2/15/11 HIV Support Group and Clinic

HIV Support Group

A group of use went to a HIV support group in the morning. There were about 60 people there mostly women, a few men and children. They have started a sort of co-op making things to sell in hopes of raising money. They brought all their wares with them for us to buy. It seems that one of our ministries is just to buy stuff. LOL Kind of funny considering my last post about materialism. But the reality of their situations is so dire; beyond what we really understand, and the 400 shillings I paid for two bracelets is more money than some of them make in a month and can go such a long way towards putting food on their tables (if they have tables.) The group welcomed us and one by one introduced themselves to us. Very few of them spoke any English at all so communication was limited. But there was plenty of non-verbal communication.

The group speaker spoke to some of the issues that individuals living with HIV have to deal with. In the small village of Lanet there are about 20,000 people. And about 10,000 of them are HIV positive. It is a real problem, but the bigger problem is the stigmatism these individuals live with. They are outcasts. The Speaker, Ester Also talked about how some many of these people hide away in their homes with the help and support of groups like these. Later that day some of our group went on to do home visitation to some of these people’s homes.

The stories they told were heart-wrenching.  One woman lost her husband and 3 children to AIDS and she and her other 3 children, all under the age of 10 are also HIV positive. They are living in her Brother-in-laws house and he is trying to kick them out. They have no where to go, and literally no food , no firewood, and nothing to cook with. But despite these conditions The woman said that “God would Provide.” It is faith like this that is just so powerful, and humbling to see.  And to know that God has provided for them up to now and that He will be faithful to provide for them still makes me think about my level of faith and trust in God. That is something God has been working on in my recently. He has made me come to see just how untrusting I act towards Him on a daily basis as I try to find my own way to accomplish things with waiting on Him to supply or direct. And He has also been showing how stingy I can be with my money trying to save enough for myself, when He is more than able to supply for me. What He really wants is for me to grow a spirit of Generosity giving beyond my means and to rely on His means, which are perfect. The Ladies in the group gave her some rice and beans and prayed with her. I know from their stories that it was a life-changing experience for them.

Wesley Mision Clinic

HIV Support Group

Clinic Lab where we test for Typhoid and Malaria and HIV. In the Village of Lanet where the Clinic is set up over half the people have HIV, and because of sanitation conditions and lack of clean water easily preventable diseases like typhoid and malaria are rampant.

Mary

Wesley Mision Clinic

Peple waiting to be seen. They would come early in the morning and wait all day. We saw an average of 180 people a day.

Clinic Staff and volenteers

I was assigned to the Clinic for the afternoon. It was not overly busy when I got there and there was plenty of help, so I spent my time talking to the people and local volunteers at the clinic. I enjoyed getting to know them and hearing about their families. It is not in bad taste here to ask for money. And several of them did ask me for money, or to sponsor their children to go the US . It very hard to say no to them when your heart goes out to them, but of course we cannot give them money etc. If we did it would spiral out of control and we would have everyone asking for more.

Mary

My New Friend, Mary showed me how to wrap my head in one of their head scarfs. I bought it from her so I could have one to bring home. I think it made her very happy. And we had so much fun together. I took a lot of pictures and video of what was going on in the clinic for Dave to use when he makes a video to show folks back home. I am still so impressed with the love and happiness of these people who have so little, and yet do not focus on the negative, but rather enjoy life just as it is.

Methodist Mission School - Lanet

Methodist Mission School

2/13/11

Today was totally amazing. What a blessing to worship with fellow brothers and sisters in Christ in the Church universal. We started the day by going to the boarding school. The program lasted nearly 3 hours. We were given special seats up front as guests of honor. Unfortunately for us fair skinned people the seats were facing directly into the sun. A number of us had to get up and move to the shade after a while. The worship was amazing the children have a self-abandonment in their joy and worship that was delightful to see and it was so full of life and the spirit. There was a lot of dancing and singing, and the kids had prepared special songs and skits and poems and…the list goes on just for us. We in turn sang for them, but did not do nearly as good a job as the kids. After worshiping with the children we went up the road to the local Methodist church to worship. They had waited on us since we were nearly an hour late because the school program went over…but this is Kenyan time.

Pastor Jeofrey leading worship

Nakuru D. S. Pastor Daniel preaching

 

When we arrived we were met by singing and accompanied by African drums. They were all standing outside to greet us with open arms. One by one we embraced each person greeting them with the “double hug”, one side then the other. Then we made our way into the small one room Church. It was a room about the size of an average child’s room probably 12×12 they made sure we all had a seat first then filled in where they could the rest stood outside. There were at least 25 of us packed into that small room.  The pastor spoke to us and another man translated. after that the D.S., Pastor Daniel gave a message on trusting God. The music was just as lively as at the school shouting and dancing and singing with only the drums and a metal ring like a triangle for percussion. The joy, contentment, gratitude, and love of these our brother’s in Kenya, continues to amaze me.  In many ways I long for it. Our wealth  and materialism and constant striving for more distract us from God, and make dull of hearing,; if we hear at all, and make us unable or unwilling to respond to God and all to often are missing out on the closeness with God that comes on true dependence on Him. Another saying I heard this week, is that “Americans worship God, but Kenyans depend on God.”  And that makes all the difference in their relationships, with God and others. I truly feel like they are the rich ones and not us…At least spiritually.

Manyororo United Methodist Church

 

But there is a lot of oppression here too. People in real need both spiritually and physically. But as Rebecca, one of my team members said in devotion tonight, there needs to be people who “have” in order to be able to fulfill the needs of those who don’t have. But to whom much is given, much is required. With that blessing of abundance there is a responsibility to be Christ’s hands and give to the needs. She feels that this is where we in America have come up short. I think she is right. Dave, another member of the team commented on how the people he’s talked don’t want our life. They are not envious. There just doesn’t seem to be that insatiable desire for more stuff like there is in America. I can’t help but think of how much of that is driven by the propaganda of advertising and P.R. I think that materialism is America’s oppression.

Lake Nakuru Safari

After church we went to the clinic to eat the PB&j sandwiches which we will have for lunch everyday. We each packed a jar of peanut butter in our suitcase. Then set about to finish setting up the clinic. After a few hours work, us first-timers we dismissed to go on Safari at Lake Nakuru.  It was also a completely amazing experience!  I got to see rhinos up close, a pride of lions, Flamingos and storks and other water fowl, giraffes, gazelles baboons, zeebra and much more! The park closed a 6 so we had to exit the park on the far side and make our way down a road, if you can call it a road, that was so bumpy it would put our off-roading trails to shame.  It took us about a half hour to get back to the hotel. I was exhausted from the ride down that road.  The next day I paid for it when my back went out and put me in bed for the next day.

2/12/11 Nakuru clinic

Rift Valley Overlook

2/12/11

We left early to travel to Nakuru to set up the clinic. It was about a 3 hr. drive from Nairobi. we stoped at the Rifted Valley overlook to view the valley. Unfortunately it was pretty hazy so you could barely make out the mountains in the distance.  There were many booths set up with people trying to get you to by one of their trinkets. It is pretty customary to buy something from them if you are going to stop and take advantage of their overlook.  It is really hard to say no to them. I ended up buying two soapstone figurines of an elephant and Rhino that I did not really want just to try and appease them so I could have a moment to enjoy the scenery, but it wasn’t long before another one came up and began to try and get me to buy something else.  Then another man invited me tom see his both. You can’t say no to them without being rude, so I went but told him I did not have any money to spend. I prepared buy not taking my wallet out of the van, but just taking a few hundred shillings in my pocket.

 

The road to the clinic was not paved. It was a rough slow ride.  But we finally got there and were greeted by a few of the clinic officers and a group of local children which stood outside the clinic door all day waiting for us to come out to ask us for candies. The joy of these people who have so little really touched me. The people are so open and have a completely different since of time. In America we are so hurried and scheduled and If things take to long we get impatient. Here it is different. There is nothing so pressing. Things get done in “Kenyan time” – That is similar to “Ish time”. I’ve heard it said this way, “Americans know the time, (we all have watches  and Schedules etc.) but Kenyans have the time.”

Delivering water to the clinic

unpacking and organizing the stock room at the clinic

pill counting and labeling at Clinic

 

Unpacking the suitcases of Medical supplies that we all brought and setting up the clinic took the whole day, and we are only half finished. The rest of it will do on Sunday afternoon after Church.  When we were al exhausted we left the clinic and traveled back down the long dusty pot-holed road to the Flamingo lodge were we will be staying for the next week. The people at the Flamingo lodge are very nice. (just like everyone else we’ve met.) they cooked a dinner for us of kale, cabbage, potatoes, and chicken or  some other kind of meat I’m not sure quite what it is. J

 

It was a beautiful evening so we sat outside with our coffee and tea and enjoyed the evening before meeting for evening devotions then off to bed.

The traveling part of this trip will probably be my least favorite. We were travelinlg for nearly 25 hours departing from Greensboro at noon on Wednesday, making a stop in Detroit to meet up with more of the group who were coming form Florida and Utah. And then we flew the first of two 8hr flights. We landed in Amsterdam at 10 am their time but it felt like the middle of the night for use easterns standard time people. Then we boarded the plan for Nairobi. That was the longest of the flights and the least comfortable. The 747 double decker was completely filled. There wasn’t an empty seat. And for me that meant spending  eight hours wedge in between my seat and the seat  in front of me. The curse of really long legs! For those hours I don’t think there was anything I wouldn’t have paid for a business class seat! But there wasn’t one to be had. But we finally made it to Nairobi, through customs and to the Hope House where we will be staying the first two nights.

Today was our first day in Kenya.  We woke up to a cool comfortable morning sunny with a slight breeze and eat homemade doughnuts, fruit and coffee. Then we went to the market to get some necessities, exchange our money and shop.  It was quite an experience to walk through the open air Maasai market. There were rows and rows of vendors hawking their wares and they can see an American coming. Talk about pushy sales. That is something we Americans are not used too. They’ll swarm you trying to get you to buy their stuff, and if you show the least bit of interest or deference they will not stop. Next comes the bargaining. Diane our fearless leader told us never to by anything for more than half the price they tell you. But as I quickly learned that means you have to start the negotiations a lot lower that half price. And I know I ended up pay more for things than I should have, but it is a learning process.  And it doesn’t help that you are working with a foreign currency. They numbers don’t mean as much to you. I spent thousands at the market today…thousands of Shillings that is….But 1000 shillings equals about $12.50 USD.

Then we went to Lunch at the Amani House.  It is a place for refugee woman to come and learn useful trades and skills so that they can support themselves.  “Amani” means Peace. They have a beautiful courtyard set up with umbrella covered tables where they serve meals. We all eat and browsed the store that is full of the products they make. Some more spending of the big bucks went on there.  Another 2000 shillings down the toilet! LOL

Later on a few of the knitters in our group will be going back to teach them a new skill so they can make felted hats and bags which will then be sold here in Kenya and in different parts of the world.

Then we went back to the Hope House to rest a little before we head out for dinner. We are all still exhausted from the long travel and jet lag. It was good for us to have this day to be restful, and to do the tourist thing. Tomorrow we head out to Nakuru to set up the clinic.

 

tea cup in Holland airport

Mr. Bendiman trying some of the local flavor at Amani

Do Not Fear! – Kenya

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. ~ 2 Timothy 1:7

I did a little word study of “fear” in the Bible. The word comes up a lot. And it is pretty much summed up as this. DO NOT FEAR. I’ve heard that there are 365 verses in the Bible that tell us not to fear. God Must have known it was important for us to hear that He gave us one verse for every day of the year.  So I ask the question, what does a fearless life look like? And am I living that kind of life? It says That He has given us a spirit of Power and Love and Self-control. Do I see that evident in my life? Sadly more often then not I do not.  But I want to.

You might ask why I started out with this verse to talk about a mission trip.  I mean a verse like Matthew 28:19 “Go into all the world…” would seem more appropriate. And while that is still the mission, I want to take a moment to tell you a little about how I’ve come to this place.

I have always been the kind of person to play it safe. Out of fear of failure I’ve rarely ever tried to do anything unless I was sure I would succeed. I say that with some remorse, feeling as if I have wasted a good portion of the 31 years God has giving me, and have missed out on the fullness of life and relationship with Him that He wanted for me. A relationship that only comes when you relinquish control and take a step into the big unknown in faith and trust. That is When God shows Himself as powerful and trustworthy.  He calls to each us, “Come, come into the water, let it overflow you; stop standing on the edge.” But that is a very scary thing to do. If you have every been swept away in the undertow of a river you know how scary it is to lose control like that. while it is scary and life threatening to be swept away by the water, to be consumed by the living water is a different story. Only when we are swept away do find we are truly living.

Praise God! He does not give up on us or grow wear, but is patient with us. He has been patiently working my life showing me how I have let fear rule my life and keep me from the fullness He created me for. And so now I am endeavoring to go out into the big unknown trusting that God will meet me there. Africa has been on my heart for some years now, and especially the problem of the epidemic of AIDS the has taking the lives of so many parents leaving a generation of orphans, impoverished and left without mentors and caretakers.  They need, above all else, someone to show them the love of Christ by caring for, loving and training them. This summer I randomly met a woman who told me all about her tip to Africa with The Kenya Partners ministry. I was very interested in it and she connected me with the woman in charge of Kenya Partners. From there God has opening the door for me to go, and speaking to my heart about acting in faith. I feel that God has led me to this particular ministry and mission trip for a purpose. And that if I am to be faithful I must obey the call of the Father for me to go.

I truly never thought I’d be saying this because I’d always rationalized expensive mission trips as, the money would be better spent if I just sent it over there rather then all the cost of me actually going. But I realize now that that was just my excuse to not go. And in truth it was probably not the right time for me to go before because I already had job to do taking care of my grandparents.  But now that they have both gone home I have entered a new season in my life. And I enter this new season both with a little trepidation and a lot of excitement to see what God is going to do.

January 1, 2011 Barbee – Suhay Wedding

I got up early before the dawn of the first day of the new year to drive to Asheville for Jenny’s wedding.  On the road somewhere between High Point and Winston Salem the morning light began to reveal a heavy fog. It added weight to the feeling of quietness that pervaded the air. All was still. Only hours ago the world was up greeting the new year, but now they were all sound asleep in their beds.

Jenny and her family are long time family friends. When I was a teenage I used to watch Jenny and her three siblings. Now she was all grown up and getting married to a wonderful young man, Daniel. I was honored when they asked me to do their wedding.

The day was turning out to be gray and drizzly, but that did not dampen the joyous spirits of the young couple and their families. It may have been cold and gray outside, but inside it was warm and full of energy. It was going to be a wonderful Christmas wedding. The beautiful bride Jenny wore a white dress with a long lacy trane. She was amazing. I know Dan felt that way.

It warmed my heart to see these two wonderful people whom God had brought together so passionately in love; in love with each other and in love with God.

I know that God will bless their union as they seek after God’s heart together. And with the love and support of two great families they will grow stronger in their relationships with each other and God all the days of their lives.wedding

 

Yellowstone And the Grand Teton

From the first shot I knew this was going to be great trip. We flew into Bozeman MT got our Rental Car and headed south to Yellowstone watching the twilight dim to darkness over the mountains. Turning a sharp corner the impressive Roosevelt Arch of Yellowstone’s North Entrance suddenly loomed over us. Out of the darkness it softly glowed in the yellow sodium vapor lights setting itself apart from the blackness of the clear stary night sky. It was late and we were tired but that could not stop us from pulling over to snap off a shot of the Milkyway with the iconic Roosevelt Arch in the foreground. I have only seen a night sky like that once before in the Arizona Desert and I quickly fell under its spell. It is mesmerizing and majestic beyond words. All you can do is cock your head back and star up in silence trying to take it all in while your heart is bursting forth Praise to it’s maker! That night alone made the trip worthwhile.

The next morning we found ourselves exploring Mammoth HotSprings before starting our trek south through the Park down to Jackson where we’d meet up with the rest of our group. The smell of sulfur filled our nostrils as pillars of steam rose from the large white terraces bubbling forth brooks of hot water from under the earth. I got my first experience of what a difference altitude makes when I tried to climb up the hill. I thought I was in shape for this trip but I’d failed to calculate the difference several thousand feet make!

After that we bought supplies and decided on a route to take south through the Park estimating about 6 hours for our trip. But every couple of miles we ended up stopping to see one beautiful vista after another or some wildlife. The place was teaming with life. Bison were by far the most prevalent of  wildlife easily accessible to our view. Truly, they think they own the park and that the roads were made for their use. The bison were not timid or shy of the road or the Human’s traveling it. At one point in the trip I watched for a good ten minutes a bull and an SUV in a head to head. The Bull won. The SUV backed up. Whole herds of Bison would tie up traffic for large chunks of time as they leisurely crossed the road. But nobody minded they all just wanted to watch them anyway. Needless to say it took a lot longer the 6 hours to get to Jackson.

The next day we slept in and decided to just be tourists, and not crazy photographers getting up predawn to scout a location and shoot. We needed the rest! So we rode a tram up to the top of the ski resort to take in the view from the top, and then meandered our way through the Grand Teton National Park. I’ve got to say as far as scenics go The Teton’s have’em beat hands down! We stopped to take pictures of the range as the western light was getting low in the sky scraping across the sides of the jagged peaks. It was as picturesque as it gets! We made it up to Jenny lake just before sunset hoping for some good color and reflections on the lake.

The next morning we got up about an hour before sunrise so we could drive out to the Jackson Lake Dam for sunrise on the Tetons. It started lightly raining on your way up there and as twilight began to diminish you could see dark clouds on the horizon. It did not bode well for sunrise but we parked and set up at the dam to watch and wait for what would happen.

Looking away from the mountains to the east I watched for a glimmer of the sun. the clouds were think, but there was a break. And just as the sun crossed the cloud bank’s threshold the face of the mountain began to glow. I watched the line between shadow and light climb down the mountain as the sun climbed higher in the sky. It was a slit of light created by the break in the clouds just big enough to illuminate the face of the rock and lasted only a few minuets before the sun once again hid behind the thick dark clouds; A fleeding moment of Glory.

After the morning show was over, we made our way out of the Park to Antelope Flats Rd. to take the most Iconic image of the Grand Teton with an old wooden Barn in the foreground. Amazingly the clouds cleared out for us once again and the warm morning light lit up the front of the barn and the mountain tops. It had snowed in Jackson Last week and the peaks of the Tetons where white. I couldn’t help but think how perfect it was! We hung around the Barn until the clouds came back. Then we headed back to town to pack up, check out of our rooms and get something to eat before we started our trek north to Yellowstone.

We stopped several times on our way up to Yellowstone. We saw a heard of Bison feeding in on the prairie grasses with the Tetons as a back drop. We’d heard rumors that a moose had been spotted hanging out on the river at Ox Bow Bend so we stopped there too. Unfortunately the moose did not make an appearance.

The Next Morning we got up about an hour before dawn to drive across the Park to the Lower Falls. When the mist of the falls catches the morning light in just the right way it creates a rainbow at the base of the falls. Unfortunately as the light of dawn began revealed a park covered in think fog. Hoping it would clear before the sun got too high in the sky for the rainbow we took pictures of the fog and waited.  The fog cleared just in time for the rainbow to light up for about 5 minutes. Then it was gone. We walked around the canyon rim for a while and then headed north to Lamar Valley.

Lamar Valley is a wide spacious plan in the North East corner of Yellowstone. It is a great place to see wild animals including grizzle bears, and coyotes.  There had been reports that a family of Grizzles had been spotted there earlier. We perched on top of a hill over looking the valley watching a waiting for the grizzle. The valley was large. The yellow grasses swooped down to a snaking river that carved a melodious flowing line through the valley. On the far side were another set of looming curvaceous hills. It was late afternoon by this point and though we’d been sitting for a while I did not want to leave. There was a since of peace in that big untamed place. A soft breeze below through my hair and the sun was warm on my face as it cast long shadows on the hillside and the valley below. I did not care that we did not get to see any wildlife. It was enough just to sit there and enjoy the beauty.

I did get my chance to see some wild life in action the next morning. We drove out to Hayden Valley for sunrise and were pleasantly surprised by a pack of coyotes howling as they ran across the next ridge. After that I drove south through the park to go see old faithful and the other geysers in the area. I spent the whole afternoon there walking around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next morning was our final day. We got up for sunrise one last time hoping for a good one and headed out to Nez Perce Creek. IT did not look like it was going to be much of a sunrise, but just at the last moment the sky broke open. It lasted only a few short minutes and then clouded over again. But that was enough time to snap of an iconic Yellowstone image of a river in a yellow field with bison and venting steam.

When the morning light was through we packed up and headed back to Boseman to catch our flight home. IT was a wonderful time to bask in all the beauty that God has provided for us. I am thankful for every time I get the opportunity to see more of this wonderful place He made for me…And you too.