Thika Part 1

So it’s been a few days! This is Courtney, and we’ve just gotten back from Thika, a rural area right outside Nairobi. There are 5 churches in Thika who work with LIA on numerous projects, many of which I’ll talk about! I titled the blog Thika part one because we have visited 2 churches and will head back to Thika for the whole of next week (We’re in Nairobi for the weekend).

So after the prayer time on Monday, we went to the office on Tuesday to help out with some things, work on the newsletter, and go to the hardware store. Quite a successful day. Wednesday was when the fun began and we headed off for Thika. We first went to the guest house where we were staying and dropped some things off before heading to the first church, Christian Church International. The pastor, Rose, was excited to greet us and led a large group of small children up to shake all of our hands. We learned how to say ‘hello’ in their mother tongue and they shyly smiled as these strangers spoke a word of their language. They led us down to their church building which was doubling as an Early Childhood Development Center. The community had banded together to provide these kids porridge – a staple food – to sustain them through the school day. Several of the kids did not have lunch because there was no food at their homes. These rural areas are suffering very heavily from droughts. Well they introduced us to all of the children and we had what I like to call a ‘song exchange’. The kids would sing a few songs that they knew and then we would do a few. Funny thing is, we looked a little ridiculous dancing around in front of them while they had no clue what we were saying but they laughed at us and we laughed at us and it was wonderful! Pam had something great up her sleeve, though. She pulled out this awesome song called ‘Glory train’ and we all paraded around, kids and teachers included, making train noises and following Pam. After that we had some time to play some different games before heading out. I know we all enjoyed seeing the kids and playing with them, they are OVC (Orphaned and Vulnerable Children) and some are HIV+, and it is so encouraging to see these churches wrap their arms around these hurting children and their families. Be in prayer for the church, they are in need of good school chairs/benches in order to conform to government standards. We have decided as a team to commute from Nairobi each day to save on lodging costs and are prayerfully considering how to use these extra funds. We have some ideas for creating good school benches but are waiting to visit all the churches and pray through what God would have us do. Please join us in that. One quick story to hopefully bring a reality to us all before I move on to the next church – when we left the church we gave a little girl a ride to her home which was about a 15 minute car drive away. She walks this distance each day, barefoot, to go to this school, which is free. The government school is closer to her house but she can’t afford to go to it because she needs a uniform and school fees. A school uniform costs about around 50 shillings. That’s about 65 cents. My friends I don’t even think we fathom this kind of poverty.

We came back to our guest house that night and enjoyed our time as a team discussing ideas for the benches and making a new friend, Wycliffe. I think Wycliffe is probably one of the sweetest men we have ever met. He was the head chef of the dining hall where we had dinner and breakfast and what a sweet spirit he had. He was so excited to cook for us and let me tell you, it was incredible. Highlight: Wycliffe brought us ice cream for breakfast. I think that was a first! We chatted for a while about what we were doing and he had us promise to come say goodbye before we left. I don’t think we wanted to leave because we all wanted to see Wycliffe each night and morning!
So today, Thursday, we got to visit another church called Redeemed Gospel Church with the pastor, Julius. This place is a true testament to the effects of wholistic ministry, community cooperation, and God’s grace. Within the last 6 months this tiny church has been able to start a gardening project, chicken project, OVC care, and a small feeding program for the kids. We looked out over the span of land that was being cultivated and there were a good 2 acres of crops, a strip next to a stream waiting for banana trees, and another 2 acres waiting for corn to be planted. They were growing tomatoes, collard greens (they call them ‘skuma week’ which means, ‘carries one through the week’), peas, and zucchini. For the chicken project, they have around 30 chickens that they use to sell eggs and meat. They sell these crops, eggs, and meat at low costs to the community and the money supports the OVC program. There are 24 children total in their program, most of which are orphaned. In the field, we got to help prepare the zucchini block for irrigation, Ben and Daniel helped water the plants with water pumped from the river, and we all helped transfer some new skuma into fresh holes. In between all of this we had plenty of time to play with the kids. They were precious and were so ready to play. They spoke the same mother tongue so we only knew how to say hello. But, as my campus minister and great friend says, the international language for kids is the same – play! My favorite game was when I walked to come say Hi to them after being in the field and they ran away, wanting to be chased and tickled! The best was when they ran into the church/schoolhouse and as I acted like a monster of some sort, all 18 of them crowded in the corner, hiding and giggling under a desk that couldn’t have been much larger than a few feet wide and deep. I just lost it, it was so cute and so funny! That game bonded us all and we got lots of hugs and smiles before we left. God is doing so much in that place and it is obvious that His blessing and His hand is all over the church, pastor, kids, and so much more. It touched us all.

I hope that you guys will continue to partner with us in praying for these churches and I know that we can’t wait to share some amazing stories after interacting with this community more after next week! Be blessed!