Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Three New Members





We recently recruited three new members of Light and Power to take part in the Center’s mentorship and bag-making programs. The new members replace those who joined secondary school at the beginning of the year. It’s been a lot of fun getting to know these new guys:
(from left to right, James, Abdi, and Ali).

Several Light and Power Members in front of our new sign.

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors


Materials used in fence construction


Fundis level the foundation


Hesbon mixes cement

Daudi paints a metal grill

Children during last week's Saturday Program

With generous support from a U.S. donor and a local corporate sponsor, we have embarked on several major improvement projects at Light and Power. We’ve cleaned and painted the mud covered interior of the house and have just finished building a fence for the front yard. The fence is a huge blessing as it keeps stray goats, cows, and criminals out. It also helps us keep the yard clear of broken glass and ridiculously disgusting refuse left by the thousands of people who walk past the center everyday. Now that we have a fence, we hope to do some landscaping projects soon.

Building a Back Yard




The back yard of Light and Power is still a work in progress. It includes a tomb, an overgrown half-completed house and a variety of other “assets.” We hope to fence this section in the near future and use this space to start a metal works project and girls program. It has a lot of potential if you look beneath the surface.

The Power of Little People

It’s amazing what little people can do. Lately I’ve been working with two Kenyan missionaries preparing for service in Toliara, Madagascar (one of the poorest regions of the world and with nearly 75% believing in witchcraft). We wanted to hold a fundraising event for the mission, and after much debate decided on an afternoon “Tea Party.” I encouraged the guys to invite all of their targeted supporters, and we sent out many invitations, hoping that Nairobi businesspeople would attend, catch the vision, and decide to get involved. On the day of the fundraising event, the crowds were much smaller than we expected. We delayed starting the Tea Party hoping more would show up. We waited and waited and waited. In the end, only 30 young people joined us, and most of them were unemployed students who came only for moral support and free snacks. There were no businesspeople, no suits and ties, just a small group of youth, many of whom came from slums or impoverished neighborhoods. Needless to say, we didn’t have high expectations for the fundraiser, but we decided to continue with our program anyway. Several of the youth shared songs, and we watched a video about Madagascar and discussed the call for cross-cultural service and missions. At the end there was a chance for guests to make an offering or monthly pledge. We waited a few minutes and then collected the baskets with funds and pledge forms. We sealed the cash and pledges, set them aside, and waited till the next day to make our tally. What we found was amazing! Despite the challenges of poverty, the youth were extremely generous. Some donated their hard earned savings. Others promised to raise support and help the missionaries. Several more offered to skip one meal a week for the next three years, pledging the amount spent on the meals in monthly gifts. When all was counted, the little people raised 293,560 ksh (nearly $5,000 USD).

Colossal Cabinet

If you haven’t seen the headlines, watch out for Kenya’s colossal cabinet. The country recently approved a 42-member cabinet complete with 42 Assistant Ministers. This is by far the largest cabinet in Africa and to my knowledge, the largest Government Cabinet in the world. Despite the fact that the majority of Kenyans live in poverty, each of the new Cabinet Ministers will be paid substantially more than their Western counterparts, earning entertainment allowances, security, cars, and up to $150,000 each. The London Times lists Kenya’s annual budget at 5.4 billion pounds. During the next year, they calculated that eighty percent will go to the new ministers and to the basic government operating costs. This leaves just a small fraction for schools, hospitals, roads, infrastructure, and the 37 million other Kenyans who weren’t included in the new coalition government. Most Kenyans are deeply distressed with the cabinet size and with the bloated bureaucracy and corruption that will surely follow. Nonetheless, everyone here is greatly relieved an agreement was reached. Kenyans are willing to pay the price if it means they can live in peace.

Mungiki Mayhem

There is a type of evil in Kenya that rarely rears its head in the U.S. It involves politics and paganism and poor and angry youth, manipulated by leaders with hatred and a thirst for power. The malevolence was witnessed in the post-election violence and appeared again this past week in a more familiar form. . .The Kenya National Youth Alliance is a registered political organization and (not surprisingly) includes supporters in the new government cabinet and in various upper level political posts. The K.N.Y.A. is better known as the Mungiki and is a dreaded pseudo-religious sect and somehow an offspring of the Mau Mau revolutionaries. The Mungiki have a long history of violence and extortion, and were actually responsible for much of the post-election ethnic violence here in Kenya. They are a Kikuyu gang enrolling young men (sometimes through kidnapping, coercion, or bribes), and engaging in bizarre rituals with animal sacrifice. Members take blood oaths of loyalty and submit to a jailed spiritual leader and prophet who founded the group while in high school.

The Mungiki have a stronghold over certain regions of Kenya and are financed largely through extortion schemes. Mungiki members charge monthly “protection fees” to every household in some slums, and require small businesses to cough up a portion of the proceeds. They also demand a daily fee from matatu drivers and public transport vehicles for “allowing” them to use the roads. From time to time passenger vehicles that do not comply are torched and their drivers and conductors are beheaded.

I’ve had several close encounters with the Mungiki. In fact, a few weeks ago I ran into eight hundred of them. It was a Wednesday and I was on my way to Nairobi’s city centre, hoping to meet my landlord and pay the monthly rent. As I entered the city, I found a loud and large gathering of teenage and twenty-something young men shouting slogans. It was mid-morning and shops were open with many wandering about their normal business, pretending not to notice the large crowds of dreadlocked youth. At first I thought the marchers were celebrating the recent peace agreement; they seemed somehow jovial even in their riotous anger, proudly lifting placards and setting piles of rubbish ablaze. Usually the police disperse such crowds swiftly, but there were no forces in sight. Not realizing what was going on, I joined two smartly dressed businesspeople and walked right through the middle of the Mungiki march, taking my normal path to the landlord’s office. Immediately after crossing the road, we all ran for cover. Security forces tossed tear gas and shot live rounds towards the crowd. I dashed into a Barclays Bank as the lobby attendant quickly sealed the doors. . .We were a bit bleary eyed but grateful for the grace to escape such a mad-capped malevolence.

“In my anguish I cried to the LORD, and he answered by setting me free.” – Psalm 118:5

More Farming in Mangu



Here’s another shot of some of our farming partners in Mangu. The rainy season is now well underway and we are praying for a good harvest.

Visa Praise

Thank you for your visa prayers. It is very difficult for Kenyans to get a U.S. visa, especially if they have never visited the states before. But thank God, my fiancĂ©e Lucy was officially approved yesterday! After two and a half hours in line, her interviewer at the consulate told her the embassy normally wouldn’t grant her a visa but decided to make an exception. . .We look forward to being in the U.S. in August.