Kenya Update: Lasting Hope

Our team made it back to Huntsville safe and sound on Saturday afternoon. Several rounds of stressful travel conditions served as regular reminders that in “their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.”

Proverbs 16:9

Because we flew out very late Friday night, our team was able to make the most of our last day in Kenya. Virginia and Heather visited teacher Mercy and her newborn in their home while Eleanor, William, and I joined Amy and Catherine (Kenyan staff) doing water filter follow-up visits in people’s homes.

Water filter follow-ups are scheduled three to six months after an individual receives his or her filter. The purpose of the visit is to ensure that the filter has been set up and maintained properly, answer any questions, gather data regarding frequency of water-borne sickness in the home, and provide replacement parts as needed. Most importantly, Catherine uses the opportunity to share the gospel with the people she visits, which is obviously her favorite part of the job. Why? In her words, “These people don’t even need money. What they need is hope.” Her words took on special weight as we visited five homes with her.

Our journey began as we rode about thirty minutes outside of Maai Mahiu to the community of Longonot. Because none of the homes in this area have addresses, we picked up a pastor at the local gas station who rode with us to show us the location of each home. (Fun fact: We did not realize we would be picking up any passengers, so cramming seven people with backpacks into our five passenger car was quite the sight.) Each home we visited was comparable to the next, so I’ll describe the first home we entered and a few stories from the others to paint the general picture of the experience.

After weaving for several minutes down ever-narrowing dirt lanes, we pulled around a bend to find a small house made of stone bricks with a cement floor and rudimentary tin roof supported by wooden slats. As we crossed the threshold, we found a modest seating arrangement of wooden furniture covered by cloths. A smattering of posters decorated the walls, and a worn cabinet provided shelving for the simple space. The family’s water filter sat in the corner of the room on a pedestal. The sound of buzzing flies overhead and the clucking of a chicken wandering around our feet filled the pauses between Catherine’s questions and the homeowner’s answers.

“These people don’t even need money. What they need is hope.”

Hope is exactly what the water filter has provided this family. Since receiving the filter, they are no longer sick from water-borne diseases. The man’s thirteen year old daughter Dorcus sat quietly in the corner during our visit. She is preparing for high school, and she is able to do so because she has not been sick from dirty water.

Similarly, another mom that we visited said that before the filter, she was spending all of her kids’ school fees on medical bills because of sickness caused by the water. Now that her kids are healthy, she can afford to send them to school again. The last pastor we visited shared how the water filter has saved him from having to travel into town to buy water. With the time and money he saves, he has been traveling to do more preaching. This man and his wife were so grateful that they graciously provided us with a meal of chai tea, a loaf of bread, oranges, and dragon fruit. Their gratitude and hospitality humbled me.

“These people don’t even need money. What they need is hope.”

Truly remarkable about these visits was seeing the consistency with which the water filters are bringing hope that life can be better- no more sickness, increased education opportunities, overall better quality of life.

Ultimately, the value of hoping for things on earth is that doing so teaches us how to hope for Christ and his coming kingdom. For “hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.”

Romans 8:24-25

Many of these families have been hoping and praying for clean water for a long time. They waited patiently, and they finally received their life-changing filter. Yet, even these water filters can’t bring ultimate life change. Children may still get sick and hardships arise.

“Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: Because of the Lord’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, “The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him.” The Lord is good to those whose hope is in him, to the one who seeks him; it is good to wait quietly for the salvation of the Lord.”

Lamentations 3:21-26

Even as we see God spark hope into our earthly circumstances, let us continue to fix our eyes on Jesus and the ultimate hope he brings.

What are you praying and hoping God will do on earth? How can you let that earthly hope turn your eyes to our heavenly hope? With whom do you need to share the hope of Christ this week?

All the love,

Megan

Kenya Update: Just One

Goodbyes are always bittersweet. Today (Friday), our team will venture down to Valley Light one last time to spend time with the kids before beginning our marathon journey home (flight leaves just before midnight Friday Kenyan time). Specifically, please pray for God to orchestrate logistics in transporting all people and luggage to Nairobi. Pray for favor for our Kenyan hosts to receive permission to drive past curfew Friday. Pray for grace and patience for our team towards each other as we make the last leg of this trip.

A friend recently asked a poignant question: Are the water filter distributions making a dent in the need for clean water in Kenya, or is this a never-ending, zero-sum endeavor? It’s a good question.

I posed the question to Clay, one of the founders and directors of Just One Africa (the organization that distributes water filters). He responded with the following story:

There once was a boy walking along the shore of the ocean. As far as the eye could see, starfish lay strewn on the sandy banks, soon to be scorched by the noon sun. Walking along the shore, a boy was methodically bending down, scooping up the starfish one by one, and tossing them back into the sea.

A girl noticed the boy painstakingly lobbing each crustacean into the ocean and shouted, “What are you doing? You can’t possibly save them all! All of your work is not making a difference!” Glancing up at the girl, the boy paused, released the starfish in his hand, allowed it to sink with a splash and called back, “It made a difference to that one!”

I am among the first to admit that too often, I see the world through the eyes of the little girl- I see millions of people living in poverty, subjected to slavery, persecuted for faith, ruined by war. I see the sheer magnitude of all of these problems and more, and I am overwhelmed. I want to put an end to every one of these evils, and realizing my own powerlessness to do that sometimes paralyzes me from doing anything at all. Why try if I can’t fix it?

The answer is obedience. God commands us to care for the needy and broken, not because we have the power to heal them or their situation, but because helping them is God’s means of ushering in his kingdom on earth as it is in heaven.

The words of Isaiah provide insight:

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter — when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?”

Isaiah 58:6-7

Notice that our work is to “loose the chains of injustice.” Only Christ has the power to break the chains completely (Isaiah 42:6-7). During his earthly ministry, even Jesus chose to heal, free, and help a limited number of people. He could have brought with him the cure for cancer, made all water clean, and eliminated world hunger before returning to heaven. But he didn’t. The time for the consummation of his kingdom had not yet come (and still hasn’t). Only when Jesus comes again will brokenness, evil, and death be fully and finally destroyed. Until then, we must obediently follow in the example of Christ, helping each person he places in front of us.

That’s the namesake of Just One Africa. The organization cannot bring clean water to all of Kenya, but it can provide clean water to just one family at a time, trusting Jesus with the rest.

Take some time today to pray and ask God where he is leading you to loose the chains of injustice. Maybe it is at the local food pantry, working with inner city kids, fighting human trafficking- the possibilities are endless. Do some research. Find small steps you can take to start hurling starfish back into the sea. May his kingdom come, his will be done on earth as it is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

Blessings in Christ,

Megan

Kenya Update: Water that Gives Life

Monday and Tuesday, our team collaborated with the Just One Africa directors and staff of Valley Light Home to host two water distribution events in Maai Mahiu. Like many places in the world, finding access to clean water is a challenge in Kenya. Even when water is not muddied, it often contains microbes, amoebas, and diseases like cholera and typhoid that make people sick. People are forced to spend money on hospital visits and medicine or suffer without treatment.

However, providing a simple water filter to these families changes this narrative. Here’s a snapshot of what filter distribution day looked like:

Pre-registered individuals begin lining up outside the gate as early as 6:30 AM, when the doors do not open until 8 AM. These people will not risk losing their opportunity to receive a filter. A couple thousand people in the community are on an ever-growing waiting list, and they are thankful their turn has arrived.

The people sit in plastic chairs that are arranged amphitheater-style around a demonstration station. For the next hour and a half, they will learn about the causes of dirty water, harm caused by dirty water, and the importance of clean water and good hygiene, like hand washing. They will also see a demonstration of the water filter they are soon to receive.

Next, the people file into a line where they wait their turn to answer several survey questions about the number and ages of people in their household as well as questions about the current state of the family’s health (i.e. how often is dirty water making them sick?). In a few months, one of the local staff will make home visits to follow up with each of these families, troubleshooting any filter problems and asking the same questions to see how the filter is improving quality of life.

Finally, individuals are given their filter in exchange for 300 shillings (about $3; note the filter actually costs about $65) and participate in small group training, where they practice assembling the filter and ask any remaining questions that they have.

Story after story could be told about how these filters have transformed the lives of those who receive them. As one example, Amy shared with us the story about a lady they served several months ago. During the follow up visit, this woman shared that since receiving the filter, she has saved 6000 shillings (about $60) per month in medical bills, which she has put towards building a house for her and her four children. Clean water is changing their lives!

The most powerful part of distribution day is that John, Valley Light Home founder/director, presents the gospel, and the water filters serve as the perfect metaphor. In the same way that all of us have a basic need for water, we each have a basic longing for God. Apart from Jesus, we try to fill that longing with other things- wealth, relationships, social status- all of which leave us empty. It’s like drinking dirty water to satisfy your thirst but ending up sick. And like many people here in Kenya who don’t realize it’s the water making them sick, we as humans often treat the symptoms of our idolatry, never getting to the root of the problem.

Jesus calls himself the living water, and he invites all who are spiritually thirsty to come to him and drink (John 4:10-14). Only he can satisfy. Yet, sanctification is a process. The dirty water poured into the filter takes time to become clean, as slowly but surely all of it passes through the filter. Likewise, when we come to Jesus with all of our mess, he begins the slow but sure process of cleaning our lives from the inside out as we give him control of every part of our hearts (Matt 23:26).

Even once we have tasted the living water that is Jesus, we can be tempted to revert back to our old water sources. We forget how sick sin makes us and how bitter it tastes in comparison to life. In which parts of your life and heart are you looking to something (or someone) other than Jesus for life? Return to the living water and be satisfied.

Peace in Christ,

Megan

Kenya Update: Who’s Driving?

On Saturday, our team loaded up in a couple of cars to spend the day with the kids at the home. Once we arrived, everyone had a blast! We played soccer and cards, swung on the swing set, creatively journaled, crafted our hearts out, introduced spike ball, and laughed often. Our team also delivered many of the supplies that we brought over for the teachers and children, including books, musical instruments, baby clothes, art supplies, and special requests from the staff. These resources are especially timely, since the school that is attached to the home is preparing to fully launch soon.

In the above paragraph, you probably read the words “once we arrived” rather quickly. In fact, your eyes may have mindlessly passed over them for the grammatical transition that they are. However, in Kenya, there are frequent opportunities to remember that nothing can be taken for granted, including safe and timely travel. Our journey down to the valley Saturday morning provided such a reminder.

When conditions are ideal, the venture from Kijabe to Mai Mahiu takes about thirty minutes. All seemed to be going well until we reached the paved road going into town. Mai Mahiu is a truck stop town, so it is normal to see numerous, huge transport trucks barreling out of the city. However, our hearts sank as we observed trucks lined up on the road as far as they eye can see, motionless. The lane going into town trickled along, so we merged into traffic, hoping we would be able to crawl our way to the destination in a reasonable amount of time.

The further we inched into the city, the worse the gridlock became. Multiple times, we off-roaded Kenyan style to try to pass a few vehicles (it’s easy to imagine our Land Cruiser doing this and hilarious to picture our minivan), but ultimately this landed us stuck in an impasse in a parking lot being rigged as a detour. As my sense of entrapment and claustrophobia began to rise, I prayed that God would get us out of this seemingly impossible situation (and ideally, before lunch, because the Pork Palace street food vendor right outside of my window was not calling my name).

Then, in an incredible answer to prayer, a tiki (motorbike) entered the scene, and a man holding a toddler jumped off and began walking towards the car. Kelvin had come to the rescue! Kelvin is Leah’s nephew, and he is known by many of the locals for being a driver in the region for years.

Kelvin hopped into the lead vehicle and proceeded to navigate us through the backroads, occasionally getting out of the car to negotiate through standstill traffic. We finally arrived at Valley Light, an hour and a half after we had embarked. Every single one of us was thanking God for Kelvin.

In several ways, this (mis)adventure illustrates the role that Jesus plays in our lives. Before we have Jesus, we chart our own courses and head confidently in the direction that we have mapped for our lives, only to get confused, disappointed, or frustrated when our plans take unexpected detours or even come to a grinding halt. Despair creeps in as we realize that we are shoulder deep in trouble with no way of escape. We need someone to save us.

Then enters Jesus on the scene. Jesus did not come with as much fanfare as a screeching motorbike. He came in the lowly form of a helpless baby, growing up to be a humble servant before dying a humiliating and excruciating death on a cross to take the punishment you and I deserve. He rose again victoriously, and now he offers new life to all who give him the driver’s seat (Phil. 2:5-11). When Jesus is our navigator, we know we will arrive to the destinations he has set for us in his perfect timing.

If you’re like me, you occasionally try to grab the steering wheel from Jesus, or at least attempt to give him directions. That’s about as laughable (and unwise) as if I had tried to tell Kelvin, “No it’s okay. I got this.” Let’s not be silly.

What area(s) of your life are you trying to control? Give each to God. Trust that he knows what is best and is leading you along righteous paths for his name’s sake (Psalm 23:3). You might be in for a bumpy ride, but with Jesus at the helm, it will be for your good and his glory.

Peace in Christ,

Megan

Kenya Update: Preparing a Place

On Friday, the team and I went to the future site of Valley Light Home and saw the building under construction. In a breathtaking moment of drinking in the breadth and import of the structure and gazing out over the surrounding pastoral hills, the words of Jesus came to mind: “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2-3). The significance of the work that John and Leah are doing lies in the reality that they are picturing Jesus to the thirty children of Valley Light Home. They are going ahead to prepare a place to bring the children to be with them where they are, a place removed from the noise and filth of the city, a place that lies in green pastures (Palms 23:2).

In each of us, there is a desire to leave a mark, to make a difference. If we allow the world’s standards to define our success, our lives will fall short of eternal impact. How, then, do we measure the degree of our impact? Our impact can be measured by the degree to which each of our actions and the entirety of our lives reflect Jesus and the gospel to a world in desperate need of both. When what we do points others to Jesus, he gets the glory rather than us, and we as humans have no higher purpose than to glorify God.

Since arriving in Kenya, I have met several individuals who offer themselves in this way- as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God (Romans 12:1). One of these people is Chef Dickson, the primary cook at Valley Light Home. Dickson trained to be a chef at a five-star hotel in the coastal city of Mombasa, Kenya. After training, he took a well-paying job near his hometown but felt unsatisfied with the impersonal nature of the culinary world. In a phone call with John, he offered to leave his lucrative position to come and fill a needed post as the head cook at Valley Light. He desires to use his gifts to not only feed the children and staff, but also to invest in their lives as a mentor, confidant, cooking instructor, and encourager. Dickson is living a life of kingdom impact.

Individuals like Dickson exemplify Hebrews 11:13-16:

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Lord, help us to long for your heavenly country, not looking back to the lives we have left.

Friday afternoon, our team visited a missionary couple who has been on the field over twenty years. The husband’s words struck deeply: “Either you are on mission or you are not. You are where you are.” His point: Living a life on mission is a choice, regardless of where in the world you find yourself. Are you living a life of impact? In other words, whose kingdom are you building? Your own, or God’s kingdom?

The key to living a life of impact is listening to the next thing God is asking you to do and saying yes to that. Having a posture of surrender is a sweet place to be but a hard place to stay. As long as God has your yes, get ready for a lifetime of adventure with eternal impact.

With love in Christ,

Megan

Kenya Update: Active Waiting

As my dad likes to say, traveling through an airport is a game of “hurry up and wait.” We bustle along with a myriad of other travelers, swimming like sardines through security, slinging our backpacks on one shoulder and lugging a carryon with our free hand, all while hopping to shove our feet back in our shoes and hoping we don’t trip over our untied laces as we navigate to the right terminal.

And then we wait. After a one hour flight to Atlanta, our team twiddled our thumbs for three hours (okay, we ate lunch, too) before jumping on an eight hour flight to Paris. Not to be outdone by Atlanta, Paris gifted us with a five hour layover before rewarding our patience with another eight hour flight to Nairobi. The saga concluded with a two hour car ride to where we will be staying in Kijabe. In case there was any doubt: fanny fatigue is REAL.

All joking aside, God showed his faithfulness to guide and guard our steps, starting with a Delta check-in attendant in Huntsville who helped us correct some COVID paperwork before it caused problems later on, and later God showed favor by providing both Paris and Nairobi boarding passes in Atlanta, where everyone speaks English (and is friendly). God saw us safely to our destination, where Valley Light Home founders John and Leah along with Just One Africa founders Amy and Clay welcomed us with hugs and smiles.

As much as we don’t like waiting, God often uses it to still our spirits and focus our affections on him. It has been said that patience is not merely the ability to wait- it encompasses how we act in the waiting. Waiting can be active or passive. Passive waiting might take the form of pining about the past or the future or filling your days with busyness that distracts from activities with eternal value. We are wise when we seek to make each day count for God’s glory (Pslam 90:12).

So if you find yourself in a season of waiting, be patient. Ask God to show you what he wants to teach you, how he is preparing you in this season. Wait actively, doing the things God has already told us to do in Scripture (worship, pray, love, serve). And stay hopeful:

“I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Psalm 27:13-14

All the love in Christ,

Megan

January 2020 Trip