Kenya, August 25
Last time I wrote we were on our way to Mombasa, on the coast of Kenya, for the weekend. We arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we left Mombasa on Sunday evening.
Mombasa has beautiful beaches lining the Indian Ocean, and we spent the first day there swimming. After dinner in the evening, Dave and I went to the patio where a live band was playing. The band was fun and entertaining.
The church we visited on Sunday morning was pastored by a man named Jaakko, a good friend of Daryll and Verna’s. The church, named Word of Life, doubled as a school and was located in the center of a slum. After Pastor Jaakko graduated ANU, he felt God calling him to build a church in Mombasa. The church/school was initially built with mud and grass, like many of the buildings in the poor areas of Kenya (which is an awful lot of them), but the building soon deteriorated.
The members and school children began praying for the money to build a new building, but no money came. Instead, El Nino came. The heavy rains basically destroyed the building, leaving the people to wonder why God wasn’t answering their prayers.
Shortly after El Nino, Dave felt compelled to send a donation to Daryll and Verna’s ministry, which they sent to Jaakko. Along with Dave’s donation and others, the church’s prayers were answered and they were able to begin building a new church building.
However, they eventually ran out of water to mix cement, and construction on the church had to stop. They began instead digging a hole for a latrine, and they were surprised to hit water after they started digging. Again God had answered their prayer.
Today the school has around 250 students, and it also sleeps several orphans at night. They are praying that the student body will continue to grow and more people will come to know God.
The church had about fifty people attending, and the first hour was spent in song. The crowd was small compared to many American churches, and the only instruments were a pair of bongo drums and a tambourine, yet the church worship was louder than many congregations in America even with our high-tech sound equipment.
Daryll preached the sermon, and then Daryll, Verna, and Pastor Jaakko performed a baby dedication. The entire service lasted about 2 ½ hours.
After church, we went to Pastor Jaakko’s house for lunch. His wife had just a baby two weeks earlier. This made the total family members (and orphaned children) living in the house nine. The lunch she served was rice and beans.
The dichotomy between the beautiful coastline resorts and the nearby slums was hard to see. I find it hard to comprehend how there can be people in this world with so little and so much coexisting so closely.
Today we had another opportunity to visit the Kenya office of the International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a non-profit organization that helps bring justice to the oppressed. The first story we had the opportunity to hear today was from one of the employees at IJM.
When he was a bank teller, his bank got robbed. He was working during the bank robbery, and he was arrested by the police and charged with the crime. Of course he was innocent, but this did not stop the police from torturing him day after day for five days. They would move him from police station to police station so his family could not find him. After five days the police realized he was not the robber, but they needed to cover their abuse and locked him in jail. He was in jail for nearly three years when IJM came to his rescue. With their team of lawyers and case workers, they were able to get enough evidence to get the man out of prison. Since then, he has been working with IJM to bring the justice he received to others.
After spending the morning with the IJM Kenya office, Dave and I had the opportunity to visit a victim of sexual abuse currently awaiting trial. IJM is fighting to get the victim’s perpetrators behind bars. If you want to learn more about IJM’s work, visit their website.
Mombasa has beautiful beaches lining the Indian Ocean, and we spent the first day there swimming. After dinner in the evening, Dave and I went to the patio where a live band was playing. The band was fun and entertaining.
The church we visited on Sunday morning was pastored by a man named Jaakko, a good friend of Daryll and Verna’s. The church, named Word of Life, doubled as a school and was located in the center of a slum. After Pastor Jaakko graduated ANU, he felt God calling him to build a church in Mombasa. The church/school was initially built with mud and grass, like many of the buildings in the poor areas of Kenya (which is an awful lot of them), but the building soon deteriorated.
The members and school children began praying for the money to build a new building, but no money came. Instead, El Nino came. The heavy rains basically destroyed the building, leaving the people to wonder why God wasn’t answering their prayers.
Shortly after El Nino, Dave felt compelled to send a donation to Daryll and Verna’s ministry, which they sent to Jaakko. Along with Dave’s donation and others, the church’s prayers were answered and they were able to begin building a new church building.
However, they eventually ran out of water to mix cement, and construction on the church had to stop. They began instead digging a hole for a latrine, and they were surprised to hit water after they started digging. Again God had answered their prayer.
Today the school has around 250 students, and it also sleeps several orphans at night. They are praying that the student body will continue to grow and more people will come to know God.
The church had about fifty people attending, and the first hour was spent in song. The crowd was small compared to many American churches, and the only instruments were a pair of bongo drums and a tambourine, yet the church worship was louder than many congregations in America even with our high-tech sound equipment.
Daryll preached the sermon, and then Daryll, Verna, and Pastor Jaakko performed a baby dedication. The entire service lasted about 2 ½ hours.
After church, we went to Pastor Jaakko’s house for lunch. His wife had just a baby two weeks earlier. This made the total family members (and orphaned children) living in the house nine. The lunch she served was rice and beans.
The dichotomy between the beautiful coastline resorts and the nearby slums was hard to see. I find it hard to comprehend how there can be people in this world with so little and so much coexisting so closely.
Today we had another opportunity to visit the Kenya office of the International Justice Mission (IJM). IJM is a non-profit organization that helps bring justice to the oppressed. The first story we had the opportunity to hear today was from one of the employees at IJM.
When he was a bank teller, his bank got robbed. He was working during the bank robbery, and he was arrested by the police and charged with the crime. Of course he was innocent, but this did not stop the police from torturing him day after day for five days. They would move him from police station to police station so his family could not find him. After five days the police realized he was not the robber, but they needed to cover their abuse and locked him in jail. He was in jail for nearly three years when IJM came to his rescue. With their team of lawyers and case workers, they were able to get enough evidence to get the man out of prison. Since then, he has been working with IJM to bring the justice he received to others.
After spending the morning with the IJM Kenya office, Dave and I had the opportunity to visit a victim of sexual abuse currently awaiting trial. IJM is fighting to get the victim’s perpetrators behind bars. If you want to learn more about IJM’s work, visit their website.
posted by Lindsay | 12:37 PM
1 Comments:
I am so glad you are blogging again, it's wonderful to hear about your trip. Safe travels - I'm thinking of and praying for you!
Love, Erin
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