Back in the USA

Hey everybody,
We'll be in the states for the next two weeks and hoepfully we'll see many of you as we tour around. Enjoy some pictures from our trip from Najile to Ngong and from the Kistler's house.

Home

I've never been a big fan of the statement, "the journey is more important than the destination." That just doesn't resonate to me. To me the destination is what makes the journey important and if the journey is important why don't you make that the destination on its own....well the other day on returning home we really did have a great journey. What started as yet another annoyingly long wait for basic services ended up being a great blessing.
Basically, we were trying to get home. Transport from Ngong to Najile is usually plentiful but this day nobody seemed to be going. We finally had to ride in a pickup without a cover (normally they have a canvas cover and scaffolding to hold on to) and benches too long for the truck (meaning the tailgate was open along with the very real possibility of falling out the back).
However, the trip was beautiful, we got to enjoy the air in our faces and see the beauty of the land in a new way. Here are some pictures from that journey that I hope you'll enjoy.

Kola

This past week the staff of our three partners went with us to Kola, a small town which is home to an amazing NGO called Utooni Development Organization. An MCC couple supports this NGO but the organization basically is built upon the back of a local Self-Help Group that figured out how to prosper in a dry land and is now teaching everybody else how to do the same. When development works its just a beautiful thing.

After months of planning and preparation, the trip started at 2am in Najile. While Steph and I were sleeping in Nairobi at a hotel, our friend Joseph was driving from home to home, waking people up and getting them into a small land cruiser. By 630 we met him and the other staff in Ngong and by 730 we were on our way. After three hours of driving, one long traffic jam, and a flat tire, we arrived in Kola. The schedule was to meet with the wife of the founder of UDO (Rhoda) for a few hours, have lunch, visit a local farmer and then a sand dam. The afternoon went well and people were learning a lot. Eyes were really opened when we visited the farm of Josephine. A few years ago, she got married and was shown her new home (Kenyan women generally have to leave their family when they get married). It was a bleak, barren plot of 2.5 acres (think of a normal US home as being a 1 acre plot) on a steep hillside. She said she wanted to cry and go home. Now after years of hard work and effort she feeds her entire family (5 kids) for the entire year based on the produce she grows. Her home is like a jungle with bananas and trees everywhere. She has dug terraces 3 meters deep that slope into the hillside to maximize every drop of rain. She zero-grazes her cows, goats and has chickens running around her house. It was truly amazing to see a woman work so hard and succeed so spectacularly.

At Josephine's Farm

After that visit the group went to a nearby sand dam. I may have blogged about this before, but basically a sand dam is a cement wall across a dry, sandy riverbed that collects sand behind it during flash floods. The sand's molecular structure is such that a cubic meter of sand can end up being 30-40% water (by volume). These dams hold enormous amounts of water that won't evaporate, is filtered, and is easily accessible. Plus it catches water that is normally being lost, instead of extracting the scarce water available like a well/borehole. (for more info about sand dams, let me know and I can send you a technical note about how they work and how they are built) The women's group who built and maintains the dam sang and danced their vision statement for us as we arrived. I love when people not only want to serve their community, but can even sing about it.

The second day we visited a newer self-help group that has already built 14 dams along a single riverbed by their town. They now have a mango grove which they use to raise money for their members. We talked with them inside a church for 3 hours, asking questions, sharing experiences and learning together. In day three we talked again to Rhoda, we this time she blew people away. She started talking about how she keeps her own cows and gets 100L a day from them (most Maasai get 3-4 L per day right now) and how all 18 of her cows gave birth this december. She didn't lose any cows to the drought because she planned ahead and had food available for them all year round. She is an amazing women and really showed our group a picture of what could be.

Our ride home was uneventful other than again being squished as 12 people into a car that holds 8. It was a great trip and our prayer was this: Lord- we are tired of a tired land that is thirsty. We are tired of brown when there can be green. May you teach us how to use all you have given us to transform this weary land into a promised land of plenty. We know that we can do all things through Christ that strengthens us. Amen.

Kisii 2

Over the last week of April we visited our friends Jonathon, and Marti, and their two kids Elise and Kalina. Jonathon works with artisan groups throughout Kenya, helping them increase their skills and ensuring that the partners of Ten Thousand Villages (MCC's fair trade company) work well and transparently. They spent 4 years in DRC working with artisans and are now in the last month of a 3 year stint in Kenya. Since we'll be gone when they leave, we wanted to visit with them one last time in Kenya.


The town we stayed near was called Tabaka, about 45 minutes from Kisii town, and the home of an enormous deposit of soapstone which is ideal for carvings. Two quarries were within walking distance, and the town center was dominated by groups carving and selling soapstone. The types of items they sculpt range from chess sets, animals, plates, figurines, to small hearts, bowls and jewelry boxes. Jonathon took us to the shops of two self-help groups he works with. Their shops were filled with boxes and shelves loaded with various carvings. The neat thing was also seeing the craftsmen and women who work with the stones. There are carvers, polishers, finishers and painters who work like an assembly line, creating beautiful pieces of art.

Basically the process is first selecting a suitable piece of stone. The colors, size, and the density of the stone has to be considered before the basic “sketch” of the piece is chiseled out with a machete and mallet. Next, another person does the more intricate details, finishing the piece from the rough outline the carver used. Then sanders use 7 different sand papers, going to 2500+ grain sand paper which makes the stone smooth and soft. Finally, painting and the final finishing touches are carved into the piece before it is packed, stored, or placed in the showroom.

A second highlight of our trip to Kisii was enjoying the beautiful countryside with good company. Kisii is a green place, raining regularly. It is very hilly but farms cover each peak. Everything from tea, to sugar, to maize grows rapidly. We took walks everyday with Jonathon, Marti and the kids and had a wonderful time just relaxing. We'll always remember our time in Kisii as a blessed week.

Matt trying his hand at carving......Sunset in Tabaka

Kisii

Sorry for the communications blackout everybody! We have been using our personal modem as the project modem is "down" and have been busy working with our projects. Right now we are visiting friends near the Western Kenyan town of Kisii. On-going power-outages have cramped some of our plans, but we've had lots of fun seeing the famous Soapstone carvers from the area. Hopefully we'll be able to update you more soon. This coming week we'll be doing a training with project staff and then have just a week before coming home. A busy start to the month! Stay tuned...