My new schedule

At 6:00 AM I go out side for the changing of the guards.
At 7:00 Am I pray with Ryan
The morning is reserved for work/going to town etc.
At 2:30 PM I have my siesta.
At 5:00 PM I start my afternoon shift.
Ar 6:00 PM I have dinner.
At 10:00 PM I go to sleep.
Between 12:30 and 2:30 I get up and do my emails, blogs and have a snack.
By 4:00 I go back to bed... Bye bye
alan

The Blessings you have given in October 2006

The Blessings that you have given in October 2006
( some of the stories from the note book of Esther)

Elizabeth
A few days after we arrived in Donholm, Elizabeth was not well. One morning she was not able to get up as she had stomach aches. Alan believed that she had never been properly treated as she had often been sick this way before. We took her to the private hospital for some tests and she needed some expensive strong medicine which we bought for her. She got better.

Hope Village Malawi, 2006
We went to Hope Village Malawi to see how the orphans are doing. Alan and I met some of these orphans in October, 2004. One girl in particular stands out. Her name is Alani In October 2004 she was made pregnant by her brother-in-law where she was supposed to be under the care of. She now lives in Hope Village, her daughter Tina was a year and a half old now. They looked well and happy. We saw many other children that we recognized from our previous trip. We met young teenager who had made a guitar for himself out of scraps and he was able to play a tune on it for us. Priscilla a young girl of 14 who aspires to be a doctor. Alan calls her doc. And many others. It was good to see these orphans.
We treated them to candies, chocolates and cakes. We also bought a week supply of groceries for Les and Jackie the Missionary directors/founders.

The girl across the street
She had a toothache and said she didn’t have any money to go to see the dentist.
We went to a place where we saw there was a clinic where they would pull out your tooth. Alan told her where to go and gave her the money to have her tooth pulled out. She was very thankful for this blessing.

Melody
The couple that lived across the street have a baby, named Melody who is always sick. Every time we see her she has some kind of rash in some parts of her body. Alan went to the chemist and bought them medicine and ointment for the baby. After a couple of weeks the baby looks well and healthy.


The Ruai kids
These 6 orphans were living in an apartment under a house mother. The house mother told us that the pastor has not been giving her enough money for food; we were not able to help her as we were told by the Pastor who was supposed to be looking after these children that we should stay away from them. We visited them just to say hello and to tell them that we are not in a position to help them. We brought them little gifts, cakes and candies.

Agnes and her son Ben
Agnes is an ex-prostitute who accepted Jesus. Alan evangelised her in March of 2006. We travelled to Mombassa where we met her in November, 2006. It was a great joy and witness to find her working as a hair dresser in a salon. When we saw her she had some health problems. We took her to the doctor and paid for her medical expenses. We bought her a mosquito net and a bible and we gave her a little bit of money. We bought Ben a couple of little toy cars.

Jumo
Jumo has been handicapped since he was a child from polio. He earns his living by shining shoes in downtown Nairobi near the bus station. He has a tricycle that needed repairs. Alan bought all the broken parts and repaired his bike. See story Jumo Won Nov ‘07

Carol, Jessica and Wilbroda
We gave Carol money to travel upcountry to see her sisters and bring them back.
We bought mattresses, a bunk-bed, household items, pillows, blankets, clothing and some toiletry items. We also brought food and groceries during the last week we were there.
These expenses were covered by the donations we received for orphans.

On the Job in Africa,
Changing peoples lives,
One person at a time

Esther in Africa

Wilbroda

A visit to the hospital in Nairobi. (October 26th, 2007)

We met Lilian and alan and I went to Nairobi to visit Wilbroda at Kenyatta National Hospital. When we got off the bus and walked to the hospital entrance there were a lot of people all going the same direction. We got to the lift and people just jammed their way to the front, blocking the doors so that people couldn’t get out first and it just makes it harder for people to get in. We were packed into one elevator and fortunately we were only going to the 3rd floor.

We found Wilbroda in a crib-bed in Ward 2 where there are 10 beds in 2 rows. There were people who were visiting standing around the crib and I was wondering who all these people were. Lilian told me they are probably visiting the other girl, and then I saw the girl at the other end of the bed who is sharing this bed with Wilbroda. I couldn’t see her at first because of all the people blocking my view. I couldn’t imagine this, but this is how it is, the hospital is so crowded that this is what they do.

I caught Wilbroda’s eyes, when she saw me she gave me a smile, and then she gave alan a smile as well. We waited around and Lilian interpreted for us. Lilian had visited her grandfather in the hospital on Wednesday so she dropped in to see Wilbroda. Then Wilbroda didn’t want to talk at all, but today, two days later, she answered questions and she told us she would like to eat oranges. We told her we would visit her again tomorrow and bring some oranges with us. We were about to leave and Wilbroda got up and she walked a little bit with us outside the ward. Then we took her back in and left.

The whole ward had such a heavy smell of illness, the place was crowded with lots of visitors. The children in the beds looked very sick. Outside in the corridor you would be met by sick children from the other wards. There are 3 wards in this section. The children are standing around along the length of the corridor grouped together talking. There is one child lying on the floor in the middle of the corridor. Some are coming to greet us with hands extended to shake ours. The floor everywhere is all dirty, and around the beds in the ward were crumbs, stains from food, and many places the floor felt sticky under your feet. Can you imagine it? I was wondering if they would clean the floor at the end of the day.

In order to avoid the crowd we took the stairs and walked down, this was done in a more orderly fashion, people were walking down on one side and up on the other and again. Walking down the stairs you just see a sea of heads everywhere.

Home Church Nov 4th

Home Church

When I asked Ryan about church on Sunday he said he is not into African church. He would attend Fireplace - a Sunday afternoon outreach church to the street kids. Most of the Mzungu (white) missionaries go there.

Esther, Rhonda and I made plans to go to church in town. When we got there at 10am, we found out it does not start till 10:45, so we opted to drive into town and see what else we could find. Just as we where turning around, the phone rang. It was Ryan and he invited me to a home church. So we returned home and waited for him to pick us up. He arrived with Pierce and little Root.

The ride was about twenty minutes and the last km or so into the village was rough. The Pastor's two room house had one room, full of sofas, set up for church. The floor is dirt. It was very hot inside so I sat by the door. Esther sat on the porch with three other ladies. There were sixteen people in attendance including three pastors and three nursing mothers. A growing congregation to say the least.

The teaching was on Psalm 1:1-3. You must step outside the box of sin in order to go to heaven. By Christ on the cross, you are redeemed. The sermon was by Pastor Andrew Namazaki - John 15: 1-8 focusing on “If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.” John 15:7

The Congregation is trusting God to provide the money for the Plot they need to buy to build their new building They have $2,500.00 of the $4,000.00 they need, and the plot picked out in the village. This is their big prayer request of the day.

When I was asked to speak (Yes, Marcia I spoke… ) I told them how I had been called to be here today, and I chose to be here; that I am Jewish and Jesus lives in me. These are the days! Many are called but few are chosen. And they had been chosen if they were here today. I declined reading the word and prayed over the offering and closed with ...

The Lord bless you and keep you,
The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up his countenance upon you,
And give you his Shalom

alan in Africa

The trip to Kitale

The trip to Kitale


So after 2 days delay in order to take care of things in Donholm we had a quiet day Wednesday, We went to town and bought a bus ticket and had lunch with Pastor Mark from Athi River. We were back in Donholm by 2 Pm. Lillian came to visit. Esther and Lillian went and said goodbye to Jessica and took her a birthday present. Jessica’s birthday is November 8th, 1993. I lay down and took a nap!!!

I was awoken at 6:00 PM by a call from Elizabeth to tell me she was now back from the hospital with Wilbroda, who was released the day before. Praise the Lord. Esther and Lillian soon arrived and we moved all our bags downstairs and sat down and had a drink waiting for the taxi. There here was no time to go back and visit Wilbroda much to our chagrin. The taxi arrived, we loaded everything and said good bye and off we went to Nairobi for the bus. We had left lots of time since there are often serious traffic jams. About half way to the bus station I realized I did not have my BACK PACK!!!!! It had my laptop in it, passports, wallet, ID, lots of cash (to name a few things) and this is why I hand carry it always. Somehow in the hustle and bustle I had left it at the table in the restaurant - a restaurant in Africa. WOW.

Panic set in. But just as quickly I realized that God had revealed this to me so He was watching over it. This is what I call faith. Still, it is hard to control the physiological and psychological reactions to such a situation. So I prayed and right away I calmed down. John the driver took quick action and headed back through the Industrial area to avoid the jam. I called Murage the manager of the restaurant and he confirmed he had it. Now I needed only that the contents to be intact and to beat the traffic jam in order to make the bus. God was in control and by this point we knew we had made it.

We arrived at 8:40 over ½ an hour early with all intact. Thank God.
The ride was rough but I managed to sleep a few hours and we arrived safe and sound in Kitale. It sure felt good to sleep in a bed and have no rush in the morning to deal with.

alan

Jumo Won! (by alan)

Jumo Won!

( Photo to come)

As reported on Monday October 29 2007.

In the sports section of the Daily Nation

“ In the wheel chair race, Gabriel Jumo posted a faster time of 1:51:09 in the 42 Km race ahead of Dennis Omondi Muga 1:52:00 and Tom Mboya 1:52:27”

Sunday the Nairobi Marathon was held here in Kenya to give you a perspective the fastest runners do it in about 2 ½ hours.

The below excerpt is from my story Favour December 23 2006

“Jumo is a handicapped man who runs a shoe shine on the streets of Nairobi. I first met

Him back in February when I was here. I was very impressed by his positive attitude; compared to most Kenyans, I had met. He was quite happy, and expressed a desire to go to the USA, to race wheelchairs. He has a tricycle that is propelled by hand cranks, that he calls his wheelchair. When I visited Jumo this trip his wheelchair was notably missing, it was out of service, so he was on crutches. I offered to assist him in repairing it and supplying all the parts. This is how I came to be in Dandora after dark. Jumo lives with his wife and 6 children in Dandora.

Esther, Jumo and I, we traveled to his house to inspect the wheelchair. After making a list of parts the wheelchair required we returned to town to get the parts. I soon learned that the parts for the wheelchair are not easy to obtain. Jumo, Esther and I had to walk quite a distance visiting many shops until we found favour. A businessman removed the wheel we needed from a new bicycle and sold it to us. I bought all the parts from him and thanked him. It might seem strange but remember only one type of rear wheel is suitable to be used in the front of this tricycle wheelchair. Esther was not feeling well so we put her in a Matattu (mini bus) home. This is why it was so late by time we got back to Jumo’s house in Dandora and fixed the wheelchair.” We had visited many shops with no success until we found favour.”

After successfully fixing the wheelchair it was dark and time to go home so Jumo escorted me to the bus stage.”

What exactly is a disability? Is it really a handicap? Or an advantage?

If you know my story you know I spent over 2 years of my life on crutches and in a wheel chair as a child

Reporting from Nairobi Kenya taking care of dad’s business

alan.

Jessica

The orphans are 3 sisters named Carol, Jessica, Wilbroda. I want to tell you about Jessica. She will be 14 on Nov. 8th. When I first met Jessica she never spoke a word to me, after a few days the only thing she would say was- thank you.
Pastor Lazarus wife, Elizabeth describe her as getting to be like a city girl. This is a compliment to Jessica. On Sunday we saw Jessica dancing in worship together with other children in her age group. Jessica is doing well. We are happy for her.

This time we meet her again, a year later, she has grown taller and is less shy. And now she is able to talk to us a little. Yesterday she wrote us a note and I want to tell you about it. This is what she wrote:

There is a friend of mine who wants to teach me how to read and even to know how spellings are written pleace I want story books like six of them and a pen and two big books for composition writing pleace.....

This isn't bad after only a year of studying english.

It came into my mind that perhaps there is someone out there who might want to write to Jessica, be her pen-pal. Or you might know someone who is also studying English and wants to practice their writing.
Let us know.

Esther and alan