Maasai Development Project

The Maasai Development Project Blog will be used by members to post updates particularly while on trips to Kenya. Here you can view these posts and make comments.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Tuesday - October 21

OK, so the rains have really hit Kenya. The good news is that our water tanks are filling up so we have plenty of water in the house now. But the bad news is the road going out to the tarmac, about 6 Kilometers is very muddy. I am not complaining because they have actually been working on the road and it is much better than it used to be, but there are still a few areas that can be a bit treacherous during the rains.

Today I had an appointment in Nairobi so was dressed up in my suit and heels, it was still raining when I got in the vehicle. I was a bit concerned but not too much because after all, I'm a pretty good driver and I am driving a 4 wheel drive. U-huh! That is all well and good until a lorry comes down the middle of the road and refuses to give way in the least way, at which point guess who went sliding down into the mud? I was stuck. I looked down at my white pin-striped suit jacket and my heels and wondered what I was going to do. So I honked the horn for the men in the lorrie to come help me. Which they did not, but their retribution came as a minute later they too were in the ditch. However, a man pushing his motorcycle that had been behind me came up and offered to help, followed by a handful of small school boys on their way home for lunch. I have to give those boys credit, they really tried. Forward and backward I went, but nothing. Slowly more men began to appear. I must have looked pretty pathetic because they would reassure me, "Don't worry madam, we will get you free." Within about 20 - 30 minutes they had me free. Not one of them asked for any money for thanks. They just waved and wished me well as I shook their hands in gratitude. I was so thankful.

My appointment did not happen, but an unexpected God appointment happened instead. I was just leaving the compound of the Union Offices when my phone began to ring. It was Anne, a nurse who is a self supporting missionary who came to work in Maasailand and help start a clinic. She wanted to meet me and Mr. Kenani, our administrator, so we retraced our steps and met with her. She is at a crossroads with her work and wondering which direction to go. She is going to go home to raise funds for a mobile clinic in Maasailand, to do medical clinics and health and Aids education. However, she was not sure which direction to go, whether to try to team up with an established organization, such as MDP, start her own NGO, or just what. So we began talking. She had been staying with a family in Nairobi, but I invited her to come stay at the MDP house in Ongata Rongai so that we could talk more. Twenty-fours later we are still talking. We are both praying to see which direction God is leading. Anne will be accompanying us to Narok next week and visit some of our stations. Anne will soon be leaving for the states to meet with her sponsors to write a proposal for our MDP board to consider. Please pray for both Anne and MDP as we continue to explore the wonderful opportunity of working together. MDP has been wanting to get a health and education program established, I can't wait to see where God is leading. Stay tuned.

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Saturday - October 18, 2008

I haven't been on the blog the last couple of days simply because I didn't think everyone would want to hear about the hours of office work I have been putting in. However, yesterday afternoon I took time off and had lunch with a friend of mine who owns a restaurant in town. On my way home I stopped off at the dog pound to look for a guard dog, only to find that all dogs are under quarantine because of some disease. Our dog Simba, died in September and we are needing to replace her, so we will wait and keep looking.

The rains have finally arrived. As I am writing this, the thunder is booming and there is a vehicle just outside my window on the other side of the hedge stuck in the mud, so there is a lot of activity and noise. About an hour after I got home this afternoon it started pouring buckets of rain. It has been so dry here, this is a real blessing. On Thursday, our water tanks were so low, that we emptied them out of all water to clean. We were going to purchase some water for our tanks, but God is so good, He brought rain that very night. Now with the rains today, we should have plenty of water once again.

I was so thankful to get home before the rains started in Rongai where our house/office is located. This morning we set out for church at a place in Maasailand called Emarti. It was so dry! Everything was brown and dusty. We met with worshipers meeting out in the open and as we were ending services we could see the rain off in the distance. Suddenly as we were driving away, the rains arrived and there was water everywhere, I have to hand it to Ogecha, our driver, for getting us through without getting stuck. (For those of you who know me and can't believe that I am using a driver, yes it is true. I have to admit it was difficult for me to hand the driving over to someone else. I like to drive and feel a bit out of control and very vulnerable when I'm not in the driver's seat, but believe it or not, I am learning to use the travel time as a time to relax and leave the driving to someone else.)

At Emarti, I found that our Lay Pastor, Philip Muzuri is meeting with a lot of challenges. For the past two years he has been struggeling with the community to raise funds to build an iron sheet structure for their church. Land was given to them and finally after two years they had purchased all the needed materials. When it was time to start building a man from the community came and said you cannot build your church there, if you do I will tear it down. He claimed that he had control of the land there. In the meantime another man came and insisted that they build the church anyway. Philip told him, no, our business is not to cause conflict. First we will negociate like Christians and make peace with our enemies and then when it is resolved we will build the church. The other young man began to cause problems and inciting some of the community coming to the church. At this time, Philip is standing strong, with only a handful of people left, but as I listened to him preach about the love of God my heart really went out to this man for his strong efforts.

When the services were over, we held a special prayer session for Lay Pastor Philip. Our MDP Coordinator, Patrick Muyia, Solomon Lenana and myself surrounded Philip with the church members also around, we asked him what he felt he needed prayer specifically for. He named the following:
  • That the conflict will be negociated and we will have our church built
  • That God gives me more of His Holy Spirit to do the work he has called me to do
  • That the sickness that is affecting so many people in this area will go away
  • The the conflicts caused by the man inciting the people will be taken away and the people will come back to church
What a beautiful prayer session we had. Please pray for Philip, he has a very big challenge ahead of him. Afterwards we talked about what we could do to encourage the community. Philip mentioned that already he has a few ladies that he has organized to do visitation. Because of the drought that they have been having (that is until today) people are starving. The ladies take packets of Unga flour and leave with the people and pray with them. Philip wants to lift Jesus up in his area. He wants to meet the basic needs of the people and encourage them in giving their hearts to Jesus. I thought that I would find a very discouraged young man when I went to visit Philips Sabbath School today but in fact I found a very enthusiastic young man who is not discouraged but sees challenges that with God's help will be overcome. Please remember Philip in your prayers and our other lay workers in the field. They are all meeting many challenges of people and other organizations that would like to destroy the work of Maasai Development Project but through the grace of God these dedicated workers are moving ahead, determined to preach the Word of God.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Wednesday - October 15, 2008

N E W S F L A S H ! ! ! It's finally here, internet in the MDP office. No more traveling 45 minutes to the free internet coffee house trying to get work done during the allotted time for the free internet usage. No more sitting for long hours at the Cyber Cafe frustrated with slow and sometimes broken keyboards. You have no idea what a blessing this is. I feel like a very blessed woman.

Last Friday I spent two hours until my battery went dead on my computer trying to send an important e-mail. In frustration I closed my computer and walked out. As I was sharing with a friend of mine who was in a shop next door, one of her other friends heard me saying I wanted to try to get a certain brand modem for my computer. She told me not to do that because she had bought that modem and it was so slow she would happily give it away to anyone who would take it. She shared some information about another brand and recommended I check it out. On Monday morning after getting up early to get to the coffee house to try to get all my work done before the allotted time was up only to have the internet turned off at a crucial time in my work, I decided, it was time! So I went on into town and purchased a modem for my computer. This literally saves me hours of time sitting in traffic and being frustrated not being able to complete my work before the time is up. Did I mention how excited I am?

Tuesday I spent in the office working and then ran errands to see about getting some work done on the vehicle.

Today, I woke up with a full day's work in the office. Our administrator was coming over to work and we had a lot we hoped to accomplish. Just as I went into the office and turned the computers on, the electricity went out. There is only so much you can do without electricity. Isn't it something how dependent we have become on electricity, electronic equipment etc.? Long story short the electricity didn't come on until about 3:00 this afternoon. So I jumped in to get as much done as I could. It's getting late now and I need to close up, but I did want to share a bit of exciting news with you.

We had a meeting today with Josh, a young man we are working with to build the Siana Girls Rescue Hostel. He is going to draw up plans this week and give a detailed cost list for the project. We will be sharing that with you, our donors. When you hear that we need $100,000 to build the Hostel, you may feel overwhelmed with the cost and wonder what difference your small donation could make. However, most people can afford to donate 6 kgs of nails for $14 or money for a window etc. If everyone were to choose one item to donate, it wouldn't take long before the building project was paid for. With this in mind as soon as we get the list finished, I will be publishing it on the web site. We are stepping out in faith on this and I feel confident that you will want to have a part in completing this project. One person cannot do it alone, but together we can have a home for our rescued girls within a few short months. Thank you in advance for your tax deductable donations.

I'm off to get some rest now so I can get up early and start over in the office again. Hopefully the electricity will remain on all day. I hope to see the beginning of the endf for the paper work by tommorow evening. Just one more thing, isn't God just so awesome? Remember, you are His favorite child in the world.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Sunday – October 12, 2008

Be careful what you pray for. As I mentioned in my previous blog, I was supposed to go to Esokata for a harambe today from 1:00 – 3:00. It is about an hour and a half drive because of the torn up roads right now and I wasn’t too excited about going. Before leaving I was trying to squeeze in a couple hours of work in the office. I am a bit overwhelmed with the paper work right now so was thinking to myself that I wished I hadn’t promised to go to the harambe. As it turned out I got there and there was no harambe today. Daniel had just said that to get me out there. Soooo……we visited and talked about the church building they are planning. I took a look at there cost estimates and refigured them with the new prices. I will put it on the web site when I get home. Prices here in Kenya have shot up through the roof. We had prayer together and are confident that God is going to provide the necessary funding for the building. Before we could finish shop talk, the ladies of the village came in with a hot meal, (my first since arriving in Kenya). That in itself was worth the drive out. On the way home I was thinking about the long drive and the work in the office and suddenly the thought came to me “didn’t you pray for under the tree time?” I giggled and shared with my driver, Ogecha how I had been praying that God would provide reconnecting time with the people in the village and for sure the last two days have been total answers to prayer. I guess the office work will always be there and can wait another day.

Sabbath – October 11, 2008

As can usually be expected plans changed at the last minute. Friday evening I received word that if possible I should make a surprise visit to one of our branch Sabbath Schools. I should explain that there is a faction of people in Maasailand trying to destroy the work of MDP, inciting the MDP workers and trying to lure as many away as possible under the guise of joining another NGO that will push out MDP and take over Maasailand. Unfortunately as of late we have lost several previously good and dedicated workers. All Friday night my heart was breaking, needing some definite encouragement from God that we are to continue to go forward or pull out if we are fighting a losing battle. The thought came to me, "All I need is a Gideon's army". I prayed, "Lord please show me Gideon's army. I also prayed for a chance to spend time getting back in touch with the people, a chance to sit under the tree so to speak.

Sabbath morning I awoke and felt that I should go out to speak to one of our guards, the uncle to one of our workers that has decided to go his own way. He has been such a successful young man, that his decision was especially painful to me. As I sat under the tree in the front yard and shared with our guard my concerns, he mentioned that the people at Kisaju (the first church to be established in Maasailand in 1994/95) had felt deserted when we turned that area over to the Central Kenya Conference in January of this year. Suddenly I knew that I must go to Kisaju today and speak to the church there. I invited the Mzee to go with me and off we went. I was a bit fearful , not knowing how I would be received as the faction group had moved in after MDP turned the area back over to the conference. However when we arrived, instead of any of the people fighting MDP, I met Solomon Lenana. Solomon was the first lay pastor in Maasailand who worked along beside me in Kisaju back in the early 90’s and when my husband and I left we continued to support him to continue the work there along with another young Maasai man, Isaac. We had not been working together for about three years and had lost contact. He has started another ministry in Maasailand teaching AIDS awareness amongst other things. Long story short we had a wonderful reunion. God opened the door for me to speak with the congregation after the service which was totally a God thing and reunited us once again. Then the clincher for me, I got to spend most of the afternoon visiting my women friends in different bomas (homesteads) throughout the Kisaju area. It was like old times again. Solomon went visiting with me and rode back with us to Rongai, we had a wonderful time catching up and encouraging one another.

As I drove into my driveway at dusk, I praised God for the wonderful Sabbath day, the encouragement He gave me through reconnecting with my sisters in Maasailand, the opportunity to pray together, sit together in their huts, basking in renewed sisterhood. While it is true, Satan is still roaring like a lion to destroy and stop the work, God reached down in the midst of it and gave me one giant hug from heaven with words of encouragement to keep on going on, evil is soon coming to an end. Now is the time to remain faithful.

Oh, one more note, while in Kisaju I was introduced to a young lady who was just a little girl when we started work in Maasailand, she was one of the first children in the school that Solomon and Isaac started in 1996. She is now in Form Two (Class 10). Due to the fact that she has two brothers also in high school and more coming up behind her, her mother is concerned that her husband will force her to stop school and get married. We need to find a sponsor for her to keep her in school. Please if you are willing to sponsor Lillian, just $40 per month will insure her schooling to continue. Please e-mail me at jameharry@juno.com or send a tax deductable check earmarked for Lillian Supeyo's, sponsorship. Thank you and God bless.

Friday – October 10, 2008

People often ask me, "Just what is it you actually do while you are in Kenya?" More often than not, it is not glamorous or exciting, but rather making sure the wheel s continue to turn. Hopefully by keeping this blog you will understand a bit more of what I actually do while here. For instance, today, I plan to start on four months worth of bookkeeping and accounting that has been awaiting my arrival to complete; so that by the time I leave we will be caught up on all of our quarterly financial reports. MDP is audited yearly and reports must be turned in to the Bureau of NGO's and also the Kenya Revenue (IRS in states) in order to keep up our NGO status.

I always look forward to the weekends when I can be out visiting our Sabbath schools and lay workers. Tomorrow I will most likely go to visit the Esokata branch Sabbath school. It has been a couple of years since I have actually worshiped with them there. If I lived in Kenya full time, I would have to go to a different station every week in order to reach each station within the year. So when my time is limited to approximately 12 weeks it takes me much longer to visit each station. It is always exciting though to see the growth in the time I've been away.

Esokata church

By the time I landed in Nairobi, I had come down with a head cold. So today I have slept, drank water, unpacked and cleaned the office so it is ready for me to start work. Pray that I feel better quickly.

I will be going to a Harambe (fundraiser) for the building of the Esokata church on Sunday. I just spoke to MDP lay pastor, Daniel Sinti who is organizing the fundraiser and he told me that Central Kenya Conference is donating 37 iron sheets for the roof and the timber needed for the building. Originally they were going to build a temporary iron sheet structure but have decided to step out in faith and build a permanent structure so they can host the Maasai campmeetings for this conference. They need to raise KSH 1,000,000/= or $15,000. If you are willing to help with this church, please e-mail me at janmeharry@juno.com or send your tax deductable donation to Maasai Development Project, PO Box 294, Harvey, ND 58341 and earmark it for the Esokata church. I will keep you updated on the progress.

Monday, October 6, 2008

Kenya Trip - October 2008

October 6, 2008 - I'm sitting at the Minneapolis airport getting ready to leave on my October Kenya trip. I wasn't sure if I would be leaving or not so many things happened this past week to make me wonder if I should cancel or postpone my trip. As Celeste and I were talking on the phone this morning I realized that whenever God has plans it seems like Satan tries to do what he can to stop them. So I am excited to go and see the blessings and the progress that God has planned for this trip. Please keep me in your prayers and I'll keep in touch. Jan