The Pains of Hunger

Monday morning the 22^nd of March I met with Pastor M'Bogo for the first time. There was excitement in the air when the Pastor and Beth saw each other. They grew up together in the Cherangani Hills and had not seen each other for years. Pastor M'Bogo has a church just outside of Lodwar. He has arranged for a meeting tomorrow for the women in area.

While we are visiting a Turkana man in the traditional attire approaches us. He is bent over and looks to be very old. He points to his sunken in stomach. His face wore the pains of hunger from many days of going without. The bone structure of his face was very prominent. He was aged beyond his years because of lack of food. We take care of his need and he bows to the ground before me. Then he looks to the sky and he spits to the left and then he spits to the right. It is the Turkana way of blessing me.

Pastor M'Bogo and his wife, Leah, show us around the area. We are shown a couple other places to stay just outside of town. We stop at the Turkel River. Its wide curving waters are held in with the white sandy beach. It is used for bathing, swimming and for gathering water. It also supplies Lodwar with power. Three massive generators are used to give the area electricity. They rotate the use of each generator to give it a time of rest from the heat. We capture the moment by taking a couple pictures. A Turkana man walking near by quickly joins us. He wants to be in the picture that goes to America!

Pastor M'Bogo has a Bible Training Program and he is teaching pastors and leaders. There are five different villages represented through this program. Not everyone from the villages can read but the pastors being trained can. Each one of these men in training will be given a Turkana Bible and it will go back to his village with him. Five Turkana Bibles can change the lives of five villages that you and I might never visit.

In the afternoon Beth & I set out for a walk to find her sister who teaches somewhere in Lodwar. Never believe an African when he tells you it is just a "short walk" J We walked and walked with the hot sun zapping the strength from us. Lodwar and the land of the Turkana Tribe are well known for being "hot". It reaches 100 degrees or higher in Lodwar and the surrounding areas. The bus will only leave Lodwar at night to avoid the intense heat of the day. Engines over heat and tires burst if they travel in the day. There are piles of human waste in the midst of the traveled walk ways. Goats become the benefactors of such dried goods. We arrive at the Mixed School on the other side of the airport. It is a school of 2000 children. Some children stop and watch me as they have never seen a white person. We are warmly greeted by Beth's sister and some of the teachers.

The heat from the sun is even more intense on our way back. As the Africans say it is so hot it is almost a "punishment". It was the hottest temperature I have had to endure to this point in Africa. With my face bright red and with my clothes clinging to my body I almost said "I can't go any further." But the Lord granted me more strength so that I could endure to the endJ

I have never been so thankful for the" breeze" until I came to Lodwar!

Tuesday March 23 we meet together at a church on the hill near the Turkel River in Lodwar. Many of the women that attended were pastor's wives or leaders in their churches. Susan teaches the elderly under a tree by the river in her area.

We enjoyed a powerful time in the Word of God. Women began to weep and many came forward for prayer before leaving. A woman with painful infected tonsils was healed. Another woman felt the heaviness she had been experiencing lift from her when she was prayed for. One woman felt joy pour into her. There were so many that came discouraged and felt like giving up. They left changed and ready to continue on in the work the Lord has given them to do.

After the service we enjoyed a wonderful meal at the Pastor's house close by.

Psalm 18:1 I love you, O Lord, my strength.