first impressions

The first thing we noticed when we got off the plane was the smell.  What you find is that the vast majority of 'kitchens' are not attached to the living area and use wood and charcoal as the fuel.  The smoke simply enjoys the same air which you breathe...every breath...all day.  Then there is the trash that is just burning, unattended, over on the side of the road.

Then there are the streets.  We did not see anyone die on the streets while we were there but, seriously...people!  Oh my goodness!  There are people everywhere.  Buses, cars, motorcycles (piki piki), three wheeled taxi thing (tuk tuk), bicycles and bicycle taxis (boda boda) - notice the double word thing goin here - and then people pulling and pushing carts with all kinds of whatever on them, people walking, kids walking, dogs, goats and cows, to name a few things, were all over the road.

Amazing.

 

Don't remember seeing much in the way of traffic signals.  Everyone just goes where they need to go.  All together.  All at the same time.

Amazing.

 

After a several days of almost awkward absence of horns and shouting, I asked James, one of our hosts, if anyone gets angry.  He said they did not. 

Amazing.

 

Apparently, everyone gets that everyone else needs to go there, too.  Just happens.  All together.  All at the same time.

Oh, and did I mention the roads?  Uh, they need just the tiniest bit of attention...

Bicycle repair shops just over there, along the side of the road.  With all the bikes on the streets this makes all kinds of sense.  Anywhere and everywhere, there are misc. little stands along the way, selling their wares.  This includes everything from fruit to minutes for your phone, to clothes, to maze (look it up if you need to) - they just set up shop and try selling whatever they have to sell.

All of this is very new to the eyes.  Most of these are as seen through the windshield of a moving vehicle. This world is so diverse.  This is not a surprise.  Even so, it is very interesting to me.

getting there

For those who do not know the details. 

We left Seattle and flew 5 hours to Washington D.C.  After a couple hours of layover, we headed to Brussels.  About 8 hours.  This was through the night.  We arrived Brussels in the morning, Belgium time. After a trip through the Duty Free shop (for the requisite Belgian chocolate), a swing in to Starbucks (I know, kinda sad, huh?) and a short bus ride we were at the other terminal awaiting our longest leg of the journey.

This was a 10 hour daylight flight only one time zone farther, south to Nairobi.  We landed about 10 p.m.  At customs we were exposed to our first Swahili...karibu means 'welcome', asante means 'thank you', asante sana means 'thank you much'.

We were the last to clear customs before they closed for the night and were now standing on African soil.  We were supposed to meet Nick, Larry's nephew at our gate.  He was not there.  Our first safari ended up being trying to find him.  We looked everywhere and spoke to the local constabulary for help.  Ended up, he had fallen asleep in some room.  In the end, we were all connected.

While all that was going on, we were trying to get our monies exchanged.  This was all more intimidating than I had anticipated.  We felt very exposed during this process.  Being the only mzungus (white people) within sight and the only activity to speak of, all eyes were on us.  We had a very large pile of bags and a very lost look in our eyes!

When changing money you end up getting a fairly significant stack of bills back.  We were getting everything we needed for the entire twelve days in country.  Between us, there were several thousand dollars exchanged for specific projects and costs along the way.  We stepped away from the window trying to figure out what to do with and where to put all the shillings we had received - all in plain view of the locals waiting to 'help' us and take us to our destination.  Fortunately for us, we were headed to the other terminal to settle in for the night.

There was really no place to sleep.  Some chairs and a tile floor.  So, rather than sleep, we stayed awake all night organizing all our brought goods, making them ready for delivery.  Finally, our short flight from Nairobi to Kisumu was ready.  Final approach was out over Lake Victoria.  Pretty cool. 

We landed basically two days after leaving Seattle, not having slept much, ready to begin our 'mission'.  Maybe not really ready...

...uh, ok. Finally.

So, sorry to all you who have been checking for updates. Many of you have already seen pictures and read stories from others who were on our trip. Aren't you glad that they are on it!? This will begin our catch up...

Packed and Ready

That is to say, we are packed but truthfully, not certain how ready we are. We have been working through details and itineraries and gathering some gifts to bring to teachers and kids and tribal leaders...but, oh my goodness, let's go! Seriously!

We can't wait to meet new friends. We can't wait to be new friends. We can't wait to see how God will change us as we go.

We have been praying that the Holy Spirit will minister to our kids while we are away and covet your prayers towards that end, also. They will be busy and involved and we hope that the days will fly by for them while we are gone.

That's it for now.

It's Official!

We are now proud owners of two airline tickets to Kenya, Africa!!!! God blessed us with a wonderful travel agent who helped us find a great deal (comparatively) on our travel itinerary and we couldn't be more excited!

We will leave on Saturday, July 10th and return home on Saturday, July 24th. There are two days of travel on each side so that puts in in Kenya for 12 days. Kenya time is 11 hours later than Seattle so we lose some time on the way there but it will be nice to gain it on the way home. We will travel through Washington DC and Brussels, Belgium on the way to Nairobi, Kenya. From Nairobi, we will catch a small plane to Kisumu where we will be starting our journey.

At this point, we have raised enough money to pay for our plane tickets plus help out one of our team members who didn't have quite enough...yet...!

We still need to raise about $1000 to reach our goal and we believe, without question, that we will. We have been humbled beyond words at some of the checks we have received in the mail. We knew we had a really big financial goal to reach, and to be within $1000 of reaching it, is all God. Thank you to those of you who have been led to give, we are so grateful.

Our next objectives are to get travel insurance purchased, and to get our vaccinations taken care of. At our next meeting, on April 1st, we will continue our discussion of our itinerary in Kenya and what we would like to bring with us to bless the teachers and kids of the schools we will visit.

Thank you for your continued prayers. Please pray for all of our team...Larry, Melanie, Amy, Rachael, Kyle, Chante', Ericka, Keven and Alicia... That our hearts would continue to be readied and that we would be led... Pray for us as we plan our time in Kenya. We want to be where and do what the Lord wants us to. We want to see the people we need to see and help those we need to help.

Thanks again for all of your love and support!

Keven & Alicia

Updates and travel changes

Hello family and friends!

First, let us say Praise God and Thank You for all of the financial support so far! We have raised $3000.00 already...almost 40% of our goal! We are so humbled by God's people and the support and encouragement we are seeing! We still have quite a ways to go and would certainly appreciate your continued prayers for the rest of our funding. We believe HE will provide!

At our meeting on February 3rd, it was decided that we will be traveling to Kenya the last two weeks of July, rather than the first two weeks. This is due to the fact that the World Cup of Soccer is in South Africa from June 16th-July 16th and airfare will be extra steep during that time! We will wait until people are leaving Africa!!!

We were also able to spend quite a big of time talking with two people from Northwest Church in Shoreline, WA who will be coming with us on our trip. This will be Larry's 4th trip to Kenya and Julie's 2nd. They both work very closely with Christian Relief Fund as well. We learned about the AMAZING work that this church and CRF are doing in Kenya.

CRF provides assistance to 420 children that attend the Rig Road Orphan Day School in Kisumu, Kenya, where they receive 3 meals each day in addition to daily classes. These kids all come from the slum around the school each day and are also able to take a bag of food home to their foster parents at least once per month. We will be spending some time at this school and probably doing a VBS program here. www.ringroadorphanage.org

58 children are cared for in nearby Lakeside orphanage where we will be doing some specific work. One of our main objectives on this trip is to see if and where Renovo might want to get more specifically involved on a long term basis. This orphanage is small enough that Renovo could be able to support it! We will most likely be constructing a small building at the school for the grounds keeper who is currently living in a hut.

Child Sponsorship helps 167 children in Eldoret, 64 children in Mombassa, 185 children in Malindi, 10 children in Alara. The Kitale Childrens' Home gives full-time care to 41 children and an additional 89 are sponsored in their own homes in Kitale. CRF sent $16,000 for food relief. $15,070 sent for mosquito nets, fire extinguishers, scholarships, scouting projects and farming. An AIDS Testing and Counseling Center opened in May 2009 and CRF sent $45,600 to cover costs of supplies and staff.

So, as you can see, CRF is doing great work in Kenya! Keven and I are even more excited now to get there and serve God's people.

We would appreciate your continued prayers for this trip...that we would be faithful to this calling, that all of the prep work we have to do would go smoothly, that the people we will meet in Africa will be ready for us and that we will be ready for them! Our kids need your prayers as well. They will be 6 & 4 1/2 when we leave. They will be in very capable hands and are very excited to have some quality time with cousins but 2 weeks is a long time without daddy and mommy. Our prayer is that they will be completely unaffected and instead see their parents choosing to serve the Lord when he asked them to.

Our next meeting is March 4th where we will continue to develop our agenda for our time in Kenya. I will update after that meeting.

Thank you for joining us on this journey.

In the powerful name of Jesus,
Keven & Alicia

We are going to Africa! God has seen fit to give Keven and I an amazing opportunity to serve the people of Kenya for two weeks in July! Some of you are coming to this blog because of a letter you received and welcome! Others of you are here via facebook or referral...welcome to you too! Below is the support letter we sent out seeking partners for our mission trip. We are so excited to see what our great God will do in the next few months as we prepare for this incredible trip.


We trust this letter finds you enjoying the New Year with the realization that God is good…all the time! It is easy for Alicia and me to see God’s goodness as we watch Asher and Tatum grow and change. It is a real joy to discuss with them and teach them about the things that we see and the many needs in our world on a daily basis.
For instance, we speak often regarding the need for good drinking water in Africa and have been able to help provide a couple wells for communities there. Many nights, as we are praying together at bedtime, one of our children will want to pray for “the kids in Africa” which warms my heart every time. They have been jumping right in with us as we minister to some homeless teens in our area and others who are experiencing difficulty in these trying times. It is very cool to see their eyes open to these things at the same time ours do.
Alicia and I are growing and changing, also. We continue to be challenged with what it looks like to serve God, our children and each other. God has given us opportunity to get out of our comfort zone and serve Him in a way that we didn’t expect. As I mentioned, Africa has been a topic of conversation and ministry for our family. So, it is not surprising that God has asked us to step out in faith and go get some firsthand training and experience with the type of work that goes on there.
As a result, we will be traveling this summer to Kenya with a team from our church. We will be serving in Eldoret and Kisumu, Kenya from July 1 – 14. We will be working with Christian Relief Fund in the slums of those two cities. We will be in medical clinics, aids clinics and aids orphanages and we hope to host Vacation Bible School for the children in both cities.
We need your help. We would like you to partner with us and pray, beginning now, that our trip will be blessed and lives will be changed. Asher and Tatum will need your prayers also, as they will not be coming with us. Another way to join our team is by supporting us financially. It will take $8000 between the two of us to make this trip happen. This will cover the cost of airfare, accommodations, immunizations, and other supplies. Our final payment is due April 1st, 2010…no fooling.
Thank you for reading this letter and considering how you will be a part of this exciting journey. You will be able to keep up with us as we blog our way through Africa. We look forward to hearing from you soon!



Thank you for your prayer support! If you do feel led to support us financially, you can use the paypal link on the right side of our blog. You can also contact us personally if you would rather send a check.

"Therefore GO and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age." Matthew 28:19-20

In HIS service,
Keven & Alicia

Christian Relief Fund, Kenya

This is a video from Christian Relief Fund showing the cities in Kenya where we will be working.

I Saw What I Saw