Going Up Country

Mary's father called all of his children to ask them to come "up country" for an Easter family gathering. Evidently the term "up country" is a relative term. It means that you are traveling to visit family somewhere outside of your home town. It's even considered "up country" when traveling south.

So yesterday we had the pleasure of going to visit Nyeri, Kenya to see the farm where Mary Kamau grew up and to meet her large family. It was so nice to be able to eat, socialize, relax, hear a short sermon, see Mount Kenya and hang out in the beautiful country side. It was such a blessing to be able to take part in this family event.

Check out some of the photos from our day in Nyeri...

Mary's Childhood Home

3 generations of beautiful women

Left to Right: Meredith Roberts, Erin Titus, Bethany Ziegler, Luisa Fairfax, Brandon Adams, Peter Githingi Mwangi (Mary's brother) & David Freeze

"1...2...3...WOW!"

What a day. Today I continued working on filming for the CCV video update by going to Bondeni, Mathare North and Joska. The kids (as always) were very good to work with and had fun preforming for the camera. I still have a few more centers to to visit after Easter break (Friday - Monday). It is going to be so nice to have a long weekend.

While at Joska was able to hang out with my parents sponsored child Benson and Carrie Tyson-Sheffy's sponsored child Rosemary. Both of them are 13 years old and are doing great academically. They seemed really excited to hear from their sponsors and was excited about the gifts.

Tomorrow our household and some of the other missionaries will be going "up country" to visit with some Kamau relatives. The plan is to be back home before dinner time tomorrow night. It sounds like a ton of fun and can't wait so see more of Kenya.

Power Failures

Due to the nightly heavy rains the power has been off and on at the Kamau house for the last 3 days. Because of this I was unable to write on my blog.

The past 3 days have been great! On Monday morning I worked in the skills department with Meredith and Luisa. I was helping take photograph of their hand made products to be used on a website to promote their merchandise. I also had the opportunity to meet up with Heather Lozada's small groups sponsored child Purity during her lunch break. It took her a while to warm up to me but I eventually got her to have a short conversation with me. She is such a beautiful young lady of God and has grown a lot since I saw her. Unfortunately this week the students had their exams so I didn't have time to take a photo of her. I will be going to her house next Tuesday to meet her family and promised her sponsors I would document it for them. After lunch I starting planning for a video that CMF asked me to work on for them to help advertise to middle school and high school student about orphaned children due to HIV/AIDS.

On Tuesday I walked to Kosovo with Charity from social work to visit my sponsored child Edwin Watulo Wanyonyi. He is a 13 year old boy that is currently in class 1. Currently Edwin is #6 in his class and loves math, enjoys soccer and would like to become a Pilot. He loves in the slums with his Mother and Father (Irene and Robert) and his twin brother Brian. Irene sells vegetables and Robert is a painter. After meeting him at the school office I walked with him to his house but unfortunately is mother had just left for work moments before we got there. So I promised him that I would come back sometime soon to meet his twin brother and parents and to see the inside of his house. Edwins birthday is May 1st so I am hoping to have the opportunity to visit him on that day as well.

Today I worked on starting a video for CCV (Christ Church of the Valley) in PA. Doing an update for them on there congregations sponsored children and Joska. I will tell you more about that project later on.

On Friday I went back to the Micro Enterprise department. This time I got to go with Joseph to visit the Bondeni Center for 2 group meetings. The group meetings today were very similar to meetings with Verginiah the day before. The first group was well established and was doing great at paying over and above what was expected and the second group was brand new and had not been meeting for very long and was still working on there savings and training. Because the second group was small and was just getting their feet wet in the program I was encouraged by Joseph to encourage this small group of single women. I really liked the question he asked me t before I started talking to the group. "Brandon, if you came back in 5 years and visited this group what would you expect them to have done from now to then?" I responded something to the effect of: I expect that in 5 years these ladies will have gotten married, started their own businesses, be stronger christians, paid off the group loan, had a healthy family, and would be working towards purchasing land and moving their families out of the slums. The group was very encouraged by these words and seemed very excited about what the future could hold for them.

After the meetings were over Joseph and I walked back to Pangani and visited some of his business clients along the way. One of his clients owned a hotel, another started a billiard room, another opened a grain and bean market. We were going to visit more but he and I were both not feeling very good and was feeling worse and worse the further we walked. I had a really bad upset stomach and he had flu like symptoms. Once we got back to the Pangani center we both went to get medication from the clinic on the ground floor. Don't worry I am feeling much better today. It's amazing what a little rest and medication can do for the body. I am just glad got sick on Friday so that I had the weekend to recover.

While writing this I am sitting on my bed feeling the cool evening breeze on my face and listening to the rain pitter pattering on the ground outside my window. It rained most of the night yesterday and again tonight. As I listen to the rain I am thinking about those who live in the Mathare slums. I'm praying that their homes will not flood...that they won't get sick from the standing water...that God will keep them safe and dry... and that the hot sun will dry the land tomorrow.

I had the pleasure of working with the Micro Enterprise department today by shadowing Virginiah Kamau. While there I learned about how their loan process works and how they train people that live in the slums a traid and how to start there own business. After they fill out an application and are accepted into the program they are placed into a group. They currently have about 35 groups with about 10-25 members in each group.

I had the opportunity to sit in on group meetings for Matunda (Fruits) which as 10 members and Kupendana (Loving One Another) which as 24 members. We were only able to make the tail end of Matudas meeting. This group was formed this month and is still in the early stages of getting their loan. This means as a group they have to save 30% of the loan amount before Missions of Hope can give them the loan.

Kupendana on the other hand has been together for 4 years now and is doing very well. It was very interesting to sit thru the meeting. Most of there time together was spent collecting money to be put in the bank to pay back their load and marking in the books who gave what amounts. But after that they started a discussion amongst the group in swahili. I could tell by their tone that this was a very serious conversation but wasn't sure what they were talking about. After a few minutes Verginiah realized that I was left in the dark and filled me in on what was going on. She told me that Kupendana was interested in taking out another loan so that they can purchase a plot of land outside of the slums and divide the land equally amongst the group so that they can move out of the slums. The debate was evidentially on what plot of land they should purchase. I later found out that early next week they will be purchasing the plot and it will take several years before they will be able to build homes and move their families onto the property. At the end of the meeting I gave them words of encouragement, blessings and told them that they would be in my prayers. It was so good to see a group of people doing so well and trying their best to get out of there current living conditions.

Sorry that I didn't write a post yesterday, I got busy and completely forgot. Let me see if I can give a quick recap of the day... Meredith (another apprentice) and I worked with the social work department and shadowed Jane (pronounced Jan). We took a matatu to the Huruma Center and did a few home visits. But the highlight for the day was watching the kids of the in the school practicing for the Missions of Hope 1st annual Talent Show on April 10. I was amazed at how talented these young boys and girls were. I know that they do well in the competition. Below are some photos that I took while visiting the center. I also took a few videos but I promised the head master that I would not show anyone until after the competition so other centers won't steal their ideas. They are very serious about competitions in Kenya.