Nakuru 3:16 | Nakuru 3:16 Bridge of Hope

Category : Nakuru 3:16

October Project Update

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by jcripe

Nov.10,2011

As October draws to a close, the school children are preparing for their year-end examinations. The Kenyan school year goes from January to November, with the month of December as a holiday. So the children will finish their school year at the end of November. Regina requested prayers specifically for Joyce Mwikali, who will be taking her final examinations in primary school on November 7th. This will determine which high school she is called to. And also for Ann Nyambura, who is finishing her program and will take the final exam at the end of the month.

At the house, the residents planted beans and vegetables that will be harvested at the beginning of December. Also, there was a birthday party for Daniel Mbote! Other significant events were school visiting for the children in boarding school, and school academic day.

There is good news to share! Up to this point Esther Wambui has been in a rehabilitation program, still adjusting to her new life off the street . But she is so determined and wanting to learn that she has qualified to join college! She is also interested in hairdressing and beauty courses, for which she has a talent. Esther has shown a lot of improvement physically, socially, psychologically, and most of all spiritually.

Regina requested prayers for education and health of all the women and children, and prayers for the transition to the new home. The move to the new home is scheduled for December, so there will be adjustments to be made, and lots of settling in.

Family

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

Sep.12,2011

What is “family”? Webster’s lists a number of definitions relating to measurable connections (e.g. “a group of individuals living under one roof and usually under one head”), but these are very clinical… clearly there is an essence to ‘family’ that is deeper than the solid and dotted lines on a chart. Every once in a while we get to experience that essence, sometimes in surprising circumstances.

On Sunday we took the girls and the kids for a (rare) swim outing at a local pool and had the opportunity to see the Nakuru 3:16 family in action. An outside observer with no knowledge of the genealogies would have been hard pressed to figure out the parent-child relationships. This is not terribly unusual in a community-centric culture like Kenya, but I found it a bit surprising in a community not tightly bound by blood or tribe, and a community of people coming from an environment where individual survival was the prime motivator.

At one point during the afternoon a freak storm suddenly unloaded with howling wind, torrential rain and pelting hail. The pool patrons scattered – some under the hotel awnings and many (like me) under a tin-roof gazebo that was not unlike spending time inside of a drum during a Geddy Lee drum solo. The temperature plummeted and the crowded gazebo was filled with wet, shivering children and adults. Despite the chaos, each adult or older child immediately jumped into action and tended to the child nearest them, toweling them off and changing them into dry clothes (if available) before tending to their own needs. I donated my shirt to the cause and did what I could to help. The kids huddled up into groups for warmth, some with adults wrapping them up in their arms for warmth. Soon the work was done and it was just a matter of waiting out the storm, which everyone did in calm silence. The storm ended and life began again, with kids running around playing and adults doing their best to wring out the clothes and towels that had become drenched in the storm.

I stood there afterwards contemplating what I’d just seen- there was no planning, no central authority giving orders, no coordination. Each adult and older child simply stepped up and did what was right and implicitly trusted that others were doing right by their children and siblings. There was no fear, no panic, no frantic searching for one’s own child, no concern about stepping on another parent’s authority. There was just one big family.

Tags : family, Nakuru 3:16

A visit to the daktari…

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

Sep.11,2011

Gary Siemens, a friend and project supporter who accompanied me on this trip, is a former family physician and he graciously offered to perform checkups on the girls and kids. Our busy schedule prevented us from holding the clinic at the house, so we set up a make-shift operation near the pool where were treating the girls and kids to a day of fun. One by one the mothers gratefully brought their children (and themselves) through the line for checkups. Gary was able to address a number of issues that, left untended, would have led to bigger issues down the road. The kids also had fun listening through the stethoscope and looking in each other’s ears. It left me both happy that we could be of service to our friends, but also deeply appreciative of the access and quality of medical care we have in the U.S.

Tags : doctor, health, medical, Nakuru 3:16

Recycling where you’d least expect it…

Filed Under : Kenya,Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

Sep.10,2011

John was a life-long educator who lost his home and everything he had during the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya. He decided to turn the setback into an opportunity, relocated to Nakuru, and started a recycling business that would meet the goals of being a profitable enterprise for himself while serving humanity and the environment. Ambitious and admirable goals, and ones that he is well on the way towards achieving.

Here’s how his business works today:

He pays street boys to collect plastics from the streets and garbage dumps (of which there sadly is a great deal). Some of these boys now have a consistant enough income that they are off the streets and off the glue.
The street boys drop their plastics off at collection centers which double as housing for local (otherwise homeless) women who sort and store the collected plastics until John’s truck passes through on its weekly pickup run.
The plastics are cleaned and processed into raw “pellets” at a central facility that employs a dozen or so workers.
The pellets are either sold to other fabricators or used to build one of several plastic parts that John manufactures and sells on the market.

What an amazing business! The value chain addresses the environmental problem of excess plastic waste , facilitates environmental sustainability and reuse, and provides jobs in slums for people who can’t otherwise get employment, all in a for-profit, economically sustainable model. John himself is a very well spoken, genuine, hard-working man with a broad and deep view of the challenges that Kenya faces and ways that they can be addressed. I consider myself a better person for having met John and been exposed to his worldview.

John’s big challenge is that he needed a loan to start the business and it was graciously provided at 28% interest; he’s drowning in interest payments that are crippling his ability to grow the business. He’s looking for partners who would be willing to (a) refinance all or part of his loan at a lower rate, and/or (b) invest in some of the equipment he needs to expand his business and pursue higher margin components. We’re looking at ways we can partner with John to both help his business as well as provide opportunities for our girls and their kids. Please contact me if interested.

Scale used to measure plastics collected in a local slum

Tags : environment, Nakuru 3:16, recycling, sustainability

Bio of a street child

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

Sep.9,2011

I spent some time with Regina updating the bios of the women and children in the program. As is always the case, I learn powerful and touching things I didn’t know before. One that struck me as particularly poignant was that of Gladys Njeri, a beautiful young teenage girl that came from the streets and who’s family is still on the streets. As we were updating her profile I mentioned to Regina that Gladys had asked me to take a number of pictures of her, both alone and with the kids in the program. Regina was surprised. She told me that Gladys had been severely sexually abused while on the streets (by family members and other). When she entered the program, she would isolate herself and cover her face with her clothes to escape interaction and notice. The fact that she wanted her picture taken was a huge step forward and a testament to the care and professionalism provided by Regina and her staff.

Glady’s story not only highlights the painful past lives that the women and children in Nakuru 3:16 must reconcile before healing, but it also brings to light one of the bigger challenges the program has- specifically, how to address the “whole family”. Many of our girls have siblings still on the street or parents/caretakers continuing to live the same destructive lives that forced their children onto the streets. For example, both Ann Nyambura and Monica Wanjiru are working to help their parents and siblings as best they can. We feel we have a practical and moral obligation to address the broader family challenges as best we can, and we hope to be able to increase the program budget next year to include capacity for hiring case workers that can address these needs.

Tags : abuse, family, Nakuru 3:16

The first day of the rest of their promising lives…

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

Sep.8,2011

Gary and I had the privilege of attending the school term kickoff assembly at the Jitegemea school (the school at the Tumaini missions center). It was a powerful sight- there must have been 200+ children of all ages listening intently, perhaps 1/2 of them orphans or Nakuru 3:16 kids. I was deeply touched and excited when the assembly was asked to raise their hands about different career options they were interested in… “doctor” and “engineer” probably covered 2/3 of the kids there.

And you know what- I wouldn’t bet against them. Kenyan kids are very motivated to learn and achieve, but sadly the growing but still small economy in Kenya simply doesn’t have room for all of the skilled professionals coming out of the nation’s schools. I had the opportunity to meet with the senior faculty at two prestigious Kenyan universities to discuss opportunities for business process outsourcing (BPO) in the software development arena. As best as I can tell, Kenyan schools are turning out several thousand computer science graduates each year, only a small percentage of whom will end up working in their field of study. There is a large talent pool here just waiting to be tapped, and I think it will happen within the next decade.

It was very exciting to see all of the school-aged Nakuru 3:16 kids in uniform in school. In fact, a number of our kids rank at the top of their class. This may seem surprising at first given the rough years of their early lives, but then again I think those years probably gave them a fierce sense of competitiveness and self-reliance that, if harnessed positively, will make them all forces to be reckoned with as they progress on in their lives and careers. I can’t wait.

Tags : Nakuru 3:16, school

New home update: environmental stewardship

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

If you’ve been to Kenya you will have noticed that environmental sustainability, especially with regard to fuels, is not often a priority. This is a story that’s likely repeated across much of the developing world and is understandable when you consider that people have to balance their fuel choices with their desire to eat. The challenge, though, is that the hidden costs of the “cheap” fuels – mostly wood and derivatives – are becoming more onerous with each passing year as deforestation destroys watersheds and (economically valuable) habitat and poor air quality causes increased respiratory maladies.

With this in mind, the Nakuru 3:16 leadership team is looking hard at how to make the new home a model of environmental stewardship and sustainability. Items being considered include:

Using natural gas or propane for fuel (vs. charcoal)
Leveraging “instant hot water” technology vs. inefficient boilers
Solar electric and/or water heating
High efficiency lighting

Sammy Kiige is exploring these options and should be publishing a report in October with a list of recommendations as well as incremental costs at which point the team will have decide which, if any, will be pursued and how we’ll fund the projects. If you’re interested in participating in this process or in assisting with funding any of these initiatives, please contact me for more info.

Tags : environment, green, house, Nakuru 3:16, sustainability

Construction Update

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by jcripe

Sep.7,2011

Construction on the new house on the Tumaini campus is well under way! As you can see in the photo, the walls are nearly complete and the roof is starting to go up. The Nakuru 3:16 residents should be able to move in to their new home by Christmas!

Nakuru 3:16 in the Missoulian

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

Jul.31,2011

Jamie Kelly, a member of the 2011 mission team and a journalist with the Missoulian, wrote a pair of powerful articles in today’s Missoulian. You can read them here:

Front page lead-in

“We saw what caring men and women of God do when they drop their illusions and go to work in their midst. In the end, we saw God at work in Kenya through this sweaty, soaked, labored Body of Christ that all of you fed in not the last, but the first of many suppers.”

Main article

“”When?” is what you ask on an empty stomach.”

2011 Mission Team returns

Filed Under : Nakuru 3:16 by Dan

Jul.23,2011

The 2011 mission team from FPC Missoula just completed their 12 day journey to Nakuru, and it sounds like it was a rich and powerful experience for all involved. Over the coming days and weeks we’ll be posting stories, observations, and testimonials as they are brought to light. In the meantime, we’re excited to have everyone home safe. Here’s a short teaser slideshow with some images from the first half of the trip:

(Please wait a moment for the video to load…)

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