Entering Tanzania

Hi Friends,

Yesterday we safely arrived in Arusha, Tanzania after about 5 hours on the Impala shuttle bus from the Silver Springs Hotel in Nairobi to the Impala Hotel in Arusha, including about an hour at the boarder crossing and some amazing classic Masai landscapes along the way. Today we are enjoying resting at the Ujamaa Hostel in the shadow of Mt. Meru, and not far from the foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro, putting together some plans for our few days in this region, and will hopefully be heading out for some adventures soon. In the meantime, we just wanted to let you know that we are safe and sound, and enjoying the newness of Tanzania.

P.S. Happy Anniversary to the Stevick Parental Unit!

Final Report from ELI

Greetings Family and Friends!

Joe and I are just wrapping up our time here in Ilula, Kenya with Don and Amy Rogers serving Empowering Lives International.  Wow.. it is hard to put into words all that we have seen and been apart of these past 2 ½ weeks! 

This is a Matatu!

But, before I get to describing a little bit more about our time here, I should stop and mention how we got up here to Eldoret 2 ½ wks ago.  Eldoret is about a 6-hour drive from Nairobi and we weren’t exactly sure how we were going to get here.  One option was to take a Matatu (mini buses that will take you and several other people where you need to go for quite cheap if you don’t mind being cramped for a bit!) but we were a bit hesitant to take public transportation just after arriving into Nairobi.  Thankfully, our friend Ali (who we stayed with in Nairobi) put the word out to her friends that we were in need of a ride and was able to put us in touch with an American family currently living in Eldoret working for Samaritan’s Purse who happened to be traveling from Nairobi to Eldoret and had extra room in their vehicles for us to join them (yay!).  Samaritan’s Purse (or SP) is an international ministry founded by Franklin Graham (son of Billy Graham) and has one of its bases in Eldoret.  Nate and Stephanie Thomas and their two sons were great drivers and great company and brought us safely to Eldoret.  The drive up to Eldoret was gorgeous.. lush green grassy fields, trees and farmlands with some fun animal sightings too- like baboons, zebras, gazelles and plenty of cows and goats J  We stopped at a place called the Java House for lunch and Joe and I enjoyed some tasty hamburgers and fries—yummm.  We were so thankful for the Thomas family for allowing us to join them up to Eldoret.

One of the best parts of our journey so far has most certainly been the unexpected new friends we have connected with and relationships we have made both with Americans abroad and locals!

A gazelle we saw out the window on our ride up to Eldoret!

Speaking of friends…I can confidently say that the people we have met while here in Ilula the past 2 ½ weeks have been the most special of being here.  Don and Amy Rogers (and their sons Joshua and Nathanial) instantly made us feel apart of the ELI family and their own family upon our arrival.  Amy is a fantastic cook and baker and has made several treats for us to make us feel comfortable (like snickerdoodles, eclaires, and homemade pizza last week for Joe’s birthday!  Although the power went out so she had to quickly make some pasta.. but we enjoyed the pizzas a couple nights later =))  Mitch Kellog, who Joe mentioned in the previous post, has been a terrific friend while being here-- and one of the funniest people we have ever met!  He keeps us laughing and he and Joe have worked on lots of projects together while we’ve been here. Randy and Karin Knutson have also been fantastic friends—they work for another ministry called Advancing Leaders International and Church Resource Ministries and they are serving pastors and schools in this area.  Karen is encouraging critical thinking and problem solving in elementary schools (many African schools teach by just rote memorization) and Randy is leading conferences and training Pastors in discipleship.  Besides the Wazungus (Swahili word for white people =)), the Africans we have spent time with have also been amazing!  So warm, welcoming, friendly and kind.  We have shared many cups of chai (Kenyan tea with lots of milk and sugar) and several Mandazi’s (Kenyan doughnuts!) with some of the most generous and selfless, Christlike people we’ve ever met.  Laban and Angelina are a couple that work here at ELI as the Director and Assistant Director to the Children’s Home.  They had us over for Chai and Mandazies the other day and we got to have a glimpse into their lives of hard work and service to the Ilula and greater Eldoret community.  From taking children into their family (in addition to their biological kids) who need a home, to buying and delivering cows to widows in need of some kind of income, and, not least of all, running the Children’s Home here for the 120+ kids that live at ELI.

Celerbation night for Don, Amy, Samuel, Rhoda

I truly could go on and on with stories of people we have met whose lives are full of integrity, kindness, generosity, service and love.  I think it would be impossible for anyone to set foot at the ELI campus and not instantly see and feel the love and presence of Christ here.  God’s hand is just so evident in and through each life!

Last Tuesday night Joe and I got to learn a bit more about how ELI began and what ELI currently is and means to many of the staff members.  The ELI staff surprised Don and Amy with a special banquet to honor and thank them (as well as to thank Samuel and Rhoda Teimuge who co-founded ELI with the Rogers 17 years ago) for their efforts and faithful obedience to God by starting this ministry.  Staff members went around and shared stories about how this ministry has touched their lives over the years.  And, even though Africans are not typically outward about showing tears, I know that there were more than a few wet eyes in the room J  I just sat and listened to story after story of how God has used this ministry to bring hope and transformation into so many lives.

One of the things I like best about ELI are their efforts towards sustainability.  Joe and I have learned a lot while being here about what kind of things really can make a difference for those living in poverty, and what kinds of things may just perpetuate some of the problems.  For instance, someone may donate some money for a child to attend school here in Kenya (which is a wonderful gift!…) but, a better gift may be to train the parents of the child how to keep chickens healthy so they can sell the eggs and have a more consistent income or how to grow Vetiver grass to prevent erosion and maintain their topsoil for better crops or how to keep a bee farm so they can sell the honey or how to do vermicompost for healthy soil.. or learn how to make soap that they could sell for some income.  So, I love that ELI focuses on helping people in ways that can last and empowering them to work hard to and have their own methods of income rather than needing to be dependent on outside resources.  (Joe and I have also been inspired to keep some bees or chickens when we get back home hehe =))

Sunrise walk with Joe!

I’ve also enjoyed late afternoon walks with Amy around the community (when it’s not raining J), watching Lord of the Rings with Joshua and Nathanial, doing Pilates with Karen, hanging out at Randy’s “internet café” (aka his porch where we are sometimes able to catch some wifi), a early morning trop in the mud with Joe to watch the sunrise, enjoying afternoons of snacks and tea as we listen to the thunder and rain, and wonderful times of prayer with our new friends.

What can I say??? God has done absolutely abundantly more than I could have ever asked or imagined during our stay here!  I genuinely feel sad thinking about leaving tomorrow!  But, Joe and I are so excited to meet up with more friends back in Nairobi and then head into Tanzania for the next stage in our journey.

On a practical note…Joe and I have remained healthy (despite the climate shock coming from hot hot Israel to cool and rainly Ilula), are in good spirits, have been eating very well (thanks to the cooking of Amy and Joel!), and are learning new things about ourselves and our God everyday!

Thank you for your prayers—please keep praying for us as we journey into Tanzania.. for continued health and safety. Thank you!!

With love and joy,

Carol

Update from ELI

Dear Friends,

By the infrequency of our posts it probably goes without saying that we are pretty close to being "off the grid", but here goes: we are pretty close to being off the grid. For the past week we have been staying in a hut at the Empowering Lives International (ELI) base in Ilula, Kenya. The village of Ilula doesn't even appear on Google Earth, but you can find our location by looking up Samro School, Eldoret, Keyna, which is the primary school that is run by the base.

In addition to the school, there are quite a few other ministries. One of these is a training center, which specializes in the training of local villagers in keeping poultry, bee hives, and other small business practices. Other ministries include an orphanage for 120 kids, an alcoholism recovery center, and innovative self-sustainability program. The first day of our stay we got to witness 45 women graduate from a training program who previously had been trapped into a life of brewing illegal alcohol as a means of survival. It was very clear from the women's joy at the graduation ceremony that this was a major event in their lives, and that they were more than a little excited to have other means of keeping food on the table for their kids.

It has been just over one week since graduation, and about every waking minute has been filled with some kind of activity. Carol has been working with the kids in the Children's Center using her creativity and experience with scrapbooking to help the kids make cards and other crafts, some of which will be sent back to the States to raise money for the center. Carol has also been stepping into many other rolls including helping to organize data for budgets and keeping track of student records, as well as organizing stretching and games for the kids when it isn't raining (predictably before 3pm). Carol has also been extremely blessed to get to know Amy a bit through some walks on the dirt/mud roads around Ilula, and has been using her PT skills on several occasions to help out around the center.

The center is absolutely beautiful, with several small huts for guests, a dining hall where we eat meals (ugali, chapati, beans, maize, and some other fantastic new foods), banana trees, bee farming equipment, fields for playing games (the kids are really getting into ultimate frisbee), gardens for training, and a chapel for meetings and sunday mornings. We just happened to be here during a rainy season, and everything is so green and fresh (and muddy) right now that it is just stunning.

Joe has been enjoying early morning runs with some of the kids from the orphanage each day, watching the sun come up over the corn and wheat fields and spotting more than a few Kenyan athletes each day out for their own early morning workouts. After dropping the kids off at the center around 7am, he has been secretly tailing other runners in the area, trying desperately to keep up them in the thin 7,000+ ft elevation air and his mud-caked shoes. Joe has also been able to use his excel skills to generate some database templates for the center, and also got involved in a wood drying shelter construction project with Mitch which will be used to supply a new wood workshop currently under construction.

 Speaking of Mitch Kellogg (see picture of Joe, Josh, and Mitch working on the shelter), we have discovered that the "Pondy Connection" (Ponderosa Lodge, Mt. Hermon, CA extended family) extends even further than we expected! After getting settled in we were introduced to Mitch, an amazing man of faith just a little younger than us who is an intern at ELI for about 6 months, and it turned out that he had worked at Ponderosa Lodge just last summer. Even more bizzarre was the fact that he was good friends with someone who went to Olympia High School with Cassidy. Small world. Anyway, Mitch immediately became a great encouragement to Joe, and it has been a nice surprise to be able to swap stories about camp life out here in the middle of Africa.

Another surprise gift was being driven up to the village of Iten by Don yesterday to visit the epicenter of Kenyan marathoning. It had been a tough week of work for everyone, and Don not only arranged for us to see the amazing views of the escarpment from Kurio Lookout, and get a tour of the High Altitude Training Centre started by Lornah Kiplagat, but also to actually meet, talk, and pray with Wilson Kipsang, the second fastest marathoner of all time by only 4 seconds. Among other things, he mentioned that he will be running the Berlin Marathon on September 26th and that he intends to try and break the record on that day. Incredibly though, he was an extremely humble guy, and talked more about what it means to really follow in Christ's footsteps (being a servant, demonstrating love through action, putting empty words aside, etc.) than what it means to be an amazing runner. Needless to say, it was a highlight of the trip thus far, and we are so thankful to the Rogers for being willing to extend their friendship with Wilson to us.

We also made an excursion last Sunday to the Kipkaren ELI center, which was concluding a weeklong youth camp with a massive Sunday morning service which included loads of students dancing and singing, passionate preaching, presentations, etc. As guests, Carol and I got to sit with the Rogers facing out over the crowd of students and parents, watching the whole event unfold with the forests, river, and village kids playing on the opposite bank. It was quite surreal, but an amazing experience, and we were able to get a much broader picture of what ELI has been accomplishing in the area. We also got to visit the home of Mark and Cathy Lessig, who moved here permanently to work with ELI in 2011.

In other news, in light of present circumstances (plenty of ways for us to be useful and not just hanging about eating Mandazi), we have extended our stay in our ELI hut (picture) in Ilula for an extra week, and should be heading back to Nairobi next Saturday.

Before signing off, we just want to wish Autumn and Casey HUGE birthday greetings, and say that we wish we could celebrate with them in person. We are so thankful for both their lives, and think they are both pretty swell human beings. Strength and peace to them both as Aus starts out the new school year, and Casey gets further along at Loma Linda.