Bad Blogger

Hello all...

I know-we have been terrible with the updates over the past couple of weeks.

Here is a sneak preview of the stories and pictures that will come after the re-entry into the land of highspeed. Until then, this is our last greeting from the southern hemisphere for a while.

• Camping with the Dagoretti Guys, eating nyama choma and getting close and personal with a lion
• Farewells to all of our local peeps...friends, pastors, leaders, frisbee players, teaching partners, family members...lots of food, lots of blessings and invites galore to return.
• Significant time in getting the masters program up and rolling and in a spot where it will run smoothly from afar.
• A trip to a 14th Century Swahili Island in the Indian Ocean with Gideon and Mwix
• Getting our last (hopefully last) round of the stomach biology experiments in...I am taking my cipro as I type.

Tomorrow at 11:20, we enter a 777 and jet out to London...a few days to rest, to reflect and to re-energize followed by a Wednesday afternoon flight to to SEATAC airport. Get ready tasty cheeses, root beer, smooth roads, ice cream, high speed internet and evening walks-we are going to devour you!

Ugandan Delight

A Thursday afternoon in June marked an interesting point in our time in Kenya. A good friend of ours, David brought us into the heart of Nairobi to share a meal and his life story. The Ugandan restaurant, set in the middle of someone’s one bedroom house was tasty and the people were amaed to see their first set of wazungu (white people) using their bed as a bench. I am not sure if I have ever felt more cramped in a restaurant, nor would OSHA approve, but it was a unique experience to say the least.

David’s life story is far from anyone’s that I have yet to meet. You have to understand his character a bit before diving in…he is all laughs. There were times when there wasn’t much to laugh about in Kenya this year, nor can you get to the sarcasm that you can enjoy with people from your own culture for fear of being misunderstood. David was our go-to guy in being OK with being misunderstood and laughing along the way. He is an outspoken politician, wanna-be church leader restaurant owner working in Mathare while also spending considerable time at the Inspiration Center, a community center for kids.

He allowed us to peer in behind his laughter and learn a bit of his hard past. He spent years of his life as a robber, thug and running from the police, helping him understand the ways of those in hard places in Nairobi who have little to hold on to other than criminal activity. He understood the post-election violence differently than you or I ever will, yet has somehow developed a new perspective on life. Time in jail, 4 gunshot wounds, memories of running for his life and seeing his closest buddies dead in ditches shape his worldview. His laughter is far from a coverup, and closer to an authentic realization that each day alive is a blessing, regardless of where you have come from.

The beginning of the end...

In less than 3 weeks, we will be sitting in traffic on I-5 heading wouth toward Tacoma. We can't believe how fast this year has gone. As we near the end of our time here, we have been busy cramming in all of the experiences that we never got around to...

Enjoying the new property of Tumani Children's Home!



Mandy livin' it up with her teaching crew


Watching Samara grow up...and learning about parenting (and patience) in the process!


Hording the scenes and moments that we will miss back in the states...

The Masters

Tiger Woods and Phil Nickelson may be a long ways away, but we have officially launched the Nairobi Masters program in partnership with CTM, Carlile College and Bakke Graduate University. With 24 currently enrolled and 5 eagerly awaiting acceptance, the response has been overwhelming.

CTM Director Kris Rocke (the white one) and Mile High Ministry Director Jeff Johnsen facilitated the first intensive of the program last week. The first two days, which were open to the broader community, attracted over 100 local leaders. The two training days to follow were only open to those that are officially part of the CTM Nairobi Masters Cohort. Kris and Jeff were in their prime in “disorienting” the students and forcing them to think critically about their role as urban ministers. We often sat back and chuckled as they found a way to maneuver in tricky spaces around theological, cultural and social landmines. I don’t know of many others that could tread these tracks.

Collectively, we explored what it looks like to see the incarnational nature of Christ in the slums of Nairobi. This was good news to rise up against the prominent Africa prosperity gospel that justifies the circumstances that people find themselves in through God’s blessings and curses. Could it be that there are blessings hidden within the slums than we might think?

Their time in Nairobi allowed us to review our year here and gave us permission to think strategically about what the future holds for CTM Nairobi. We were able to sift through some of the challenges and successes of the past and capture some of the current energy and explore some new possibilities. With the program masters program off the ground, we certainly have our work cut out for us, but are confident that local leadership will continue to provide a way forward.

This process has taught us a great deal about education in various contexts. We came into the year with our own ideas of higher education based on our own experiences in the states but soon learned that there are obstacles to get around here in Kenya. A few examples:

• As of this January, education is supposed to be free for everyone up to form 4 (the completion of high school). In actuality, it costs the equivalent of two months rent each 3 month term. While rent is very cheap in some places, incomes are low.
• Because of a lack of access to technology, the expectations between high school and university curriculum are drastically different. Students are well prepared in knowledge content, but struggle with communicating ideas.
• The Kenyan mode of education is incredibly classical. With the 3 R’s as top priorities and a high regard for structure, it makes are American education look like a bunch of play-dough degrees.

We are eager to see where this will all go. We invite you to learn more about the partner institutions by visiting their respective websites: Bakke Graduate University, CTM and Carlile College.

IDP Concert

There are still thousands of people living in camps throughout Kenya following the 2007 election violence. One of our close friends and organizational partners reached out to his community by hosting a concert at one of the urban camps on the outskirts of Nairobi. With diminishing hope for quick solutions and few people paying attention to the reality they find themselves in, it ws a cool way to honor those that have gone through hard times in recent months. A few pictures to capture the day...

Dagoretti 4 Kids goes 6-0!

Last weekend, we hosted Nairobi’s 3^rd annual Ultimate Frisbee Festival. We had 6 teams, 80+ players, sponors, good food and lots of fun. We co-facilitated the event with another teacher from Mandy’s school that plays on a national team in Canada. Many of the participants came from the 25-30 people that come out on Fridays and Sundays to play pickup games each week. They were a huge help in pulling all of this together!

In years past, this event has always been a fundraiser for a local organization doing work with kids in the community. In years past, proceeds went to an organization, they occasionally came out for the day to watch and at best, were somewhat involved. This was not the case this year. We decided to work with a group of kids that had never played ultimate frisbee during the month before, teach them how to play and form a team to enter into the tournament. It was in the spirit of all of this that we were able to go 6-0 in the tournament. Here’s a quick summary of our wins.

1. We taught 15-20 kids how to play a new game that they will likely hold onto in the near future. Teaching them the basics and providing the basic equipment, it was fun to rally them around a new activity.
2. The improvement from the first time that we played to our last game was incredible! You have to imagine that most of the kids had never seen a frisbee before. They thought it was a plate or something that you throw to a dog. All of the teams commented on how well these guys had done for only playing the game for one month.
3. We were able to build new relationships with a great group of guys that we may have never had the opportunity to spend time with. There is something about enduring competition together. It allowed us to connect with the leaders of the org as well as a great group of guys with a tough past.
4. We were able to raise 75,000 Ksh (approx. $1300 USD) for the organization. All of the t-shirts, food and drinks were sponsored by local businesses and the regular group of frisbee players.
5. We were able to help some of our expat friends in Nairobi gain a bit of insight into the lives of local stories. In many cases here in Nairobi, there is a huge gap between the international and local community. This was a way to bring people together in a fun and non-threatening way. Many of our friends from abroad expressed interest in visiting the dagoretti project and playing games in their area.
6. Despite the fact that we didn’t win any games, the guys had a postivive attitude, encouraged one another and set a great example for other teams. People commented left and right on their attitude and politeness to each of the teams that we encountered.

This was an incredible experience for everyone. I (Joel) will always remember my first ultimate frisbee tournament and I am convinced that the kids of dagoretti will do the same.

A few cool things going on here in Nairobi

We Can’t express quickly time is passing over here. There were days in January and February when we thought time could not inch any slower. Now, things have changed and June 29 (our departure date) seems to be a blink away. Here is a brief snapshot of what is making time pass haraka haraka (quickly quickly) these days:

Frisbee:

As many of you know, we have played ultimate frisbee with a group of people here every Friday and Sunday. In February, we began planning for the 3^rd annual Nairobi Ultimate Frisbee Festival, a tournament to promote the game and activate local youth. We have been involved with planning the tournament and are coaching a team of former street kids that are connected to one of our partner organizations. The guys at Dagoretti 4 Kids have been awesome in picking up the game, practicing hard and using this as an opportunity to show how far that they have come. We practice, ½ times each week, have regular scrimmages against a team of kids from Mandy’s school and will play in the tournament this weekend. We have received sponsorship from the tournament from local sources and are excited to report that all proceeds from the tournament will go to Dagoretti 4 Kids. We will keep you posted on how the tournament goes this weekend!

Masters:

Setting up a masters program thousands of miles away from the source, in a place where computers are few and far between and in a very different academic context is a lot of work. We have worked hard to help 25 people apply for a CTM/Bakke Graduate University and Carlile College Masters program for grassroots leaders serving in the slums. There are few systematic ways of doing things over here. While it would be nice to have everyone simply go to a website, fill out the forms and send them in, it doesn’t work that way here. Instead, we print all of the forms, have a meeting with everyone to go through the application, have them handwrite their responses, hand them in, scan the documents and send large files (that take 10 hours to send) to the US via email. Other kinks present themselves, such as only having access to 1 computer for 25 people, not being able to find the correct textbooks here in Nairobi, coordinating with Kris and Jeff how to set up scheduling issues, etc.

Kris and Jeff’s Visit:

It’s one thing to plan for a family visit, but when visits are related to CTM functions, it takes a bit more time and energy. Kris and Jeff will be arriving in Nairobi next Tuesday night. During their time here, they will be facilitating an intensive training for 150 people and will be launching the Masters program with 25 people. We will also spend time visiting various communities, visioning with CTM Nairobi, etc. It will be fun to have visitors again…although the reality is speaking clearer than ever: when they leave, we have three weeks left!

Transitioning:

With our time here coming to an end, we are making sure that our work here this year doesn’t come with us. Equipping Gideon and others with helpful ideas and systems has become important as we think about leaving. Mandy is also transitioning from her work at ISK as her school year finishes in less than two weeks. We can’t forget the practical steps of moving and making sure that we can fit our year in Kenya back into 3 suitcases to return home.

So, those are a few things that are going on over here…others include a photo project in mathare, continuing to explore some partnership opportunities locally and abroad, hanging out with friends and members of the CTM network here, figuring out what we will come back to in American politics, taking Swahili lessons and learning how to cook Kenyan food.