I Live in a Hut!

West Africa Cardboard Testimonies

My friends in West Africa made this at one of their meetings. It's very powerful!

My Summer Project in Kansas

Hey all -- Many ask what I've been doing in Kansas. So, I'm posting some photos of my summer project -- flowers. Yes, that's right -- I have a green thumb - something most people don't know.

For me, it's always relaxing to dig in the dirt. It seems to help me think and for the troubles to go away. So, I spent a LOT of time doing it this summer.

FamilyFest, Kansas City, Kansas

The four-year-old stretched as high as he could, bubbles splashed down on his face as he stretched just one more inch on his tippy toes. The Ford F-150 was just too tall for him to wash it properly, but that didn't stop him from ministering to the community alongside his parents and older siblings.

The family took part in WMU's FamilyFest in Kansas City, Kansas, recently. The volunteer missions event attracted families from 10 different states to the metro area. They partnered with local churches in reaching the surrounding community.

Youth groups volunteered, too. Going from an all-adult volunteer team who meticulously painted the church sanctuary to 35 youth enjoying a good paint fight in the fellowship hall was a blast and kept the day very diversified. The youth made up songs throughout the week. My favorite (and their's, too) was the "Paint thinner" song -- only sung as you cleaned the paint brushes at the end of the day.

Besides helping the community, events like this help entire families minister together. Several families used this event as their family vacation. Parents said they wanted to teach their children about serving God and volunteering.

One 10-year-old boy, dripping wet from a water fight during the car wash, stopped talking to kids in the community long enough to answer my question about if he liked doing mission projects. "Are you kidding me?" he said. "Fun and God all mixed into one week. We have to come back next year. This is the best vacation EVER!"

On Stateside Assignment (furlough)

Hey All

Just a note to say that I'm in the States on Stateside Assignment (furlough). I'm taking it a year earlier than normal. I'm in Kansas. Let me hear from you guys! It will be good to catch up face-to-face!

Red River, New Mexico

The hills (and gushing river) were alive with the sound of music -- ah!

Took a nice relaxing vacation in Red River, New Mexico up in the Rockies. It was nice and cool.

I'm not much of a fisherperson, but I come from a family who loves to fish. I normally just take a book and enjoy the great outdoors -- or go hiking. This trip, however, I took up fishing.

Did you know that when you fish, you can stare off into nothingness, never use words but grunt instead, not take a shower for days and no one considers you off your rocker? I mean, you're not crazy -- you are considered a normal weekend warrior at the lake or river!

I caught a couple fish -- everyone else in the family caught MANY fish and big fish. Oh well - the view, peace and solitude was worth it all.

United States

Hey, Just a quick note to say I'm hanging out in the States for a couple of months. I'm taking a break from African conflicts. Hopefully, I'll be back home in June.

Thanks for reading up on my blog. I'll try to put some stuff up while I'm in the States.

Sue

Lost Children of Kenya's Post-Election Violence

UNICEF estimates more than 40 percent of the 600,000 internally displaced people in Kenya are children.

Many of the children are in the camps without parents or adult relatives. Often, parents begged and pleaded for their kids to get on a truck heading to a church, police station or camp. The adults stayed behind to guard their house and property.

Now, many are seperated and lost. The Kenyan Red Cross and UNICEF work hard to reunite these families. For children above the age of five, the success rate is often high. The children below the age of five often have problems communicating who their parents are or what part of Kenya they are from.

Advertisements in newspapers and radios are inundated with names or photos of children who are lost for the moment.

Pray these families will be reunited.

Thank God that many orphanages and churches opened their doors to these lost children - keeping them from entering the dangerous camps.

Pray for children in the internally displaced camps. Pray for their safety and that they are getting food and other essentials. Many times in the camps, the children are raped or beaten for their food.

Ruth's Song

Here's a song written by my friend Ruth, an internally displaced Kenyan. Her family sings it from inside their makeshift shelter. Photos accompanying are mine and a few from a friend.

One Love- Kenya Unite!

This is a great collage of photos. Most of these photos are from some of my journalist friends. This guy did a good job putting this together. It really captures the mood the first month of this chaos.

Thousands Move

Piled high on top of a bicycle were chairs, household goods, and pretty much anything else that could be transported.

Monday through Wednesday proved to be an unexpected moving day for hundreds of thousands who joined the ranks of the displaced. The tribe that was previously being kicked out of their homes decided to retaliate. This sent thousands packing for the displaced camps. The number of displaced are now around 600,000.

My favorite little camp is no longer "little." This is a camp that the Baptists unofficially adopted. For an entire month, we provided food, water, blankets, plastic tarps for the hundreds seeking shelter at this camp.

Then, in one night -- the camp population jumped to about 6,600. There's absolutely no room at this camp. It is on a small police station compound. It is probably the size of two lots in the States. Imagine housing almost 7,000 in that space -- not to mention, cooking area, laundry, toilets, and storage for everything that was saved from their houses.

Needless to say there's only narrow paths to walk between tents and piled up goods.

Please pray for my Kenya Red Cross Volunteer friends at this camp. They were holding up very well until the influx of people. They are young Kenyans. They are volunteering - meaning no pay -- in a camp that does not have people from their own tribes. Their families are worried about their safety, but these young volunteers (about age 20) want to be a part of the solution and not a part of the problem.

Pray for the almost 7,000 people in this camp. Pray for their health and that there will be enough food and shelter. Pray that they will be able to return home soon.

Rift Valley Province

I took a journey to the worst hit areas in Kenya by this post-election violence. The roads were not safe to travel alone, so I flew. Flying over the area, you could see places that were once villages but now are blackened ash on the landscape.

People still live in fear here. (Well, we still do in Nairobi, too.) But, these people have felt the worst violence. One pastor told me that people from eight different tribes worshipped together on Sunday morning and by Sunday night, they had all turned on each other.

Many of our Baptist churches in this area were either burned or looted.

There are thousands staying in Internally Displaced camps. One camp I visited had more than 20,000 households. There are so many people there, the Red Cross is only keeping track of households and not individuals.

One of the most distressing things in this area is how things were burned. Walking down the business road with all of the store fronts, you can see two stores burned and looted, then you see a store that is just fine and still open. Then, you see a few more burned out stores, then a patch of normalacy again. It's very distressing because it shows that these burnings were picked according to tribal affiliation.

Pray for the Rift Valley Province. They live in constant fear. The pastors I drove around with would barely get out of the car -- even when I hired an armed escort.

Mass Funerals

There were two days of peace this week -- well, let me rephrase that -- two days of "almost" peace. These days were set aside so everyone could bury their dead.

In Nairobi, hundreds of people walked down the road holding branches (a symbol of peace). They walked in front of huge trucks loaded down with caskets.

There were around 35 caskets at the mass funeral I attended. Friends carried the casket to a table bearing the dead person's name. The caskets were placed under a tent.

Kenyans then pass next to each casket - weaving in and out. It was total chaos and no "personal space" allowed.

My heart sunk when I heard women wailing. We don't really do that at American funerals, but it is cultural here. Some people are still professional wailors -- just like Biblical times. Anyway, the mood was quite somber.

These people were lifted up as heroes for "the cause." I don't think hero status really comforted the grievng families.

I'm having a hard time writing about what I experienced here. So, you'll just have to experience it through my photos.

Story link

Here's a link to my organization's website. There, you'll see a multi-media presentation on Kenya. And you can find other stories I've written about this incident.

http://www.imb.org/main/default.asp

Let it rain!

We thought there would be a reprieve of the riots and violence, but word just came out that the opposition party is calling for the protests to continue through this next week.

Please continue to pray. Last week, the protests got pretty violent, but not as bad as everyone expected. I credit that to God. It just "so happened" that it rained all three days of the planned protests. Now while that may not sound like a big deal, it's actually a miracle. It is dry season in Kenya and we were not expecting rain until the end of February.

I talked to a friend in a part of Kenya where there are no riots or violence and they are completely dry, with no rain or cloudy skies. In the towns where the most protests are happening -- it rained off and on for three days straight!

Faith of a Child

Nothing is sweeter than hearing a church full of children pray!

I ran into the neatest story over the weekend. In one of the Nairobi slums, a group of children began gathering every afternoon at the Baptist church. They gather everyday to pray for their nation.

The pastor told me they started showing up on their own about two weeks. He just opened the door and let them in. Everyday, the number of children coming to pray grows. The day I visited, they squeezed about 226 in this small, tin shack.

They trekked through the sticky mud. Waded through water. Ran through the rain to pray for their country.

One of the older kids, 17-years-old, said the pastor always tells them God hears their prayers, so, the youth decided to start praying for peace. They brought their younger siblings because they were babysitting them. Soon, word spread and more and more and more children came. The age range of those praying is from 3 to 17.

The pastor said since the children started praying, there has been no violence in their part of this slum. No one has died. No houses have been burned.

Let me tell you, nothing touches your heart more than when you hear a three-and-a-half-year-old pray, "God, people die. Please don't let anyone be killed in front of my house again."

The prayers of children may indeed be what saves Kenya!

Tear Gas

Tear gas hurts your eyes, burns your nose and throat and is - in general, very uncomfortable. Not sure how many times this has happened to you -- but I've had one too many tear gas bombs blow up next to me this week.

In one day, I was gassed four or five times.

No, I wasn't creating riots. The police and riot police turned on the journalists one afternoon. We were waiting for the demonstration to start. I think everyone was bored. The police shot over our heads. They charged us with horses and ran at us with their sticks waving and shields up.

The funny thing about doing this to journalists is that no one runs away or really budges. The video guys just start rolling film, trying to get a good, tight shot. The photographers snap as many pictures as they can to capture the action. Reporters start screaming questions at the top of their lungs - "Why are you charging us? Do you care to comment?"

Don't think I'm only making jokes about the situation in Kenya. It is serious business here. But, I am getting tired of tear gas, bullets, police chases, fires, etc. The Kenyan people are even more tired of it than I am (after all, I'm a journalist looking for a good story).

Pray for the police to have proper restraint. Many of them do not really believe in what they are being asked to do. Sometimes, emotions and the fact that someone is threatening your life can cause the police to react with severe force. Other times, police just do these kinds of thing. Pray for restraint and for wisdom on behalf of the police and military.

Displaced Children

Imagine the dilema of protecting your garden and house, which has been in the family for generations, and keeping your children safe...

Many in Kenya are being forced to make that decision as election violence continues in Kenya.

Around 40 percent of the 250,000 internally displaced people are children. Their parents find a way for the children to get to safety, while they stay behind to protect their home, belongings and garden (which is what most Kenyans' livelihood is based on).

It's a normal thing here for older siblings to practically raise the younger ones. But even so, an eight-year-old travelling a hundred miles on the back of a stranger's truck with her 15-month-old sister strapped to her back will make any mother nervous.

At most of the camps, the children far outnumber the adults. At the camp I visited today, one Kenyan volunteer kept the kids busy by playing games. One of our missionary kids joined in the fun and said it was a "great day." My friend (and fellow missionary), Sandy spent the morning hold babies so their older siblings could play the games.

School starts next week in Kenya -- after a one week delay due to all of this chaos. Many of these kids will not be able to return home for months. Pray that the government can figure out a way to make sure these kids don't get behind in their studies. Pray that their minds will continue to be stimulated, instead of just sitting in the camps bored to death.

Rift Valley Province

Went to visit the Rift Valley Province yesterday. At this internally displaced people camp, there were about 3,500 Kenyans with more filing in every second.

They came on big trucks. They had any belonging they could manage to get on a truck. Many came with their couches, chairs, mattresses, etc. all piled high. Others came with only the clothes on their backs.

The showgrounds normally looks pretty spacious, but yesterday - pretty much every little space was in use. There was a clinic, a counseling area, food storage, clothing piles, even a comedian entering the crowds. In the only small open space, teenaged boys played soccer with a deflated basketball.

Baptists in Kenya have donated a lot of food to many of these camps, as well as blankets. They are distributing it in six of the major hot spots in Kenya. One of the elder Baptist pastors said he's never seen anything like this. He said this has gone past election violence to something he never thought would happen here -- Christians raising their hand against another simply because of what ethnic group they belong to.

"We used to think this way back in the old days. Kikuyu and Luo thought differently," he said. "But when Jesus Christ came to our country, all of that changed. During the Great East African Revival of 1936, these areas that in the most conflict now became Christian areas. We began thinking of ourselves as brothers in Christ and not as enemies."

One really neat thing that has come out of this conflict is Kenyans helping Kenyans. In past conflicts like this, elders said Kenyans did not respond like this. They wanted to help others but did not have the means or power to do so.

You should have seen the lines of Kenyans bringing in a sack of clothes or vegetables from their own small gardens. Thousands of Kenyans have been displaced but millions of Kenyans are reaching out with a helping hand.

Internally Displaced Peoples of Kenya

Spent the day working at an internally Displaced camp today with my church's youth group.

Don't have much time to write about it tonight - but wanted to share some photos. These people all came from the Rift Valley province in a truck. Many had relatives die. Some said they fled their burning houses with only the clothes on their backs.

My church and the IMB donated food for these people. Other churches donated clothing and mattresses.

Kenyan National Day of Prayer

Church was quite the event Suday.

First, most people had not seen each other since Christmas Day service. Elections in Kenya were just a few days later. For the entire next week, thinks turned into chaos. Election riots turned into ethnic animosity. (Many international media accounts are calling it a genocide, but most Africans HAVE seen or experienced genocide and say it is still at the animosity stage.)

People stayed in their homes. They kept in touch through text messaging. Some in my church were beaten. Some had houses burned, Others went without food.

In general, people were just glad to see each other and be alive!

Second, today was the National Day of Prayer, so we spent a lot of time in prayer. It was very humbling hearing my fellow church members pour their hearts out, praying for unity.

One woman apologized to God for the sins of the country and asked for his forgiveness. The pastor talked about loving people and not drawing ethnic lines.

Third, after church, everyone just hung around outside chatting – enjoying being together.

Tonight on EVERY television station was a one-hour Day of Prayer show. That was quite interesting. Just about every faith represented in Kenya had a presence – Catholic, evangelical, Hindu, Islam, Jaine, etc.

The television show was totally amazing. Just thinking about millions of Kenyans watching it all at one time and praying for their nation gives me goose bumps!
This chaos in Kenya is not over. There were a few mo

See My articles

Article 1
http://www.bpnews.net/BPnews.asp?ID=27126

Article 2
http://www.bpnews.net:80/BPnews.asp?ID=27137

Friday's Uneasy Peace

I went out again today. Most people ventured out of their houses in the Nairobi area. There's an uneasy calm. Public transport started running again. Businesses opened.

Everyone wore running shoes today. May not sound abnormal, but for a society that does everything in flip-flops, wearing athletic shoes to work or to the store is a major cultural shift! There were rumors that another rally would take place at city centre. Everyone knew that if it happened, violence would erupt again. No one wanted to get caught out in the open, thus the reason for the comfortable athletic shoes!

I ventured to Kibera today. It was a "no go" zone yesterday and probably what most of you saw on television. They burned tires. Police shot tear gas in the crowds. Police brought out the water cannon trucks to control the angry rioters.

Today was a different story. People strolled about in search of food and just happy for the short break from the violence.

It's been a long and exhausting day. I walked through a market that I frequent on the edge of Kibera. It's where I go find used clothes. The market is no longer there. Last night, the young men rioting burned it all down. Now, it's just acres of smoldering ash!

Stayed tuned for more updates...