SOUTH COAST AND HIGH SCHOOL DETAILS AND FIRST EVER TIWI FUN DAY - MY FAVORITE PLACE

SUNDAY, June 17, 2012

We decided to hit Ingili before church service so we could say hello to Pastor Allan who has made all  of my work possible.  He has set up all of my connections here and has helped in huge ways.  So I was able to say hi and Allan was able to tell Ken a little bit more information on  how to get started if you want to get a secondary school going.  First - get a title deed to the property, not just a bill of sale, second get plans drawn up for the school.  Send the plans and the title deed to the minister of education in Nairobi to get their okay for a secondary school and then they will tell you necessary details with a checklist from there and how to go about doing buildings in what order.  It was such great, helpful information from someone who just started a high school one year ago.   I also got to say hello to Anne, the matron and chef at Bomani and Ingili right away.   It was great to see her and pass along greetings from people back in the states.  

Also, Ken's first connection with Kenya was helping write a newsletter for Ingili to help gain sponsorships for that school, so it was great to see the primary and high school. 

Then off to pick up Liz from Crossroads Fellowship in Nyali and head off to the South Coast.   First we meet up with Elias - the person who runs the Lutheran Orphanage and Primary school.  He gave us a tour of both places and he again reiterated the need for a high school, even before he knew why we were there.  Another God moment.  Then he showed us the property where the orphanage was and all the extra land around it where the secondary school would go.  At first we were concerned because a lot of the land is very hilly.  It makes it beautiful, with palm trees in the hills and all, but difficult to build on.   But after walking most of the property we were able to find a way to lay it out so that the farmland and the hills would not need to be used and only flat land would be used.   That was really great.  

Then we were suppose to go the another orphanage - Diani Children's Home, but they were not answering the phone. It was 5 pm so the children could have been eating and we went to the hotel to check in instead.  After two hours of negotiation on the price, we were finally able to get our room at an appropriate rate. It is a very nice place, Diani Reef and we are very comfortable and well feed.  Much better food than the Neptune were we stay in Mombasa.   A great hotel, but the food is not great.  It is fine and edible, just not great and here it is great.  

Showered and read a book and off to bed a HUGE day tomorrow.  My first activity day all on me.   Hope it goes well!

FIRST EVER ACTIVITY DAY FOR TIWI - I LOVE THIS SCHOOL

MONDAY, June 18, 2012

The day I have been planning for almost a full year - an activity at Tiwi.   Did up the schedule for the day this morning during prayer time.  I was so concerned about what and how the stuff we wanted to do would get here, I never thought about a schedule and with 12 classes to work with, we needed a schedule.   God took care of it and it worked out perfect.  We even had time to encourage the teachers and a few of the cooks.  

We started the day with a planning session with Isaac, Fred, and Pastor Vincent who is totally responsible for Tiwi being started in the first place.   He is an amazing man of courage and honor for God. (More on his story in my book From Lawyer to Missionary: A Journey to Kenya and Back again available on amazon.com.)  From there we went to the baby class to give them each a hat and then leave them some toys to play with for the day.  It was so cute to see the table with all tiaras and the table with all construction hats.   I hope I'm able to upload some photos.   They are already on Facebook to view under Operation Give Hope and my Facebook site - Carrie Reichartz. (Remember look back to June 2012.)

After our short visit to the kindergarden classes, we went to our biggest project of the day.  Running four activity stations for the kids with only three adults.  We were able to get basketballs donated from the YMCA thanks to Larry, that we brought, along with a few soccer balls from outside donations, so that was station number one.   The kids don't understand any sport other than soccer so it was fun to teach the basketball.   Ken was in charge of that and the other outside station for the sidewalk game "jacks".   So one end of the court was a shooting hoop and the other end was the jacks side. Then station number three was the art station where they drew pictures with crayons and made pictures with their fingerprints.   They had a lot of fun with that and did not want to leave that station.   Our Kenya friend Liz manned that station.  Then I did station number four which was handing out the hats we got donated to every child and then doing a short lesson on how hats protect us from the sun and rain, God protects us even more than that if we believe.   They did so well.   Then we talked about their favorite subjects in school and what they wanted to be when they grew up.  Then we talked about other occupations that they never talk of accountants, journalists, broadcasters.   Almost everyone of them want to be a doctor, pilot, or a lawyer.  

Tiwi is my most favorite place.   It is where I fell in love with Kenya for the fist time.   Tiwi and South Coast is a very dark place, not literally, but spiritually and culturally. For the most part the only religion, if there is any, as you don't see churches or mosques, is Islam.   But even bigger than that, I think, is the tribalism that is rampant on South Coast, the people are still extremely loyal to their tribe.   They will fight physically, legally and any other way you can think of to keep someone of another tribe down, even if it means they go down with them.  Most of South Coast is filled with the Diego people which are traditionally Muslim through very few practice their religion.   This is the first school Operation Give Hope built and it was for that reason, the Diego was an unreached by the Gospel people group until that point and even now it is not fully reached.  The kids are the only way to reach the parents and even then the parents are resistant.   Though today I did take a secret poll of the kids by asking them to put their heads down on the desk and close their eyes.  Close to half the kids admitted to believing in Jesus in some way.  More in the upper grades than the lower ones which is totally understandable as they are still to young to even understand. 

Then we did an encouraging word and gift time with the teachers and they gave us feedback on the programs. 

Then Ken and I did the hat/protection bible study with all the older kids and gave them their hats.   Then we did a career education time for the older kids.   We talked about how to figure out what you might want to be and then they broke into groups of teacher, doctor - had 2 groups, pilot, lawyer, pastor, solider, and engineers.   Each group had a worksheet to fill out about their career, what education needed, where would they work, what subjects in school right now would you need to like to fit this job.   It was very interesting how many of them under-estimated the amount of schooling for most of the careers, though some of the groups were right on track which was very interesting to see.   At the end we asked them all to become journalists for Operation Give Hope as we needed articles about their stories to share with their sponsors back home in the US.  They should write what the school means to them or how Jesus had changed their lives.   I hope they follow through on that, especially the older kids.

GOOD BYE SOUTH COAST FOR ANOTHER TRIP/ NOT LOOKING AT PROPERTY AGAIN!

Tuesday, June 19,2012

We started early this morning heading toward Tumaini but first we had to stop by Elias from the Lutheran Church, orphanage and school to grab a few documents Ken needed to get started on the process of a possible secondary school on south coast.  He was ready and waiting for us which is not heard of in Kenya and he had all he promised he would have. He also did a video cam clip on who the school is reaching out to and how it is making a difference already but more importantly how adding a high school would make a difference.  That was amazing work by him in a very short amount of time.

Then we had a long drive to get to Tumaini.   Once we got there we saw the rain was hitting the area hard and how it was washing the mud-school buildings away. One full classroom was washed away on all sides.  Another block of three classrooms had one wall washed away by rainy winds. That is something we don't think about when it rains by us, the worst that can happen if if rains for days and days is our basements might get wet, but here, their homes and schools are destroyed and they don't have insurance and cannot afford to rebuild them. It costs money for the sticks they use to make their mud huts and they get an equivalent to a mortgage to make this happen. If their house washes away, they still have the debt and they cannot obtain another loan.

Pastor Stephen, the pastor/school master at Tumaini was being harassed by local authorities saying if he don't pay certain monies they would take his benches, which is just about all the school has. This is another example of tribalism here on South Coast. They are doing all they can to scare Stephen into closing the school.

We greeted each classroom and they sang us some songs and presented us with some nature made crosses the kids made out of sticks.  Ken and I were able to bring those back to the US for Hales Corner's Lutheran Church and his church.

We also had a chance to see the community pond that is still in business even though there is a clean well.  Remember the pond has crocodiles in it and is very very dirty from sewer-type run off.   They say the well water is to salty, but that is because they are use to dirty water. 

Then we headed back to Tiwi for 30 minutes for a few more photos. It is always so hard to leave there.   Then we headed to the ferry to get across the channel and to another Nakumatt to get everything we needed for the next two weeks.  Sodas, snacks, phone minutes, and gum.  Then we went to Liz' friend,  a tailor to make Ken an African shirt.   She was quite the saleswoman. I never had any desire for true African wear as it is usually to small and uncomfortable.  It is usually dresses for woman as they do not wear pants and I don't like dresses, and I don't have any places to wear it.     But she indicated she  could make a cool shirt for me and I have had many speaking gigs lately and a Kenyan Baby Shower scheduled for September 17, 2012 to raise items for the orphanages in Kenya.  So I ordered one.  We will see next week what it looks like, don't even know colors or anything.  

Then we made our first stop to Shanzu, the purse store.   I had a large order from a church in upper Michigan thanks to my amazing dear friend Barb and a few orders from my friends.  I was able to pull that together.   The shop was pretty empty though and they totally changed the items they carry too so orders will be difficult in the future except that now I know I can email them ahead of time with colors and items and they will make them for me to my order.  That will make things much easier.  They will also ship, but that costs more and will cut into the little profit from each item.   All the profits right now will be going to the land to build the pregnancy crises/ adoption resource center. 

Then by 3:00p.m. it was back to the hotel to shower and hunt down my Kenyan phone.  I did finally get my phone and got it working but not until close to 6 p.m. and I was not able to get a meeting with Vicky and Hellen. (The Kenyan lawyer and psychologist I have been working with.)    I was able to steal the busiest man in Kenya, Pastor Allan to take me to view the property.   I was so excited by it.   It is literally on the road and a great location.  

The rest of Fox River should have been there in the early AM, but their plane was delayed and rerouted around the world.   They finally got in while we were eating dinner, about 7:30 pm.