Getting home.

So, the above picture was from when we ate sugar cane, just like the Kenyans do.  Well, almost like the Kenyans do.  We ended up having them slice the outer layer which was going to break our teeth (or so we felt) if we kept on chewing.

We had an absolute blast!  This trip paved the way for some great relationships, which I will continue to pray what God wants me to do with that.  Thanks to Courtnie, the trip was detailed fabulously by her postings, but here are a few of my highlights:

• Getting to meet Martin, Sonny, James, Charles, Jamima, Beatrice, and all the other leaders we came in contact with.
• Watching the innovation everywhere because of the lack of resources, they make do.  And they make do well.
• The great mosquito incident of 2012. ha.  It’s what happens when you fall asleep without putting your mosquito nets back down… a lovely little (hopefully not malaria-ridden) mosquito buzzes in your ear, keeping you up for longer than you wish to be.
• Being the day camp speaker for 2 days in a row.  Hearing one man gave his life to Jesus afterwards.
• Learning what YL should look like from the Kenyans.  It is simple, lacks a ‘show’, and is wonderful.
• Only starting to see what God has in store for me with my relation to Kenya.
• The Safari! The Elephant Orphanage!  The Giraffe Center! 

Thank you for loving us through the trip.  Thank you for your financial or prayer support.  Thank you for following us on this life-changing journey.

Love,

Kim

Wrapping it up.

Flexibility is key. That was what we were told as we prepared for our trip to Africa. The advice came in handy on Sunday when it was time to do all day camp/club again.

After the rainforest hike, the night before, I had started the beginnings of a cold. My mom told me to bring cold medicine, I thought she was crazy, she wasn’t. I’m so thankful I had the medicine. On Sunday we woke up to Martin telling us that he had not heard from Benson (the man in charge of today) and so had no idea what time we were leaving. A few hours later after hanging out with club kids downstairs, drinking soda, we got a call and were told to go. I was privlidged to be grabbed by Queenter, a local girl, who held my hand without fail the entire walk through the city. She is quiet, and honestly, she didn’t need many words. Her spirit and love for others preceeded her, a sort of aura. Camp/club was the same Sunday as Saturday and because I was feeling under the weather, I sat back more and let little girls play with my hair.

Early Monday morning we left Kakamega for Nairobi. It was hard to say goodbye to the people who had been OUR people for the past week. The people who fed us, laughed with us, welcomed us, taught us, and kept us safe. It was especially hard saying goodbye to those relationships knowing I may never see them again. There is no preparation for that.

We could hardly stay awake on the car ride or airplane ride to Nairobi, because of that Martin made the executive choice to leave us at the hotel that day instead of dragging us to another club. Rest felt incredible and it was needed on all accounts. I caught up on my journaling, took a nap, and then we practiced our food ordering skills at the hotel buffet. Our food was supposed to come 1hr20min later. 1hr20min in Kenya is 3 hours… in case you ever go.

Tuesday was our safari. It was all I imagined, but greener. We took the trip around Lake Nakuru and saw: water buffalo, water bucks, rhinos, zebras, gazelles, impalas, baboons, smaller monkeys, giraffes, and finally what we (literally) prayed for… Lions. Not just lions though, a lion and her cubs. I maaaaaay have cried a little bit. I was so thankful. We got to James’ house around 6pm and hung out with Kenyan YL leaders as they lovingly prepared food for us and filled us in on Eva Luna and other spanish soap operas dubbed over in English.

Wednesday, our last day, was possibly the perfect day. We requested that James (our other host) would take us to the Elephant orphanage. He did us one better. He first took us to the giraffe center where we not only got to feed and pet the giraffes, but we KISSED them as well. Straight from there we went to the elephant orphanage and watched their one hour feeding session. I’m convinced that there is a similarity between baby elephants and dogs, especially when you watch them roll in mud. They were such a joy. From there we went souvenir shopping for loved ones and self. I walked away with salad tongs, earrings, and a skirt. The only thing I couldn’t find were specific sandals that I had seen around on Kenyan… boys. James took us to a cafe where we enjoyed pre american, american food and ICED LATTES!! One of the best I’ve had, it was a good little reminder of what coming home would feel like.

When we got home to James’ guest house, our day wasn’t done. Terri, a female YL leader and student at the university taught us how to make chapatti (our favorite Kenyan food). It was the most bonding experience we had while being there. And it is comforting to know that no matter where you are in the world, women can bond in the kitchen and discuss everything together. Truly bridging the gaps that our cultures create, and being all the better for it. When chapatti was made and James still wasn’t home I mentioned the sandals issue to Terri and she suggested that she and two other leaders take us into town to find them! It was so much fun even though we couldn’t find them ANY WHERE. After giving up on our quest for the leather sandals and heading home… we came across the booth… with the sandal maker. Long story short, he made me custom sandals because they only came in men sizes. Perfect.

The night ended with laughs, pictures, goodbye to Martin, and packing. What we had prepared for all year had come to a close.

Now I sit here in a London flat after 3.5 movies on a long plane ride, ready to go to sleep. A friend from the church I grew up in has been the most gracious of hosts. Listening to the three of us as we decompress and talk about how great pizza and warm showers are. The wrapping up has only begun… if you can wrap up such a trip. And now I’m rethinking my title. There is weight to knowing that there are people in Kenya who pray for Colorado when there are fires because they have friends there. Those Kenyans are now my friends too, who will be there for me in prayer and spirit if ever I need. And they are some of the most incredible people I’ve ever known. They are people that I feel humbled by when I GET to call them friends.

Please pray for our friends as Kakamega is near the Uganda border, and Uganda is currently experiencing an outbreak in ebola. Thankfuly we left unaffected.

Thank you for reading and supporting.

-Courtnie

How do you blog a rainforest?

The answer is you can’t. I could try, but even pictures don’t do it justice, and a picture is a thousand words. Because I am IN AFRICA… I can’t spend time on a thousand words right now, it wouldn’t be right.

Yesterday we took our first ride on a “boata boata” a motorcycle taxi. It was scary and a little fun. I am thankful for my dad who taught me how to lean on a motorcycle. We bought the water well in down (a giant 1,000 litre tank) tied it onto the top of our vehicle and headed further into the rainforest to a new school.

Setting up the water tank was humbling. There was a sixty year old man named Clement (seriously) who used a rubber tube filled with water to level everything, and string to measure. He did an incredible job instructing us. As weak American girls we were able to dig holes as deep as our arms with a machete and bowl, and hammer nails into wood. For some of the time that the men helped us we picked weeds from the school’s garden, and then Sonny, the director for Kakamega’s rainforest Young Life, had us to his home for lunch. Chipatti is by far my favorite food here and I am determined to learn how to make it before I leave. The best way I can describe it, is a thick tortilla. I’m continually humbled by the people of Kenya. They have seemingly so little (in comparison to what I know) yet live joyously and graciously, excitedly give all that they can in efforts to show appreciation.

We came to serve the people here, and like many endeavours in which you serve others, I find that I am the one learning the life changing lessons, walking away a better person because of THEM.

The vice principal told us how thankful he was for our water project, Martin told us, with tears in his eyes, that they will never forget us because of what we have done for them. Kim, Fiona, and I only look at each other later and say, “What we did for them? We bought a water tank…?” Because we have so much, it IS hard to understand the impact we have on their community. I hope someday that I will be able to process it. I’m just thankful at this time to have the opportunity to serve a people who are so genuinely grateful.

Today we had a camp/club. From 12-5 we helped run and participate in club for the teens in the village outside of the Kakamega rainforest. To sum up the experience… I expected to be sharing knowledge of Young Life with their team when Martin asked us to “encourage them.” What I found was that they taught me what Young Life SHOULD look like. From club, to leaders, to kids, to campaigners, THEY are teaching ME. And so my encouragement to them was exactly that. They are leading these kids to hope and WHOLE heartedly. I prayed over them and asked God that we would send leaders like THEM into the heart of Diablo Valley Young Life.

Then… we went into the rainforest. Like I said… hard to put into words. Monkeys and mist. We walked up the mountain THROUGH the rainforest to get to the top and look DOWN upon it. NO words. Went into a bat cave and acted like a little girl. This world is just incredible and I don’t deserve to be here. One more full day in Kakamega before we head back to Nairobi. One more camp/club and some sugar cane 🙂 Thankful is an understatement.

-Courtnie

WOW! The journe…

WOW! The journey (travelwise) is over. Now the real journey begins. This place has provided such knowledge so far, and we have only been here for 3 days. Now that we are on Kenya time, we are way less tired! Today we painted the entrance to a school, and it was such an amazing experience, getting to know all of the Younglife leaders in Kakamega. They are all so nice and friendly, and every day we meet new people. The Younglife club here was over 100 kids…. WOWWWWW. I think the best experience for me so far was after we painted, it started to pour. Only when we started to dance and flip our hair back and forth did we realize that the Kenyans had taken shelter. They thought we were crazy!! We started to sing Party in the USA and the kids loved it. We taught the kids the banana song!! such a fun experience so far! ❤ looking fwd to blogging alot more as the trip goes on.

T.I.A. “This is Africa….or This isn’t America”

4/5 days in and this is the first to post.
Day 1/2: San Francisco to London and 7 hours playing around London. We saw Big Ben, the Kensington Gardens, and had fish and chips. An absolute blast… and absolutely exhausting.
Day 3: London to Nairobi. We landed in Nairobi and got to our hotel around 10:30. Tried to stay awake… tried. Had lunch, went to Nairobi Campaigners (small disciple study), had dinner, went to bed. Martin and James our leaders are wonderful. They take good care of us, I feel cared for and safe.
Day 4 started at 4:30 am (because we weren’t already tired). We almost missed our flight to Kisumu for Kakamega, Martin sweet talked the flight attendants to hold the plane. **Martin is wonderful. He his funny, inspiring, and a caring man. I am grateful for the divine matching God has done with him and our group.** 45 min later we were in Kisumu. 2 hour car ride later we fiiiiiiinally made it to Kakamega. Again, we tried to stay awake, but the combination of too much travel and no activities planned for the afternoon broke us down. We woke up to go to club and a public school nearby. Kim and I have learned so much about Young Life by seeing it done here. Club was a blast. We were welcomed into the club room by children singing a special welcome song for visitors. It was beautiful and hard not to cry in appreciation for the warm welcome.

We played games, sang songs, listened to a talk, and then got to answer sooo many questions. I’ve never felt like such a commodity before. Questions about my teaching, being told I should find a Kenyan husband (don’t worry Josh, I told them you are very good to me and I would be silly to leave our Covenant relationship). I’ve also never felt so funny. They crack up at everything from trying to speak Swahili to teaching them high fives.

When we returned we hung out outside of our hotel with some of the orphans from across the street. That was a highlight for me. Playing with the little babies, watching them play games and joining in on them. Loving that God’s creation of children is so clearly the same around the world. Thankful for the similarities. They even sang “Jig-a-lo” and thought it was funny that I knew it also. We followed this by dinner and a LOT of sleep.

Day 5: Our original itinerary is not what we are following, but flexibility is affording us a better time than we could have imagined. Martin is taking good care of us and making sure we get to experience almost everything we want to in this country.

We are finally on Kenyan time and everyone noticed the difference in our energy levels. Today was beyond incredible. We arrived at the same school we spent time at yesterday and painted the front gate and wall. As we painted we sang to the children at the school who watched us. They sang “Jesus Loves Me” back to us. The open attitude that this community (and Africa as a whole) has towards Jesus and his teaching leaves much to be desired back home.

We are having a blast learning words in Swahili and meeting the people who drive us. They also think we are funny. There is an abundance of laughter as we work and play here, I think I will miss the laughter the most. A fun moment was when we introduced Martin to almonds, he loves them. When it came time to re-paint the words on the wall the men did not trust a moozoongu (white person) woman to do the job… hahaha I JUMPED on the chance to show them what I could do and their expectations were exceeded. It is fun to broaden their view point a little in comparison  to how they have broadened mine.

The best part was saved for last. Kakamega is on the border of the rainforest, in fact some of it is IN the rainforest, and up until this point we had seen no rain. Today that was changed. It RAINED right after we finished painting the wall and while all of the Kenyans ran for cover we played in the fat rain drops. (It is a myth in Kenya that the rain brings on Malaria, the kids think this because rain sometimes produces colds and flus that feel similar to Malaria). There were about twenty brave souls who stayed out to play soccer in the rain and Fiona and I jumped in the game. My favorite moment so far was when the ball was passed to me and I ran it up the field past several Kenyan teenage boys while the crowd went wild. To participate and enjoy their world with them, to feel accepted and celebrated, to show them that I don’t feel I am better or different from them; such an incredible joy. Plus, soccer in the rain is the BEST!

We taught the kids a few songs, namely the banana song: “Bananas UNITE! Peel bananas, peel peel bananas!…” and the chicken dance song.

Now we are back, showered (I’m starting to appreciate the simplicity and energy that comes from a cold shower), and ready for dinner. Martin is having us try his favorite dish tonight. Oogali. I’m humbled to experience this incredible culture and thankful for what it is doing in my heart. Thank you for supporting our journey. We should be back soon.

All my love. Courtnie. (P.S. My name is ridiculously hard to say for Kenyans… I just go by Court)

We’re hheeeerreeee!!!!!!

(you just have to imagine me saying it).
To those of you who ever have the opportunity to come to Kakamega Kenya and meet our Young Life friends, DOOOOOO it.  I am humbled by the way they talk about Jesus to their YL friends, surprised by their sense of humor, and absolutely astounded by their love.

This journey is definitely life-changing and I am learning so much about how small the world is– little kids still love to sing and dance, boys still joke crudely, and even roosters still crow (even at inappropriate times).  Even as I write this at 6 pm Kenya time, I can hear the distant cock-a-doodle-do reverberating in the not-so-far distance.

Today we had the chance to paint a gate entrance to a local school where YL does ministry.  We waited around for a very long time (there’s a phrase called TIA which equates to this isn’t America/ this is Africa) and finally got to painting.  During the children’s breaks they came and hung out with us.  We taught them the “peel bananas song” and they sang us their national anthem.  I’m pretty sure we got teased in Swahili MANY times, but we didn’t care… its all in love.  Watching Court and FiFi play soccer in the rain with the older kids was awesome!
You can pray for continued rest, healing for my hand (pretty sure my tendinitis has pinched a nerve and my pinkie and ring finger have been tingling since the plane to Nairobi), and a robust fullness of God to descend upon us as we travel into the rain forest tomorrow.

 

<peace and blessings>

 

Help us raise money by eating pizza!

Use this flier for 20% of your bill to go towards our trip.

Light at the End of the Tunnel

What a journey it has been to fundraise and buy our tickets.
When I first felt called to this trip one of my first prayers was that God would make it clear who was and who was not meant to come. I didn’t care the reasons, I just knew that this was His trip, not mine. Through many rounds of inviting people, then saying yes, and for one reason or another having to then say no 3 of us have been the consistent yes. At first it made me sad, defeated, that our group was so much smaller than I envisioned and then I remembered my prayers, His trip, His vision, not mine.
Because of the changing numbers and names it took multiple quotes and deadlines to finally purchase our tickets. Even watching the price fluctuate each time was a blessing. The first time we were quoted just to check it out it was a decent price. The second time our price jumped a good $300 each. And when we were finally ready it went down $700 each from our second quote AND included an overnight in London on the way back. Needless to say it was clear that it was time to purchase the tickets.
During this time we also got an email from James, who will be hosting us while we are there, with more details about exactly what we are stepping into:
“The place that we are intending to go and do the water project is called Kakamega, it is on the western side of the country. Most of the homesteads there dont have clean water and they fetch their water from the river or wells that are dug in the homesteads. When they get the water from the river or the wells the water is not even purified before it is taken or used in any way. The few learned people will boil their water before they drink it. Chances of getting water borne deseases are high and risky.

In this areas fetching areas is mostly a women and girl child duties. The girls and women travel some distances to go fetch the water from the rivers, at the river is where the clothes are cleaned, people bath, cattle quench their thirst etc. This water will be certainly be contaminated, because what is happening upstream is also happening down stream and chances of fetching contaminated water are high.”
We will also be helping out at an orphanage in the same area. If this trip doesn’t change our life perspective…
With tickets purchased we have been in full throttle fundraising mode. Flocking around 3 times a week (message us on Facebook if you would like to flock someone for $25.) We also anticipate a mountain mikes fundraiser this month, lemonade sales this summer, and maybe even a clothing swap. Our personal letters have brought in generous donations and the rotary club in Pleasant Hill helped out Fiona.
It is coming together. We are blessed. It’s a hard trip to feel prepared for totally and with that comes a feeling of excitement and wonder. Hoping that as people join our team financially and through prayer that they will feel the same and be changed through the journey as we are.
-Courtnie

One Step at a Time

A few days ago we put in our request for travel dates and cities. This morning my principal gawked about her envy.

As the reality sets in, so does the excitement, so does the anxiety. The anxious feelings are not born of worry but rather the conscious understanding that this trip will change me, and while it is changing me, it will also be changing the girls that I am responsible for. It is a vulnerable feeling to walk into a situation knowing full well that your heart will be different when you come out of it. That is real. And as scary as it is, I’m open to it, excited for it, curious as to what it is going to be.

I’m sending my fundraising letters out today. Asking people to fund anything you do is a humbling experience. I know that I CAN NOT walk into this journey without their help. I know that with their support they are becoming a part of my team and I am humbled by generosity as well as by people’s support.

Flocking has raised a little more than $800. It is still fun, and we have it down to a science. And the funding is great, so is the thrill, but even greater is having the excuse to hang out with my girls and know them better still. To walk through their weeks with them rather than a day every week here and there. My husband said a “who knew” sentence about them the other day while I was sharing with him. And seriously. Humble apparently also comes in the form of, “who knew that 14/15/16 year old girls would become some of your most cherished friends.”

I guess it has already started.

A Little Flamingo Goes a Long Way

Do you remember the thrill of the crisp night air against your face as you rushed, eyes accustom to the dark, trying to get the job done?
If you’ve ever TPed a house… you know exactly the adrenaline I refer to.

Flocking is better.

Recently we have set loose a flock of flamingos and they have flown from house to house in the Lafayette/Orinda area. Maybe you’ve seen them?

It has been decided that flocking is much more fun than TP and considerably cuter. But when we get hired to “remove a flock and send it elsewhere” what hits us more than the bright pink bodies is the generosity of the community we are surrounded by. In a time when it is really easy to hold on to what you have rather than share, we continue to be abundantly blessed by what people are willing to give.

A week ago, Kim (my co-trip leader) was able to attend the Young Life National Convention in Florida where she got to meet people from Young Life Africa! Every step we take, every dollar raised makes this trip more palpable. The idea of going to Africa is no longer an idea, we are in motion.

This week I will set out to write fund raising letters to my near and dear. Flocking is one thing, asking people to sponsor you and in turn become a part of your trip and blessing is another, very humbling, thing. We are also setting out on having a babysitting night for Valentines parent night out and a clothing swap. June and the cost of this trip is just around the corner.

I am thankful and humbled by the gift of this trip, and I haven’t even gone yet.
Thanks for following our journey.