I’ve returned to the lodge at the base of Mt. Elgon. The sleepless hot nights of Turkana land are no longer an issue. The mountain air is welcomed and although the days can bring intense heat from the summer sun the night’s air is cool and refreshing.
Saturdays in December become the wedding day for many. Today I have been invited to two weddings. We start off early as the wedding we are attending begins at 9 am. On the way to the village of Liyavo we have a flat tire and it is as flat as it can be. No problem though because we have a spare fastened up under the car. Yes, you’re right. The spare was flat too! Of course we were late to the wedding but it is Africa and here schedules really aren’t important. It was around 10 when we arrived and you could hear the music from all around. People were still coming and no one seemed to be in a hurry. There was absolutely no evidence of a bride, a bridegroom or a wedding party. Eleven o’clock came and went and still the wedding party was missing. At twelve most of the seats were taken and the music was still in full volume but the wedding party was still missing. It was at this noon day hour that we made our exit, disappointed of course that we did not get to see the bride and groom. The story has it that they did arrive but not until 1 in the afternoon. The ways of a different land!
December 15th Thursday
I traveled with my interpreter to Taito. Here in the village the widows gather once a week. They usually rotate from house to house for their meetings. These widows have lost their husbands primarily due to AIDS. We have a good Bible Study and then a time of prayer for those with special requests. Hot tea is served and then we gather outside to see the baby chicks. The women here are trying to raise some chickens for added income.
Taito is out in the country and has very fertile ground for planting. Evans, my interpreter, is using a piece of land out this way for his garden. He informs me it is just a “short walk” and wants to know if we have time to check it. “A short walk” in Africa is not what you and I would call short. I was so glad that I had my sneakers on!
December 16th Friday
We spent the morning with the children at the orphanage. My goal is to continue to pour love into little 8 year old Linda. She has been hiding with terror in her eyes when men are close by. There are times she sits all alone while the other children are playing.
In the afternoon we travel to the other side of Kitale into the Kipsongo slums. Kipsongo means “The place of the dogs.” We aren’t traveling alone though; we have a couple live chickens in the back. It is a gift to some of the widows living inside the slums.
We step into the home of Jessica, Margaret and Mary, three Turkana widows that live together. Margaret is the older and is resting on her bed because of pain. They are delighted to have us visit. They don’t speak or understand English or Swahili. They only understand Turkana and the Turkana ways.
I had just returned from Turkana land in the north western part of Kenya. As the interpreter shared my words with the ladies Margaret starts to come to life and she sits up in bed. Someone was talking about her homeland a place she probably would never return to.
I shared some of my experiences and told them of my love for her people. Then I took her hand and started to do the Turkana dance with her. With the left shoulder tilted in and then the right, which means I love you. This elderly, frail woman with pain throughout her body came alive and started to give me the dance motions back. She held her head in the high and elegant Turkana way and began to dance with me, still sitting, but the moves were perfect. Tears started to fill one of the other widow’s eyes. We left that day knowing that we had touched the hearts of three women far from their home land. I was later told that they had never seen Margaret as happy as she was that day.
December 18th Sunday
I returned to Liyavo as Elvis had invited me to his church. I was given a seat in the very front. The pulpit was made of something that gave a reflection so even though I was up front I could see what was going on up back. As we sang I noticed that the door way was very busy and the people continued to come.
Then my heart broke as I watched a grown woman crawl up over the church steps and up the aisle. Then slowly she pulled herself up into the seat. The desire to be in God’s house to worship Him was so strong that she was willing to crawl into church. She knew that people would stare at her. She knew that it would take almost all of her strength to make it to her seat. She still came and glorified her God.
The afternoon was spent with Elvis and his family. He is one of seven boys and has a beautiful wife and a baby girl named Selena. His grandmother, one of seven wives, also joined us.
December 20th Tuesday
The street children greet me as I walk through town and they are always hungry. They very seldom ask me for money just food. I try to carry a loaf of bread in my back pack now as I know that before the day is out someone that I meet will be hungry. Whenever the bread is passed out the street children seem to multiply. They come out of nowhere and within minutes we have a good size group.
They know they are not welcome within the store and each store has a guard at the door to chase them away. So they wait patiently for you to exit knowing that you will have something for them to eat.
Today one of the older boys wanted to show his appreciation and decide to stop traffic for us. He wanted to make sure that we could pull out into traffic without any problems. He is in his dirty and torn clothes standing in the middle of the road like a police officer stopping all the traffic. It was his gift of love back to us.
December 21 Wednesday
With the seasons changing the rains are behind us and dust takes over. The bushes beside the road are covered in the red dust of Kenya. Once we are past the prison the road narrows and the bushes touch both sides of the car as we travel. Today we are helping the orphans work on a play for the Christmas service
Afterwards they are given a special treat, a pop for each hand!
December is the month for boys within the proper age range to pass into manhood. It is the time of circumcision. Today several are walking through the field with their faces and bodies painted in white. Later they will walk in sack cloth and ashes. The tribal traditions still run very strong in many areas.
James 1:27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.
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