Skype, Teams, Safety & Recipes

On Friday night, we got to talk to our dear friends, Mike & Kris Stawski (as well as Cathie, Lesley, Liz and Paul – who were at NAC as well). Not only did we get to talk to them but we got to SEE them. 

Skype, I tell you.....it’s a wonderful thing.

On Sunday night, we got to talk to my sweet in-laws and of course, SEE them via Skype as well.

It was great to walk around with the laptop showing the Stawskis and the Stewarts our new home and our puppy Jack.

Having Skype makes being away easier (as well as having electricity, computers and internet) because it allows us to talk and see our friends and family on the other side of the pond. I can’t imagine how hard it was for missionaries’ way back in the day, when they only had snail mail, especially when using a boat rather than a plane to send and receive the letters. I’m sure months and months would go by before they received letters from back home. Being on the other side of the world is a bit easier with internet and Skype.

Teams

Our second team of the summer arrived (our first team was the awesome group from Pennsylvania in the first week of June) on Saturday. There are five men and two women who are from New York State. One of the men, Adam, will be staying here for the next two months to oversee the remaining three New York teams that will be coming through.

This first team is great; they are easy going and hard working, pulling in 12 hour days of work at the site.

They are here to build a children’s home for Kenyan friends of ours who friends of ours in Canada help support the home. There are a total of four teams from New York State; they stay for two weeks, rotating on the second Saturday. As one team leaves, the other team arrives; this is until the third week of August.

It will definitely make the summer go quickly. Then again, half of 2010 has already flown by. Where did the time go?

Safety

We ask for prayers for us here in Kitale. The crime rate has increased quite a bit over the past two months in the area, even in the community we live in.

A lot of the missionary people are getting a silent security system installed on their compounds as added protection. If the security button is pushed, the security company arrives in less than five minutes with five armed men to secure the area and hopefully catch the invaders.  It’s definitely a deterrent for the thieves and a piece of mind for those who have it.

Also, I’m sure a lot of you are unaware of a referendum that is taking place on August 4^th in the country here. Without going in to it, there is a new written constitution that needs to be voted either yes or no by the people here. There is much confrontation going on between the yes or no sides right now, between Muslims and Christians, between abortion or no abortion.

There was a rally a few weeks ago in Nairobi that was being thrown by the “NO” campaign. While the people were still in this park, rallying, three bombs went off in the crowd, killing at least a half a dozen people and injuring over one hundred. There has been much talk of who did it but who really knows for sure.

Some people fear that it will be similar to the post election violence that Kenya faced in ’07-’08 while others think that what happened a few weeks back is the worst of it.  Either or, we ask for your prayers here. We definitely DON’T want to see a repeat of ’07-’08 and so we want this to be a peaceful vote and that the decision made for the constitution is the right one.

Recipes

Now, I would love some recipes from back home. Whether its main courses, desserts, whatever...I would love new things to try. So please, send me some of your favourite recipes and I’ll give them a try.

Until Next Time,

Meredith

A Whole Lota New...

I (Meredith) was hoping that I would be able to blog every day on this thing but the past few months have been busy with moving, TI stuff and not having internet at our new home. Thankfully, we do now!

Veronica Home

The first big exciting news is that we opened up our Veronica Home on April 30^th of this year. The Veronica Home was named after our sweet little Veronica Bahati that passed away on July 14^th, 2009 from HIV/AIDS. The Veronica Home is mainly for children that are HIV+.  We currently have eight children in the home; some are not HIV+ but have been moved there from another home. We do have three children that are positive; they are: our sweet little Martin, whom you all (or at least those who have read past blogs) know about, our newest girl, Lillian and Lina.

The children have wonderful house parents that TI has been working alongside with for almost two years; we have a new aunt who the kids have immediately loved and new watchmen that are taking good care of watching over our kids.

It’s a wonderful place; the area is beautiful and it has a gorgeous view of Mount Elgon.

Stewart Home

Sean and I moved in to our new house on May 2^nd. We decided that we needed to have our home, being newly married (almost a year and a half now!). It is such the perfect place for us. It’s a four bedroom, three bathroom home that sits on a cute little compound with flowers and banana trees everywhere. We have this huge cabana made of a grass roof and straw and bamboo sides.  We have a cool carport....that is empty. We hope to at least put a motorcycle in it in the future.

There is a bedroom and bathroom off to one side of the house that has its own entrance. That is where James sleeps. James used to live at Kaibeiyo Children’s Home (through Symbios), the home that Daniel and I used to work at in Eldoret a few years ago. We’ve hired him on to be our daytime watchman/gardener; it’s a job that will help him to save money for his schooling of agriculture in the next year or so.

The other side of the house has three bedrooms and two bathrooms. One room we’ve made into an office; the second room is a guest room for our friends like Nicole Jeffs (who’s coming in July) and the Stawskis...who I know will be back again soon. The third bedroom is Sean’s and mine. It has an ensuite bathroom with a nice bathtub. Yes, I love it! 

It’s a new chapter in our life, having a home of our own now. It’s expensive but it’s quiet, clean and ours to come to every night.

Busy Summer

We have a crazy busy summer this year.  There are four teams of people from New York State who will be housing and eating at TI. They are building a children’s home for a friend of ours over the next eight weeks.  Danel, Daniel’s mom, is here to help the TI Staff with the teams.

The first team of 13 arrives this coming Saturday (26^th), then as they leave on the 10^th of July, the next group of 10 will be arriving. Then two weeks after that, team two will be leaving and team three of 17 people will be arriving. And then as team three leaves, team four of 9 people will be arriving. This team rotation all ends on August 21^st. Also during the second week of July, we have a team of 9 coming, who are with TI, for 10 days. It’s going to be a crazy few weeks during that time.

Internship Program for 2010

After the teams leave on August 21^st, we have about two weeks to relax and prepare for our 2010 Fall Interns. We have seven interns, all female, who will be a part of the three-month internship program. We have three from Ontario, Canada and the other four are from various parts of the US. We’re really excited to have these young ladies here in the fall, especially Danel and I as we get to spend time with them, grow with them, learn with them, etc. I’m really excited about it.

Ladies Bible Study

I, Meredith, am part of a weekly bible study with other missionary ladies in the Kitale area. It’s been such a wonderful time for all of us ladies. We get together each week and it’s become one of my favourite days of the week, to be around other women, sharing in our passions, our struggles, and our praises.  We’ve already done two bible studies, both by Beth Moore (whom we all thoroughly enjoy) and will be starting our third Beth Moore study soon.

Man’s Nights

Sean and a group of other men in our community, get together every few weeks and a have a night together. They usually cook up some meat (and that’s all!) on the BBQ, sit back and enjoy each other’s company. It’s really been a great time for him too; it’s so important to have those times together. 

Rachael

On Friday, I (Meredith) went to the hospital to check up on a seven year old girl, Rachael that TI has been assisting for the past few months. Rachael was visiting the section of the hospital for HIV+ people. Rachael got HIV from her parents, whom have both since died and she was being raised by her grandmother.

Rachael was a sickly girl; the “typical” girl that you would see as the poster child for starving African children on the infomercials. I’ve never seen her smile; until Friday. I was getting ready to leave and I walked over to her and told her in Swahili that she was such a beautiful girl and she did good work today here at the hospital and that I was very happy. And as she was strapped to her grandmother’s back, I leaned over and gave her a big kiss and told her that I loved her. It was then that a little smile appeared, on the corner of her mouth. I couldn’t help but beam back; Rachael had smiled.

We had made arrangements for Rachael to move in to the Veronica Home this week. I was so excited to get her there, for her to have a swarm of brothers and sisters around her who would share things with her, make her laugh. For her to have a mother and father who would take care of her and love her instantly. For her to have a full happy belly and a warm bed to sleep in.

This is what I wanted for Rachael.  But it wasn’t what God wanted....

Rachael went to be with Jesus yesterday afternoon.

So she now has a swarm of people, like Veronica, who are making her laugh; she has a Father who loves her more than any mother or father on earth could love her. And she is healthy, whole and loving every minute of it.

I guess this is what I wanted for Rachael....it just came in a different form.

We are saddened by her death but live in the comfort that she is not in pain anymore and that she is with our Father.  Death has been such a close to home thing lately, for us, for some of you back home....but I trust in God’s peace; His love and His absolute comfort.  His ways are far beyond our understanding at times but I choose to seek more of Him, to desire Him and to have faith in Him.

And so it continues....

I am hoping to become more disciplined on writing updates.  Life is never boring, especially after the runaway tuk-tuk story.....which I’ll save for another blog.

Until next time,

Meredith