Wednesday's Walk Around Town

So what's been going on in Nairobi these days?

Well, major political moves going down with the presidential election coming up in March 2013.  Alliances are being made and then broken and new ones made; just typical Kenyan politics.  Two of the potential candidates have pending cases at the ICC for inciting violence in the last presidential elections in 2007.  If one becomes president how will that work out I wonder?  Also on the political front, MPs just opened a newly renovated Parliament, where each of the 350 chairs cost $3,000; you do the math.    Meanwhile the Kenyan people who have actually paid for the chairs can barely buy food for their families due to the rising cost of staples like rice and maize.
 

In a year-long drama, a probe into the conduct of the Deputy Chief Justice of the Kenyan Supreme Court has determined that she should be fired due to misconduct.  In the wake of small scale terror bombing, security at many public places has been stepped up.  The DCJ refused to have her bag checked, pinched the nose of the security guard, and threatened the guard with a pistol she pulled out of her car. Needless to say the DCJ is appealing the findings.  And so the drama continues.

On a more sober note, the Kenya Defense Force has, for the last year, been pushing the Somali terror group known as Al Shabab (who apparently have links to Al Qaida) away from the Kenyan boarder.  KDF has worked their way from the Kenya-Somali border to just before the port city of Kismayu; the Al Shabab stronghold.  As they continue to work with other African Union forces, Al Shabab has been creating havoc in refuge camps in Dadaab & Wajir and in the city of Nairobi by bombing public areas.  The sad thing is they have recruited discontented Kenyan youths to kill their fellow citizens.  Parliament is in the process of implementing an anti-terrorism bill into law.

Poaching of elephants are on the rise with orphaned baby elephants being reported daily to the elephant orphanage.  The increase in poaching coincide with the arrival of Chinese investment and the huge influx of Chinese in Kenya.  It is a common pattern in Africa; where Chinese investment go, poaching follows.  Additionally, lion killings are also on the rise; this is due to human-wildlife conflict over resources as human populations spread into previously untouched areas.  Perhaps someone should remind Parliament that the tourism sector is the backbone of the Kenyan economy.  I’m just sayin’!

What to pray for?  

• Against impunity and corruption in Kenyan government.
• A wise, godly man or woman to win the Kenyan presidency.
• The campaign against Al Shabab to be resolved swiftly.
• Justice done for the security guard who appeared to be too unimportant to matter.
• A fair and transparent presidential election.
• Safe roads, improved traffic laws and less corruption in the police force.
• Reduction in food prices and fuel prices.
• Peace in Kenya.

Monday Musings

Traveling Again

Getting ready to leave for Kenya this Wednesday.  I've got four suitcases each weighing 49.5  lbs, a carry-on suitcase weighing 30 lbs, and a backpack for my books and electronics.  Do I have enough stuff?  The joys of travel!!

So here's a list of things YOU can pray for me as I go:

• Safe travels, all luggage arrives in Nairobi with me and intact.
• No problems/inspections going through customs with 4 large suitcases.
• Moving day will go smoothly (18th August) and I settle in quickly.
• I get into a good quiet time routine and also find a small group Bible study in my new neighborhood.
• I will enjoy orientation at the new school (27th - 31st) and be comfortable with my new colleagues.
• I will be prepared, professional and unsmiling for the first day (4th Sept, I think) with the students.
• The wireless internet at the house will work.
• I have peace, go day-by-day, and trust the Lord.

"Tentmaking" or Paul's Missionary Model

What is a tentmaker? Tentmakers are believers who support themselves as they do cross-cultural evangelism on and off the job.  This is in comparison to "regular missionaries" who rely completely on raising financial support and have organizational ties, or "Christian expatriates" who have moved to another country for the sole purpose of work having no call to missions but happens to be a believer.

There are many good, responsible, and accountable mission organizations who require their missionaries to raise their support or raise support as an organization for their missionaries.  The people who are commissioned and sent abroad are financially relying on the gifts of others.  For the first three years of the past four years I was one of these missionaries with Rafiki Foundation in Kenya.  The last year of the past four years, I relied on individual financial gifts from people as I worked with a local pastor in Kenya.  Starting in September I will be tentmaking as I work for Brookhouse International School in Kenya.

Paul's missionary journeys were emphasized by tentmaking, in fact that was his missionary model.  Other apostles did rely on the churches for financial support, but Paul did not.  1 Corinthians 9:6 suggests that Paul and Barnabas were self-supporting on their first missionary journey; "Or is it only Barnabas and I who must work for a living."  In the same chapter Paul gives many reasons in favor of donor support for the mission work, but states three times that he and by association, his teammates, did NOT use this right; vs. 12, 15, and 18.  In Acts 18, Luke writes about Paul's work with Aquila and Priscilla as a tentmaker, most probably as a leatherworker; with verse 4 stating that Paul continued with his mandate from the Lord, "he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks."  In Acts 20: 25 - 35 Paul commission the church leaders in Ephesus to continue in the way that he had shown them since "I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again" (vs 25) and "You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions." (vs 34).

Brookhouse is a door that the Lord opened for me to continue His assignments for me in Kenya.  It is possible now for me to do much more in specific areas than possible in the past four years.

Getting support for girls like Mercy to go to secondary school.

Visiting and caring for the sick in the hospital.

Cheering up sick children.

Visiting families with gifts of food stuffs.

I have some other new ideas too, but solicit your prayers as I continue walking in God's amazing plan for my life in Kenya.

Gospel Written in Nature

God writes the gospel not in the Bible alone, but on trees,

Sunrise over the trees in Amboseli National Park

A white rhino grazes peacefully under Acacia trees around Lake Nakuru

Trees surround a homestead in Mudete; Western Kenya

and flowers,

Garden at Kiambethu Tea Farm in Limuru

Bouganvilla overgrowth beautifies the stone wall of a Nairobi compound.

A Sunbird sips nectar from the flower of a banana tree.

and clouds, 

Rain cloud over Lake Naivasha

Cloud expanse over Lake Amboseli

Mt. Kilimanjaro peeks through the clouds

and stars.

Full moon over Nairobi.

Wildebeests silhouette under the starry sky in Masai Mara; courtesy of Martin Dohrn.

Nairobi Dec 2008; a crescent moon with Jupiter (l) and Venus (r).

- Martin Luther

Now with the Lord...

Mama Susan was a pioneer mother/caregiver at Rafiki Village Kenya.  She took care of 13 boys and raised them well.  Her oldest Rafiki son had many issues due to the fact that he was brought to Rafiki at the age of five.  To hear him speak about Mama Susan as the "best mother" who was "a kind woman, who loved us"; and his memories of "Mom singing lullabies for us to sleep" and how she "taught us to read the Bible and pray"; and to see him as a man carrying his mom's coffin to the grave, was a testimony to her work and prayers for her children at Rafiki.  

What I remember about Mama Susan was her love of singing and her method of doing devotions with her children.  On a devotion about how Elijah was fed by ravens during a famine, she told the children to imagine that the ravens were flying into the king's palace (where there was plenty of food) and taking the bread and meat off the king's table and carrying it to Elijah in the desert.  She asked the children if they could see the ravens doing that; and they could.

Mama Susan is resting in the Lord Jesus Christ, whom she loved.  She worked tirelessly for Him in her calling as a Rafiki Mom and we can begin to see the fruit of her labor even today.  Please pray for the boys who have lost the only mother they have ever known.

Just listening to the radio...

Heard about this on the radio this morning.  I thought how amazing it would be if we had this in the USA.  I wonder how many who claim to be lovers of Christ in the USA would be able to live Romans 1:16 in this way; "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God to salvation..."

Click here to learn more

So maybe you are not in Nairobi to join in the marathon, but you could support their projects to translate bibles into the mother tongues of unreached communities of Kenya.  In country claiming to be 80% Christian these tribes are mostly Islamic or Anamist and destined for eternal destruction.


From the radio program, I heard the following from people who hear and read the Bible in their own language:

"I can read Kiswahili and English, but it's not as if it's my mother tongue."

"Jesus speaks my language!"

"When I hear God's words in mother tongue, I can see it with my heart."


Let's not be ashamed!  Mark 8:38 "If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Advertising Nairobi Style

I thought it might be interesting to do a variety of blogs based on a particular photographic subject matter.  Today's blog is on ad campaigns in and around the Nairobi area.  Most of the photos are taken with a camera phone as I'm riding around town in matatus and buses; (1) in an effort to appear more subtle with the picture taking and (2) so my camera won't get jacked.   So please excuse of the the quality of the photos and the watermarked windows.

So starting off there is the banner style of advertising:

Banners are strung across the road on somewhat shaky poles (note the left side).

These are small banners on the guard railing (just in case you missed one, there's at least 5 more to catch your eye).

Then we come to the billboard style, which used for products, specific campaigns, and supermarket hours :

Nakumatt on Ngong Road (pronounce "gong") aka Nakumatt Prestige, letting folks know they are open late.

Honestly, who is looking at the cell phone advertisement at the busy roundabout, anyway!

Deodorant products

Dettol, the body soap, the laundry disinfectant, the floor cleaner. 

They've come up with a slogan for women and children too; yoghurt for all.

Health campaign

Here we have the hand painted, wherever there is available space type of advertising:

On a wall

On a "strip mall" style row of shop.

On the odd shipping container turned phone service provider shop.

On a hotel building in town.

On a slum bar.

Lastly, there is the "lets stick an advertisement wherever people congregate" category:

Bus shelter.

Park bench.

Hopefully I've helped to expand your marketing skills.  Stay tuned for matatu (the Nissan mini buses) decorations and church names.