Karibu!

I'm Charles, a current senior at Wheaton College (Ill., U.S.A.), studying English Writing and Human Needs & Global Resources. This community writing project, which I've been curating for the last few months, is just one part of my 6-month stay here at Wendo Retreat & Arboretum, in Bahati, Nakuru County, Kenya.

Here at Wendo's Haradari Village Library, there is a sign on the door that reads "Trees for Better Lives." I think about this sign often while working in the library—when I first encountered the phrase, I wondered what kind of meaning this had for the communities Wendo serves, especially as people made in the Imago Dei.

Each page on this site features a particular species of tree housed here at the arboretum. I've included my own write-up on the scientific, practical, and medicinal uses of the trees and their parts, but most importantly, I've included two other things: first, small pieces of Scripture that speak to God's desire for us to steward his creation. And second, pieces of writing collected from the creative writing class I taught at St. John's Secondary School here in Karunga.

Friend, I pray that this collection will be meaningful to you, that you'll be blessed by it, and that better recognize Christ's closeness because of it.

Peace,

Charles Hermesmann