Safari

Where will we stay for Safari... here are the three posabilties....

Keekorok

http://www.uyaphi.com/kenya/accommodation/keekorok-lodge.htm

Sopa

http://www.uyaphi.com/kenya/accommodation/mara-sopa-lodge.htm

Serena

http://www.uyaphi.com/kenya/accommodation/mara-serena-lodge.htm

I am so Blessed

Mark 10:13-16

One day some parents brought their children to Jesus so he could touch and bless them. But the disciples scolded the parents for bothering him.When Jesus saw what was happening, he was angry with his disciples. He said to them, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of God belongs to those who are like these children. I tell you the truth, anyone who doesn’t receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it.” Then he took the children in his arms and placed his hands on their heads and blessed them.

I was thinking last night as I tried to fall asleep how Blessed I am
to have the people we have on our Team.

Each person brings Gifts,
Each person brings Joy,
Each person brings Laughter,
Each person brings Hope!!

I look forward to serving in Kenya along side
Each and Every one of you!!

I am also looking forward to the friendship that will form
from these two weeks together.
Friendships formed on the mission field are life long,
I am still in contact with people I first went to Kenya with 7 years ago!!

THE BEST PART IS WE WILL ALL BE TOGETHER IN GOD'S KINGDOM
SURROUNDED BY THE BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN
WHO'S LIVES WE WILL TOUCH IN KENYA!!

Matthew 25:21

"His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness!"

49 More Days!!

Only 49 more days till we leave!!!

Time is flying by so fast!!

Please do not miss out meeting this Sunday at 1:30!!

We are meeting at African Mama on Bothell Landing.

Please be on time and plan on staying till 4:30.

You will get to sample some of Kenya's best and common dishes:

Ugali

Chapati

Avocado and Papaya Salad

Pulao

Kachumbari
Maandazi

You will also get to finally meet Belinda!!!

She is in town till just before we leave!!

And our newest team member, Vicki.

Safari Walk

We will be talking 20 of the older kids for a huge treat in Langata. None of the kids have ever been to a park called Safari Walk. It will be a fun treat for them and for us!! Here is what one web site says:

Nairobi National Park itself is a wonderful way for short-term visitors to Nairobi to have a safari experience, and it certainly deserves several hours. More recently, with help from a European Union grant, the Kenya Wildlife Service developed a new facility on the Nairobi National Park grounds called the "Nairobi Safari Walk." Through a combination of careful use of existing and simulated landscape, the Safari Walk offers forests, wetlands and Savannah's and the animals contained on each one. Visitors, including handicapped visitors or those in wheelchairs, can travel the trails and boardwalks of the Safari Walk to view a wide range of animals including pygmy hippos, a rhinoceros as big as a tank, a pride of lions, monkeys, albino zebras, the rare bongo, cheetahs, antelope, a variety of birds and other African wildlife. This SafariWalk also exhibits about 150 species of local trees, as well as indigenous grasses and flowers.Some unique plants and animals that are locally extinct or threatened are displayed so that the public can learn the dangers facing conservation today. On slow days, some employees will give visitors the equivalent of a private tour, taking guests behind some of the standard exhibit areas so they could get better pictures and telling visitors "backstage" information about many of the animals and the park itself. You will be glad you spent 3-4 hours at Nairobi Safari Walk.

And for those who are jumping out of their seat for a chance to get up close and personal with a Cheetah... yes, you will get that chance. The photo above is of the son of a friend of mine who was there just 3 weeks ago!!!

Kenya Slum needs more than promises

Just added to our schedule will be a morning feeding program in the Kibera Slums...

Slum in Kenya needs more than promises
By MIRIAM PEPPER

Before entering one of the world’s largest slums, a dozen American journalists are directed toward a row of knee-high rubber boots. The instruction is to swap your shoes for boots and keep your pants tucked inside the boot tops.

The message: Whatever we’d step through inside the narrow, muddy alleys of the shanty town would be bad to take back to a hotel or suitcase.

If we looked out of place clomping around in boots on a warm June day, the barefoot and sandal-wearing locals didn’t seem to notice. Visitors now are fairly common in Kibera, much to the dismay of some Kenyan political leaders who would prefer that the area that “pricks our conscience” not be on so many must-see lists.

One million people — one-third of Nairobi’s population — live in Kibera, a tin-roof maze of living spaces that lack clean running water and basic sanitation. The “better” dwellings can count on only erratic electricity. Water must be purchased and hauled, and “container” gardens (a bag of dirt for growing vegetables) is a step forward. An outhouse is a limited luxury. Come nightfall, many resort to tossing out “flying toilets,” plastic bags filled with human waste. Rain turns dirt walkways into streams of sewage, both human and animal.

Kibera, approaching 60 years old, remains a humanitarian disgrace.

“Why do people move from beautiful rural areas to Dante-like urban areas?” asked Robert

Breiman, Kenyan coordinator for the Global Disease Detection Network.

It’s important to understand. Urbanization is increasing rapidly throughout Africa.
Breiman has some hypotheses. People come to cities for cash, educational opportunities and as a way to break from tribal bounds. But unskilled urban immigrants find few jobs and overcrowded schools. Sanitation, water supplies and health systems are all lacking.

Now sections of Kibera are study pools for emerging pathogens. Thousands of residents are under intense surveillance, visited every two weeks by health workers for major research efforts led by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Kenyan Medical Research Institute.

Armed with hand-held PDAs, health workers zip through questions about recent illnesses.
Families, familiar with the routine, have ready answers.

Those who participate get free clinic care. Childhood mortality among study families is down.
Yet preventable illness is everywhere.

Just soap and clean water (if families can afford them) could reduce pneumonia and diarrhea, both common and deadly, by 50 percent.

Malaria in rural Kenya is far worse than in the higher elevations of Nairobi. But that safety is slipping. Malaria is appearing more frequently, particularly among the young.

Alice Ouma, one of dozens of community health interviewers, strides through twisting pathways, greeting neighbors, certain she is making a difference. She has helped parents seek clinic care for ailing children and themselves, and encourages good follow-through with medicines.

In one recent home-health visit, the mother of the family had been sick for three days, the father had active malaria and their 10-year-old daughter was out of school with a fever. The nearby clinic provided anti-malaria medicine, analgesics and antibiotics for the ill family members. Ouma checked temperatures and breathing rates. Two other children weren’t home, but the parents reported no problems for them.

Ouma stops by 60 such households each day, hoping to find enough families at home to complete 35 interviews. For this slice of Kibera, health care is improving. But the sprawling settlement has far more needs than health projects.

The tragedy is how little government help is available. It was Kenya’s vice president, Kalonzo Musyoka, who recently said Kibera pricks the conscience. Ten years from now, he suggests, the nation should be able to say, “The Kibera that was.”

Indeed it should. But Kibera has heard promises before, and few hold out such hope.

Car Wash

What a fun Car Wash...

We are Tired, Sore and some

VERY Sunburned but we had a blast.

It was a great time to bond as a team too.

Can you hear the prayer of the Children...

Can you hear the prayer of the children on bended knee,

in the shadow of an unknown room?

Empty eyes with no more tears to cry,

turning heavenward toward the light.

Cryin' Jesus help me to see the mornin' light of one more day,

but if I should die before I wake,

I pray my soul to take.

Can you feel the hearts of the childrenaching for home,

for something of their very own?

Reaching hands with nothing to hold on to,

but hope for a better day.

Cryin' Jesus help me to feel the love again in my own land,

but if unknown roads lead away from home,

give me loving arms, away from harm.

Can you hear the voice of the children

softly pleading for silence in their shattered world?

Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,

blood of the innocent on their hands.

Cryin' Jesus help me to feel the sun again upon my face.

For when darkness clears,

I know you're near,bringing peace again.

Can you hear the prayer of the children?

July 19th Meeting

What another great meeting. So much to go over and still to do. Here is what we went over:

We went over Romans 12:9-18 We watched a slide show

We went outside and got "silly" :)

We watch more of Way of the Master and did some role playing

We went over who is in charge of what... Lots of great projects. Thank you Scott and Donna for your hard work of finding some new and fun things for us to do!

We worked on one of our songs

We went over our funds. We really need to pick this up. The rest is due by Aug. 15th!!!

We talked about making sure we are in contact with our prayer partners and keeping up on this blog.

Make sure you are getting your shots soon....

Our next meeting is Aug. 2nd...

We will meet again at my house!!

1:30 to 4pm

Romans 12:9-18
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.

Better words could not be spoken before we leave for Kenya.
Read them and then Read them again each day before we go!!
Print them out on a sheet of paper and take them with you.
When fear of going seeks up on you,
read them and find God' peace.
When you feel worn out and tired,
read them and be reminded of what God calls us to be and do.
When you are not sure what to do,
read them and be remind what God would have you do.
When you are not sure how to handle a situation with someone else on the team, read them and know how God calls you to handle it.
When Dieing to Self seems impossible,
read them and see how God asks you to do it.
Follow these words and you will come home truly blessed!!

Slums of Kenya

Nairobi, Kenya

Home of the World's Largest and Poorest Slums.

One billion people in the world live in impoverished nations without safe drinking water. The markets in their slums sell sour milk, tainted chicken and spoiled meat. They are dying of starvation. They wear worn-out shoes and ragged clothes, and travel extraordinary distances for food, water and employment. Only one percent of them ever go to college, and most can’t even sign their own names.

Many have AIDS or malaria, and the number of orphans is ever increasing. They endure civil war, evil dictators, an active human slave trade and refugee camps. Their daily suffering is more than many in American society can even comprehend.

Statistics can make us feel like we know what’s going on, but they can’t describe the pain of holding a starving child in your arms. Numbers can’t tell us what it’s like to be twelve years old and watch both of your parents die of AIDS, knowing it’s now up to you to care for your siblings. Statistics say one billion people in the world live on less than a dollar a day; yet this means little to the father who has to gather firewood for twelve hours a day to earn his one dollar. All he knows is that he can barely handle his own suffering any longer.

In the slums of Nairobi there is no clean water, no electricity, and open sewers ran through the muddy streets. A widow with six children is eating small packets of spoiled condiments that had been thrown out by hotel restaurants. She and her little ones, precious to God, yet forgotten by the world, go to sleep hungry every night, without beds, in a one-room shack made of tin and cardboard.

Pastor David Wilkerson
World Challenge

You will see these slums as we drive through Nairobi. They are quite a sight.

Many of the children at GCC come from these slums.
They have story's like the ones above,
they are apart of the statistics.
You will get to hear many of them,
but be encourage, because the children of GCC have hope,
Thanks to God and you for all you do!!

69 MORE DAYS!!

Here we have some of our kids at the Langata ward A. Each of the children who live here are HIV positive. Have you had a chance to read up on the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Once again I will recommend the book "There is no me without you". Most of our children have been touched by AIDS in one way or another. Grace Children's Homes offers a normal life for these precious children. They get to go to School, they have the medications they need, home built for their special needs, healthy food and LOTS OF LOVE!! You will get to meet each of the 27 children now under the care of CMIA. God had a plan for each of these children. They are full of life and I just know you will love them!!

Please remember, do not make comments like "Oh, I just want to take him/her home with me." or "I just want to make him/her my own." These comments can lead to misunderstandings. Last time we went we had a few people make these comments at the Makindu School and one little gal with AIDS who had lost both of her parents and was living with her Aunt thought I was there to take her home with me. She had heard the comments and assumed that is what we were there for. She told her Aunt goodbye!! Imagine the hurt when I didn't take her with me. It broke my heart and hers.

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," Jeremiah 29:11-14

July Meeting

Can you believe it is already July. September will be here before you know it. Our meeting was long but good. Thank you for hanging in there. Here is a summary of what we covered....

• Brad and Sandy will not be able to come with us. We will miss them dearly.
• We got our trip Handbooks.
• We watched a video called Way of the Master. It taught us a great way to share the Gospel. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVco8t-R8KU&feature=fvw.
• There was a recap of what leaderships role is.
• Information on AIDS and how it is effecting the area we are going to was gone over. How we can and can not get AIDS. Reminder: there are 4 ways to get AIDS: Sex, blood touching blood, a mothers milk (during the pregnancy or birth can do it too) and lastly using a needle after someone else who is infected uses it. You can not get it from Kissing, Snot, hugging, holding someone, sneezing on someone, insects and infected blood touching your skin, as long as there is no open soar there.
• We will not be doing a drama. Just to much already going on.
• We covered what we will be doing and who is in charge of what...

Langata: Amber G and Raquel are working on a project for here. Scott will put together a baseball game. Robyn will check with Jennifer about going to the Giraffe Park.

Nakuru: Robyn will do the Wordless book. Scott and Jeff will do a soccer game. We will also be taking photos of all the boys.

Makindu: Robyn will do the Wordless book again. Belinda will do the name certificates. Donna will do the ribbon crosses. Amber G will be in charge of the letter writing to sponsors. Amber will do the mural. We will need photos of all the girls here too.

Schools: Tara, Amber B, and Jerilyn are in charge of songs. We will not be doing a craft here but giving out gifts in stead.

• We went over gifts we need to pick up. School kids: Robyn, House Dads: Scott, House Mums: Jerilyn.
• Lastly we choose to add a few more meetings since there is so much to cover and so little time left.... Our next meeting will be July 19th.

I love this picture. It was taken on Hair Day.
That is when two gals come in and re-braid all the children's hair.
I thought of Buckwheat from The Little Rascals...

You are just going to fall in love with these
Little Rascals!!

As we get ready to go there is so much that can make us anxious

"will the funds come in"

"can I leave home for so long"

"what will happen to me in Africa"

"am I ready for something like this"

The list can go on and on... The trick is remember

God is in control!!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
Philippians 4:6-9