Projects & Plans – Kenya

There are a number of projects we are aiming towards implementing in Kenya, all of which have come about through either the expressed desire of our friends in Kenya to learn practical applications of God’s Principles and Laws, or our desire to gift resources when a physical or spiritual need has been recognised. Denise and Wayne, Kerry and I have been in discussions for several months primarily with Esther and Rose, trying to establish how best we can help them meet their basic physical needs of food, water and shelter, whilst also responding to their spiritual learning requests.

Food Water Shelter

All living things have been created in order to bring love to the system. A human’s soul condition (sum total of our beliefs, thoughts, feelings and actions) directly impacts their environment, and the environment constantly reflects back the presence, or lack, of love in the system. Every living organism, including Humans, has three basic requirements for survival.

If one of these three elements is missing, abundance is not possible – all three of these basic elements need to be present for life to survive, let alone grow, reproduce and prosper. Any living creature that does not have sufficient amounts of water, food or shelter will struggle to survive. Much more work is required to obtain the three basic elements – particularly if they are not in proximity to each other.

Since humans have direct control over the food, water and shelter supplied to the ecosystem, we must come to understand the relationship and the role specific organisms have in recovery and bringing love back to into the ecosystem.

“If we understand that every little imbalance within the system is the result of the human’s unloving condition, and we understand that everything that is caused by this result of imbalance is the result of the human’s condition not being addressed; then we will attempt to address the human condition as a part of growing an ecosystem that is loving.”               (Jesus, 2.6 Creating Loving Ecosystems)

Therefore, balancing physical needs with spiritual growth and learning opportunities is an important consideration in the planning process of assisting people who live in less affluent countries.  It is very difficult to learn about God, or spend time self-reflecting on principles of Love and Truth, when your entire day is focused on meeting these three basic requirements.

We have been assisting Esther and Rose, who are caring for Esther’s mother-in-law, Esther’s younger four children, Rose’s six young children and ten orphans. We anticipate that there will be others we meet during our next visit that may be included in this part of the project – potentially the children being supported by Bernard and his community members in the Kuria region. We have established a policy amongst ourselves that any donated funds will not be given until we have personally met and verified the circumstances of the recipients – we feel that is the responsibility of a good steward.

Food

Gifts related to food have included funds for staples – beans, rice, corn or maize. Plus fruit and vegetables. Currently they grow greens such as Khale, and have two well established avocado trees, that bear fruit the size of mangoes – yum!

Khale greens

Projects we would like to implement include;

• Waterless vegetable gardens
• Sourcing and building up a stock of heirloom produce seeds that can be propagated over time and shared with people in their community
• Fruit trees
• Purchase or creation of cooking utensils and sustainable cooking methods suitable for feeding 20-30 people.
• Sourcing and Purchase of Composting worms
• Worm farm set up and Education
• Composting organic material – clothes, food scraps, human poo
• Food funds in the event harvests are inadequate

Water

Access to clean, safe, drinking water is a basic life sustaining requirement that is sadly not available to many millions of people across the globe. Water is not on tap in rural Kenya – for many villagers, its collection involves daily trips back and forth, walking some distance to a natural water course, carrying buckets or containers on their heads or backs.

Projects include:

• Catchment and storage of rain water
• Maintenance free water filtration system – Wayne has created a filter prototype currently being tested that he plans to make accessible for others to build out of local low cost materials. The details of this creation can be viewed on Wayne’s blog.

Shelter

Shelter includes assisting with things like building mud rendered housing; beds, mattresses, and blankets; clothes and shoes.

Down the track we’d like to set up solar lighting & power.

Currently Esther has three small buildings on her property. Four girls, Esther and Rose sleep in one house (21ft x 18ft ) which also has a small sitting room, six boys sleep on the floor in another house (14ft x 17ft), Esther’s mother-in-law and ten girls sleep in the kitchen house (15ft x 13ft) which has two single beds.

At the time of publishing this post, six additional children have joined Esther and Rose at their home. The kids come from two families, whose parents have passed due to HIV/AIDS. It was already a tight squeeze with 23 people to feed, clothe and shelter, now with the new kids, building a 40ft x 35ft, 65 iron sheet house has become a priority for us. It will cost approximately 113700 Ksh ($1600 AUD), based on the quote we received today.

Farming God’s Way

In April 2019 Esther and Rose were offered the lease on a two acre plot of land 300m from their compound, by one of their neighbours. He wanted to raise funds to send his son to higher education, so offered the girls a four year lease on this parcel of land.  This was an opportunity we had been praying for, as we had discussed ways of being able to assist the girls to be able to provide food for themselves, whilst potentially gaining some income from any excess harvest.  A venture like this also opened up the opportunity to share principles that govern creating loving ecosystems, soil building and land repair, using human waste (faeces & urine) and weeds as soil conditioners and fertilisers, fertility trenches filled with household organic material, food scraps and the like, all within a farming frame work. It was a practical way to learn about God and demonstrate over time the benefits that come from farming in harmony with His Laws.

Traditionally, cropping and farming in Kenya is very labour intensive. The soils are depleted, ploughed by oxen, and heavy rainfall often washes away topsoil. Chemical fertilisers are applied in the seed hole to boost growth, and very little microbial life is present in the soil. Weeds are routinely removed by hand, and seen as being in competition for the scarce nutrients available. Hybrid seed has to be purchased each year, along with expensive chemical fertilisers, plus paid labour for weeding and ploughing.

Typically they have two planting and harvesting seasons per year; April – August and September – February.

“During harvesting we harvest using our hands, cutting the combs for the case of corn and removing the outer cover and then carry home using bags or buckets to dry and store in sacks. For beans which mature earlier and are about to be harvested we uproot the bean plants with the pods and carry home. At home we dry on the sun which makes the seeds to come out quickly when hitting using a stick or peeling using the hand. Here mostly cows feed on the corn stalks and the green matter after harvest.”  Rose July 2019

Through our discussions we could see that farming this way was not sustainable, or cost effective – particularly for this family who did not have a regular income. So we proposed a few ideas based on the principles governing creating loving ecosystems that we had learned over the years that we implement in our own produce garden, hoping that they would translate well to a larger scale plot.

“For anything to flourish, love must be present in the system…God is constantly trying to recover the system…attempting to bring more and more love into the system…Every single living organism ever created has been created to bring more love into the system.”          (Jesus, 6.12.2012)

We have introduced concepts related to the Life Principle; the purpose of weeds and sourcing seeds that are able to be propagated, and applying organic matter in the bucket load to cover exposed soil, add structure to the soil, retain water and attract intelligent organisms in to the soil. The initial aim being to utilise waste that is generated daily by twenty-three people, and convert it into free resources for their home vegetable garden and cropping plot.

Cow Manure

Fertility pit with food scraps, human poo, wood ash and straw

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“The most urgent need right now is the building up of our food-producing soils. We should be pouring into this land green manures, barnyard manures — every type of organic material that will decay in a reasonable time. The method of getting this stuff into the soil and getting it at work will vary with almost every locality. No set rule can be given that will apply to all sections — except that the materials should be poured into the land as fast as conditions will permit, and that we should keep pouring them in until the sponge is there.”                      Weeds Guardians of the Soil – p93

So rather than uprooting the crop and taking it home to dry, the plant could be chopped off at ground level, leaving the roots in the ground to aerate the soil, provide material that will break down, feed the insect life and absorb water. Seed saving will mean the seed will develop in quality as the soil conditions improve over time, hopefully leading to the generation of a seed stock that can be freely shared and passed down throughout generations.

We also presented and discussed resources that describe the application and results of using human urine and excrement in crop production.

Whilst these ideas were very different to what they are used to, they were keen to learn more and immediately started experimenting.

The decision was made to gift the funds to lease the land, and since the girls wanted to learn how to farm in harmony with God’s Principles and Laws, we assured Esther and Rose that we would support them during the transition phase moving from traditional farming methods to farming God’s Way, should the crops fail or not yield a good harvest in the first few years.  We anticipated the soil quality being very poor; depleted from years of applying commercial fertiliser, ploughing and harvesting, without much life or love being put back into it.  Denise, Wayne, Kerry and I all felt this was an important aspect to consider since they are the ones taking all the risk, and their basic needs are depending on the success of the harvest.

The first crop using these methods is due to be harvested in August. A good harvest is measured by generating one sack of corn per kilo of seed. So we’ll see how things go.

Now that we are actively planning a visit to Magena next year we are keen to learn all we can with regards to working with the laws and principles specifically in relation to farming and food production. As a result of our desire, Jesus and Mary have very generously gifted us a week in their busy schedule to show us the projects related to land repair and farming that they currently have underway. We are really looking forward to discussing these concepts, and developing resources illustrating these concepts that can be replicated and shared with farmers who have an interest in sustainable food production and land repair.  We are also pretty keen to see Corny’s process of converting one person’s annual human waste into half a tonne of enriched Class A soil. Imagine how much soil twenty-three people in a household could produce each year! Thanks guys – we are so grateful.

Beans & Corn

 

 

The following is a summary of the areas of investigation and assistance we hope to provide prior to and during our visit to Kenya next year.

• Soil life
• Organic Fertiliser – Composting human waste and Urine as a liquid feeder
• Composting organic waste materials, cropping waste, food scraps, compost-able household rubbish
• Tools & Farming Equipment
• Heirloom seeds – planting and collection
• The purpose of weeds in soil repair education
• Crop diversity Education
• Water catchment and water retention on cropping land – development of systems to maximise water usage and prevent run off.
• Land lease and possible Land purchase

Education & Schooling Support

Providing opportunities for children to be educated is high on our priority list. Historically there  has been a gender preference for educating boys over girls. Educating girl children is a desire that both Esther and Rose have, they feel that it will help to correct gender inequality, and  create opportunities for all children to break the poverty cycle. Educating girls also encourages them to stay in school longer, meaning they are less likely to be married and bear children in their teenage years.

There are two options for mainstream schooling in Kenya – public government run schools and private schools. The issue we have encountered with public schools is that they are generally sponsored by religious organisations. We have had reports from various people, and from our own personal experiences visiting schools in Kenya, that orphan children are treated quite poorly by staff and teachers – we certainly noticed a difference in the way they were treated, even by people who had taken orphaned children into their care, whilst their physical needs may have been met, in that they had clothes, a dry place to sleep and a meal each day, the emotions projected towards orphaned children were intense – Esther was the exception to this observation.

Since the community has become aware of Esther and Rose’s relationship, they and the kids are being mocked, criticised, and accused of being a bad omen by many who worship the Bible.

Esther and Rose feel the children will be treated more fairly at the local Private schools, namely Nyamisaro Private Primary School (600m) and Emesa Private Secondary School (1km).

The following table indicates the estimated cost for sending twenty children (ages 4 -16) to school. The school year begins in September, so we are working our way toward enrolling the kids ready for Term 1.

Proposed Costs for Education Support:
20 Children – 3 Secondary, 17 Primary		KES	AUD
School Fees:
Primary	6000 Ksh x 3 Terms	18000	$     250.00
Secondary	18500 Ksh x 3 Terms	55500	$     774.00
Uniforms per child		10580	$     150.00
Cost per child per year:
	Primary	28580	$     400.00
	Secondary	66080	$     921.00
To educate all 20 children:
Cost per year		684100	$  9,563.00
Cost per term		228033	$  3,187.00
Cost per month		57008	$     797.00
Average per child per month		2850	$        39.85

Bernard from the Kuria region has requested some assistance with learning materials, so we may be able to help out there also when we find out specifically what is needed.

Sharing Divine Truth Material & Technology

This project is dedicated to gifting time and resources for the purposes of sharing and providing Divine Truth material taught by Jesus and Mary Magdalene to those who express a genuine desire to learn about God and God’s way of living.

• We are keen to engage opportunities to share in person, or through email discussions, answering questions generated by materials we have already recommended.
• Printing DT booklets and Translated Divine Love Prayer for those who lack the resources to care for and manage electronic devices
• USB HDD loaded with the current volume of DT teachings for those who already have access to a laptop or computer.
• mp3 audio listening devices
• portable solar panels for recharging electronic devices gifted, portable solar battery banks, Bluetooth waterproof, dust proof portable speakers
• Samsung smart phone, SIM and monthly data packages for ease of communication and access to online Divine Truth material
• Creating weatherproof universal language instructional charts for teaching God’s Principles as they relate to environmental recovery, farming and personal relationship with God.
• Translation of key DT principles for those who do not understand English
• Development of DT teaching resources for school children
• Demonstration of God’s Principles as applied to aspects of daily living

We will be having more discussions about how to best implement these ideas, when we meet up with Jesus, Mary, Wayne and Denise at the end of July.  We are super excited about what we are learning as we prepare and plan – the growth opportunities for ourselves personally by engaging projects such as these are a gift, and we feel hopeful for the potential change these projects could make in the lives of our Kenyan friends and their communities.

Note:

A record of Donation and Expenditure Summaries can be viewed on the Financial Records page under Kenya Projects. We feel it is important to collate this data and make it publicly available so that others may gain insight into the preparation and costs involved should they be inspired or desire to assist people and give gifts in other parts of the world.

Kerry and I, and more recently, Wayne and Denise have been funding these projects, research and future plans with our own personal resources, and we are very happy to do so. If you would like to become involved, or wish to donate to any of these projects, details of how to contact us are available on the Donations & Gifts page.

Author: Paige Willoughby

Friends From Kenya

Introducing our Kenyan Sisters & Brothers

Since our 2013 visit to Kenya to share Divine Truth we have kept in contact with some of the people we spent time with, and also got to know some new friends who we hope to meet in person next year during our return visit to the Kenyan Western District in 2020.

 

Esther is a widow from Magena that we spent time with during our last visit. Esther’s husband died of malaria, leaving her to care for their five children, mother-in-law and manage their small plot of farm land near the Massai – Mara border which provided food (corn, maize and beans) and annual income. At the time we met Esther she was also caring for a number of children who have followed her home from church over the years.  Donated funds assisted to purchase bedding, blankets, clothes and school uniforms for the fifteen extra children she had under her roof in 2013.

Esther purchasing food staples

On occasion since our visit we have assisted Esther financially with funds for food, clothes and bedding supplies as the number of children in her care grow.  Last year the plot of land was forcibly taken over, impacting Esther’s ability to fund living expenses, and school fees for the fourteen children in her care.

Esther does not speak or read English, but with the help of her friend Oigo translating her questions and our responses, we have been sharing material with Esther intermittently over the years. Last year Esther began emailing us herself in Kiswahali. Google translate was sufficient initially for basic communication, however when translating Divine Truth text or answering specific questions related to God and God’s principles, we found Google translate to be only 80% accurate. We felt it was important that the information being shared was as accurate in original meaning as possible, so we prayed to find a woman who Esther trusted, that had good English skills, who could help her have access to more Divine Truth teachings, and communicate with us openly without potential gender based influence on her words. We thought this was a long shot, as not many girls or women have the opportunity to be educated, let alone learn English. To our surprise, Esther introduced us to Rose, her friend who lived a few kilometres further down the road.

Esther & Rose

Rose is 30 years old, with six children aged 6-12, she has been divorced from her husband for five years – whom she left because he is an alcoholic and he beat her and the children regularly. Unfortunately a very common, often daily occurrence for rural Kenyan women and children.

Rose attended school until Year 10, and she is passionate about teaching her community about gender equality and wants girls to have the same opportunities for education as the boy children.  For income Rose use to do laundry for travelling professionals, however the sexual advances, abuse and poor treatment she received from male customers lead her to seek employment else where. More recently she has been selling produce by the side of the road, making 100 Ksh per day ($1.43 AUD).

 

Over the past six months we have learned that Esther and Rose are in a relationship, which is still very much taboo in Kenya, in fact Kenya is one of the 33 out of 54 African countries that still criminalise same-sex conduct, under the penal code first imposed by British colonisers in 1897.  Even though Britain has de-criminalised these anti-homosexuality laws in the UK, their colonial legacy continues to impact the basic human rights of thousands of people across Africa.

This is a perfect example of how the perpetuation of our individual beliefs and unresolved emotions (sin) out of harmony with God’s Principles and Laws influence society, cultural customs and man-made laws, that restrict and impose harm upon millions of lives. Discovering that the High Court in Kenya recently upheld these laws made me reflect on the myriad of ways that I have contributed harm to others across the globe in ways I never before considered. By holding onto my own false beliefs, continuing to seek pleasure over pain, staying silent and choosing to remain in denial of the motivations behind my daily life choices means I will never wake up and see the sin, nor the fall out my choices have and continue to have on myself and others. (If you want learn about understanding Sin and its causes, check out the latest Education in Love Assistance Group material which will be available here once posted by Jesus)

Esther and Rose did not tell us themselves, fearing that we may treat them as many local Christian’s do, with judgement, rejection, and withdrawal of support. Their friends Nicolas and Oigo both informed us of the poor treatment they were receiving from family members, school educators and their community. People are refusing to give them work because they don’t want to be associated with them or the shame people feel they bring to the community, making it very difficult for them to feed their families and the children they care for.

Over the last six months we have been having many discussions with the girls about their desires for the future, and how we would like to help them become self sustainable. We explained how aligning their desires in harmony with God’s Principles will mean they are supported by every Law governing the universe, and that there is great potential for a lot of change in peoples’ hearts by their demonstration and sharing what they learn – if they want too. A prospect that we ourselves are experimenting with and working towards in our own life.

We are inspired by the courage these women have already demonstrated. They are discovering confidence in standing up for truth, and beginning to see for themselves the benefits of addressing issues of love and truth within themselves, and with others.

Through the interactions with Esther and Rose we have also met Oigo and Nicolas.

Oigo, is a school teacher who runs his own school, with five teachers and one hundred students in the Kuria region near the border to Tanzania, about 35km from Magena. Oigo was friends with Esther’s late husband and has been helping her financially when he can. He is excited about the prospect of us visiting next year and has asked us to come and share more Divine Truth with his staff and students.  In March we sent over a box of Divine Truth booklets covering various topics to be shared amongst his staff and students, although mail is not very reliable in Kenya due to the rampant corruption, so it is another reason why we are going to visit in person, as we are still waiting to see if it arrives in tact.

Nicolas lives down the road from Esther with his wife Ruth and their five children. Nicolas works away from home for the government as a land surveyor and land dispute agent in Narok County, Moita area.  Nicolas is also an official for an educational group called Eden Go Vegan, where he and his colleagues hold information sessions and workshops on the health benefits of a plant-based diet. As they travel the country for work, they teach people about the damage that is caused by eating meat, eggs and dairy – particularly in the tribal areas of the Maasai Mara where the predominant diet is meat, milk and blood. Their focus had been primarily on the physical health related issues of an animal based diet, until we shared with him the relationship between God’s principles, the human soul and making food choices that will either benefit the environment and be supported by God’s Laws or damage the environment, by working against God’s Laws, the physical body being part of that environment.

The group teach people how to grow vegetables and food bearing trees, unfortunately they were also advocating the use of fertilisers, herbicides and weeding. We shared the concepts and principles of creating loving ecosystems; encouraging life into the soil and working with the weeds and intelligent organisms, rather than against them. Nicolas has become quite eager to learn more about the relationship between God’s Principles, our choices and the resultant effects in daily life.  He is very much enjoying the practical application of Divine Truth principles and has shared these concepts with the other officials in the Eden Go Vegan organisation, as he feels it better explains why a plant-based diet is the healthier choice and better for all living things.

Nicolas has been allowing Esther and Rose to email us from his laptop when he is visiting his home. He has also assisted them with some funds to buy food when they have been unable to forage food or find employment.

Nicolas recently introduced us to Bernard, and Bernard to Divine Truth when was searching for land to rent in the Massai. Nicolas told him about Jesus and Mary teaching, encouraged him to investigate the website and passed on our contact details.

Bernard lives with his wife Nchama and their four children in the Suba -Kuria region, Migori County, near the Tanzania border, in a village known as Kobomuamu. Bernard grew up with a relative in Nakuru town, who sent him to primary and secondary school. He is interested in farming and helping the needy. Bernard and his wife took in children from two sub-communities near them that suffered parental losses due to fighting that arose from cattle rustling and theft. Kuria is a very poor tribal region in Kenya. Other people in their community were inspired by their vision and wanted to help care for the children so they formed a small self help group where they pooled their farm land to grow tobacco to financially support the involved families and the orphaned children they care for. Each of the twenty-three members (Tanzanian and Kenyan) donates 10% of their earnings towards food, clothing and education. Bernard and his community members are from tribal backgrounds, living by their traditions and customs. They are not religious and the majority of adults have never attended school and are unable to speak English.

The self help group began a primary school for the kids because the near by government primary school teachers and children used to abuse and mistreat the orphans (Esther and Rose have made similar comment about the government run educators in their village also).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the Indian men they sold tobacco to saw their efforts to help the kids and start a school, so he donated to them an interlocking brick making machine which assisted them to build a school house. After the tobacco market fell and the factories closed, they were themselves left in poverty, causing seven members to withdraw from the self help group in 2018. Supporting the orphans became difficult but they worked hard to at least provide one meal a day for the twenty-six orphans under their care.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They have managed to keep the children and the school running up to now because the majority of their members are renting land in the Kuria and Massai to grow corn, beans and cassava, so they can continue to support both their families and donate to the orphanage.

The school has grown in numbers to 85 students, accommodating orphans and children of very poor families in three learning classes – baby class, nursery and class one. They have one paid qualified teacher and two untrained teachers. They have a shortage of learning text books, exercise books, learning charts and playing balls.

The following is an excerpt from one of Bernard’s emails:

“To me I view girls as equal to boys and all of them have equal rights for education and family inheritance. Many people here treat girls poorly and I agree with what you saw in the year 2013 when you visited. In our next neighbours here, the republic of Tanzania, women kneel down when in front of men, when greeting a man a woman or girl must kneel down as a form of respect. In a family setup a woman has no right to express her feelings or opinions, a man can sell land, cow or chicken without seeking advice from the woman. A woman is there to give birth and breastfeed, nothing beyond that! In many homes women are caned and tortured and offering some teachings to the community and too teaching the children about equality to all people is our prime target. We target that through our group and the school under our care to reach many people, especially men and boys to respect others irrespective of gender and sexual orientations.”

Bernard has mentioned on several occasions his concern about religious groups and cited examples of the discrepancy between what they claim and their conflicting actions and behaviour he witnesses towards others in his community. Bernard has since been watching, listening and translating for his community the Divine Truth material he has been learning about.  He says many in his community are showing interest and like the fact that the material is logical, practical and truth based – no mysterious notions. We told him that is what we loved about Divine Truth when we first heard it also. To Bernard’s delight he discovered Mamma Joys Rap songs and has been sharing God’s Principles via these lyrics with the kids, as they love to sing and make up their own melodies.

We are excited to include a visit to Kobomuamu next year, and help out where we can.  

The Opportunity

On occasions during the years since we visited we have been answering questions and sharing Divine Truth material with Esther and Oigo, and then the Thanks Church group that Esther and Rose regularly gather with. Via email Esther, Rose and their friends have been asking questions about God’s view on issues that impact their daily lives.  They are hungry for the truth and are keen about sharing what they learn with others. Their access to technology is very limited, meaning that they travel an hour each way on the back of a motorbike to the “local” cyber-cafe, to email questions and Rose hand writes answers on paper to take back and share at their next gathering.

Questions about gender equality, marriage and multiple wives, contraception, the difference between the dead and the living person, discipline and caning of women and children, forgiveness and repentance, soul mates, and homosexuality.

They have raised questions about the Bible; asking many questions about christian doctrine and bible “laws”. Is the ritual of baptism important? Must they worship and celebrate the sabbath? Does God require there to be a Minister of the people?

They wanted to know the truth about receiving communion, Jesus blood and Jesus’ thoughts on lies. Observation of other people’s religious practices and rituals has prompted them to ask, what does God really want for them?

Most recently they have been asking about farming and how to respond to and deal with abuse, mockery, ridicule and ostracism, as they share Divine Truth and begin to put into practice God’s way of living.  The principles and processes the girls are trying to implement in their homes and farms are challenging many in their community – both christian and cultural beliefs are being questioned and exposed. Some are curious and ask why they are doing things differently, others mock, abuse, and exclude.  We admire their courage to continue learning, experimenting, and sharing with those who genuinely ask and desire change.

While this email exchange has been a wonderful learning experience, we realise it is limited and frustrating at times, as it is so much harder to describe in great detail concepts that would have a greater power if we could share them in person. We realised in February this year, that we were probably going to be making another trip over to Kenya. Once I got over the shock of that realisation (because six years ago I vowed I would never go back – unresolved emotions really do cripple desire), things have evolved and opportunities are presenting themselves, left, right and centre. Which we are both very excited about. So we have decided to visit again in 2020, with loads of projects to implement and concepts to demonstrate. This time Denise and Wayne Shaw will be joining us in what is shaping up to be a fantastic opportunity to get to know the ins and outs of Kenyan life; to gain some faith and trust in God’s way of living in the world, and to give love, resources and knowledge to our brothers and sisters in Kenya.

Details of the projects we would like to implement can be found here.

Kerry & Paige

Meet Charles & Vincent

Pastor Charles and Pastor Vincent. These two young fellows are pretty excited by the events that have occurred in their lives over the past month or so. They are a little camera shy, but were willing to sit with us and share a little of themselves. Amid the traffic noise and maize grinder, we managed to capture a sample of their personality.

Webuye, Eldoret

We departed Kisii Country and headed directly north, through Kisumu to Webuye, which is about 1 hour east from the Ugandan border. We had originally hoped to spend about a week here, however we are running short on days now, and we needed to ensure we have adequate time to train Pastor Vincent and Pastor Charles in the finer details of caring and utilizing the equipment. It took us about 5 hours to travel 200km- the roads were less than appealing, and ‘under construction’ in many cases- great intentions, not much action.

We had a stop over in Kisumu (kis-oo-moo)- can’t say I’m that keen to visit there again, but maybe it was just my emotional state being reflected back at me! It was two and a half weeks before we were due to leave Kenya and we had A LOT of Kenyan country to travel between now and then. We were in a bit of turmoil- basically a bit paranoid about making the ‘wrong’ decision, as to who we leave the equipment with. We had just spent 4 awesome days with Vincent and Charles, but we still had not met with Pastor Wycliffe, maybe he was the one…after all maybe it was he that the then earthbound Kenyan Spirits, Suteh and Ki’amah, had been drawn to as he learnt about Divine Truth, who spoke to Jesus through Anto some weeks before we departed Australia.

Who do we choose? Michael? Although he seems keen personally to learn about developing a relationship with God, he’s really too far away from everything to be able to share regularly with a large group of people. Vincent and Charles? Two young, driven Pastors, passionate about learning about God, and feeling God in their hearts, whose group of members is growing daily and learning as they learn. Or Pastor Wycliffe, who is a well established Pastor and ‘Bishop’ of the western area Webuye, who has approximately 14 other Pastors who minister to the wider community, under the “One Way Ministry” church organization into Uganda and also Tanzania. In hindsight, even though the gear was originally prepared for Javan, we had doubts about his willingness to be transparent before we left Australia we probably should have visited each potential party at the beginning of the trip, and then made a decision based on the most humility and Sincere Desire demonstrated.

We had a limited time frame now, and we had promised we would visit Wycliffe. Tired, exhausted even, we jumped in the car and headed to Webuye. We had to stay overnight in Kisumu. Hoping to have a days rest and relax, before presenting and connecting with Wycliffe, Kerry booked us into Kisumu Beach Resort. Can I just say categorically, that internet photos are not an accurate representation of the present and can be extremely misleading. We arrived late and tired, and had no energy to navigate the dangerous roads further north- we HAD to stay. Seriously, this place read well, nestled on the edge of Lake Victoria. It may have been a thriving business at one time, now it is extremely run down. We entered the best room, in the place…the ceiling was moldy and caving in, with a great big hole- I was sure a rat or a monkey was to come sailing through and land on me during the night ( thank God for the mozzi net). The termites had made this place home, and the walls were so sticky that the rats were able to walk up the walls and leave evidence of their presence stuck there! The shower…mmm I took one look at it and decided, I was pretty clean and really didn’t smell that bad afterall. As for the bed, it was two beds pushed together with single sheets overlapping each other to cover the mattress- to be honest, I didn’t want to investigate much further- preferring to close my eyes and remain oblivious to what may have lay or lived beneath. Okay, so you guys might be laughing your heads off, at the moment- I certainly was not!
We then walked back through the camp, to reception, to reluctantly sign in, when we heard this blood curdling yelping and screaming! It immediately made you want to vomit. George, the host, took off like a shot (he was accompanying us, as apparently it was ‘not safe’ to walk around on your own, in case a hippo came out of the lake and attacks strangers….why are we staying??? Was my look of desperation and terror towards Kerry) we raced after him, not sure what we were about to witness, as we pushed through the scrub. To our horror, one of the camp dogs was being strangulated by a python 6m long as thick as my thigh. Men appeared from everywhere, yelling and started belting the python, trying to get it to release the dog. I don’t know which was worse- the dog screaming in pain, or the men killing the python. WHAT was going on here??? When the initial shock cleared and my brain registered what I was seeing before me, I couldn’t stand there and watch them kill this python, nor could I bare the sound of this dog’s strangulation screaming in my ears (I’ve never heard anything like it and I do not wish to again), it sent a wave of something through me that was eerie, and chilling, bilious- I wanted out! This place felt terrible- I felt terrible. Boy oh Boy- WHAT was God trying to teach me about love here???

I spent the next two hours bawling my eyes out- not even really sure what I was crying about, addictions not being met partly, probably- I was SO looking forward to a hot shower, maybe watch a movie on the laptop, blog a bit, get a decent sleep and some time for ourselves where we didn’t have to interpret conversation or do something to prepare for others. Well that wasn’t about to happen here. I laugh about it now, but at the time I was miserable. Poor Kerry, was trying to do something nice, thinking she had booked a place where we could just relax for the day- she was bawling, I was bawling. I remember looking about the room, terrified to move on this bed in case something ‘got’ me, ‘touched’ me, or crawled on me ( I was being triggered big time), through sobbing gulps of air, I said to Kerry, do you think this is God showing me what my real soul condition is?? Is this what my house in the spirit world looks like, and I’ve just been given a massive reality check?

The Mosquitos were the size of birds- okay a slight exaggeration, everything seems out of proportion, super sensitive and not overly rational, when you are in the middle of a overwhelm moment. What are we doing wrong?? Should we not be going to Webuye? Are the spirits just messing with us, hoping we will chuck in the towel? What is God showing us about our souls? So many questions.

I realised the next day the python and the dog was representing our relationship, and my relationship with God. Mmm…I had A LOT to reflect on.

We vacated early and arrived about midday- no Wotif accommodation options for Webuye (maybe that’s a good thing given the result of the last Internet search!!), as we drove into this small town, we came to a T intersection, looked at each other and said “left or right?” Let’s go left.

About 1 km down the road we spotted a place that looked okay- it had a secure parking area, that’s a start and individual little cottages. Hopes rising, as we drove in, maybe this will be like Rumuruti Villa- a gem in the middle of nowhere. We had plenty of time to find somewhere, but an afternoon nap was definitely in order. My immune system was doing its best to cope with the fever and congested chest I had procured for myself, so I was really hoping this was going to be okay- I needed some space to process.
We checked out a few rooms, chatted to the chef- mixed vegetable the only veggie option again, oh well we’ve managed this long what’s another 4 days eating the same thing. And settled in.

Pastor Wycliffe was enroute back from a missionary trip to Tanzania, so we planned to meet him the following morning, and discuss the program for the next 3 days.

Thinking he would be on african time, we had breakfast later than usual, about 9.30am. We were to met Wycliffe at 10. Well, one can never assume- he turned up at 9.30, with two other Pastors in tow- Godwin and Daniel. So it quickly became a breakfast meeting- african teas all round!

Pastor Wycliffe Paige Kerry

Wycliffe informed us that he had organized for us to present Divine Truth that afternoon from 2-5pm, and from 10-5pm the following two days. Okay then, let’s hit the ground running! After tea, we all piled in the car to visit Wycliffe’s family home. That is, his fathers property, where Wycliffe, as the eldest son, also has a house. Within this compound we discovered several buildings- a portion of which housed a school for 150 kids, all free and taught by volunteer teachers. We chatted for awhile with Wycliffe and his father, then went to visit all the kids and teachers in the school. They sang us a few songs, and we taught them a couple of Mama Joys raps.

Ugali lunch provided for the kids

preschool at free School with volunteer teachers funded by One Way Ministry

We briefly met Valentine, a lovely lady who is the head of the school. Unfortunately she was unavailable to attend the presentations, but wanted to meet us and was very keen to learn about Divine Truth, and the potential english program we spoke of that others at home were working on developing. We asked Wycliffe to pass on a copy of the booklets to her, which she has since devoured and is hungry for more (according to her emails). She is keen to implement the truths into the school curriculum – yay!

It was getting on to 1pm and we felt we should head over to where we were going to be presenting in the arvo. We arrived to a small mud hut in the middle of a sugarcane plantation, and transported all the gear inside. To our surprise they had an electric keyboard ( which I later discovered required some extra skills as several of the keys did not work- Godwin obviously doesn’t let this prevent him from belting out a tune!), and a PA system, with mic and two speakers. They both run off a car battery. As we set up the gear, Godwin, Daniel and a few of the kids were serenading us with a couple of local hymns.

Pastor Wycliffe and Pastor Godwin

We got the impression fairly quickly, that the people here are pretty hard core bible followers, and we were greeted constantly in Jesus name. When the introductions began, we realized half of the audience were Pastors, all with bible in hand. OK- deep breath. Feeling slightly intimidated, as all our catholic, religion, scripture inadequacies and emotions are now on there way to the surface! However, I must have been listening to my guides that morning, as we decided to present some FAQs on the truth about the Bible, and Jesus Identity, and distinguishing between God and the erroneous trinity theory. Hold onto your hats kids- this may be a bumpy ride!
Well, what an experience this turned out to be. We knew how challenging and confronting this information was going to be for people with these extremely ingrained beliefs. It did challenge many- and we must have had a lot of help answering the questions that arose. I never thought I would say this, but after the 3 days discussion with the people of Webuye, their beliefs being challenged, and mine- I actually had the desire to revisit and read some bible passages! Whoa! I was not expecting this! Something opened in me, being with them, hearing Truth along side them. They showed me that you can be part of an organized religion, and have a love for God and God’s Truth. I realised that I have been pretty judgmental of full on church goers or literal bible followers in the past- tainted from my previous religious experiences and ‘Christian’ encounters. Wycliffe and his friends had Faith, a little misguided by some untruths, but faith none the less. And when presented with logic, they were open to change and investigation. Wow- this was amazingly inspirational. This group loved to sing and dance, great candidates for Mamma Joys rap songs. We left them with a booklet, and Godwin wants to write his own music to go with the words. The kids had all the moves- rapping tiny tots, we were laughing so much we couldn’t keep the camera steady.

Everyone became so keen to learn more, we had to find a way to leave them with further learning. Thankfully young David, from a cyber cafe in webuye, had a duplex printer ( we were being looked after here!), and he keenly printed 200 booklets on 5 different topics, willing to stay back late to complete the task. He worked amid power blackouts and managed to finish them all at 11pm the night before we were due to leave.  He was thankful for the business (about 3 months income), and was grateful to receive the teachings himself!  His poor old printer was going to need a service after this mammoth effort!

On the last day, we presented Solomon, the padgett message discussing the greatest truths of all the world- prayer and faith on our part, Divine Love on God’s part.  They loved it! I cannot describe how it felt, being there, witnessing their sheer excitement and joy as the truth touched their hearts and souls. It was beautiful.  We really enjoyed our time here.

The next morning we headed off early, as we only had time for a 3 hour morning session in Eldoret. Unfortunately, as with african time, people showed up an hour late, so we did the best we could with the time we had available.

The delay did give us time to have a chat with Wycliffe, and meet his family. Once people began to roll on in, I took advantage of the huge blackboard and gave a brief introductory overview of God’s Soul, the Human Soul, incarnation, and the basic structure of the universe. Here’s a snippet of the rap up.

Unlike mogonga and webuye, where the kids usually joined us, here the kidlets were having their own little church meeting outside. Kerry managed to capture the kids on camera without them being aware- check out the ‘Kids Amen’

Webuye

All were disappointed that we could not stay longer, to share more with them. But we assured them that Pastor Wycliffe had all the material on HDD and media player. We suggested that the pastors might like to have regular get togethers, where they can watch and discuss and then each take those truths to their respective congregations. They were very excited about this, suggestion. Up until this point, Wycliffe admitted he hadn’t watched any from the hard drive.  Godwin and Daniel were pretty keen to encourage him to make it available to them all, and with our visit, Wycliffe’s desire to learn more of the Truths also ignited.  We met some amazing people, in this area of Kenya. And of course I had all their contact details, for possible assistance in the future- which kept in the back pack that was stolen. Perhaps it’s a good thing, allowing the Law of Desire, and pure demonstration of sincerity to sort this out.

The people of Webuye send their love and invitation for others to come and learn about God, with them in Kenya. They also asked that we pass on their thanks to all those that contributed and made it possible for us to visit and share with them.  I second that. This has been an amazing opportunity- of which I am yet to fully realise.

 

A little man with a big heart and big eyes- he likes cashews!

Pastor Daniel’s Meeting Place Mahala Webuye

Lessons in Love: Daniel

Whilst training Vincent & Charles we had an experience that made our eyes leak once again, ( I have had many leaky eyes this trip) .
Usually when we would have a break for lunch, Paige and I would sit just outside Vincent’s shop and have our usual fruit and nuts. This day however we felt like joining Vincent, Charles and Evelryne as they wandered over to the local cafe for their usual chapati & soda. It was only a 200 m walk down the road. As we were walking a man approached us and stopped us with his question-
“can I talk with you?”. We noticed there was a strong smell of alcohol, his eyes were very red and it soon became apparent that he was an alcoholic and had been drinking.
My response to this man was ” sure” as I paused and turned toward him. He immediately asked for some help & pulled his shirt and pants up to reveal his skin. It was blotched all over with huge white patches looking like he had some severe skin disease, plus a few extensive surgery scars. He proceeded to tell us that he was in an accident & that he needed some money to help him cover the costs for the hospital expenses in order for him to get better. All of a sudden because we had paused there were 20 or 30 school children surrounding us and it became hard to talk with him amongst the noise.
Charles was trying to urge us forward & Evelryne was tugging at us screwing up her face for us to move and not bother with him. I noticed Vincent shake his hand warmly and talk to him in Kisii language compassionately. I/we explained to Charles & Vin that we wished to talk with this man and try and help him, not just brush him off and ignore him as so many others have done.
So then we asked him why he felt he could ask us two white people for assistance and not Vincent and Charles, who were standing right beside us. He avoided the question, and just kept lifting up his shirt to show us his injuries again. I said to Vincent that this was a real opportunity to express love to this man and that we wished to continue our discussion, so we invited him to come with us to the cafe to talk more.
Vincent gently took him by the hand, and walked with him though the crowd of kids, who were also demanding our attention.
When we sat down at the cafe we asked him his name.
“Daniel” was the reply. To this we responded ” nice to meet you Daniel” and shook his hand. Another man walked by and made some derogatory comment towards him- judging him and having a go at him ” here you are again asking for drink money!”
He looked really nervous, and seemed timid in nature. This was no accident that he approached us today. I prayed that I be able to stay in truth and Love as I spoke with this man. I can honestly say that I did feel love in my heart for him- the pain and sadness was oozing out of him. I asked him if he would kindly answer our question.
“Why did you ask myself and Paige for help, but not Vincent & Charles. What was it you really wanted?”
Again he skirted around it. Charles was interpreting, and he said that Daniel was still insistent on money, 57,000, to help him get treatment from the hospital in order to get better. I asked him if treatment from the hospital had helped him feel better in the past. To which he replied “no”.
We asked him how would he feel if we walked up to him in the street, smelling strongly of alcohol, and asked him for a significant amount of money?
Would he give it to us? Would he think that we would probably spend it on alcohol?
He thought about this for a moment, and realization crossed his face- he dropped his head in shame, and said “sorry sorry”, shaking his hands at us, implying ‘I’m sorry, I’ve done the wrong thing, and offended you’, and got up to leave.
We asked him, “please don’t go- we are not offended, we would like to help you.”
So he sat down again, and we asked a little more about the accident.
We said that obviously he had had money for alcohol, and why did he spend it on this instead of getting treatment with the money. And if we were to give more money would he not just spend it on more alcohol?
He replied that someone had told him if he drinks alcohol it will heal him.
I suggested that maybe, the alcohol was only numbing the pain, and if he really wanted to heal, that he could look within. He didn’t quite understand this, so I lent over towards him, looked him in the eye and said, “What is inside your heart Daniel , that hurts so much and is so sad, that makes you want to drink to take the pain away?” With this Daniel immediately began to shake all over. His eyes started to well up, and he was fighting back tears. Charles kept interpreting,
“Because we love you we are wanting to help you really heal, not just give you money, because that doesn’t change what’s inside you.”
Daniel now had tears streaming down his face. And his whole body was shaking. This was a powerful moment. I had tingles running down my neck and back.
Myself and Paige also started to well up, and kept encouraging him to cry and to allow this feeling that was overwhelming him. Charles and Vincent were looking amazed. They were experiencing and witnessing what we had been talking and sharing with them about healing and feeling your emotions. Charles then began to speak about how holding in these feelings was only hurting him, and stopping God from being able to help him and guide him. We explained that the alcohol was poisoning him, and preventing him from feeling all the feelings in his heart and soul that are causing him pain, and creating misery in his life.
We encouraged Daniel to keep crying and that this was good, that it was God helping him release the sadness in him that kept him in pain and if he truly let go it his body could heal, permanently. He seemed to understand.
I asked Daniel if he had eaten today, to which he replied “no”. So I gave him some fruit and bought him a mandazi ( kinda chapati thingy). I invited him to stay and eat with us, but he was really connecting to some sadness, but also we could sense he felt embarrassed and ashamed to be emotional in front of these strangers, especially to other Kenyan men. So suggested also that if he was embarrassed about crying in front of us that it was okay to go off by himself somewhere and continue to feel his grief and cry the tears. So we shook his hand, he thanked us & he left. Then we bawled our eyes out, feeling the love that had just passed through and between us.
Wow what an experience!
Great lessons in love for all.

The Eleventh Hour

Friday afternoon, on the final day in Mogonga we ran the boys through one last revision, and mock presentation setup. We divided up the donation monies and explained what each amount was for, and asked that they honour the individual purposes for which each was given.
Since we were all departing early the following morning for Nairobi, the guys required some time at home to prepare for being away over the weekend. So we all piled in the car to head down the road a ways, to collect the house key from Florence, Charles wife, who was teaching at a school some 10km away. It happened to be knock off time, which meant we got to finally meet Florence. Unbeknownst to me, Florence, together with another colleague, 3 children, Charles, Vincent and Everlyne all crammed in to the back seat. I looked around and was surprised to all these faces smiling back at me. Wow, 8 people on the back seat!! I shouldn’t be surprised, given the number of people that cram into, and hang out of a Matatu.
Next stop was Charles and Florence’s place to drop off the sound gear and equipment for safe storage. We have been carting this gear all over Kenya- it was nice to finally hand it over and say enjoy- it is now yours!!
We left the guys just a little bit excited about a trip to the city. Mogonga is about 26km from Kisii, but they rarely visit, maybe 4 times a year- so a journey to Nairobi was going to be quite out of the ordinary!
In Nairobi we planned to finalize details for the car transfer, and take the opportunity to show them a few things on the computer to do, for the times in the future when they had access to free wifi. Plus we would share a meal together Saturday evening, giving the boys the opportunity to meet Denis, then Sunday morning we hired Innocent to drive them and the vehicle back to Mogonga, and as it turned out service it whilst he was there (What a God send Innocent has been, during our stay in Kenya!). The boys need to brush up on their driving skills, so until they have completed the 3 week Driver Training refresher course with Pastor Abel (we are attracting Pastors all over the place), we felt for their safety, and the vehicle, hiring an experienced driver to get them home was well worth the $90 investment! Of course Innocent appreciated the work also- such a gentle guy.
We three were then going to spend the day chillaxing, due to fly out at 11pm Sunday night.

Sounds like a good plan and nice way to finish off the 3 month experience in Kenya, doesn’t it?

Wanna know what actually happened?!

As we drove through Kisii on our way back to St. V Guest House, to pack our bags and finalize our accommodation account, I realized that we had one more letter I needed to write that needed to be printed and signed, before we departed Kenya as part of the KRA change of ownership process.
So I quickly typed as we drove into town, and jumped out at our ‘local’ printer/photocopy shop, for one last transaction. I knew if the power was on, I would only be 10 minutes max. Kerry drove around the corner to order our evening meal (2 hrs notice is required, unless you wanna eat at 10pm), then came back to pick me up. She parked the car right out front the KCB bank, and western union office, which has a security guard on duty, along the main street of Kisii. Locked the car and walked less than 100m to where I was. Five minutes later, if that, we both walked back to the car, feeling relieved that almost everything was sorted, and we were happy to be heading off to the next destination. As we approached the car, I noticed a plastic bag on the ground next to the front passenger door. “That’s strange, I’m sure that was in our car, but I didn’t get out of the car in this spot”, Kerry went around to unlock the drivers door, meanwhile I had already opened the passenger door- this is not good!!!
It took me a little while to register that the car was already open!! The look on Kerry’s face and the blank space where the computer bag and our daypack had been sitting at my feet said it all- “Oh F*#k, we’ve been robbed!!!” Kerry is yelling, and crying and I’m not quite comprehending that this has actually happened. At first when I saw the blank space I thought Kerry had removed the bags when she went back to St.V’s. But that look of horror and disbelief and then the look of reality, that our bag had all the donation money, our money for the last 2 days, all our cards, passports- basically everything, told me this was real! Not to mention, the computer for Vincent and all the accessories, including our digital camera which we gave them the day before!
“How??? How could this happen?” Nothing was damaged, no broken windows, we frantically looked about the street, and called out to the people milling about the stands. “How could no one have seen anything???” So much for the security guard at the bank!!
It is a horrible feeling when you realize you’ve been broken into- worse when the items weren’t yours and when it dawns on you, you are in a foreign country, with no money, no passport and a corrupt police system who really didn’t give a toss!

As the minutes passed, reality sunk in deeper! I couldn’t believe this was happening- we are about to leave the country. The emotion was erupting in me and I just started screaming and swearing and jumping up and down like a kid throwing a major wobbly. This is the first time I did not care who was watching or listening- it just all came out of me! Then the sobbing took over. The group of men that had huddled around the car now took about 10 steps backwards- not sure which freaked them out more- a white woman screaming her head off, punching the air, and swearing like a trooper, or the sobbing!

Once we started to think clearly, and determined that there were no witnesses, well ones willing to speak up, we needed to report to the police and make phone calls to cancel cards, call the Australian High Commission, call the insurance company and figure out how we were going to pay for our last few days and get out of the country!! Mmm…no credit on the phone! That’s right we deliberately ran it down knowing we were leaving in two days. Bloody Hell! This was getting worse by the minute- do we actually have a phone??!!!!
Fortunately, I had taken the little safari com pouch we had been using to pay the 20 shillings printing. I was going to just take the 20 shillings, but at the last second just grabbed the pouch and jumped out of the car. It contained my Aussie drivers license, one credit card and about 1000 shillings! What a relief! And the phone was in my pocket, not in our day pack!

Okay, so the car won’t lock, we need to find someone who will come with us to the police station to look after the car. If outside a bank isn’t safe, I’m not too sure I’m willing to tempt fate, even at the Police Station! We found a nice young man, one of the security guys at St. Vincent’s, who was more than happy to take us to the Police Station.

We walked in and immediately thought, are we wasting our time here??? The big fat report book, that the officer on duty penned all our details into, looked as though it was a bit of a ‘going through the motions job’. Well- at least it’s been recorded!

Lets just say we eventually got a stamped piece of paper from the Kisii Police that would help us apply for emergency passports. We called Vincent to tell him what had happen, 2 hours later he turned up in Kisii, and tried to give us back the donation money we had given him earlier that afternoon. More tears- if we had any doubts about his integrity, this just blew them out of the water.
We discussed with him that we would need to leave at 3.30am in the morning, to try and reach the Embassy by 9am in Nairobi- at that time we were lead to believe that the embassy was open on Saturday morning till 12noon. As we couldn’t confirm this because all the phone numbers on the website were “no longer in service”, we had to just go and hope that this was in fact the case. Driving in the dark, on Kenyan roads is a whole new experience, and not one either of us wish to repeat any time soon. We thought speeding Matatus were bad, try speeding trucks, with inconsiderate high beam attitudes!!
Unfortunately, we discovered at about 5am Saturday morning, half way to Nairobi that we would have to wait until 7.45am Monday morning. We finally got through to someone in Australia who informed us of this fact. Bugger!!!! We are going to miss our flight Sunday night! More tears, sleep deprived, stressed and in unfamiliar circumstances- the out of control feeling was building again.

Oh well, not much we can do about it now- except feel. Lets continue to Nairobi, and hopefully get some sleep.
We met up with Denis, caught up on the last 3weeks, and organized the departure of the boys back to Kisii, with Innocent.
Sunday morning we said goodbye, and decided to have a bit of a lay-day. A massage to help connect with all this emotion was definitely in order!! Sunday evening we hugged our friend Denis goodbye, and went to bed early as we wanted to be at the High Commission first thing. Once we actually got there, they were really helpful, and told us our emergency passports would be ready by 11am the following day!! Thank you!!!
Our next task was to try and get though to Emirates Kenya to rebook our flight. Since we had missed our flight to Ireland from Heathrow, we hoped we could alter our final destination to Dublin. For an extra 50 bucks each, we are now on route to Dublin- YAY!!!! It is such a rigmarole having to replace your passport whilst in transit- I’m not quite sure what the response is supposed to be when you’ve just informed the relevant party that all your documents have been stolen, then they ask for Identification, and passport to pay for the alterations- umm, hello??!!!! We have a limited number of pages in the passport, and we are not certain that we can enter Thailand, as we will have less than 6 months validity. Therefore we might be home early, and Denis will have to visit Soe, from Burma, on his own- unless someone else decided to join him there.

As we sit at Gate A17 Dubai Airport, enjoying a very early fruit smoothie, we reflect back over the last few days and realize, that just like the hairy terror evoking episode of the clutch blowing on the car with the van in tow before we left QLD, this has been another ‘soft event’ to help us feel our fear. Although in the moment it appeared horrendous. We were not hurt, we were not in danger, we had lovely people around us that assisted where possible, and we still had access to money. Inconvenience sure, but what’s that really in the potential growth of our souls. Another example of how God loves us, whilst providing us the opportunity to develop in Love. If only we had felt the emotions at the time, rather than living in them, or avoiding them. There is no escaping the Laws of Love, they are perfect in nature and execution. The evidence and faith in the Laws is mounting- whether we embrace them willingly or are subject to their existence unknowingly- they are pretty awesome when you can come to appreciate them, and their function.

Now a word from Kerry, as she reflects on the Law of Attraction.
The lead up to this event was God desiring to help me feel my emotions about “being taken from” or not trusting. Here in Kenya it has been very rare to meet someone that doesn’t want something from you. In fact the projection that comes at you all the time is quite tiring. Of course if l had more love in my soul l wouldn’t be feeling tired of it. But as I’m still a ‘ learner driver’ as the final week drew to a close I was looking forward to the end of this part of our journey. It has been quite an eventful, rewarding, joyful, exhausting, sad, uplifting and growthful time here. All sorts of emotions positive and negative have arisen. Not all the negative ones have been processed and released. God is constant, always giving you an opportunity again and again- “if at first you don’t succeed…”

Coming into the final week I was having an uneasy feeling arise. We were approximately 5 kms from Javans (as the crow flys). He had made some serious threats to us 4-5 weeks ago and after not responding to him anymore, he faded into the background.
But in our final week he had started ringing us again and wanting to know where we were. I had obviously not processed all my emotions around this event. More and more details emerged as to the extent of his dishonesty and the other people that were affected by his lack of integrity and deceitfulness. He had told us that monies sent over previously, went to clothe, feed and help educate the orphans, which included 15 that Ester was trying to look after by herself, as well as 6 of her own, with her youngest having been run over by a motorbike and now has physical and mental disabilities. We met Ester, visited her home, as she was quite upset that she wasn’t given the opportunity to meet us, and learn Divine Truth. We discovered she had received no donation money from Javan, as he had led us to believe. This was another kick in the guts- more lies, and stealing from orphans. I must have some pretty deep emotions, to keep attracting these situations.

The spirit attack resumed when we arrived back in the Kisii area, and I had the feeling that Javan was attempting black magic ( a little dramatic l know). Kisii was known for the witch doctor services that were available. Which of course I know is only spirit attack, and possible because of Law of Rapport. But I do have ‘holes’ in me still. Sometimes I wish I had some poly filler for the spirit body. Ha ha. (Paige just added “you do, it’s called love!”).
Anyway, with my fears in full swing, I started to doubt a few things, like the sincerity and honesty of Vincent and Charles. I knew this would be affecting my ability to share with them about Divine Truth and also the training. I prayed to God to help me connect to the emotion that was related to this, the mistrust, doubt, and that feeling of being taken from and the money we had given being misused and abused. In the back of my mind was Jesus’s latest advice ‘love and trust’. Oh boy…..come on Kerry!
God was giving me the opportunity….I just didn’t see it.

I had been doing some research about the registration of a church in Kenya, and how much it was to cost so we could help Charles and Vincent get this underway. It seems it is essential here with the government or gatherings cannot occur. There are literally thousands of different churches here. You can’t drive 50- 100 metres without passing a tin shed or mud hut that’s some sort of church. We had found out from Pastor Wycliffe that the most it would cost was 30,000 kes (about $330) which was quite a difference to the $3000 that Javan requested and received from us.
What came up, whilst searching on the net, was a story on about the scam that’s going on in Kenya at the moment. People in Kenya are contacting churches and organizations in the western world asking for help and wanting to share that particular faith and religious teachings in Kenya (Africa ) . They lie about their intentions, extract loads of money out of the organisation, use orphans as pawns to pull on the heart strings and basically have many at the same time believing what they are saying. Of course ‘law of attraction’ in play, this was exactly what I was concerned about. We got burnt by Javan, are we being played again? My fear is clouding my assessment. And how do I really know?? My Love and Truth detector is clearly offline, while these emotions are coursing though me. Still I didn’t get it fully. I may have felt some (very little if I’m really honest). But obviously not enough- because we got robbed- this tells me my Law of Attraction has not altered, therefore, I have not emotionally altered.

Now fast forward to the final day of our project. We had been robbed!!!
Again God was desiring to show me, assist me, love me. As I’m standing in the middle of the street in Kisii, bawling my eyes out feeling so afraid, not knowing what to do, thinking of Javan’s threats of “you’re not going to leave the country”, it dawned on me. I had been praying to God- please show me, expose this emotion so I can release it once and for all. And He did. Duh!!!!

I owned up to Paige, after things had settled down, telling her of my resistance and my prayer, THANKS KERRY!!!!!! Was her reply. “Well you must have had them in you also”. I said, “so I was helping both of us”. Hee hee isn’t that nice of me.

We both have a lot to reflect on, about the last 12 weeks. We had the feeling that coming to Kenya was possibly going to challenge us, and that we might potentially gain more from the experience, than we manage to impart or share with others on earth and in spirit. The bumps along the road, have been part of the experiment. We know how we would not approach a project like this in the future- which has been valuable learning. And we don’t know whether it is appropriate to describe the trip in terms of success or failure- because it just is, what it is. Each interaction, has been an opportunity for us and them, to learn something about Love, Truth, Ethics, the nature of God, the Universe, the Laws governing the Universe and the Soul. Whether we did or not, will be determined only by each individual soul, and the subsequent demonstration of this change being evident in our daily lives ~ Love in Action.
This has been a period of our life that we never forget- and are so pleased we had the courage to say “let’s go!”

Sincere Desire

We have had the opportunity to learn SO many valuable lessons about Love and Truth, Humility, Cause & Effect and Soul Attraction over the past two months. This trip to Kenya has enabled us to step outside our comfort zone, be involved in one experiment after another- actively or otherwise!  The lesson that has me most in awe, at the moment, is the Law Of Desire and how things flow so brilliantly and surprisingly when your desire and love are in alignment, and how things drag, “go wrong” and seemingly require such physical/mental ‘willful’ effort, when your thoughts, and actions are acting not in alignment with Love and Truth (smile).

Allow me to share our experience that demonstrates this.   After realising that we could no longer stay in Ogembo, following the events that occurred with Javan, we had traveled back to Nairobi, to process (not very successfully on my behalf) and plan our next step. As one door closed, another opened- we received an email from Pastor Vincent, who had contacted the Divine Truth Office, inquiring about how he could learn more about Divine Love and God .  We emailed back and forth, planning to visit Vincent on our loop up to Webuye, where we were going to meet another Pastor, Wycliffe, who had been sent a media player and Divine Truth Hard Drive in February this year.  Now, here is where our resistance to being humble to our emotions clouded our accurate assessment of the people that were being drawn into our life.

Our experience with Javan, and the events that followed, threw us into a spin, and the “safety net” of addiction kicked in, of wanting to find someone who was gentle, who would not threaten us, who we enjoyed spending time with, who was demonstrating a genuine interest in practicing love daily in their life, and whose nature expressed a desire to love and educate others.  We also both had/have emotions still, around wanting to do a good job,  to complete the project, to honour the resources and time that been contributed to sharing Divine Truth in Kenya (ours included)…and if I’m really really honest, the thought of having to organize and fund transporting the sound system and all the technology back home to Australia if we didn’t find someone, was a nightmare I was really unwilling to look at (given the previous experiences with Kenyan government bodies etc), and the prospect emotionally brought me to tears (not healing tears, but “I don’t wanna do it” tears).
So, what happened? Pastor Michael, showed up, met all of our addictions, seemingly making it “easy”, and he was interested in personally learning Divine Truth.   Prayers answered?  In many ways, yes. Michael would have been a good choice- however, was he the best choice???  Due to us wanting to feel ‘safe’, and spend time with someone we liked, it would be fair to say that logic and reasoning in review of the accessibility to power, internet (as a contact for further interest in Kenya), road access and travel distances (to be able to jump in the car and share in other areas of Kenya), pretty much went out the window and were overlooked, for a while.  We spent a week training Michael on the equipment, then things started to go array. Delays, interruptions, issues with how we were going to recharge the equipment after we left Kenya- things began to lose there flow, and I/we began to doubt. Mmmm, something is not right here. We must be acting out of harmony in some way.  So we prayed to see the truth of the situation, to learn where we ourselves were creating issues.  Then our eyes opened, our ears listened and our hearts tuned in to what was really going on- Bugger! Things were stalling, because we were stalling!  We were avoiding, and putting off going to visit Vincent and Wycliffe, Vincent especially, because he lived in Mogonga, virtually in Javan’s backyard.  We were allowing the fear of the threats Javan had made toward us, to prevent us from sharing Divine Truth, with others who did have a sincere desire! In our minds we thought the threats were probably hollow, however, we know it is not our minds thoughts that govern our actions- our fear made us doubt, doubt our safety and the safety of those that we were potentially going to visit! What are we doing???!!! This is not love! We were doing a good job for a few weeks though, convincing ourselves that it was loving, by not going, by not placing others and ourselves in potential harm. Oh how we can fool ourselves, in order to avoid feeling an emotion! Which simultaneously means we could not accurately feel and assess, the sincere desire (or lack there of) and intentions of others.

So we sat down, had a frank conversation and reflected on all that was going on, and reviewed for ourselves again…”Why are we here? What was the original desire we both had for coming to Kenya?”  Okay- its time to feel the fear and do it anyway! Step into pure desire, step forward in love and honesty, ACT and the fears will arise and (hopefully) melt away as you act, engage God (if you choose) and feel. Righto- Lets Go!

In Kisima, we packed up all the gear required for presentations, purchased a white sheet to project onto, and headed back to Kisii and Mogonga, where we would begin the Divine Truth Tour.

We finally arrived in Mogonga in the first week of July, and had about 4 days to spend there. On the way there we passed through a small town called Kijauri (40km before Kisii), where Isaac, Javan’s brother, lives and teaches.  Isaac had called us after we departed Kineni Village, distressed as he had not been informed of our leaving and was concerned about not being able to learn about Divine Truth.  We filled him in on what had occurred (Javan explained nothing to anyone, so they were all confused about our departure), and told him that we were more than happy to share with him, and provide him with a means of learning. He thought we would abandon him, because he was Javan’s brother.  We explained that God does not punish- He desires to correct, and steer us back to Love.  “The actions of your (our) brother, are the responsibility of your brother,and will be felt by your brother, as God’s Laws work to correct him back to the path of Love- Just as you Isaac are responsible for the choices and actions you make in or out of harmony with Love, as are we.  The relationship we have with you, is based the interactions we have with you. Just because you came from the same parents, or are biologically related, does not mean you will be treated differently- you will not be ‘punished’ or abandoned, or judged for the actions of your brother.”

How often does this happen? We feel “wronged” by someone or have unresolved issues with someone, and we project those emotions onto others purely by their association.  Even in circumstances where we personally have not had an interaction, loving or otherwise with someone, we treat that person differently, because we have heard a story about that person, or we have “loyalty” (aka are in addiction) with a friend or family member that has had an interaction with this person.  We even do this with people we will possibly never meet! We watch the news, or read the paper or hear gossip on the proverbial grape vine and we project our emotions and beliefs toward this person or group of people, based on what?!!  Certainly not Truth. Instead we act to keep the status quo- remaining in harmony with our false beliefs, our need to be liked, and approved of, maintaining alliances and not challenging our ‘safety zone’ emotions.  Not overly logical is it.  I’m sure everyone at some point in their life have been on the receiving end of a judgement, even by someone who does not even know you- or has taken the time to learn the truth of a situation, from you. Doesn’t feel very nice does it.  So why then do so many of us do this to others ALL the time??? Basic ethics out the window. We are so quick to “Tar with the same brush”.  I have definitely been guilty of this unloving behaviour towards my fellow brothers and sisters-  more and more, I catch myself. It actually surprises me just how much I do, do this.  If we changed this one behaviour about ourselves, and emotionally released why in fact we do this. Can you imagine how much more loving the world would be to live in?

So we dropped in on Isaac, at the catholic girls high school, where he teaches biology and agriculture. White people were a bit of a novelty in these parts, as many little dark faces looked in amazement out the windows of their classrooms as we passed by. For a school that housed 500 odd students (prep- standard 8), it was SO QUIET!! During our brief tour, we discovered why- they didn’t dare make any noise. Unfortunately, the girls are caned as a form of discipline. We both drew in a deep breath, and took the opportunity to discuss how we personally disagreed, and suggested a few experiments, in line with Gods Laws of Love, that Isaac and fellow teachers might like to try, with regards to students having difficulty learning or being disruptive. We appealed to the biology teacher in him- explaining how emotions affect certain parts of the brain- particularly, Fear and the Frontal Cortex where logic and learning occur.  Essentially- if a child feels threatened or IS in fear of punishment- they simply will not learn effectively. And they will be reluctant to experiment and make mistakes in learning about the world they live in, because of the threat of punishment.  Apart from the fact that physically assaulting a child, through “disciplinary means”, breaks many Laws of Love. We threw into the mix a discussion about ethics- how does caning a child, that kicked another child teach them anything about love? It doesn’t.  And it misses the point- why did the child kick the child in the first place?  He had never thought about it like this- only that they were taught to use the cane, and that they ‘had to’.  So his own fears of being punished for not following the ‘rules’ were in play here also. It was an interesting visit to say the least.

We happened to arrive just before the end of the school day (6am-4pm). As the girls were gathered outside, they were pointing and laughing and giggling behind shy hand covered mouths.  We could feel they were eager to come over and greet us, so we waved them permission to come over and say ‘hi’. All of a sudden we were engulfed, by 100 primary school girls, with huge big eyes, and amazing smiles- all wanting to touch our skin and hold our hands.  It was so cool to hear them say “How are you?” in their staccato verbalization of english, then immediately cover up their mouth with shy excitement, almost to embarrassed to wait for a response- and then jumping for joy when they receive one!

We chatted with the girls for a while, then went to meet Isaac’s cousin James, who is the accountant at the school, then back into town to met Mauline, Isaac’s wife. Over the next few days we had the opportunity to watch some Divine Truth with them, and taught them how to use the audio Mp3 player we left with them.

Next stop was Kisii, to settle in and prep for meeting Vincent the next day.

A sample of Kisii Town.
Vincent was so excited to meet us- and was ever so grateful we decided to face our fears. Vincent, a young man in his mid 20’s, he married his childhood sweetheart Evelryne (Age 14 and 10 when they met), and cares for 5 young children- Faith (8), Amos (5), and Kimbary (3), they also care for two teenage orphans.

Vincent and Evelryne run a Hair Cutting business from a small building situated on the main road Kisii- Kilgoris.  Now when I say Hair cutting, its fairly basic- comprising of one small mirror, a couple of chairs, a pair of hair trimmers, and pictures of weaves and shampoo that can be ordered in, if a client wishes to purchase.  It’s pretty fair to say that this is not Vincent’s passion- but it is what they do to earn a little bit of money (8000KES per month, 5500 of which goes on school fees and shop rent- you do the math!).  Vincent is the youngest of six. They live in a modest hut, on this fathers land- as do all the brothers. Vincent has a very quiet, gentle, reserved and shy nature.  He has not been impressed by traditional religion, and experience with a catholic priest, made him question religions version of Love and God and now he seeks to learn the truth about God, and how to help his community members become more loving.  The term Pastor, is an honorary title really for someone who is leading a group of people spiritually or has a passion for humanitarian actions.  He has a passion for God, and for the children in his community.
Charles and Vincent work together, both ministering to their community in any way they can to help people grow.  Charles, is the main speaker, and is a jovial young guy. Charles is married to Florence, who is a teacher, and they have 3 children.  Charles farms maize as income, and milks a cow which he sells to local hotels (eateries).

Florence & Charles

Vincent and Charles have both been traveling to Ogembo to view the DT website at a cyber cafe whenever they can afford it, devouring as much written material as they can, to then share with their members during their weekend meetings.  To say they were keen for us to come and present Divine Truth Videos, is an understatement!

Shop

We discovered that the Hair shop had power, and a wall that we could hang a white sheet to project onto- so we hired 30 chairs and somehow managed to fit them, us and the gear into this room to show Frequently Asked Questions over the next 3 days.  Originally it was just meant to be Saturday and Sunday- Friday was a set up practice run, however when 20 people poked their heads in and didn’t want to leave we figured, lets go with the desire! Charles was just awesome at interpreting over the 3 days.  It was such a joy, to see him enjoying, and become animated with everything he was hearing and sharing! I’m sure he was receiving Divine Love whilst he was doing this! A few times he was in such awe of the the truths, he forgot to translate- but overall the vibe in that room was amazing! There were loads of spirits listening in too, which was fabulous.  The number of kids that were present was great. Yes, we know that the projector was possibly a bit of a novelty- but compared to kids in Australia, who would have been “over it” in about 15 minutes, these kids stayed, and came back the next 2 days.  Even the tiny tots- I sure hope they got to absorb some love and truth.

Pastors Vincent & Charles Of Mogonga

Meeting Place

DT presentation in Mogonga- Vincent and Evelryne’s Hair Cutting shop

Charles so excited and enlivened after translating truths touching his soul

Pastor Vincent & Evelryne

A discussion on Gender Equality, and Loving your neighbour inspired these women to speak up and express themselves- they came alive

Lawrence, Pastor Thomas of Ogembo, Paige

Personalities breaking free- Phellar, Delyphine, Kerry, Evelryne, Verah (front)

Paige & Evelryne

Kerry & Abel

The “practice run”

We returned to Mogonga, after our ‘tour’ and one morning we sat in the dining hall eating breakfast, at our accommodation in Kisii, St. Vincents Guest House. We looked at each other in silence, both with the same question in mind and heart: knowing we had 2 weeks remaining, “Have we made the best choice?”  Feeling some reservation, (we’ve been questioning ourselves a lot over these few months) and sending out a prayer to be shown if we were ‘on the right track’, a song began to play over the speaker system. Now every other morning, we have eaten breakfast enduring the roar of terrible Kenyan TV. Not this morning- music was playing.  Well, I know God doesn’t muck around in answering sincere prayers- but sometimes I forget this, and I was reminded of this fact as I now sat bawling my eyes out, dripping onto my avocado and tomato on toast.

“Let my heart be changed, renewed
Flowing from the grace
That I’ve found in You
Lord I’ve come to know
The weakenesses I see in me
Will be stripped away
By the power of Your love”

These were the words I heard, and from there on in well….I well up every time I hear it now.

What are the odds- a catholic run guest house, in Kenya, and we hear a song which we later discovered was recorded by an Australian woman.  Surprises are endless. Gifts are endless- when you sincerely engage your heart with desire. Which ment, we needed to go with the people that demonstrated the most sincere desire. We were finally on the “right track”. These guys had drive in spades!

We did not leave Michael empty handed.  Enroute from Eldoret back to Mogonga we met Michael in Rumuruti, and explained to him the reasons for our decision. He was disappointed, that we would not be leaving the gear with him, however he understood our reasoning- especially when he explained that he had been flooded in and it took him an extra four hours via detour to reach us.  This type of scenario was not going to be feasible, in the long run- he was miles from nowhere.  We left him with a DT HDD, as originally planned, as he has a laptop.  We assisted with planting trees, and funding a few environmental projects, plus did some work on the camp house.

As I mentioned, we have now returned to Mogonga for the final two weeks of our journey here in Kenya, to complete training in the equipment we are gifting to them, to assist them in their desire to go out and share these amazing Truths with any soul who is willing to listen and learn.  This has been a very steep learning curve for these two young guys.  They have grown up with very little exposure to technology, but they realise now that without technology Divine Truth would not be freely available and accessible to millions around the world- nor would they have been able to contact the Divine Truth Office and discover that we were in Kenya, seeking people with a deep desire to get to know the real God, and grow through Her Love into the true creature we were designed to become. Not only do these guys become seriously excited, Charles especially, when they personally are hearing these truths- they want to help others in their country discover the Way.  They both have a huge heart, and a great passion for God.  I think they are reeling in shock, at all the opportunities that are now being handed to them.

After a week of training, we gave the guys the opportunity to have a crack at setting up and running a weekend presenting DT on their own.  On the first day they presented FAQs discussing the topic of Parenting and God- wow, did this get the conversation started!!

The following day, they presented the most important truths of the world- Prayer and Faith, and God’s Love available for all who ask for it.  Charles was keen to translate the Prayer For Receiving Divine Love, in to Kiswhali, which we had printed and available for those who desired to take a copy home with them.

Last day of Training

We completed training this week, and dropped off the gear at its new home.  The Divine Truth Car is in the process of being transferred and we have been fortunate to receive another $1500 in donations over the past week which we distributed to assist with furthering Divine Truth, through printed material, and also provided some much needed new clothing, school fees, food and bedding for kids in the surrounding area.

Kids new spiffy duds

The Mogonga DT Team

Do you wanna know the funny part in all this? The first day we drove out to Ogembo and Kineni village, Denis, Kerry and I- we got “lost”. Guess where we stopped and turned around- Yep. Mogonga, and practically did the u-turn in front of Vincent’s business!! Mmm, our guides knew where we were headed!!  Eventually we clued, in, albeit 10 weeks later.  We leave now with Love and Trust. We wish you well guys- it has been an absolute pleasure getting to know you. And we hope to visit again in the future.

When Opportunity Knocks..

It’s a few days til we depart Kenya, we are recapping the training, and organizing final details ensuring Vincent and Charles are well equipped and confident about stepping into their next adventure.
As we are leaving the car in their care also, and it has been 5yrs or so since Vincent drove a car- we felt a few driving lessons would be a good idea.
That’s the thing about giving gifts- we need to consider whether the gift we are intending to give IS actually a gift or if it will become a burden. So in the example of the car: if we love the people who donated the money to purchase and insure the car, and we love the people who manufactured and built the car, and the gift of the use of the car, plus the people who will be driving it and the other road users- we would help Vincent and Charles be able to learn how to care for the car, how to drive it safely, and legally- for them and for those who will also be on the road with them. We feel this is what love would do. This is part of what it means to give a gift. If we just left the car with them and said ‘go for it’- knowing that they had basically never really driven (and believe us driving in Kenya requires extra skills!!), we feel we would be irresponsible stewards, and disrespectful of the car, the grifters and the giftees!

So Kerry, bravely, volunteered to take Vincent and Charles on a ‘refresher’ drive, ( I didn’t cope so well as a passenger during the last one- my heart was jumping out of my chest with anxious fear, desperately wanting to control the situation from the back seat- so not the ideal teacher in this state!). Mean while Verah, the young teenager who wanted to learn how to use the equipment, had been asking us to come and visit her school. So she and I wandered down the road, to what I thought, would be visiting her empty school, as so many kids were milling about on their way to inter-school sports day. So off we went, chatting along the way, meeting people that had come to previous DT presentations as they passed by, then we finally reached the Bombaba Primary and Secondary School.

As we drew closer I could hear children’s voices and the occasional adult voice. “Ummm, Verah, are you sure it is okay that I visit with you??!” Knowing full well that this situation would never occur in Australia, a stranger, a foreigner walking into a school, a class room full of 13 and 14 year olds and saying “Hi”!
She looks at me with her big beautiful eyes, and smiles, grabs my hand and says come meet my class! Well, OK- looks like this is going to happen, let’s just roll with it!

So we meander between class rooms then come to an open door, Verah’s Class 8. She is in her last year of primary school, about to sit exams to move up into Form 1, Secondary School in September.
As we approach the door I asked her, won’t your teacher wonder where you have been? Clearly class had been running for some hours and she had been up at the shop with us. My fear of ‘doing the wrong thing’, getting into trouble for not following the rules was way more intense than hers- in fact I think it was ALL mine. If I really think about it, the only reason I was a ‘goodie two shoes’ at school and in my teens was because I was to scared of the potential punishment, or threat of punishment for ‘breaking the rules’, or not doing what I was told, or what was expected. “You can’t do that- you’ll get into trouble” being the driving force- certainly not my own desire (well other than desiring not to get into trouble!).

Verah walked in, with me in tow, and introduced me as her friend from Australia, to her teacher Peter. I wasn’t to sure about interrupting his class like this, but he welcomed me and invited me to introduce myself to his class. We had a brief chat, and I explained that Verah wanted to show me her school and come and meet her classmates. I asked what they were learning, Time Management Skills ( oh the irony, given ‘African Time’), and I asked if it would be okay if I sat in on the class for a little while, and learnt something? The kids cracked up, as I took a seat next to Verah, got my pen and pad out ready to take notes. ( Kerry reckons there was a Law Of Attraction going on here- me and time, that is! Smile).
It didn’t last long, about 3 minutes later Peter stopped teaching and asked if I would address the class and share with them something about myself and where I come from. Whoa! Was not expecting that! Mmm okay- I’ve got a captive audience here, and a huge black board and been handed a piece of chalk. Righto, deep breath, ask for a little help upstairs- lets go for it!

So I shared who I was, where I was from, why I was here in Kenya, and the purpose- Sharing Divine Truth. “What’s Divine Truth?” Right, I have a golden opportunity here to teach these kids about ethics, about God being their real parent, about Love, Truth, Humility, about their Soul- who they really are, where their desires, passions, memories, emotions come from- and what that really means in their life. About their physical and spirit body, and spirit life and some of the really cool things they can learn about the universe as they grow in Love, and especially if they ask God to help them. We talked about what happens when your body dies? What did they think happened? What emotions are, how some of them, the unloving ones, make us sick, and effect the decisions that we make and how we can release them- all sorts of stuff, with examples of how this might look in their everyday life.
The black board was covered with drawings and words by the time I was finished. They laughed hysterically as I demonstrated emotions, passions and ‘Treat others as you would like to be treated’ scenarios. They asked questions and I drew some more. Over the next hour, more and more faces appeared at the windows, other classes came in and joined us, plus a few teachers. It was awesome! I was absolutely covered in chalk dust, but once I got over the initial nerves, I loved every minute of it!!! It was hard to wind up, they didn’t want me to go- but Kerry, Charles Vincent and Everlyne had arrived by this stage and we really needed to make tracks.
The next day Peter dropped into the shop to say hi and asked us to make sure we come and visit again the next time we are in Kenya.
This experience really highlighted to me, how you can talk the talk, but walking the walk has so much more impact. And having tangible, meaningful, illustrations, demonstrations and examples of how Love and Truth would ACT in day to day interactions, brings the Truths to life. It’s all very well to speak about Love, Truth, Humility, Ethics and Morals- but what does that really mean?? I get why Jesus, Mary and the other 12, came back. Because showing Love, giving Love and being Love, is how we learn. Actions and experience always speak louder than words. And day to day, real life examples are a step towards embracing the experience.
I hope the kids got something out of it- and some inspiration for discovering more about Love and God and the universe! It was a good contact for Charles and Vincent to make also, with a future possibility of sharing Truth with the kids, either at the school or over the weekends.
What a blessing in disguise. I never knew I had it in me, to stand up and share with 150 odd teenagers, talking about God, Love and striving to follow your hearts desires.
I have shyed away from opportunities like this all my life, the fear always getting the better of me. Not today – today opportunity knocked and I opened the door and allowed it in and danced with it. It was actually great fun!
Thank You Verah, for inviting me- you helped me learn a great deal about myself today!

Traversing Kenya

We thought it might be a nice idea to show you visually where the places we have been and blogged about, are situated, relative to each other.  I am a visual person, in that I like to imagine the places in my mind, and ‘see’ what is being described to me. Maybe you enjoy the visual picturing of things also.

Traveling in Kenya requires patience, lots and lots of patience, and a willingness to be adventurous- a great way to feel into your emotions!!!  Just yesterday whilst traveling from Eldoret, back to Samburu- Rumuruti, we encountered a major road accident, blocking the main road (there are no prompt emergency service resources like we have available to us in Australia- we could have been sitting there waiting for 3 hours or 3 days)…so with ‘Google Maps’ Spirit Guides ( there is little to no reception out here) we took an off road detour, for about an hour, hoping like heck, that we would eventually find the main road again, the other side of the road block! We did, and we meandered our way through some beautiful country, that we would have not experienced sitting in built up traffic for an hour or potentially more.

For many reasons, spending time and experiencing a country like Kenya, will change you forever- whether visiting as a tourist, or for another purpose.  Before we left, most people we shared with, emitted fear and terror, about the thought of us (or them) visiting Kenya.  We have such a skewed, inaccurate belief and view of countries in Africa.  Sure, there are potential dangers here, but realistically, logically, if we have so much fear within us, and fear for our life,  there is no place of “safety” anywhere in the world. I for one do not want to be spending eternity in the spirit world, kicking myself that I wasted the opportunities living on earth, with a physical body, afforded me. God has created such an amazing play ground for us to explore- what are you waiting for???

Wanna come back with us next time? Or better yet, continue watering the seeds that have been planted, or go plant some yourselves!

A Tour Of Michael’s Place

I have updated “Sopa Kisima” with the video clips of Michael’s place in Samburu. I will also include them here, for those who have already read that post.

As a Maasai, previously living a nomadic life style, Michael and his siblings are quite literally, the caretakers of the parcel of land where they are currently residing.  They do not own it. There is no demarcation of land in the rural sectors as such. Although Justus has mentioned that down south in the Mara, the government is moving toward allocating sections of land to families and villages, which will impact the families and community enormously, in more ways that one. The idea being, that they will farm their animals only in the land that is allocated to them. Considering each day, all the herds from all the families travel 10’s of Kilometres for water and feed- you can imagine the effects that may manifest from this event.

If a family want to plant an acre of crop, beans,maize, or build a hut, they ask the surrounding neighbours (5000) if that’s okay and then usually everyone pitches in to help.

As we have driven around the countryside, we have seen countless numbers of shepherds and their herds all gathered together at watering holes along the way- I have no idea how they seem to know, which animal belongs to who, but it all seems to work.  Michael has told us how everyone cares for each others animals. If one strays, and someone finds it, the word goes out “has anyone lost an animal”, then they feed it and water it for up to 3 months, sometimes if the original home is far, until that shepherd can travel to retrieve it.  Just slightly different to the approach I have witnessed in Australia, where a steer goes missing, and if you don’t collect it ASAP you find yourself being issued with a bill for agistment costs!!! Of course this is not everyone, but I certainly have noticed a generosity of spirit here in some areas of Kenya.  I am wondering if it has something to do with the erroneous emotions we have about our sense of “Ownership” and Fear of Lack?  The old adage, Treat Others As You Would Like To Be Treated, sways in the breeze like a child on a swing, oscillating between the joy and exhilaration of wanting to swing higher and higher, and the fear of swinging higher and higher. From person to person, interaction, to interaction, one moment to the next, someone treats you with love, and allows you through in a traffic jam, the next person is threatening to break off your side mirror if you don’t open the window and hand over some money!

The world certainly is a kaleidoscope of colour and emotion, hey.

Michael’s place: