Kenya Initiation Trip Report

Chapter Four: Nairobi performance/conclusion

On Sunday, we went to a interdenominational Nairobi church service with Willis, bringing with us all the costumes and t-shirts and materials we intended to leave with the previously arranged trainees who were meeting us there.  We met many families, including those who are related to our Kenyan friends back home, and we passed on the remainder of the packages and gifts which were sent with us. 

After the service, the college aged youth performed the skit, with Kensei and Claire filling in on many of the roles, and me narrating.  Then, the Ngong younger group performed the dance with Claire and Kensei, to “You Can’t Hurry Love.”  Then, we sang “Wait For Me,” with them singing the chorus. 

 

Claire was happy to meet a close friend of a family she knows in Ohio,Pastor Gekonge, his wife, and son, Baldwin, who came all the way from Dondora and caught the end of the performance.  They were so happy and inspired by what they had seen, and begged us to send a group to their church next visit. 

Also, we met with people who have been doing a lot of interfatih service work in the Machakos district, and discussed good ways to connect all the groups and schools we have trained. We also met Helen Rotich, who does HIV education for a Women's world peace coalition, and helps run an orphanage for HIV orphans.  It was good to see how many people have unique networks and skills that can be supported by WAIT’s outreach.

 

Finally, we went to visit Willis’s family in Ngong Satellite.  His sisters and cousins loved the videos and Kensei’s breakdancing, and they tried to teach us African dancing, to varied degrees of success.  They brought out the pitcher of warm water and soap and a basin and washed our hands, Kenyan style, and served us a lovely meal and then we boarded several buses to get back to Uncle Steve’s house in Nairobi West.

We packed up our things, gave a few last gifts to the Kwamale family: Uncle Steve, Mama Alice, Carole, George, James and our favorite cooking sister, Zelana.  We will miss them so much, their warm hearts and many kindnesses to help us accomplish this work.

 

We also were grateful that Pastor John came on Monday morning to bring us to the airport.  He is a very special man of God, and of men, and he shared that he could really feel that this work is a very important work of God.  Through the trip, he was the one driving us, managing the time, arranging for the logistics, finding the electric systems or the equipment, and dealing with all the emergencies.  Yet, he never complained, never wavered, despite 12-hour days and nights and so many difficulties. 

We left him with the t-shirts for the Machakos team, and the little gifts for his family.  

 

During the trip, we were able to present at 7 schools, and two college aged groups, and were able to do some training with about 5 groups.  We visited two health clinics with HIV-positive patients, and spoke to religious leaders from Anglican, Baptist, Catholic and other faiths as well.

 

We definitely made a good beginning in Kenya, and we were able to share with them an honest evaluation of the positive accomplishments we could see had been made in their country, which could become positive models for the world.

 

The only question on everyone’s minds, repeated constantly was: “When are you coming back and can you leave Claire and Kensei?”   I said we’d be back, but contingent on active teams there.

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