Kibera Slum Tour

Guest blog writer, Cindy Faber, shares her experience touring the Kibera Slum.

Most of us have an idea of what a slum looks like. Either because we've seen one in the city or have seen a depiction of one on TV or in the movies. But how many of us truly have seen it first hand? Have you walked through the streets and among the people that live there?

A few of us had the opportunity to visit the Kibera Slum. I'd like to share with you a little of our experience. The slum here is much different than what we see in the USA.

Kibera is a slum area outside Nairobi, Kenya and is roughly the same size as New York City's Central Park, about 1.5 square miles, but with a population density much greater than that of New York City. Kibera houses about 250,000 people and is the biggest slum in Africa and one of the biggest in the world.

The average size of shack in this area is 12ft x 12ft built with mud walls, a corrugated tin roof with a dirt or concrete floor. These shacks often house up to 8 or more with many sleeping on the floor. They do not have a bathroom or running water in their own home, and residents do all their cooking outdoors.

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Giraffe Center and Elephant Orphanage

Guest blog writer, Cindy Faber, shares about her experience at the Giraffe Center and Elephant Orphanage in Karen, Kenya.

One of my favorite animals is the Giraffe. Perhaps it's because they are so tall and graceful, yet awkward. Whatever the reason, I'm totally in love with them. Especially after visiting the Giraffe Center in Nairobi where we had the chance to get up close and personal with Eddie and a couple others.

Eddie is the Alpha male Rothschild giraffe we got to feed while at the Center. Unlike the female, Daisy, he was gentle and patient. Daisy on the other hand, was a bit of a brat. Don't turn your back to her or you will get a head-butt from her. She only wants the food you have, not your affection.

The Rothschild species are considered one of the tallest giraffes. They can be 20 feet in height and can weight about 2,500 pounds. They are also one of the most endangered with only a few hundred left in the wild.  All of those living in the wild are in protected areas in Kenya and Uganda.

Besides being an educational center, the Giraffe Center acts as a breeding program for the Rothschild giraffe with the goal of enlarging the population of wild giraffe in Kenya.

Elephant Orphanage

My other favorite animal is the Elephant. I love that they are family oriented. They live in family groups led by the matriarch (the oldest female). Touch is extremely important to elephants. Young calves and mothers will often be seen touching one another – expressions of reassurance and fondness and there appears to be a very real expression of affection – even love.

The Orphans’ Project exists to offer hope for the future of Kenya’s threatened elephant populations as they struggle against the threat of poaching for their ivory, and the loss of habitat due to human  conflict, deforestation and drought.

For more information on the Elephant Orphanage, please visit http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/index.asp.

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Love & Respect Ministry Team: Behind the Scenes

Perhaps these aren't so much "Behind the Scenes" as pictures that I like and didn't really fit in any of the other blog posts. I didn't get all the pictures from the team so let's encourage them to post as well.

Together with my Aunt Jean in Nairobi at the beginning of our trip.
SOOOOOOOO happy!

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Nairobi National Park

Our morning at Nairobi National Park was cool and beautiful. What an honor to experience such a place filled with wild animals with the bustling Nairobi city around all sides.

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Malindi Prison Ministry

Finally reaching the Malindi Prison, after months of letters and meetings, was a relief-blessing. When we reached there, however, we found another team of church members prepared for ministry in the women’s prison. Because our goal is to support local pastors, we made every accommodation to them with many blessings. They were incredibly gracious to allow the Cindy B, Lori L, and Pr Njuguna to serve alongside them under their authority. The kingdom as it ought to be. Unfortunately photos aren’t allowable in the prison, but the testimonies were beautiful.

The chaplain, however, was our host in the men's prison and he took a great many photos for us. Praise God.

Bill and Leslie worship in Kiswahili with the men of Malindi Prison.

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A Legacy in Watamu

About six weeks prior to departure a team member precious to us had two emergency surgeries rendering her unable to travel. Many times we were thankful that emergency didn’t arise while in Kenya. We thought of Joyce every day and truly felt her absence. To leave a lasting legacy in her honor, and in appreciation to all those who gave to support her trip, we equipped the Watamu Pastors’ Fellowship Association with all the cookware they needed to feed 100 people not only for this conference but for every conference to come.

Smiling Margaret was the co-chef.

Ruth is the delicious chapatti-maker head chef.

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The Newlywed Game

What better way to celebrate marriage than by hosting…The Newlywed Game. Despite the fact that none of the participants were familiar with the game, everyone had their fair share of laughter and embarrassment. Each location managed the closing event to their own desires but each also reported lots of fun and lightheartedness. Many thanks to the team for making this special day of fun and prizes priceless.

The Newlywed Game in Ganda

Bishop and Pr Njuguna prepared the group for what was to come.

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Love & Respect Marriage Conference in Ganda

Our schedule was complex given that two conferences were running simultaneously. Half the Love & Respect team started in Ganda and then half way through the three-day program, at lunchtime, we all hopped in a car and switched locations. Every team member had messages from the Lord to share and so we had to share team members. It's important to note that this is the first time Ganda has received a team for such a conference and we were all mutually blessed.

Mountain of Glory Church in Ganda

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Love & Respect Marriage Conference in Watamu

Our schedule was complex given that two conferences were running simultaneously. Half the Love & Respect team started in Watamu and then half way through the three-day program, at lunchtime, we all hopped in a car and switched locations. Every team member had messages from the Lord to share and so we had to share team members.

The Africa Inland Church of Watamu, and Pr Patrick, were
the gracious hosts of this marriage conference.

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Sensible Shoes and Door-to-Door Evangelism

Words cannot express the blessing the Love & Respect team encountered when using Sensible Shoes and Ephesians 5:1-2 as a means to enter into door-to-door evangelism. I think I speak for us all when I say the focused gift and Scripture gave us all a greater degree of comfort and confidence when inviting people to give their lives to Jesus. As a team, we reported almost 40 people who gave their lives to Christ and in the Ganda area, we learned that all those who were prayed for came to the marriage conference every day and continue to attend church on Sunday. Praise the Lord!

I invite, no implore, the team to write their own blog posts from their experiences because the stories were amazing. But what I can do is share my experience with you.

Mary and I went to Pr Peter’s church and school in a village just outside Watamu. Being a school, there was no shortage of shoeless children. The group was divided into two with Mary leading worship and sharing the message of walking in the way of love (Ephesian 5:1-2) in one area and me in another. Following the worship and message, teachers selected children in need and we were blessed with water and soap by which to wash their feet as we prayed and prophesied over them.

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100 Christmas Dolly Church Visits

The Love & Respect team was blessed to be welcomed by two previous 100 Christmas Dolly award recipients as they testified about what your gift has done at the time alongside showing how their own application of what they learned in the Entrepreneurship Series continues helping their churches even today.

Grace Abundance Church in Watamu, Kenya received the 100 Christmas Dollies gift in 2014. Pastor Owino applied what he learned in the Entrepreneurship Series both in focusing his church strategy on evangelism and in teaching his church members about the use of farming to support the purchase of church land. In 2015 they poured the cement making the alter and purchased the handcrafted pulpit. In 2016 they are building up the small rooms and digging the pit latrine (in coral rock).

Grace Abundance Church. We kinda forgot to get a distance photo showing
the plot and the small building being erected.

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Watamu Beach

Watamu is a small town just south of Malindi and north of Mombasa, which is the only East African trading port. The town sits on the Indian Ocean in coastal Kenya. The primary economic resources are tourism and fishing, though with al Shahab activities many hotels and tourist sites are closed. The population of about 1900 people are made up of the Bajuni who trace their descent to the intermarriage between the Giriama of Kenya and the Arab traders; however, the area boasts immigration from numerous tribes throughout Kenya who arrived with the hopes of working in the hotel industry and are now suffering without work.

The Watamu shoreline is one of the most beautiful in the area with clean sandy beaches and gorgeous coral formations just offshore. Our morning began with a visit to Grace Abundance Church and Pr Owino—the 2014 100 Christmas Dolly recipient—who resides in Watamu as well. Why not stop at the gorgeous beach while we were nearby? After dipping our bodies in the arm ocean waters, we settled in at the beachside restaurant where Elvis, a longtime friend, served us homemade samosas for their first time.

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Vasco da Gama Pillar and Portuguese Chapel

Our Sunday morning arrival in coastal Malindi, Kenya was met with a few activities aimed at acclimating the team to the seven-hour time zone difference and the near-equatorial situation. What better way to do that than to get a little exercise? We set out on foot to explore a little bit of history by touring the Vasco da Gama Pillar and the Portuguese Chapel, both with oceanside views.

The Vasco da Gama Pillar is one of the oldest monuments in Africa. Having a dispute with the Sultan of Mombasa, the first pillar was destroyed by the predominantly Islamic community who was resistant to Christian occupation. Da Gama explained the importance of the pillar in giving the Portuguese sailing directions to India for trade purposes and the Sultan allowed the pillar to be erected in 1498, the same pillar we see today.

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Malindi Hospital Healing Ministry

The Love & Respect Ministry Team and pastor-translators traveled together to the Malindi Hospital just in time for visiting hours. Our ministry time there was intended to be a practical application of becoming acclimated to both translation and being translated for while serving the Lord by praying for the sick. I was assigned to the men’s ward and went with Pr Karisa, who has translated for me in the past and who serves as a mentor to me and many pastors in the Watamu Pastors’ Fellowship.

There we found three men handcuffed to their beds only to learn they were prisoners from the Malindi Prison. I found this to be a Divine connection as the following Sunday I would be serving with a few team members in the Malindi Prison and have a connection to the chaplain there. Speaking the chaplain’s name gave the prisoner-patients confidence in us as more than strangers. We spent our visiting hour with these three men and believe that God is bringing a special kind of healing to their lives.

Team Members and pastors, you are welcome to add your experiences to the post as I could not be in all places at all times.

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Not All Translators Are Created Equal

Translating from English to Kiswahili requires a great deal of skill and not every English speaking Kenyan is so gifted. Not only are words translated but concepts and cross cultural meanings must be translated as well. The partnership between translator and speaker is essential in conveying a teaching or message and shared understanding is the key. The pastor-translators Surprised by Hope has the opportunity to work with are not new to translation; however, we wanted to create a forum by which everyone could come to know one another and begin listening to American English and Kenyan English language and accents.

The Love & Respect Ministry Team members met with the pastors who would be serving as translators in the two conference locations at a little hotel called Rafiki, which means friend. Over a cup of chai, team members had the opportunity to practice their introductions while translators became familiar with their accents…and vice versa. We ended with a lovely time of worship right there at the hotel before heading to the Malindi Hospital.

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Do You Have a God Complex?

As the Love & Respect Ministry Team prepared for their service in Kenya, we discussed the idea that many westerners (and western missionaries) have a god complex—we believe that we know what is best, we will identify your problems, we will tell you how to fix your problems, and our way is the right way. Our discussion was a means to help the team understand and encourage the work of Surprised by Hope in East Africa—that of strengthening and supporting pastors in the way of Scripture and not necessarily in the way of our western ideologies.

Not only do many westerners have a god complex, but many East Africans put us on a pedestal as well. East Africans recognize that they have some problem and believe that the problem can only be solved with the intervention of westerners, often with money. We all know that salvation from any problem only comes from the Lord which is why Surprised by Hope strives to break that old way of thinking and to equip and empower pastors and church leaders by working together as mutual partners.

Breaking the mindset that westerners have all the answers is essential to restoring each of our relationships (Africans and westerners) with the Lord, to restoring our understanding of who we are as image bearers, and to restoring an understanding that work is a form of worship. These broken relationships create chaos and contribute to the perpetuation of poverty or at least of a poverty mentality. The team’s learning in this area prepared them to serve the Lord outside their own ways of thinking and enabled them to enter ministry in a more meaningful way.

Watch this short video from The Chalmers Center about how short term missions can help without creating a god complex.

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Love & Respect Ministry

Surprised by Hope is an East African Community Development ministry providing pastors, church leaders, and the ministries who serve them, with the Christian business education and consulting they need to thrive in their ministry calling. What this means is that one of our primary goals is to strengthen and support pastors in their service to God’s people.

Just a few of the pastors and team members working together to serve the Lord.

Pastors in the greater Malindi, Kenya area asked for a marriage and family conference and identified several topical areas of interest including covenant marriage, choosing to stay, building a godly marriage, setting goals for the family, sexual intimacy in marriage, family roles, love and respect, faithfulness, communication, conflict resolution, and respect.

Respect is always an important topic in marriage and even more so in a culture where the difference between the amount of power shared between husbands and wives is vast. That vastness is difficult for westerners, particularly western women, to understand and to see in a positive light. Our challenge as westerners, then, was to provide a marriage conference that supported Scripture alone and that did not unnecessarily impose an American ideology.

The Love & Respect Ministry Team, made up of eight Michiganders, took on the challenge of serving pastors and their community members with the marriage conference they requested and did so in two locations simultaneously. With the goal of strengthening and supporting pastors, we worked alongside the Watamu Pastors’ Fellowship and Mountain of Glory Church Ganda who made the conference a success.

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