Kenya Initiation Trip Report
Chapter Three: Machakos, Cheni, & Nairobi-Ngong Training
Beginning with a long trip to Tala, we first viewed the Tala Baptist Church home where Beatrice Ngina, the nurse gathers the orphans each week for a good meal and some Bible study.
At the Matungulu Boys School, we trained 60 kids in the skit, having three learn each role. After less than one hour, they performed it, including doing the narration, to the great surprise of the teachers. We then presented them with one of the soccer balls from New Jersey, and many were asking to join WAIT.
We next when to the Kisukioni Hospital Clinic, where we met with a group of patients. We had a very short time, so we just quickly explained our work, and asked them to become the partners, teachers and trainers of the Kenyan WAIT group. They were so grateful and happy, and even broke into a spontaneous dance and song at the end. 
One of them told me, “This is the thing we have been praying for: a way to give what we have, and to tap our untapped potential. We have a lot of guidance and counsel to give young people, but we didn’t have a way. Now, with this WAIT team, we can do something to really help and save them. With God, and with 
us working, we can do this.”
Our final stop was at another school, which had just let out, the Kisukioni High School. To our surprise, the principal had prepared a group of youth, the Why Wait club, who are all abstinent and serious about stopping AIDS, as everyone has had someone close to them infected.
This group already creates beautiful poetry and monologues, songs and 
dances. Both faculty and students totally felt the properness of us working together, and we immediately set up the plan for them to watch the video, print out the script from the CD, and then practice with the background music.
It was already close to dark by the time we left there, and our SUV became stuck in the mud, so for the next 3 ½ hours, we wrestled to free both vehicles with the help of a lot of local people were missing their dinners, picking up rocks, cutting branches, pushing the vehicles.
The dark progressed, and the bright stars shone out as we all tried so many different efforts. Pastor John was jacking the car up, trying to free the car from the mud, putting a large rock under the jack, and then trying to move the car. Finally, a large tractor made its way by a separate trail to our location. To my utter astonishment, the men somehow tied a knot in one of those metal cables that are usually used to hold up bridges, and yanked the SUV out of the deep mud, with everyone cheering. We thanked them all, and one man said to me, “Do you know where you are? Machakos District, Matungulu, Kisukioni village. Don’t forget us.” How could we ever forget the kindness of these people?
Yet, our adventures were not yet over: when we were close to Nairobi, we had a flat tire, so there we were again, with the men changing the tire and us holding the flashlight and the bolts. We got home around midnight, and were so happy that Uncle Steve’s family, the Kamwale's, had kept a warm dinner for us, after which we fell into bed.
The next morning, we had to decide how to fulfill conflicting appointments. The Machakos Baptist students were prepared to go with us to perform at a school further out in the countryside, Cheni school. But we were also scheduled to train college-aged youth starting at 2 in Nairobi. So, we split up, with Kensei and Claire going to Machakos to accompany the trainees to the other school, where they did a great job with the skit, game show, a song they knew and a dance put together with a lot of freestyling by the whole group.
Meanwhile, Kate went to downtown Nairobi to train the University-aged youth group. Starting with about 40 youth, Kate first gave the powerpoint presentation, and soon there were about 60, and were asking some really excellent questions. They then saw the videos of JUMP and the skit, and then she began teaching them the skit. By 6, Kensei and Claire arrived and helped teach the rest. By 7:30 or so, we were finished, and the group agreed to perform at a church service on Sunday.
On Saturday, We spent the late morning and early afternoon at the market, buying things to use for raising funds to support WAIT in 
Kenya. While others did some shopping, I chatted with the tourist police. They requested that we educate the police force on our next trip as many are infected because they are posted away from families.
We then took the Matatu vans to Ngong where four families had gathered and were already watching the videos and practicing and some dances too. After seeing their talents, Kensei and Claire put together a dance with all of them, and spoke about the heart of reaching out and saving Kenya and the world. Although they were pretty young—maybe half are older than 11—they were so serious about doing this.
We took a taxi back home, and again, a dinner was still waiting for us! We shared each night with Uncle Steve Kwamele’s family always were curious about what we had been doing each day.
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