On Thursday
morning we were surprised by several hours of wonderful rain. It is an
incredible feeling after months of drought to hear the sound of rain. I went
out on the veranda and stood for several minutes just enjoying the sound, smell
and cool wind. At lunchtime, when KeA came home and I with great enthusiasm
commented the rain his answer was, “But it was too short. We need so much
more!” Believe it or not! In
the afternoon the sky turned extremely dark at the horizon, a brisk wind swept warningly
through the house and I rushed closing windows and doors. Soon enough the
thunder was over us and this time, I tell you, it was a real Africa-rain. What timing, what
a miracle! The ground where the slab is going to be put (for the school) had
just been prepared and we were about to order a truck with a water tank to be
able to properly water the ground. It is quite expensive. Now God sent water direct from heaven. Awesome! People here say that it is very
unusual getting rain this time of the year.
Most people
in this region depend on”relief food”. Every month OXFAM give out food rations
depending on each family’s size and status. It sounds easy but looking at it
more closely one discovery a lot of discrepancies. The distribution is carried
out by local committees. They often favor their own relatives, neighbours and
friends and there seems to be no control of the operation. If someone looks a
bit heavy or have a chubby baby they will get no food. The ones that are
working don’t get anything either. It seems fair enough, however, here a job
(monthly salary between 70-140 USD) means that relatives and sometimes even
neighbours and friends expect to get a share.
When
Francis told me that many people in Emuriakin were hungry, especially the
children, who don’t get food in school anymore because of Christmas holiday
(six weeks!), it weighed heavily on me. The children, he said, oftentimes have
to go hungry throughout the day since parents, who can give them ONE meal per
day, prefer to give it later in the evening so the children will go to sleep
and not be whining for food at bedtime. I shared my frustration on Facebook and
KeA wrote about the need for food on our home page. Then there was yet another
miracle. In less than a week we got about 2500USD into Mapendo account (Mapendo
means LOVE in Kiswahili). Now I could start buying food and with the help of
Francis and some of his helpful neighbours we put the food into smaller bags
and started the distribution. You should have been there! When I came to
Francis house at 9 am women and children were sitting on the ground, seriously
and with great expectation, while Francis carefully was going through the names
on his list. Before starting the
distribution Francis wanted me to say something. I told them about our appeal,
the response we had got and that there are people who care about them. In short
my message was: The people in Emuriakin (the name means the forgotten village)
are not forgotten. My little speech was received with shouts and clapping of
hands and their serious faces changed into wonderful smiles. I was overjoyed as bags of rice, beans, oil
and sukumawiki (a kind of spinach) were handed out. Since then we have bought
food one more time and will be able to buy more after Christmas.
The work on
the ”Kiwanja” (the construction site for the school) is steadily proceeding.
KeA employed four young students to help out for two weeks. It is good for them
to have something to do and to be able to get some cash. They got 30 USD each
for the work. How do you think they will spend their money? I was so excited
when I heard about it. They will spend it on a mission trip to a remote
village, Kalokor, on the northern side of Lake Turkana. With Francis at the reins a small group from
here will gather with a bigger group from different churches in Lodwar. From
there they will continue to Kalokor, where they will minister to children,
youth and grown-ups during a full week. “We want to spread the good news about
Jesus, the Christmas message”, Francis explains. He tells me that they have
gathered second hand clothes to give out. “You see, they are very poor!”
I am impressed by their
willingness to share considering the poverty he and others live in. We decide
that they will get some of the food money we have got to buy food for the
people in Kalokor. “We have to share”, Francis says with his big glorious
smile.
In three
days we are flying down to Nairobi and in another three days back home to
Sweden. During our time in Loki we have got a new grandchild, Emil and Stinas’
little Alice. It will be wonderful to see the little babygirl in reality. On
Christmas Eve the whole gang will gather, 22 persons, in our house at Leken.
After two weeks we will fly back to Kenya and will make a new try to get to
Loki in our car, this time thoroughly being worked on.
Finally we
want to wish all our friends, relatives and supporters a BLESSED and HAPPY
CHRISTMAS and a HAPPY NEW YEAR.
