Classes in Kenya

I arrived in Kenya almost two weeks ago and met Anna-li Snellman, Fanny Snellman, and Johanna Akerlund. Since then we’ve been traveling around Kenya speaking with children and youth. Among other things, we’ve spoken and taught at five different schools…and counting!

I always enjoy teaching, so it’s been great fun to see so many different groups of kids. At some of the schools we had the entire student body (several hundred students) together and other schools we’ve visited class by class. We’ve sung songs, shared Bible stories, and taught a bit about Finland and Canada. We’ve talked with “ECD” (early childhood development) students of three years old up to “standard eight” (grade 8) students of anywhere from 13 to 19 years old. We’ve taught at public schools and private schools, large schools and small schools, and schools made of tin sheets and schools made of mud bricks. It’s been a wild ride so far and we are looking forward to more schools and more great kids in the weeks to come.

Fanny and Anna-li introduced some “friends” from Finland to the standard 4 students in the first school we visited. The children were a bit concerned at first and when Anna-li asked if anyone had questions, one boy shot up his hand and asked, “Is that doll really talking or what’s happening?” Once they realized it was a puppet they were much happier to sing along with the song that “Andy” and “Linea” were singing.

Those who know me well know how much I enjoy telling the story of Daniel in the Lion’s Den. I am usually Daniel and I get thrown into the crowd of students who are the lions. This time when I was about to get thrown to the lions, the students scattered! It changed the story a bit to have the lions afraid of Daniel! (You can just see the kids on the far side of me leaning away...other kids got up and ran!)

No matter where they live, kids enjoy their breaks from class. Even though this swing set could use some repairs, the kids enjoy playing on it.

Lunch time at one of the private schools we visited. All the teachers and students are fed lunch at school. Usually it is beans mixed with corn.

Johanna teaching a combined class of ECD, standard 1, standard 2, and standard 3. Children here in Kenya see very few visuals, so the pictures she used to tell the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 were quite popular.

A small private ECD school run by one of our affiliated churches. I love teaching young kids, but they are usually a bit uncertain of the weird “mazungus” (white people). Thankfully none of these kids started to cry like some young children do the first time they see us!

That’s all for now! I’m looking forward to more kids and more teaching in the next four weeks!

On the road again!

It’s been quite a few months since I’ve posted here. Since I left the Philippines at the end of May I’ve been in the USA and Canada visiting friends and family.

Now, I’m finally in the skies again. :) I came to South Africa last week and I’ll be here a total of 9 days. Then I’m off to Kenya for six weeks.

My time in South Africa so far has mostly just been visiting with friends I have made here over the years. Starting tomorrow I’ll also be joining in on some more “official” visits. We’ll be visiting at a hospital, a clinic, and detention centre, among other things. 

As always, I love to see my kids wherever I go! Here are a special couple of kids I first meet three years ago. They are getting so big now and I’m so proud of how well they are doing in school. I sat and had lunch with Otsile (the boy on my right) who is six years old and we chatted the whole time in English. Last year he only knew a few words but this year we could easily chat for hours!

Here are more of my kids with what else but some paper frogs. ;)

Several days back I was visiting my friend in a shack village called Ikageng. While I was there dark clouds suddenly covered the sky and it began to rain. We ducked into her shack and lit a candle so that we could see. Soon the storm was truly raging outside and the rain on the tin roof was deafening! I sat there at the table watching the kids bouncing around the room and listening as my friend and her family shouted to one another, competing with the storm. Our shadows flickered across the tin wall, occasionally lit brighter by the lightning strikes outside. It was somehow peaceful to sit there as half-participant and half-observer of that moment in their lives. I thought about standing up to take a picture, but somehow it seemed like the magic of the moment would have been broken so I sat and listened as the rain pounded down and the Setwana language swirled around me and our shadows flickered together on the wall. Experiencing small moments like these are one reason I travel.

Fun in the Philippines

Well, I'm just back from a month in the Philippines. Here are a few pictures from my time there! More info and pictures will follow in email form.

Young Uzziah trying to reach the bamboo leaves!

My god daughter Sheerah colouring during one of the several Vacation Bible Schools we held while in the Philippines.

Children in Bliss, Kitcharao holding up "all the children of the world".

Experimenting with sand. Is it a good foundation or not?

A sunset from the hilltop mission house in Gusa, Cagayan de Oro!

Incredible India

Well let's see! :) Since leaving Kenya before Christmas, I've been home in Canada--which was fantastic. Then I was off to India for just under three weeks and I've just returned now to the USA.

India was incredible as always--though much too short this year! Here's some of my favourite pictures and memories from the trip:

We had several nurses along on this trip, so we held four different medical camps. This was the first one--it was held in a Hindu temple.

Well the others were working, I was entertaining the kids outside the window. Some were waiting for parents who were inside while others came over just to see what the commotion was all about.

 This little church was so packed that many more people stood outside the windows to watch and listen.

 We always get an enthusiastic welcome when we visit the Alvar Helmes Mission Hospital.

One of the major highlights each year is the plays the kids at the ALC Home put on for us each year. This year the girls did the Wedding at Cana and the boys did Jonah (you can see Jonah being dumped out of the boat above).

Sunday morning at God's Peace Temple. These are all regular members, but during Sunday School in the morning we had several kids wander in to watch the story of Daniel!

Here's a picture of one of the cutest people I saw in India! :) Isn't she adorable?

My favourite Indian game is called "Cubadee". It involves two teams trying to eliminate each other by tagging members of the other team or dragging them to their side of the field. That doesn't really explain it well...you'll have to visit India yourself to really get a feel for the game!

 

Sunrise over the Godavari River. Every morning we stayed at Pastor MP's, we walked out to the river with his daughter Annie and some of her friends.

Some of the girls from the ALC Home decorated our hands and feet with henna.

That's all for now. I'm in New Hampshire at the moment--trying to catch up on emails etc. Hope all is well with all of you!

Crossing the Equator

One of the things that always startles me when I return home from abroad is the amount of daylight here in Canada. Often I’m home in the summer and every night I stand and marvel that the sun is still up at nine pm. When I arrived home on Thursday, it was the opposite, I looked into the darkness and marveled that it was not yet six! At the equator, the daylight never changes: there’s always 12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of night. Kenya, where I just spent three weeks, is right on the equator. In fact, during my trip I’ve crossed the equator on land for the first time.

I crossed the equator while driving from the capital city of Nairobi to the western city of Kitale. On the way, the scenery was breathtaking! And we were happy to be in a private vehicle too as that allowed us to stop and photograph the view as well as the zebra herds and baboons.

The people were just as incredible as the scenery: friendly, hospitable, and incredibly welcoming! I spent much of my time working with the kids. Since there were multiple lessons going on, the kids and their teachers often ended up in the fields. It made it just a bit more challenging to teach while avoiding the cows and their droppings.

It wasn’t just the churches that welcomed us, but also the people in the communities. On two afternoons we held open-air meetings in the market square. One old man told me, “Greet your families, greet your friends, and greet your communities from us here in Kenya. We are glad you came. Come again!” 

It was an unexpected pleasure to meet up with cousins in Nairobi as we were leaving. Rhonda Hilman and her family live in Kenya as does Heidi Knowles (Matson). Here we have six Matson cousins (four of them also being Hilman cousins) and there were two more if you count Rhonda’s kids! 

I’m now home in rainy BC...and despite the rain and the short days I'm happy that I get to be home for Christmas!

Come to Kenya!

Well, it didn’t take me long to get behind on this blog again! I spent most of the month of October in South Africa. When I left, I decided to stop by and visit in the UK for one week. My cousin Stewart and his wife Mimi live there with their little daughter Sophie. I stopped by to visit them and got in on Sophie’s first birthday party and then I borrowed Stew’s car and drove to Scotland to visit some very good friends from Bangkok: Jane and Mike Fucella and daughters Rachel and Aylie. After a week in the UK, I returned to New Hampshire and I spent most of November there, except for a quick trip to North Carolina for their Fall Services.  Now, however, I am in Kenya! 

I left for Kenya last Monday with John Ruotsala and Julie Matson. We met Dennis Hilman here and were then joined by Terri-Ann Hilman. We were all disappointed when Maija Lampinen had to drop out of the trip at the last minute because she got bronchitis. She is doing better now and we thank God for that! 

We spent one day in Nairobi which included ministering at several churches there in the slums. The services were supposed to be at one and three, but because of traffic it was closer to four and six! The traffic really is terrible in Nairobi! 

On Thursday we jumped in a matatu (minibus) and headed for Kitale where we have been for the last few days. We have been attending a large youth conference here under the direction of Pastor Timothy. It started Thursday night and has just ended this evening. 

The conference has been amazing. We’ve all been humbled by the depth of understanding these people have and the hunger they have for the Word. During the conference we had some time together and other times we split and different team members worked with groups such as the pastors, the women, the youth, and the children. The largest group was, of course, the youth as this was a youth conference but there were still lots of people  in the other groups of well.

Here are a few more pictures from the Youth Conference:

On the Road Again!

Well, after my bout with malaria and a lot of rest and recuperation in Canada and the USA, I’m on the road again! Currently I’m in South Africa with Dennis Hilman. This is a really short trip…only three weeks—and one week is already over!

It’s been fantastic to be out here again…and, yes, I’ve been taking it easy. As in the last few years, I’m staying with the Malefane’s while I’m here. They are a lovely hospitable couple that have adopted me and introduce me as their firstborn! I had to laugh the other day as we were walking home from the neighbours in the afternoon and Mary Malefane asked, “Leona, are you tired?” 

“Not really,” I replied.

“Yes you are,” she said. “You must rest now!” So there you go! Anyone that’s worried about me doing to much be assured that you have an ally here who is keeping me in check.

When I am busy, it’s usually with the children, as usual, and I’m not sure you can really call that work! I’ve taught three groups of kids so far and I have two more groups this weekend. I’ve also participated in a confirmation class, visited the prison, encouraged friends, and attended services where Dennis was speaking.

We have a rental car on this trip and Dennis has chosen to leave the driving up to me. In South Africa they drive on the left, not the right which can be a bit tricky—but usually only if there’s no traffic on the road. However, since Dennis came in late, we were driving back from the airport late and several times I was merrily driving down the oncoming lane! I’ve got it figured out now, though and the worst thing I do is manage to turn the windshield wipers on instead of the turn signal.

We needed the windshield wipers earlier today! Dennis was just finishing up a day of pastors’ training when the clouds blew in, the thunder began to sound, and then the rain came pouring down. We made it from the little shack church to the car but then we had a ½ hour drive home. I’m from Vancouver—I understand how to drive in the rain, but the other drivers were going pretty slow…they reminded me of Vancouver drivers in the snow! It guess it was good they were going slow though—much of the road was covered in at least a centimetre of water and the spray on both sides was higher than the car. The storm didn’t last too long—about an hour. It stopped about the time we reached the house.

At some point during the storm, however, the power was knocked out. We’ve been home maybe an hour and the power has just returned now. The sky outside looks pretty grey though, so I think I’ll conclude this now and post in case we lose power again!

One more thought: there's a bush outside the house here that has the most unique looking flowers and the most amazing smell (check the left-hand side of the picture above)! Here are some pictures of the flowers…I’m afraid I can’t post the smell though so you’ll have to visit yourself to experience that!