How do you help someone who has nothing?

This is the question I got to ask myself today (Saturday 19^th). While walking to Nakumatt (the supermarket) my attention was caught by the woman ahead of me who crossed to the other side of the road. It was an odd place at which to cross. As my eyes returned to the path ahead, I see a crumpled figure – a woman – with her child tied on her back as women do here.

The first thought that came to mind was the story of the good Samaritan, and also the song from school with the words “would you walk by on the other side…”

I’ve nothing on me except a Visa card and so I do walk past. I try to gauge if she’s been crying, if she has any energy to help herself and her child. I carry on my way to the bank and then the supermarket.

Walking the isles I’m thinking “what does she need today, at this moment?” In Kenya, maize flour is the staple ingredient – it’s not so expensive but it what she could make the most amount of food from. But does she have a place to cook it? Is she living on the street?

I settle on a bottle of Coke (what Kenyan doesn’t like Coke) and a good sized packet of peanuts – thinking that the child was not so young.

Walking back up the hill from Nakumatt, I’m sort of hoping she’s not there as that means she’s not in such a bad shape. At the same time, I want to be able to give her the Coke and peanuts as I don’t want to go home and enjoy them myself. Looking at the bend coming up, I see her still there. I wait for two slow walking security guards to pass her and then I start my approach.

“Habari.” See looks up. In the awkwardness of the moment I’m already in my shopping grabbing the peanuts and the Coke. “I saw you here on my way to the shops and I thought you might like these.” “Do you have a nyumbani (a home)?” She shakes her head in a ‘no’ sort of way. “I pray that you may be able to find somewhere to sleep tonight.” I make eye contact with the child on her back and say “Sasa!” The child smiles. I’m disappointed to see that the child is younger than I had thought. I hope the peanuts aren’t too much of a problem for him.

As I begin to walk off, I pass the two security guards who are standing, talking to a third. “What’s up with her?” they ask. I tell them she was there earlier and so I thought I’d just chat with her. With pleasantries exchanged, I turn into my road and home.

Since writing this, I have been reminded through a friend's blog that things aren't always so different in Britain: http://onlybestrongandcourageous.blogspot.com/2009/09/blinkered.html

Notes on having a 'mission' in life

Work. This is something I have done much thinking about over the past 21 months in Africa. I remember back in 2004 when applying to UCCF’s Relay Training program, telling them how inadequate I thought I was for the job (or no doubt something like that) and hearing back “we think you’re too hard on yourself.” At this point my internal monologue was saying something like “if only you knew!”

At university, my favourite week of the year used to be missions week – I loved the energy and the hustle and bustle the week or two demanded. Usefulness. Again, when working at a trade union (that will remain nameless) – it might not have been an organisation that was always well organised – but I knew what it felt like to long periods when I was well in my element. In my first ten months there, I don’t recall have one member of the public maintain a raised voice with me, and I would positively enjoy the challenge of appeasing angry Direct Debit customers and answering the questions of confused soles.

Where am I going with this? Well, now days I work with a Christian NGO. I have a ‘ministry’. Surely this is the summit of wellbeing? Not quite. That nagging voice saying I’m not pulling my weight is present and the words I heard at my UCCF interview that “I’m hard on myself” are there also. We are a massively complex organisation that is present in over 70 countries around the world, with a workforce from about as many countries. We do fantastic work with local populations in some of the most inhospitable places on Earth, with never quite enough financial resources. Every now and then there are hurdles and disappoints, difficult conversations, difficult e-mails, misunderstood cross-cultural phone calls and more besides that can be used to eat away at myself and my colleagues.

So besides the obvious needs for regular prayer and the need for a correct view of myself from Scripture, what new insight do I have to offer on the topic? This:

My ministry here and now, is my life here and now. The ways I mix with those around me – Kenyan and expatriate. The way I look to be generous with my time, and with my finances. If I come home from a difficult day at the office, I am thankful that I can at least see the fruit of God bringing me here in other corners of my life.

As I was thinking this all through, these words from the Bible were the ones I came to. I may already have a ministry, but this is the full scale of my ministry and of the churches’ as a whole:

Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

Matthew Chapter 25, verses 34-40

Sunday

• Wake-up


• Breakfast


• Prepare for Sunday school (first week back from holidays baptism of fire)


• Kenyan friend pops in for help and prayer – he then leaves to travel up-country


• Leave for church (via a photocopier at the office)


• Lots of police around as the President of Kenya is nearby


• See a troop (apparently called a gaytard) of baboons crossing the road on the way


• Service begins


• Sunday School starts a few songs in – Kenyan, South African, British, American kids


• Ethiopian food with Cara & Daniel (who had just arrived back from Garissa) and Jacqie from home group


• Job came over at four o’clock with green bananas – cooked some Matoke and chatted. His wife is still waiting for the breast cancer operation


• Job left. Walked Upperhill for an hour – past the British High Commission and Coca Cola Headquarters. Watched the sun set on the city centre, the buildings looked great in the orange glow


• Ate some lite dinner


• Watched some TV boxed-set episodes


• Showered as there’ll be a power cut in the morning (happens Monday, Wednesday and Friday due to the drought and lack of water for the hydro-electric dams)


• Washing-up


• Bed – take my chances on the power still be on when I wake, and I’ll iron a shirt then

The Running Man... 16th kilometre

Good morning! It's Monday, and I'm facing down the challenges for this coming week. I've a knot in my stomach and a sniffle in my nose. I'm a touch concerned about presenting project concepts to European partner organisations in October, I have massive commitments to standing with Kenyan friends in difficult situations at this time and I think I've eaten some poor quality food lately - all these have possibly contributed to the knot. Hopefully, a good productive Monday will help settle me a bit for the rest of the week.

I love trying to make each blog post as different to the previous ones as possible. Today I bring you the first of several videos featuring the lovable John Ommani. This was taken during the Lewa Marathon in June which is run in a game park. Enjoy!

From the archive... 26th January 2008

Here's a blog entry I wrote while in Tanzania during my first week in Africa twenty months ago. I'm wondering if I ever finished writing what I wanted to say. The words still resonate with me, and they bring back the humidity and smell of the African coast which is so different to those in Naiorbi. Anyway, I'll cut myself off before I get into a whimsical ramble... Here's the view to help set the scene...



It’s afternoon. I’m sitting on the balcony of the hotel in Dar es Salaam where I am undergoing orientation on working in Africa. In front of me stretches the Indian ocean from left to right. A multitude of blues and turquoise with a couple of islands and white sandy beaches.

Beyond the plush waterside apartments there is a wake boarder taking advantage of the strong breeze, and around and about there are noises from a couple of quad bikes acting recklessly – these are the affluent in this corner or Dar.

Below all this, on the land adjoining the hotel there is a new neighbour. A mother with a baby tied to her back is building a shack on the wasteland were the remains of two unfinished houses stand – only the foundations and concrete stairs remain. Her shack is made of a few pieces of wood with corrugated metal for walls. I expect that they can see me pretty clearly from where they are.

Just to the left of them on the same plot is another shack, this one with a tree poking through the roof.

Further round to the right a woman looks up at me while collecting wood.

All around there is activity, people coming and going. Tuktuks, known here as daladalas run up and down the street throughout the day, as do the Hiace style minibuses. One pick-up is full of chairs stacked precariously. I’m surprised they haven’t fallen off. I’m surprised the man hanging of the side hasn’t fallen off either.

There are so many questions I could ask myself about how I feel seeing the huge juxtaposition between wealth and poverty. I don’t feel guilty but I do resolve to use what I have wisely; and at the same time look for opportunity to be generous.

Things for an adrenalin junkie to do in Nairobi: #1 Drive past a police check point

I’ve spent the past few days wondering what my next blog entry should be. Nairobi has seemed pretty ‘quiet’ which frankly is the way I like it to be. However, yesterday evening my blog's wishes were answered:

I went out for food with Estabon and Janae, Steve and Marina as the latter couple are leaving Nairobi for the United States this Thursday after a six week working holiday. We went for Ethiopian food at Habesha Restaurant (Ethiopian is the equivalent of going for noodles in that it’s reasonably priced and plentiful). To get there the natural route goes past a police checkpoint, and knowing that I seem to get stopped when I have a car of people, I took an alternate route on the way. On the return trip, I took the direct route. Approaching the checkpoint, in front of me I saw a torch beam waving up and down, urging me to pullover. Window down; exchange of greetings in Swahili. The officer checks the insurance sticker and asks for my driving license – it’s all been checked before so I don’t expect a problem. “Your driving license has expired” he says.
“Let me see that” – not quite believing – I put on a light and read ‘31/3/09’. Oh dear.
Two other police come over including the senior officer. They want me to drive to the police station and appear in court the following morning, or pay the fine then and there – the body language of the officer makes me think that he’s wondering how to fit in the car with here already being four passengers. I explain that I haven’t got the money and would rather go to court as I work with a Christian organization who would like me to get a receipt.
“OK. You’re forgiven. You can go, but you must get it renewed tomorrow.”
“Thank you very much, asante sana!” I say, shaking the hands of every police officer there.
I drove off an illegal but forgiven driver. I drove off promptly, just in case they changed their minds.

"I'm sorry I'll not be able..." :o(

One of the big disappointments when living so far away from the UK is missing all the big events, particularly friends weddings. Saying an apology that I unfortunately will not be able to travel is something that is all too easy to do. Demonstrating the extent to which I would love to be there, and to which I am praying for them and their big day is much harder. A message relayed with a hug from a mutual friend is something I have done before.

This month I have the opportunity to forward on a gift for a friends wedding. With just a few weeks to go, someone form their church is passing through Nairobi, and someone I work with attended that church while at university and so knew this crucial piece of information. I hope to pass the gift on later today :o)

I think God has his hand in these things, and I’m very thankful that he does.

Singleness on the Mission Field

I have a saying: “Everybody has a book on relationships in them.” The way to sell books on relationships is to say what the buyer wants to hear. With relationships and singleness, this is often not the best advice though. In writing on this topic, I'm not saying this is the only view, there are thousands of column inches and hearts poured out on blogs across the internet. I hope that my personal view will give you a little window into one aspect of my life in Nairobi, and life as a single guy on the mission field.

On the missions field, it seems to hold true that there are more women than men serving, and of those who are single there are many times more women than men – here is one quote posted on the website OSCAR:

In a 2002 personal interview, a woman working with Operation Mobilization reported that of the 100 people working with her agency in one Asian country, 60 were women and 40 were men; and in ratios that seem fairly typical, these included 35 married couples, 25 single women, and five single men. Colleagues currently studying in Yemen say the expatriate community in their city includes 26 couples, two single men, and 21 single women. http://oscaractive.ning.com/forum/topics/shocking-mission-statsfacts

The same appears true of the Christian organisations in Nairobi and across Africa.

When Skyping a female friend of mine in Asia, she wrote

“You know what is scary... that we have many single women in such and such a place. I am scared of that [singleness]. ...You can't understand because you are a guy … there are like hundreds of women around you. You can choose and date etc.”

As the statistics earlier suggested, I spend a lot of my time working and socialising with women who are often single. Should I be 'playing the field'; working my way through the possible dates one at a time? I personally do not see that this would be honouring to God or respectful of my female colleagues and friends. Through the past year and a half, I think that I am increasingly trying to not appear ambiguous in how I am with my female friends and colleagues, as I acknowledge that I am in a cross-cultural environment, and an environment that can generate its fair share of rumours. Being the centre of relationship rumours is sometimes quite tempting, because we want to be in relationship and more often than not answer yes to the question “Are you dating so and so” – it’s affirms us as a ‘normal’ and successful among our peers. It is also tempting to believe this as God speaking through these rumours, and this is shaky ground which can lead to disappointment with God and confusion that his plan has seemingly not worked out.

In the past few months, the question that I have come back to when thinking these things through is ‘to what extent are our modern notions of dating and the need for a girlfriend or spouse selfish in the eyes of God – for example, how much time do I spend so much time praying for God to open this particular door?’ What about everything else I could be praying for – certainly there are a lot of needs to pray for among friends in Nairobi and in the wider affairs of Kenya. I wonder if this is perhaps in part what Paul means by the gift of singleness – to be content as a single is to not waste time lamenting the fact in prayer but to be set free from thinking about ourselves, our image and our circumstances to things that are higher and much more crucial – evangelism and discipleship for example.

I want to believe that friendships with other Christians can be just are rewarding as those between spouses. If this is not the case, then the gift of singleness is less weighty that the gift of marriage. This quality of relationship is what I have desired to invest in with my friends over the past few years. I don’t want my friendship to plateau, I want to keep climbing higher with them.

By closing, there are two verses that I would like to share:

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” (Matthew Chapter 5 Verse 6) – Am I hungering; am I thirsting after righteousness? Where should the desire for marriage be in relation to this?

‘Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.’ (Ephesians chapter 3 Verse 20) It's so easy to watch films, read books and from these insert our own narratives into God's perfect will. Yet God can do more than we can ever ask of think, and so with this in mind we should simply lay our desires at his feet, let him share the ox yoke or whatever other metaphor we choose. He is a father who loves to give good gifts to his children (Luke Chapter 11 Verse 13), and as with all good gifts, they are often a total surprise.

Please feel free to add comments and urge corrections to this - my hope is that this may be useful in discussion for those preparing to work on the mission field.

AIM Air plane crash

On Saturday, Africa Inland Mission lost a colleague - pilot, friend, husband in a plane carsh. I believe the pilot was Frank, who is shown here refueling the plane we used to reach northern Kenya when visit a project in May 2008. My prayers are with his family here in Kenya as the challenges much look insermountable. Two passengers and an AIM mechanic survived. Below is the initial news release from AIM Air: (AIM Air's website)

An accident occurred on August 1, with an AIM Cessna 206. It occurred around 2:30PM (EAT) near the Nairobi Wilson Airport. There were four people on board; AIM AIR pilot Frank Toews, AIM AIR mechanic Ryan Williams and two Americans. At this time there is still medical evaluation being done but this is what we know: The two passengers have some broken bones, minor burns, cuts and bruises. They are both being kept in the hospital for treatment and further evaluation. Ryan Williams' injuries currently include a fractured pelvis, multiple contusions and some significant burns. However, his prognosis is good and he is receiving good medical attention in Nairobi. Frank Toews, the pilot, did not survive the accident and has gone to be with the Lord and Savior whom he loved dearly and served well.

Please pray with us, specifically for the timely return for health of those who are injured, their families, and particularly for Frank's wife and 4 children as they trust God for strength and comfort during this difficult time.

We are trusting God, with all of you, to show Himself to be good, even beyond our expectations and understanding of what good could mean, in a situation like this.

Denny Dyvig
AIM AIR General Manager

Peter's epoch ending event and the trip to Lake Naivasha, return via Hell

Had a wonderful overnight trip to Naivasha a couple of weekends back together with three friends. Spent time chatting and appreciating the scenery. I had been to the graduation of Peter (from church) earlier on the day, and in spite of the winter weather the sun worked it's magic over 2 hours and 45 minutes to make my forehead a touch redder than I like. On the plus side, I won 20 shillings in a sweepstake on what time the graduation would finish. And even more on the plus side, I really enjoyed the occasion and am chuffed for Peter.

At Peter's graduation.

The channel out onto Lake Naivasha.

The immense geology of Hells Gate National Park.