Immanuel Afrika

It's really strange how things happen...

In January this year 2 Aussie friends who I became close with returned to Australia. I was very sad about this as I am really missing people who understand my bogan jokes and who share a love of tim tams, vegemite and all other things Aus. It was about that time that I received an email from an Aussie friend, Anna, who I knew, who used to live in Nairobi with her husband for many years! She wanted to introduce me to an organisation which she was a big part of during her time in Kenya. God knew what I needed at that point!

To cut a long story short, I decided to go and see the boys home that she was involved with! It is called Immanuel Afrika. http://www.immanuelafrika.org/  It is about 1 hour 15 minutes drive away from my current house.

This centre is a home and rehabilitation centre for former street boys in Nairobi. It is clean, tidy, well kept and smelt amazing (VERY rare for places which have children!!). I met the Kenyan director Opi, who showed me around the centre and told me many, many tales of the boys struggles and lives. He also started to tell me all about the home and it's connections with Australia! Amazing, connections! To other people I also know! hehe. He also has many Australian friends in Kenya! YEAH! :)

The boys seemed shy and quiet...that was until they decided to perform! And my, my. It was amazing! We then went and sat on the field and dug holes and played soccer. It was wonderful.

I have since been back to the centre several times. Each time I go, the boys have been more and more willing to chat and play with me. It is a beautiful place.

Opi asked me to join the board of the home, to which I agreed. It is very interesting to now be a part of this organisation and to watch as it grows and to be of some small help.

It is amazing to see how the lives of these boys are being transformed in this place. Please pray for Opi and the boys and for Immanuel Afrika.

Blessings,
Me.

Poverty

This post may be a bit of a ramble...but I have so many views on poverty to think about.

I first came to Kenya as a naïve, 23 year old girl. Over the past 7 years I have seen people working hard to relieve the impacts of poverty. It's been fascinating watching and working with many different organisations and seeing their view on how to overcome and provide.

Can I say...poverty is simply so frustrating. Witnessing it is even harder when your hands are tied and your wallet is small.

I really enjoyed watching an Eagles Wings Documentary "The headwinds of Poverty"- http://vimeo.com/46291707  (Check it out!) It's provides a FANTASTIC analogy, of poverty. It says that just like riding a bike, poverty is relentless, there are headwinds that just keep coming at people when they are in poverty. One step forward and then a wind comes and they are swept 2 feet back.

I have been seeing this very clearly in the past few months. When working with people in poverty and trying to establish effective management and communication systems so that funding and resources can be managed and used effectively. Sometimes I feel as if my head may explode. At times I feel like I'm working 2 full time jobs.

I don't know how many times one must be told and reminded that protocol has been established for the good of all people. It is a frustrating, relentless task that I'm involved in. One which I'm not  currently enjoying much.

In saying this, I am continually reminded by God that he has me here for a purpose. Even when I'm annoyed and frustrated and feel like screaming into the middle of the night (and may have done on several occasions!!)

It's an interesting journey I'm on and one which I know will have changes for me personally. I feel as though my future in Kenya is long. How I will continue serving here is yet to be determined.


This is very cryptic, I know...just wanted to vent a bit!

Much love from here.
Waithera x

Chocolate...and children!

So January…where did you go?

I had an absolutely wonderful time back in Australia over New Year, catching up with family and friends. It was a crazy busy time, but a refreshing one as well! Getting to go to the shopping centre without car checks, security scans and threats of terrorism was definitely a highlight. I also got to go to the beach and a theme park and dinners and icecream dates and shopping adventures and hanging out and swimming and snorkelling and Brunswick and bridesmaid shopping…to name just a few things!!! It was wonderful!

After a bit of a panic at the airport…my friends Franca and Chaddy almost made me into the international chocolate smuggler of the year!!! (I should get an award AND they definitely should too!!! ;)  A lady at the counter of the airport told me incorrect information about how much excess baggage would cost and there was NO way that I could afford to pay it when I arrived later that day. So I had to dump about 15kgs worth of things. As I stood at the check in counter I started throwing out books for school and the orphanage, blankets and matresses and anything else that was heavy from my bags. I then hesitantly looked at the chocolate (which I had a fair bit of… bags of maltesers, caremello koalas, freckles, musk sticks, toblerone, dark chocolate, tim tams, jaffas, mint slice hahah…to name just a few). When you haven’t had this in 18 months it is classified essential!!!

So as I’m sorting things in one bag…and dumping out the few kgs of chocolate I had… Franca and Casey are there and all I can hear is Franca’s voice… “NO. NO. NO!!!! You’re not going without the chocolate!! NO SARAH!!!!”.  So my very wonderful friends begin stuffing the chocoalte in every available pocket of my carry on luggage as well as my jacket!!! And I mean EVERY pocket.  I ended up getting almost all the chocolate in, apart from the toblerone and mint slice…!! GO gals! So yes…I got a few interesting stares from people on the plane as you could see packets and packets of chocolate spilling from all corners of my bag and jacket! Haha. I was a bit worried they were going to ask me why I had so much chocolate in my carry on bag…but my friends reassured me that I could just say “I will get hungry on the plane”. Hahah! I LOVE my friends!!! :D

Needless to say me and my chocolate made it back to Kenya after an interesting and rather terrible experience in the Abu Dhabi airport toilets' (let's just say WORST toilets in the world)...and I've seen some BAAAAD ones) haha! 

 

I arrived at the airport in Kenya, very tired, but very excited. I walked out to the gate to my wonderful guy waiting there with a bunch of flowers for me! Awww. It was so good to be back. The very next day I went back to work! It was a crazy week, trying to deal with jetlag while teaching, but we made it through.

 

After this....The past few weeks have been tough. Very tough. Emotional. Hard. Tiring.

The orphanage is going through some really tough, stressful times so we’ve been working and problem solving our way through how to cope. In December the orphanage was given notice by the landlord that he wanted them OUT ASAP. He raised the rent to a ridiculous price (over double what we were paying) so that they would have to move. As I was in Aus, I was getting emails about these issues and asking for advice on what to do!
 

Their only option at short notice was to move to a small, unfinished, 6 bedroom house in the same village. It is about 2kms walk from where they were. There is no water at this current place so we had some remaining money from 2013 that we will use to get water pipes laid and to the new home. We also have the water tank to move over to the new property.

Not all of the family will fit there (at the new place) so the babies and smaller children are living in the babies home (SIDE B) and the bigger children are living with uncle and cucu in the new place. I have been to several after school meetings at the home and been in the village til 8 sorting out issues. So it's been tiring.

On Monday night we had a really positive board meeting about the home, with 8 board members trying to solve a myriad of problems. Praise God! We have 4 children who have just joined high school this week. They all did well on their exams and we are thankful for a sponsor who was able to pay for their first terms school fees. We are praying for them as they enter a whole new level of education!

I have worked with Jesus Helper’s for going on 3 year now. It is a wonderful, interesting job to work alongside people in poverty. I have learnt many things which I'm thankful for and it's made me a smarter person.

 Through this experience, I have learnt  that God is faithful. He always provides and He always loves us (ALL of us!). God has brought these children to this home for a purpose. He knows the plans for them and he is working through many people, to help and provide for these precious little ones.

It’s definitely not easy...EVER. But they’re worth it. The only thing I can think in these times , these hard, hard times is… “What if this was MY child?”… and I hear God whisper every so quietly back to me… “IT IS YOUR CHILD SARAH…It is MY Child…so it is YOURS”. So I won’t give up, I won’t stop loving… I can’t. EVEN when it’s hard. Even if I want to.

 I am always reminded of one of my favourite Bible verses in hard times…

Isiah 58:10-11

“And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
    and satisfy the needs of the oppressed,
then your light will rise in the darkness,
    and your night will become like the noonday.

 The Lord will guide you always;
    he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land
    and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden,
    like a spring whose waters never fail.

HE will satisfy their needs and mine in this sun-scorched land. HE has…and HE will.

Please pray for us here.

X Waithera