Moihungari

One thing I have learned since being in Kenya is just the depth of corruption in their government. A girl on our team asked us the other day if we could be praying one big thing to God over Kenya, what would it be? Well of course my heart is with the orphans but I said to pray that the Lord would raise up Godly politicians. One way that we since the direct and heart breaking impact of this corruption is in the Inner Displaced Persons (IDP) camp. It is a long story, but pretty much in 2007 there was a large election that fueled a huge fight between two different tribes, resulting in people having to flee their homes that were being burnt and their families that were being killed. They were brought to this place and given tents, yet 8 years later, the tarps that were supposed to be a temporary fix are still what people sleep under every night. These people are the outcasts who have had to leave their homes, food is scarce and water that is drinkable is hard to find. It is a hard situation but they are slowly making steps forward. The first thing they built though was a church because they just wanted a place to worship the Lord. Before they had to walk so far and even there they were seen as outcasts and strangers. They love their church and are so proud of it. Next they slowly but surely have been building better houses. Even since we have been here they have had people help build 2 more small tin homes that provide more protection and better living. There are only 4 more families that are living in tents (out of 23 families) and my hope is that there will be no more tents by the time we leave this summer, whether that be our doing or someone else’s. We were talking to a woman named Grace Thursday when we visited and she is one of their chairmen. She is another one of those women that has incredible faith in the Lord as she has to depend on him daily to provide and protect her family and community. She was talking about the houses that were built and what a blessing they were and how each addition is an incredible gift from God. This astounds me because having a home is something everyone deserves but they see is as something they are blessed by. She also told us that this man Sammy, happy little only man who doesn’t speak much English, is pretty much the head chairman (like the president of the community) but what came next took us all back: Sammy is part of one of the families that lives in a tent still. Grace said, there are many chairman who would make their house first because they are in charge and they feel so worthy and entitled, but Sammy was humble enough to say, not until all my people live in a house will I.  

There is a need, obviously for the rest of the houses, but I am confident they will come. The bigger need that is crippling this community is their lack of water. Even with all the rain they have gotten they have no water for many reasons. They have to daily cart in water from far away. Jack (our leader) has it pressed so deeply on his heart to bring these people water. Enough that even in the dry season they will not go thirsty and even enough that they could sell the water to others to make a small income. We are looking into a pipeline from the mountains that would go into a cistern. It is hard because everywhere we go they present us with their needs because they know that American’s “have money” and as much as we want to fix everything we just cannot. One small thing we were able to do Thursday was that there is a girl that gathered backpacks, water bottles and shoes to give out and this team brought these over with them. Thursday we filled the back of the car and took them to Moihungari. The children were not back from school yet but Grace expressed how happy they would be. The woman sang a song of thanks and praise in their language. Well then in rolled the children and I was blessed to be with them as they walked in the church. Their faces when they saw the box full of shoes is a moment I hope never to forget. Sheer excitement and disbelief. Literally the cutest as they jumped and danced and yelled. Their little voices yelling thank yous, and I was undone. And I saw the tattered, broken shoes they had on their feet and was so happy we could bring more. We started to pass out backpacks and they instantly put them on and walked with their heads held as high as possible. This was the last thing we did, as far as ministry, with this team and it was just sheer joy. Something so small yet so big.