New Life on the African Savannah

Giraffe with her new baby

“New life, it is always a blessing”, Jackson, our safari guide, said as we watched in silent awe a tall giraffe saunter along the edge of the trees with a little one at her side. The dried red covering the back of her legs gave evidence of the recent birth.  “You know, they walk within just an hour after birth.”

It is said that Africa has the most efficient recycling system.  Every part is deeply connected and dependent on another.  On our first day, during the short drive from the airstrip to the camp, we watched the hyenas chew the skin of an enormous hippopotamus that was killed by lions just a day prior.  No part of any plant or animal is wasted in Africa, ever.  Before our eyes we witnessed the rawness of death and life co-existing, both essential to the health and balance of life on the African savanna.

Being in Kenya in a different context and out of routines, has opened my eyes to some things that need to end or change and to elements that have brought new life to my heart and spirit.  New life can takes many forms, a new vocational direction, passion, perspective, or any other step into the new or unknown.  Part of living here has been, for me, like taking a deep breath of fresh air, filling my lungs with that first breath of life- giving oxygen.

Sometimes hurtful patterns, stages or seasons of life, or involvements need to or naturally come to end or “die”.  Within the same landscape, without death there is often not space or nourishment for new life.  Some things must come to end, for something new to begin.  Neither death or life is wasted.

One afternoon we sat with baited breath as a family of elephants crossed in front of our jeep from the forest on their way to the swamp.  As they drew nearer to us, ever so gradually, two grown elephants aligned themselves on either side of the young one, putting their giant bodies as shields to protect the vulnerable among them.  As soon as they passed the perceived danger, they spread out once again, giving the young one space to roam and explore.  As with the baby elephant and giraffe, new life birthed within us, deserves protection and nurture as well.  The voices of doubt, fear, or insecurity need the strength of a stalwart shield to keep them at bay.

However, it is impossible to protect it completely from danger, and soon after birth, it must learn to walk.  It needs to stumble and try out its skills, as feeble and unpolished as they may be.

With the sun nearly setting, we set off to try to catch a glimpse of a leopard, the last for us of “The Big 5” of an African Safari.  Almost as soon as we arrived on the scene, a warthog, unaware of the leopard’s presence, ambled over to check on his hole.  The leopard instinctively knew this was easy prey, so he slinked around, flattened down into a pouncing position, and even checked out the warthog’s home.  The warthog and the leopard faced off, but despite the leopard’s posturing, the warthog walked away unharmed.  “He’s a young one,” Jackson said speaking of the leopard with a chuckle.  “He’s only about a third the size of an adult.  He knows he doesn’t yet have the strength to win the battle.”

Sometimes with new life it looks clumsy with lots of false starts.  It lacks the polished gracefulness of the more experienced around us.  New birth is risky and it’s messy, but as Jackson said, it’s always a blessing.
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Some other snapshots of the safari......

Seth flew co-pilot on the small plane to the Masai Mara

   

Our safari jeep- we all had a great view of the animals!

One morning we watched 2 cheetahs as they
roamed and explored

We saw lots of lions and their cubs.  It was fun to
see how they greet each other by a nuzzle and loud purring 

Our guide, Jackson, was an amazing animal tracker.
His gentle character and great storytelling made it
easy to spend hours together in the jeep

At the camp where we stayed, we ate outside with
beautiful views of the savanna.  Warthogs often
wandered through camp.

Watch part of the encounter between the leopard and the warthog that was described in the post:

 

The Joy of Giving

The assistant director, Winnie, asked us to teach the
toddler class.  We taught them new fingerplays and
action songs. The boys did great leading as well! 

Thanks to many of you, we had the joy of giving to several children’s homes in Kenya.  Thank you so much for your generous donations of books, toys, clothes, and baby items. We know these items will be well used and are deeply appreciated.  We are so thankful too that we had an opportunity to not only give material items, but some of our time as well. We are so humbled by the dedicated, faithful service of those that day in and day out love and care for the needs of the nearly 200 children these homes serve.  They may never receive public acclaim or high salaries, but their servant leadership is truly inspirational.

Our donations to New Life Children's Home

Seth in the special shirt he made for volunteering at New Life

We had the opportunity to teach the care givers how

to make home made playdough.  They were so excited!

We donated lots of books, clothes, and games to the CRCA
children's home

Kids at the CRCA loved the magazines!

We also donated books, clothes and games
to Mother's Mercy Children's Home. They were
excited because the social worker sees the need to create a reading culture at the home.

The kids at Mother's Mercy Home enjoyed learning a new game!

New leader training for the social workers and
"mamas" at the Mother's Mercy Children's Home

God also opened many doors for me to share about the international ministry I am a part of called, Moms in Prayer (MIP).  With the area coordinator in Nairobi we were able to lead two trainings for new groups to start!! This is really exciting in Kenya where the ministry is new and in its early stages of being established.

Training with the MIP Africa Global Ambassador for
church group in Nairobi

New leader training for a group in Nairobi

Training with MIP Africa Global Ambassador
of church group from Machakos

   

We came to Nairobi with the goal of Kevin developing an IT team at the Africa regional/Kenya office.  He hired and trained a manager and 2 programmers.  They are up and running and are already positively contributing to the team!  Having laid a solid foundation here, he has a vision of continuing to expand the team in the future. 

Crossing the Lake

After a weekend visit to the children’s home CRCA (known as Kenya Matters in the U.S.), our 7 year old, Joel, wrote the following excerpt from his journal entry.  For context, the children live at CRCA, but still have some contact with a guardian who is a member of their extended family.

“In the evning, the first day, we went to the home of two of the children’s guardian’s...  Next, we visited the second home.  When we got ther, we saw the naighbor kids playing with a tire and a stick.  He hit the tire with the stick and made it spin.  When we got in it [the home],,, looked like it was run down but to them it was a norml house.  It had no lighting and no runing water.  It had one room.  It had a couch two chairs and a bed.  It had a packed down dirt floor and huge water jugs that made a little tabl.  Next we met the baby and her mom.  Then my mom prayed for them.  Then we went out and saw the mom cooking on a pan with ashis in it.  Then we left.”

That afternoon, Joel experienced with all his senses someone else’s daily reality.  As we sat squished together in the dark room it encouraged us all to humanize people and situations that we may have previously made assumptions about or didn’t think about at all.

I was reminded of the time in Luke 8:26-38 when Jesus took his disciples across the lake from Galilee to the gentile region of the Gerasenes in order to heal a demon-possessed man.  Yes, he restored the man, but he brought the disciples with him to transform their hearts as well.  In order to show them that His love, compassion, and power reach beyond their own Jewish culture and way of life, He brought them out of their context and the familiar.  They went to a place and people they had no occasion to interact with and to a man who struggled with issues they personally never faced.  Jesus entered the hard places, and He brought his disciples with him to prepare them for a life of ministry.  Just as He gave his disciples on their excursion across the lake, He gave Joel and our family a real face and a true-life story from someone whose reality is very different from our own.

Mama Dorcas - The founder of CRCA

We spent the whole afternoon at CRCA playing games with the kids.  Armed with a few field games and indoor activities, we laughed and played together.  Each game we led needed in-the-moment modifications, but even this was a great lesson for our family in flexibility.  The aim was connection with others, not letting a plan or set of rules be the driving force.  That evening we heard some of their stories that rang clear with the common theme of, “Life was very, very hard, but Mama Dorcas (the founder of the home) found me, saw my need, and rescued me by giving me a place here, where we are family”.  With these core elements of the gospel being applied and lived out in these children’s lives, it is not surprising that their love for God is tangible and a sense of belonging is strong.

    

As a family we planned the evening devotional, each leading a part, on the impact of our words from the book of James.  We tried to bridge our two worlds and mother tongues by using volunteers to take part in our object lessons involving toothpaste and another using salty water.  Laughter goes a long way in building bridges.

It is possible and good to “cross the lake” by going to the other side of town and sometimes even by walking across the street.  However, this quarter, we have asked our children to cross the lake, literally an ocean, in coming to Kenya.  Exposing them to new sights, sounds, smells, and ways of living life, has both challenged assumptions they held and has begun to fill in the blank slate they held in their minds about Kenya.  Even within this foreign context, we have sought ways to board a boat and cross into parts of Kenyan life that are very different from our own and to put a real face to a complex problem.

When we cross the lake, our hearts and our minds are changed.  It not only changes the lens through which we view people, it changes the way we pray.  I’ve noticed over our months here, our boys have increasingly thanked God for having parents and a home and have asked God to comfort those who do not.  Recently, one of the boys prayed, “Dear God, please help everyone in the world to have at least one meal today.”  As the realities they experience broaden, their hearts do as well.

Seth is teaching them how to play a new game

A few times over our days at the CRCA, I caught out of the corner of my eye, two boys, arm in arm with beaming smiles on their faces.  One of them was my son, the other a new friend from the home.  The children there face great obstacles, but for a moment we could stand shoulder to shoulder, knowing there is a God who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us. (Ephesians 3:20)  Although it was short, we thank God for this lake crossing.  Like it was for the disciples, I pray it is part of our preparation as well for a lifetime of ministry and compassion.