From Judie:
“O me!” I have learned so much about the destitute Africans-they have so little and they find a use for everything. Their innovations are amazing! At MCC, I have seen one toy-apparently owned by MCC. It is a stuffed cat. Most of the children play by kicking the discarded garbage, pineapple toys or avocado seeds. Many of the little children old enough to walk are left by their parents (usually a single mom) everyday. The child I have fallen in love with is named Patrick. He is named after the headmaster there, like many other children. The mothers hope he will school them or free. Little Patrick is precious but very very dirty with a runny nose. He is very shy but he waves, comes up to touch me, and wants me to swing him. He has a little “butter bean” shaped head like my son when he was born. He was so sad for two days and Bwana Patrick and the teachers feel he was beaten over the weekend. He was not wearing pants or underwear and was sitting on concrete with his legs crossed most of the day on Tuesday. His mom has six children and is expecting the seventh. She leaves every day at 7am and locks the small room they live in before dawn so no one can steal anything and leaves the children outside with no breakfast. MCC feeds him a bowl of beans and rice for lunch. They also try to provide twenty dollars a month to the family to keep them from starving. This is not just a Christian school, it is a beacon of hope for the children. Patrick and the other children play in the street all day. They were playing with nails, plastic and wire the other day. When I asked Patrick if I could take little Patrick home with me, he said I could because his mother did not pay him attention or really care. Carrington and Michael interested? On the light side, when we visited the MCC vocational school we stopped at a Massai village where they had made shoes from old tires. I just may gone over the edge of African shopping. I have Massai sandals made by “Goodyear” (maybe with a 40,000 mile warranty?) When we stopped at a village hardware store I bought a tonga for only $2. Saloma (Peace)
From Purnell:
Leaving the children and staff at MCC was heartbreaking! We all have made friends with so many people here, including our own team mates. The 11 of us have bad an experience of a lifetime. Working. Loving and playing together has exalted our God in multiple ways. On Saturday, Frances, Claude and I will visit an animal orphanage with Pamela and Patrick while the rest of our group travels on to Tanzania. The three of us will return home Sunday, arriving in Washington on Monday morning. I thank Peakland Baptist Church for the glorious opportunity to serve in such a worthwhile and amazing mission! Hugs and kisses to my precious supportive friends and family!
From the Browns:
Today was our last day at MCC and we celebrated by renting a field nearby to hold a sports day. The children were thrilled. They walked to the field from the valley in the colorful shirts we gave them last year and they enjoyed the competition. Medals were given out as prizes. You should have seen all of us playing with them. It was a great way for us to show our love to them. They had fixed us sacrificial noon meals all week. We will miss the precious children and dedicated teachers. Eight of us go to Tanzania tomorrow and three will return to US on Sunday. Our blog may be spotty because we will not always have internet connections in Tanzania. So goodbye for a few days!
From the Greenes:
Today was a “different” kind of day. Sarah, Lydia and I went with Mrs. Frances to the US Embassy to pick up her temporary passport since she lost hers this week. I went with Frances and Sarah and Lydia took off down a road and visited the Global headquarters of the World Agroforestry Center. Sarah was so excited and she was given many awesome resources to use in the future. We then took the taxi to the sports field that we rented today. The children had a wonderful time…and so did we! We fed them lunch today and decided to donate some money to add a little “meat” to their meal and some orange juice. The kids get one meal a day on Monday through Friday of corn meal and sometimes beans. Feed the Children foundation provides this meal and they usually do not get feed on the weekend. They were so excited to eat meat and get juice. As I drove away from the field (Sarah, Lydia and Lee Ray left in the second taxi) my heart was touched. I said goodbye to the teachers and children. They were all gathered around Sarah, Lydia and Lee Ray singing, “Our God is an awesome God.” I could not hold back the tears. We have so much, we are so blessed! These children have nothing- but they are praising our Lord. How ashamed I feel. God forgive me for all that I have taken granted. Tomorrow, we go to Tanzania for eight days. We have enjoyed the Methodist Guest House of Nairobi. Know that we love and appreciate you and your prayers. Continue to pray for the children of Mathare Valley. Lots of Love!
From Lynn:
It was very hard to leave the children today after the games at the sports field were over. What an experience I have had over the past two weeks getting to know the children and teachers! Watching as little by little the children embraced us and became a part of each of us. There are too many to name, but there are several children that are extra special to me. Little Patrick with his dirty face, runny nose, bare feet and sometimes no pants. Brian (aka “Buster” to us) has a smile that could melt the hardest heart. He loves to dance, and adores Purnell. The feeling is definitely mutual! Sylvester has a gift for drawing and Jaro who has great wit. The list goes on and on. But, the one child who is forever etched into my heart is Pheobe. Several days ago she was very, very sick. So sick that the local hospital could not help her and she was sent by ambulance to the big hospital in Nairobi. Before Carroll insisted that she be taken for emergency treatment and that she would pay for it, Pheobe lay on the floor next to me and I held her hand and stroked her face and told her to open her eyes every time she started to close them. She barely had a pulse and it appeared that her body was shutting down. As I held her limp hand, I could feel her slipping away and prayed she would open her eyes again. Without immediate medical attention she probably would have died right there on a while cloth on a concrete floor. Praise God that she received treatment that saved her life. Pheobe was at the games today, but she did not do any physical activity. She stayed by my side most of the day holding my hand or putting her arms around me. She was letting me know that she knew I had been there for her and that I truly care for her. God saved her that night and being able to hold the child (young woman) who just eight hours ago seemed destined to die from starvation due to a stomach ailment (probably a parasite) made it painful to eat or keep anything down. That was a feeling I will never forget. Phoebe is in class 8 and makes excellent grades. She also sings in the choir. She will be attending secondary school in the fall. Her crisis is not uncommon in the Valley. It happens every day. Every child at the school has had someone in their life die- sister, brother, parents, friend… Mercy Care Center is doing so much to keep the children attend the school (as well as others) survive an unimaginable existence of neglect. Please keep all of them, the teachers and staff, in your prayers, especially headmaster Patrick. I am certain that over the next few months, little moments will pop up in my mind because we have seen so much and felt so much that it will take time to absorb it all. I will also cherish this time in Africa and the MCC for the rest of my life. Thank you for your thoughts and prayers!
From Sarah:
This was my journal entry on the 11th…
There is not enough money in the world to bring someone into this slum to do what we have been doing! The only thing that makes me WANT and LONG to go back to those dirty hands and that diseased land is the need and longing for love from those people. What a beautiful picture of Christ! There is nothing those kids can give to “pay us back” except for their smiles, hugs, and hearts that scream “I LOVE YOU and I am thankful for you!” Jesus, You left “perfect” and not only entered filth, but PUT IT ON! Here, we are only visiting and then returning to comfort and “nice.” But You BECAME one of us and lived in the filth of us and our flesh. Then You took on our sin and gave all of yourself. There is nothing I could ever do to deserve it or pay even the smallest portion of it in return. We came here out of love for You and these children. And their love for us is all that it takes to keep us going back every day. Our love, longing for You, and thankfulness is ALL You desire from us. True obedience and service is only a product from a heart that is thankful and realizes that all we can do is not enough. But all we do is just a love offering to portray a heart that is thankful for what we can never do. And even our obedience is possible only because of grace. For even our obedience is enabled by the Holy Spirit and His Word to know truth. There is nothing in us to even slightly attract Him to us. And Yet, He is madly in love with us and desires us to approach Him as dirty children who do not pretend to be anything but the helpless child running to the arms of a Father. He calls us to be like the children with a pure heart who do not even realize the depth of the dirt and disease on them. And they do not care how they approach the Father, because they know that every time He picks them up with a smile and the greatest delight. He has already given us a way out of the “valley.” In pride we can choose to stay and try to find a way out ourselves by trying to disguise our helplessness or even trying to earn the way through the law. Or, by selfishness, we can leave without sharing the way of exit with others. This divine invitation is calling out…to clothe the corruptible and perishing with life and everlasting glory! This desire in our souls to leave the desolation of our own sin is a longing deeper than anything else in existence! It was a fierce and created desire to be saved from what we are and where we are at, and to taste our Creator’s love and become One with Him. There are so many Valleys, and they are not physical. The Valley can be found in Beverly Hills or Methare (at the Mercy Care Center). They can be found in a church choir member, banker or beggar. They are valleys deep within, longing to be filled with His grace. And once the rescue has been made, once the thirst has been quenched and the sin covered, the poor become rich and the rich give up their wealth for a glimpse of poverty. For the Valley is not a place and TRUE hope cannot be seen! And the One who calls us all to give up everything so we may gain what really matters, and die so that we may live, is just waiting for us to rest in His warmth, to feed on His Spirit, to drink of His pure joy, to be cleansed by His disinfecting blood and held in His protecting arms. He delights in us for no other reason but because He is the Father. And this the hope of the redeemed ones in Christ Jesus….that our temporary struggles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all!
No comments:
Post a Comment