Safari and team stuff

Hey everybody. I should start by saying that Maggie and I were racing for about a second until I realized that I actually didn't have internet access. That's why she beat me by so much. Anyway, onto the blog post...

Those of us who weren't involved in vision talks today spent the morning on a little safari in Nairobi National Park--the only national park in the WORLD located in a city! The entrance looked kind of like the entrance to a zoo, but once we got past that, it was all African Savannah. It was pretty cool to be in the middle of a savannah surrounded by wildlife and still see the Nairobi skyline on the horizon. Our driver Anthony drove us throughout the park and helped us find all sorts of wildlife. Some of the animals we got to see up close and in person (and in their natural habitat) include giraffes, rhinoceroses, the eye of a hippopotamus, ostriches, gazelles, monkeys, baboons, crocodiles, water buffalo, wildebeests, warthogs, zebras, impalas, and a lion from a distance. I could keep trying to explain this in words, but it'd probably be better to just let the pictures at the bottom of the post do the talking.

After safari and lunch, we joined the rest of the group back at Kijiji. We spent about an hour and a half individually praying and reflecting on our week. After that, we got together and had a group debriefing session. We talked about what we learned about God, what we learned about ourselves, and what we learned about each other (the team members will be glad to talk to you about these lessons when we get back). We spent a while at the end of our debriefing session sharing encouraging words about each other. It was really cool to be a part of this time of lifting each other up and sharing what stood out to us this week. It was extra cool because my wife had just come across Hebrews 3:13 earlier in the day: "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness." I think I speak for everyone when I say how great it has been to get to know the Beacon staff, the people in Bissil and Machakos, the ladies from the Rongai home visits, and the Blackhawk team over the past week. God has truly blessed us on this trip!

Enough mushy stuff...on to safari pictures. Enjoy!

-Craig

A look back and hope for the future

I'm racing Craig right now to see who can post on the blog faster. Ithinki'llstartwritinglikethistosavetime. Ok that is annoying.

VISION.

Real title of post, see capital letters above. Part of the reason we are here is to evaluate Blackhawk's partnership with Beacon and make sure we are 1) actually being helpful 2) supporting Beacon with excellence. I think you need a 3) to complete a list. Bummer.

We can celebrate a lot about our partnership with Beacon, the meeting minutes were 4 pages long. Most of it was looking back and praising God with humble hearts at how much he has used both Beacon of Hope and Blackhawk Church to bring love, redemption, and hope into the slums of Ongata Rongai and the living rooms of Madison, WI.

In 2004, some good peeps spurred on the church in responding to the global HIV crisis and began to support Beacon of Hope in Nairobi. This is the seventh fruitful year of our partnership and we have a lot to be thankful for. Too much to list here and I'll probably lose most of our readers. What is worth saying is this:

Beacon of Hope once operated out of an area small enough to be called cupboard with a staff of 19. Now Beacon of Hope has an 8 acre compound and a staff of 67 today. It will probably by 70 by tomorrow, the rate of growth is phenomenal. In the end, it's not about numbers. What we celebrate today is the relationship we've had with Beacon for the last 7 years, the dreams for the future that we prayerfully place before God, and the lives of Juliana, Joyce, Grace, Merab, Agitha, Phylis, Lydia, Benter, Lynette, Hope, Mercy, Ann, Rose, Ana...

Home Visits

Before leaving for the trip I decided to read the book 28 Stories of AIDS in Africa to try and prepare for the trip and what we might experience. As I read through the book this summer, I remember becoming overwhelmed with grief and heartbreak by some of the stories. I decided to limit the number of stories I read each day so as not to become too overwhelmed. I didn’t realize that I would have the opportunity through home visits to hear stories firsthand from people struggling with this disease. My heart as well as many others’ were not prepared or big enough to take in their stories.

Home visits consist of us being invited to a person’s home, listening to their story, praying, and catching a closer glimpse of what life is like for Kenyans. We were able to do home visits in Bissil, Machakos, and Ongata Rongai, the neighborhood Beacon serves. By far the most difficult were the home visits in Ongata Rongai as we were privileged to listen to their stories of how they came to know Beacon.

The first woman we met, Phyllis, is a beautiful yet frail grandmother and caregiver of 3. She recently lost her daughter to illness and now needs to provide for her grandchildren. Phyllis is sick. Before she started getting services from Beacon she was bedridden and did not have any strength to walk or care for herself. Through treatment she has regained some of her strength, yet she is still very weak. She asked us to pray for strength and a means to good nutrition so I will ask you to do the same.

The most amazing thing about Phyllis was her gratitude and faith. She said she is so thankful for what God has already done in her life. From our viewpoint we wonder where God is in her situation. What has he done? Why did she have to lose her daughter? Why is she so weak and without good nutrition? After this visit I felt overwhelmed. I felt sick by how well I eat and the great health I have had so far. None of it seems right and none of it seems just. So, I don’t really know what to do with it. But we are praying to be changed and bring change.

Then we walked to meet Julianna and her beautiful 9 month old daughter Lynette Lucy. As we came into Julianna’s home, I felt good and thought that maybe this next home visit would go better/be easier since she seemed to have nicer furniture and a larger living space. I really could not have been more wrong. Julianna has one other daughter, a 12 year old. She has had 5 miscarriages and Lynette Lucy truly is a miracle. A couple of months ago her husband and her got tested for HIV. She was positive, her husband was negative. He left her and told her that if she ever tries to visit his family that she will be beaten. The past few months Julianna has been living in a state of despair and depression, having thoughts to kill herself and her children so they do not have to go through the struggles she has. I could see the pain and sadness in her face. It looks much like depression I have seen in the United States, but what kind of treatment is here for her? Not that much. Grace, the woman leading our home visits, helped to save Julianna’s life by intervening and asking her not to kill herself.

I really hope you will pray for Julianna. Pray for her to feel God’s grace and be free from any guilt she may have. Pray for her to be free from this depression and despair so that she can see that her life is worth living. Pray that something can be there in her life to give her hope. Also, pray for reconciliation between her and her husband. Pray for a means for her to care for her family and herself.

After this home visit I felt broken. Two in person stories of AIDS in Africa is not the same as a book read in the states. When I think back to this, I really just want to cry and fall to my knees begging God for healing for this woman. At our debriefing session, we learned that Maggie found great joy in Julianna as she was a woman she helped have her baby. Maggie was pretty sure that Julianna was going to have another miscarriage, and yet this beautiful woman was carrying a baby on her back at the clinic.

I still am not sure what to do with these experiences and the feelings produced, but it probably needs to be something. Right now all I know I can do is pray and really that is most of what God asks us to do.

-Erin

Wobbly Wheel...

Let me start off by saying that the camp at Machakos ran amazing. We were joined by many local church volunteers, pharmacists and local medical providers. The day was going so well and their was so much local help that the ENTIRE blackhawk team was able to leave the camp and go eat lunch together. Pretty awesome to completely turn things over to the people who will be caring for the patients in the long term.

Then it came time to leave and head back to Nairobi. As we were going down the mountain our fearless driver Anthony pulled over because he heard a noise that sounded like a rock in the wheel. After some inspection, he concluded their was no rock in the wheel. We continued onward. The noise continued with us.

After making it all the way down, Anthony and our mechanical engineer Kelby hopped out and crawled around under the bus looking for a cause. They again found nothing and we continued onward at a slow speed. A little while later (still about 1 and a half hours outside Nairobi at a normal speed) it was noticed by Anthony and Kelby that one of the wheels was wobbling quite noticeably. At this point we pulled over and Anthony began placing phone calls to get us a new bus from Nairobi.

We were able to safely (and very slowly) return to a commercial district we had just passed through. This is where we would eat dinner and wait for the new bus to arrive. Another driver and a mechanic would then stay with the broken bus until it was fixed and Anthony drove us uneventfully back to Nairobi.

Despite arriving 4ish hours later than planned, the team was all in good spirits and excited for tomorrow. Half the team will be headed to Nairobi national park to hopefully see lots of cool animals and then visit Jurim (our old driver) at the car shop he now works at, while the other half of the team will be headed to meet with Jane and other leaders of Beacon for vision talks. More stories to come as we find time!

Home Visits and a lighter day

Today we've had spotty internet availability, so it made posting a little more difficult. So I'll (Joel typing here) give you a quick update on the day.

We spent the morning at Beacon, where we were able to worship with the staff at the training facility. It was incredible to see all the new faces! Having been here a few times already, there were only one or two friends that I recognized - all the rest were part of a new class of trainees learning the ropes on weaving, looming, or sewing. It's amazing to see how God has expanded the sphere of influence that Beacon of Hope has in this community!

Most of us had the opportunity to make a couple of home visits. We were led by a woman, named Grace, from the Social Work department, and it was amazing to get a first hand account of how God has worked in the lives of the women we met on the visits. For now I'll leave it at that and let another team member share more fully about the experience at another time.

This afternoon was more relaxed as we unwound a bit from two very intense days. Tonight we were joined by our final two team members, Susan Demel and Melissa Witte. Tomorrow we hit the ground running again as we prepare for Friday's medical camp near the town of Machakos. We will be out of internet coverage for the time we are there, so look for an update on Friday night or Saturday (Kenya time). We will also add a few more pictures at that time as well.

More coming soon...thanks for reading!
Joel

Day 1 at Beacon and Bisil

Greetings from our home base, Kijiji guest house. We just returned from our day long medical camp in Bisil and most everyone went straight to bed after a late dinner. This post will hopefully give you an overview of all that has gone on since Eric last posted. We will be taking time tomorrow afternoon to journal, talk as a team and reflect on the first half of our trip. After/during this time we will post a couple more specific stories.

Monday morning started off with joining the Beacon clinic staff for their morning devotional that was led by Rosemary. (She has asked about nearly every team member that has ever been here and sends her best wishes to all of you) After devotion the team split up and those of us that had been to Beacon before began packing meds for Bisil. All of the new team members got a tour of the grounds. Beacon is continuing to expand and the dining room/kitchen is now open. The clinic staff break room has been divided into more exam rooms and Jane is already talking about the need to expand the clinic further. (They have seen 24,000 patients in the VCT since January 1st!!)

After eating lunch at Beacon, we loaded up the bus and headed to Bisil to set up for the next days camp. Since last year, all of the highways from Nairobi to Bisil have been paved over and even have center lines painted! The roads were so smooth that Tony, Maggie and I managed to sleep the entire trip!

When we first arrived, the team split into two groups to go on home visits. The way the Masai people live is so different from how we live and yet, they worship the same God. Pretty cool to pray with them in their homes.

After the home visits, we briefly set up and finished the med packing, we joined Pastor Frances (He wanted us to make sure to send best wishes to the Dolson's and everyone else that has come to Bisil over the last 6 years) and others for a lively worship service. The Masai love to dance and jump as they worship! They were so full of God's spirit and energy that they even got our team to join in.

The medical camp today was a huge success. This was the 6th medical camp that I have been a part of and I think I can safely say it was the smoothest camp yet. I would like to think that is because of us, but I know that it comes from God. The biggest blessing he bestowed on this camp was the addition of a large group (about 20?) of local providers and pharmacists. It was pretty cool to see our team, the beacon team, the church volunteers and the local medical providers all working together to make this a successful medical camp.

After closing the day with prayers of thanks from the leader of each group involved with the camp, we headed back to Nairobi where we of course got stuck in the 8 pm rush hour. Props to our driver Anthony for again safely navigating the traffic in our large bus.

As I wrap up this post, Eric and I have gotten a second wind and decided to add some pictures from the last couple of days. We'll be putting those below. We also are looking forward to our last two team members, Susan and Melissa, joining us tomorrow night.

-Andy

P.S. Emily Smith was this long enough for you?

Our team on the bus, headed to Beacon.

Maggie was happily greeted by everyone at Beacon, especially Rosemary.

Our awesome driver Anthony enjoying his time helping to usher and translate during the medical camp.

Holly, BOH director Jane and Jane's daughter Debbie working side by side in the pharmacy.

A view inside a Masai home lit only by a single candle flame. This is a view from the home visits that we went on with members of the local church to bring food and supplies and to pray with elderly members of the Masai church in their homes. The homeowner (pictured below with Eric) was excited to invite us into her home and to pray with us. It was a very moving experience.

Eric with one of the Masai grandmothers ('Goco' in Kimasai) inside of her home. She was very excited to hold her drum in this picture, which is what she plays during worship at the church.

Craig taking a child's temperature, Andy taking a blood pressure and Joel directing his patient to the next station.

Kelby and his soccer friends taking a break to wave to the camera.

Hakuna wa kufanana naye!

Sasa wazungu! (What's up Americans/gringos/non-africans!) Eric here!

It seems like Sunday has just come and gone. Well, I guess it has. As I write this blog, it's 11PM Sunday night, and I'm pretty sure our whole team is asleep. Another day of our 11-day trip is now checked off the schedule for our team, but none of us are laying down to rest tonight as the same person who woke up this morning. We now know more Swahili; we're less jet-lagged; we're closer as a team; we're aware that Kenyan church might go on for hours :-); we feel welcomed into the Beacon of Hope family again or for the first time; we've updated each other on our health based on a simple description of our most recent bowel movements. In short - we're different, and it's good! 'How did this all happen?' you might ask. Well, let me give you a run-down of our day~

We started out by waking up in our hotel rooms which look like this:

(This is Andy's, Tony's, and my room)

We then had a nice breakfast at 8AM that consisted of toast, egg omelets, sausages, fruit, cereal and coffee or tea. We had a little time after breakfast to 'freshen up' before heading out to church at the Nairobi Chapel.

The Nairobi Chapel is a large evangelical church that meets in a giant, permanent tent:

Surprising to some of us, the musical worship was somewhat similar to what we would experience at Blackhawk, however everyone in the congregation was dancing!!! It was really fun to be able to dance along with all the Kenyans! Almost all of the worship songs were in English (along with the preaching and announcements), but one or two of the songs were sung in Swahili. In fact, the title of this post is a line from the chorus of one of these songs. 'Hakuna wa fukanana naye' means 'There is no one else like Him (Jesus)'. As we sang this song alongside hundreds of our Kenyan brothers and sisters, I couldn't help but feel caught up in something much bigger than myself...much bigger than all of us singing...something clearly from God. Even before any of you back home had woken up yet (maybe even before some of you had made it to bed), we had started worshiping God with the Church half a world away. We were able to begin this Sabbath day of worship that you guys back home, even after we have all gone to bed, are getting to continue! What an amazing picture: a day of GLOBAL worship!

After church (which like I mentioned before went on for hours - not a bad thing, but just different), we took our bus over to the Wathome's house for lunch and time to hang out and meet the Beacon of Hope Leadership. The Wathome's (Ken and Jane, and their kids Kevin, Brian, and Debbie) are the family who run Beacon of Hope and do a bunch of other awesome things in Nairobi. Since today was my first day meeting them, I hardly feel worthy of explaining to you who they are...so maybe someone else can do that in a later blog post. Nevertheless, they are extremely nice and very hospitable! We ate a wonderful catered lunch with the leadership staff of Beacon:

(Jane Wathome checking out the wonderful food before we ate)

And we got to reconnect with old friends:

(Maggie with Jane, Brian, and Debbie Wathome)

(Joel and Holly with Debbie)

As we were eating, Judy (a Beacon staff in charge of programming) started to ask the people at my table (Kelby, Anna, Craig, Erin, and me) about what our lives look like back in the States. We got to share a little bit about who we are, and we got hear about who Judy and Elizabeth (Beacon staff in charge of their school for 3-6year olds) are and what their lives are like. After we were done sharing, Judy paused and slowly looked at each of us before saying, "Wow, what a blessing it is to meet you all! Sometimes volunteers come and get right down to business working. But is is truly a blessing to know who you are!" This reminded me (and all of our team) that though we are here to work hard and do as much as we can in these medical camps, first of all we are here to form relationships - to LOVE people with God's love. We are a part of something that has been going on for years. This team is becoming part of the relationship that Blackhawk and Beacon have been forming; a relationship that allows us to bring gifts of service and support to be use by Beacon to reach their fellow Kenyans who are in need.

After lunch and a few hours of learning swahili, catching up on life, and just having a good ol' time, we headed back to our hotel. We had about an hour of relax/nap time. Then we had a team meeting to discuss what kind of things happened today and how they affected us, what our schedule looks like for the week, and specifically how we can prepare ourselves for what tomorrow and Tuesday brings (which I will get to in a moment). After the meeting we headed out to dinner at Java House (a very American Kenyan restaurant...similar, but better than a Chili's). After dinner, we were so full and tired, that once we returned to the hotel, everyone went straight to their rooms, packed for tomorrow, and went to bed (except me...so I could write this blog post which took forever because the internet speed isn't ideal for uploading all of those images above :-))

So, tomorrow we will be heading out to our first medical camp at Bissil (not pronounced like the vaccuum, but like 'bee-seal'). It will be a 2-3 hour drive from Nairobi. We will pack up medications and supplies in the morning at Beacon, and get to Bissil in the evening to set up and then get some sleep. We will wake up early on Tuesday and hopefully see nearly 1000 patients before tearing down the camp and heading back to Nairobi the same night. Since we will be up in Bissil, we won't have an internet connection to be able to update this blog until late night Tuesday, or early morning Wednesday. Please be praying for safety on our drive to and from Bissil, for EVERYTHING that relates to setting up and running a successful medical camp, and most of all that we can be a blessing to a thousand Kenyans on Tuesday!

Thanks for making it through that novel of a blog post! Please comment so that we know you are reading - it is so fun to hear from you all at home!!!

Kwa heri (Goodbye)~

Eric

oh, and just for fun, here are a few funny/interesting pictures:

(crazy team before leaving Blackhawk.
1st row: Erin, Holly, Tony, James. 2nd row: Me (Eric), Craig, Joel, Andy
Missing: Kelby and Anna (met at O'Hare) and Maggie (met in London from Haiti))

(Hoofing it through aptly-named "Club Tunnel" on our way from International terminal 5b to 5c in London's Heathrow airport because the tram decided it didn't want to work anymore. We may or may not have thrown ourselves an awesome rave party complete with beat-boxed techno beats and awesome dance moves)

(Our leader James pulling a broken-off prong out of the electrical socket for our other leader Maggie who was trying to charge her phone while we waited for 2 hours in customs upon arriving in Nairobi...shouldn't the doctor know better?!?!)

(Our model, Joel, trying to melt my camera with his blazing gaze)

(Joel once again, this time in his Tweety-Bird cage chair at the Wathome's. He tawt he taw a puddy-cat. He did, he did tee a puddy-cat!)

Ok, I'm done. And this post has officially taken me WAY too long! I hope you loved it! Talk to you in two days! And please comment! That means you too Andy's mom! My mom and sister too! And everyone else! Was that enough exclamation points?!? no? well here goes some more!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-)