church, his prayer request was for an end to struggle in his family's life, to get enough money for food and shelter for his family, they have to pay rent of £8 pounds a month, Benson is lucky if he earns £10 a month, Jane showed us the skills she was learning that were helping her children live, they included, washing her veg before cooking and cleaning her hands, I am deeply humbled by all my worries which in truth are "1st world problems", I am beginning to see God's heart for the poor, how he can bear it I don't know because my heart was breaking. Yet in a house so small, Benson and Jane live with joy, peace and hope, what more do we need, yet we are always striving for more, which is such a waste.
In the evening we met young adults who had come through the child sponsorship programme, we had a meal with "Helix" who was 23 years old, and the "best footballer in Kenya", he lives in Kibera the largest slum in Nairobi, the largest urban slum in Africa with a population between 1 and 2 million. Helix earns money for his family by playing football, the gangs leave him alone because he plays for the slum, at the moment he is injured and he is trying his best to earn money for him and his aunt, his mother died when he was a baby and he never met his dad, he was also full of peace, he was inspiring and it was a humbling experience for me to realise at 10pm, he was heading back on the bus to the slum and we went to our beds in the lovely hotel. Helix showed me that Compassion's child sponsorship really does work, it may not bring him out of the slums, but it brought him love, joy and peace, it gave him a reason to live and he spends most of his days returning to his project to volunteer, to give back as he has been given.
Up early Wednesday morning, long journey along interesting roads! but beautiful too, rural project in the great rift valley, where there had been a lot of violence after the 2007 elections, but man it is stunning! We got to the centre and were were greeted with the children singing a welcome song about how they were so happy that we had arrived! (we were feeling the same way!)
We were then welcomed by the pastor of the church and then there was a couple of presentations from some of the girls and they were amazing! we were just blown away by their acting talent, I was left speechless!
The project was in the grounds of the Church, it was just so natural, the church and the project working together organically and it was so empowering for all involved.
We then went on a home visit to Victor's house, where we met mum Jacqueline and his sister Joyce, mum was just hopeless, her husband had been murdered in the 2007 violence, but she seemed to be holding it together for her kids, they had moved to this area to escape the violence, she had been pregnant at the time, she had left her home as a farmer and her husband dead, her faith had left her, I couldn't blame her. Yet I sensed God at work in their lives and through the project.
we returned to Nairobi, tired but challenged, that evening we met with some of the recent graduates of the leadership development programme, this is where those who come through the child sponsorship who show exceptional ability and aren't able to fund themselves through university are taken on the LDP, this means they have funding for life and university, but also encouraged to volunteer at compassion projects and they are given leadership training to help put back into the community the good they have been given.
We sat with Eric, he was engaging, intelligent and trained! He said that one day he would be president of Kenya, I for one believed him and Lord I pray you will fulfil your plans in him. He felt equipped to deal with the challenges ahead, he along with Stafford and Vyiona the other graduates were greatly inspiring and it was just a real blessing to see that it all works, the kids are sponsored and lifted out of poverty, but they then go on to do great things in their community and for God, it is such a good method, it is clear Compassion works!
So my conclusion for this day? Obviously we are seeing the success stories, we are not meeting the "failures" or the "drop-outs", there is a plan and a scheme and it works! From sponsors to projects, with the churches and the children it all works! It is natural, it is organic, it is sensible and it is exciting!
Thursday, we were heading into the slums.last day, later start, then into the bus and we head to Mithare, 2nd largest slum in Nairobi, we travel along and as we carry on the town seems to get wilder and wilder, then we turn left and head straight down the valley into the slum, goats, kids, people everywhere, the bus gets held up in a traffic jam and we begin to get a wee bit nervous! Elijah our driver tells us to close the windows once more, "move your hands away!", just doesn't bear thinking about!
It is a false alarm however, we arrive safe and sound at the church and project compound (God's protection has been on us and around us from the start, we felt very prayed for!). Pastor Joel and the staff greet us, they have lived here for so long, and are so well known in the slum. The rain during the night has brought all the garbage down from the top of the valley onto the people and their "houses"
The staff tell us of the problems in the slums, drink, HIV, that if they don't die often women can expect to be grandmothers by the age of 36, there is an endless cycle of poverty, yet through it all we see the projects and the Church making a difference. Compassion is giving life and hope, pulling people out of poverty "one child at a time".
Pastor Joel tells us that we shouldn't come to stay, he says go home and tell others of us and support us and make a real difference! This is the challenge, as we want to be here making a difference, seeing lives changed, but it is true, with our sponsorship, letters and getting others to do the same will go much further than our own individual attempts to remove our guilt of the West.
We then enter the slums proper, venturing through the small lanes and alleys, down to the filthiest river I have ever seen, then we meet Regina in her tiny metal shack, we are there because she moved to a nicer place so the kids could play (I hate to think where they once were), we want to do so much more for her, give her what we have, yet she has joy and hope in a way that I am not sure we ever would have.
We return to the project shell shocked, but I am changed, I can feel it in my bones, I need to make a difference, I have to make a difference. We return to the hotel, we eat, we pack up and we head to the airport, we head back to reality?
This experience really is a game changer for me, I have seen such poverty and I have seen a fantastic model in Compassion of how to lift people out of poverty, to break the cycle, to grow hope and to do it with local people, not us from the west dropping in and then dropping out.
I have an duty as a follower of Jesus Christ to care for the poor, I am challenged how to do it as a person in my own back yard, but when it comes to helping those in need across the world, I will use Compassion, i will care for kids through sponsorship, prayer and love, I wish we would all take a trip to the poorest places of the world so we can see the horrors, but also see the hope and joy we can bring through fairly simple methods.
check out www.compassionuk.org
shalom
Keith
Where to start? This day was a significant day that I will not forget in a hurry.
First of all we met with the compassion staff, singing "days of Elijah" was fun as Andrew one of our team used to play with Robin Mark, and he loves this song! We also sang a song called I think"thank you Daddy" and one "here I stand and I give it all to you", this is my pledge to you Lord.
in the afternoon we got in the bus and we drove to a child survival project for mums and soon to be mums, for kids from 0- 3 years old. they welcomes us with such joy and laughter it was a delight to behold! It was amazing to see the work being done there, all tied in with the local church, the kids were so beautiful, the project is all about helping the mums to stand on their own two feet and survive, the mortality rate in this project is equivalent to the mortality rate for kids in the USA, outside of the project it is far higher.
We then went on a home visit to see Benson and Jane and baby Rachel, in total they have 6 kids and they live in two rooms, they seem to have so little, but Benson was a man of peace, full of hope, he has his diploma pinned to the sheet of metal that is one of his walls where he took extra time to study theology so he could help in his Sunday school at church, his prayer request was for an end to struggle in his family's life, to get enough money for food and shelter for his family, they have to pay rent of £8 pounds a month, Benson is lucky if he earns £10 a month, Jane showed us the skills she was learning that were helping her children live, they included, washing her veg before cooking and cleaning her hands, I am deeply humbled by all my worries which in truth are "1st world problems", I am beginning to see God's heart for the poor, how he can bear it I don't know because my heart was breaking. Yet in a house so small, Benson and Jane live with joy, peace and hope, what more do we need, yet we are always striving for more, which is such a waste.
In the evening we met young adults who had come through the child sponsorship programme, we had a meal with "Helix" who was 23 years old, and the "best footballer in Kenya", he lives in Kibera the largest slum in Nairobi, the largest urban slum in Africa with a population between 1 and 2 million. Helix earns money for his family by playing football, the gangs leave him alone because he plays for the slum, at the moment he is injured and he is trying his best to earn money for him and his aunt, his mother died when he was a baby and he never met his dad, he was also full of peace, he was inspiring and it was a humbling experience for me to realise at 10pm, he was heading back on the bus to the slum and we went to our beds in the lovely hotel. Helix showed me that Compassion's child sponsorship really does work, it may not bring him out of the slums, but it brought him love, joy and peace, it gave him a reason to live and he spends most of his days returning to his project to volunteer, to give back as he has been given.
We were then welcomed by the pastor of the church and then there was a couple of presentations from some of the girls and they were amazing! we were just blown away by their acting talent, I was left speechless!
The project was in the grounds of the Church, it was just so natural, the church and the project working together organically and it was so empowering for all involved.
We then went on a home visit to Victor's house, where we met mum Jacqueline and his sister Joyce, mum was just hopeless, her husband had been murdered in the 2007 violence, but she seemed to be holding it together for her kids, they had moved to this area to escape the violence, she had been pregnant at the time, she had left her home as a farmer and her husband dead, her faith had left her, I couldn't blame her. Yet I sensed God at work in their lives and through the project.
we returned to Nairobi, tired but challenged, that evening we met with some of the recent graduates of the leadership development programme, this is where those who come through the child sponsorship who show exceptional ability and aren't able to fund themselves through university are taken on the LDP, this means they have funding for life and university, but also encouraged to volunteer at compassion projects and they are given leadership training to help put back into the community the good they have been given.We sat with Eric, he was engaging, intelligent and trained! He said that one day he would be president of Kenya, I for one believed him and Lord I pray you will fulfil your plans in him. He felt equipped to deal with the challenges ahead, he along with Stafford and Vyiona the other graduates were greatly inspiring and it was just a real blessing to see that it all works, the kids are sponsored and lifted out of poverty, but they then go on to do great things in their community and for God, it is such a good method, it is clear Compassion works!
So my conclusion for this day? Obviously we are seeing the success stories, we are not meeting the "failures" or the "drop-outs", there is a plan and a scheme and it works! From sponsors to projects, with the churches and the children it all works! It is natural, it is organic, it is sensible and it is exciting!
Thursday, we were heading into the slums.last day, later start, then into the bus and we head to Mithare, 2nd largest slum in Nairobi, we travel along and as we carry on the town seems to get wilder and wilder, then we turn left and head straight down the valley into the slum, goats, kids, people everywhere, the bus gets held up in a traffic jam and we begin to get a wee bit nervous! Elijah our driver tells us to close the windows once more, "move your hands away!", just doesn't bear thinking about!It is a false alarm however, we arrive safe and sound at the church and project compound (God's protection has been on us and around us from the start, we felt very prayed for!). Pastor Joel and the staff greet us, they have lived here for so long, and are so well known in the slum. The rain during the night has brought all the garbage down from the top of the valley onto the people and their "houses"
The staff tell us of the problems in the slums, drink, HIV, that if they don't die often women can expect to be grandmothers by the age of 36, there is an endless cycle of poverty, yet through it all we see the projects and the Church making a difference. Compassion is giving life and hope, pulling people out of poverty "one child at a time".
Pastor Joel tells us that we shouldn't come to stay, he says go home and tell others of us and support us and make a real difference! This is the challenge, as we want to be here making a difference, seeing lives changed, but it is true, with our sponsorship, letters and getting others to do the same will go much further than our own individual attempts to remove our guilt of the West.
We then enter the slums proper, venturing through the small lanes and alleys, down to the filthiest river I have ever seen, then we meet Regina in her tiny metal shack, we are there because she moved to a nicer place so the kids could play (I hate to think where they once were), we want to do so much more for her, give her what we have, yet she has joy and hope in a way that I am not sure we ever would have.We return to the project shell shocked, but I am changed, I can feel it in my bones, I need to make a difference, I have to make a difference. We return to the hotel, we eat, we pack up and we head to the airport, we head back to reality?
This experience really is a game changer for me, I have seen such poverty and I have seen a fantastic model in Compassion of how to lift people out of poverty, to break the cycle, to grow hope and to do it with local people, not us from the west dropping in and then dropping out.
I have an duty as a follower of Jesus Christ to care for the poor, I am challenged how to do it as a person in my own back yard, but when it comes to helping those in need across the world, I will use Compassion, i will care for kids through sponsorship, prayer and love, I wish we would all take a trip to the poorest places of the world so we can see the horrors, but also see the hope and joy we can bring through fairly simple methods.
check out www.compassionuk.org
shalom
Keith
