Entumo

Hello friends and family, we are now through with our second full week of life in Najile and we’re starting to find a rhythm to life here. This week was punctuated by meetings. At the beginning of the week I was starting to wonder what exactly we are doing here. Our assignment is by nature very flexible. Since we are focused on catering to our partners’ needs, its up to our partners, in many ways, to tell us what they need from us.
Well, during week one we settled in but didn’t get to talk with either POMC or MIDI and so starting week 2, we felt like we needed to make meeting with the partners a priority. On Wednesday we met with Dennis and Abraham from MIDI (Maasai Integrated Development Initiatives) at our house. Despite fears of how they would respond to my presence and how to lead the meeting, it went very well. I learned a lot about MIDI , their goals and their dreams. It was clear that they had a defined mission and purpose and were very much thinking long-term. I was also encouraged to see how happy they were to have our help. They were very positive in regards to the skills I bring to the table, namely, project planning/management/reporting/evaluation/clarifying donor expectations. They set up for us to meet at their demo farm about 15-20 km out of Najile this Monday. Steph even made some banana bread which was enjoyed by all.
On Friday, I was able to finally meet with Pastor Steven of POMC. In addition to pasturing about 27 parishes of the POMC denomination he is the manager of the POMC development project. Needless to say he is a busy man and it took a full week to catch him with some free time. Our meeting went well also. We talked about POMC’s goals and projects and it was clear that I could help with the day-to-day management of the project. Since pastor steven is gone at least a few days of the week there is a need for somebody to oversee the various staff the rest of the time especially as the staff is almost entirely new (starting this month). Also on Friday, I was able to look over and edit some reports that were coming due. This again reinforced the idea that I have real skills to offer here and to me was a way of God showing that He will not forget or forsake us after calling us to this assignment. Praise God for a week of meetings! Hopefully next week will be a week of doings!