Another update from "Annie" and "Tony" from Africa!

Here is an update from Devan and Katie, my wonderful cover models.

Habari? (That is Swahili for "how are you?")
Katie and I are excited to be sitting here together in a cyber cafe in Ngong (nnn-gahng) to write you today. We are finally able to tell you all what we will be doing here in Kenya. Our group of 25 people will be splitting up tomorrow morning and we will be spread out all across the country in groups of two (the extra person is staff).

Katie and I are really looking forward to spending the next three weeks living at Neema Children's Home in North Kinangop. There we will spend time teaching classes in the school, spending time playing with the children and teaching them about the Bible. We'll be living with the school's founder Mama Catherine who we will meet later this afternoon. We are told that the biggest part of our assignment will be spending time with her, helping her in any way that we are able.

Now that everyone knows where we are going we've begun trading clothes and other helpful items as much as possible. The area we are going to be in is very cold and we have been bartering with other people trading shorts and t-shirts for sweatshirts and pants. It's been fun.

We've been healthy so far, and the baby has been kicking stronger than ever. Up to now we haven't had to take a bucket bath...we'll mark that down as a blessing.

Since our last email we have been through so much it is difficult to put into words everything we've encountered in so few words. We've been going through a lot of cultural training and are attempting to put together a few phrases in Swahili. Friday night we went to a local Medical school and attended a Christian college group meeting. They broke up the, as they called it, "Dudes and Chicks" into separate groups and had a question and answer forum on how to be yourself and find the right person for you. We had a blast and thought it was cool how relationship questions and issues transcend continents and cultures. It was also great to see how people our age interact in Kenya.
Sunday was our first experience in a Kenyan church. The church we attended was also a children's home. It was really incredible to worship with 145 children around. As soon as we arrived they grabbed our hands and led us all over showing us their home, the farm, the goats and laughing as we tried to say what they were in Swahili.

We would like to say thank you to everyone's prayer and support on this journey. Please pray that we are open to the lessons God is teaching us and that we can compassionately serve at Neema (which means "Grace"). We hope all is well with all of you and will continue to pray for you. We may not email again for a few weeks, so please don't be concerned if you don't hear back from us.

Also, some of the emails in our list were incorrect and didn't make it where they were supposed to. If you could please forward this to anyone who might not have received it that would be appreciated.

Thanks
We Love You All

Devan and Katie

What are they (cover models for Annie and Tony) up to?

For starters, they (Devan and Katie) are in Africa on a missions trip! Yeah, these young adults are really serving God this summer. Here is what they have to say about their experience in Nairobi, Kenya so far (below)...


Hello everyone! This is Devan writing on behalf of both of us from a cyber cafe (pronounced kayf) in Nairobi. We were split up into a few different groups today and dropped off in the middle of the city on a scavenger hunt. I don't have much time to go into detail on anything because i have just half an hour to do this and most of that has been eaten up already by the slow internet.

First of all, I would just like to report that both of us and the baby are doing well. It has been difficult for the two of us to adjust to the relational dynamic of the people here in Kenya. At times it feels like we only really see each other just before we climb under our mosquito nets to go to bed.

We have really enjoyed the food, especially the chai and the chipate (i have no idea how to spell that. chipate is kind of like a panfried tortilla). It does feel like all we do is eat because between meals we have a break for chai and snacks like fruit (bananas, mangoes, pineapple) and biscuits or muffins.

Yesterday was a physically, emotionally and spiritually draining day. We spent several hours walking through the Mathare Valley Slums. I do not know how I was able to walk through that place without tears rolling down my cheeks. We had heard about what it was like there, but to truly see it for ourselves was overwhelming. The dirt paths we walked down were nearly paved in garbage and filth and we had to carefully choose our steps to avoid stepping the the streams of sewage running down the center. At times, we had no choice but to walk right through it. The thing that most upset me was watching the children walk barefoot in it as if it made no difference. As we walked across a rickety metal bridge over a river flowing in sewage (the banks made up of garbage heaps) I looked down and saw a boy that was about four years old. He had tied rags together and looped it to the bottom of the bridge to create a swing over the trash. That image will never leave me.

The people there were so incredibly beautiful, especially the children. Despite the horrendous living conditions there was an air of joy amongst the residents as we passed by their metal shacks. Everyone would stop and stare and laugh as the wazungu (swahilli for white people...often shouted as we pass) attempted to greet them in their native tongue. One woman reached out and rubbed my arm just to see if my skin felt like hers. The children would run after us excitedly waving and chanting "Howayou! Howayou!"

Unfortunately, I am out of time and must leave. I hate to leave at this point in the story but I hope we will have another opportunity to write again soon. The beauty of the slums is that there is hope for these people. That hope is us. No people should live like that. We can make a difference.

I must go, but we will continue to pray for all of you. We love you all dearly.


God Bless You,

Devan (and Katie)

more to come later...