I returned on Saturday from 3 weeks in Kenya. While in Kenya, I had the opportunity to do a lot of learning. The first week, I attended a week-long training on Results Based Management in Limuru. The training should be very useful as we help our partners in their planning. As a matter of fact, I have already put some of the ideas into use as I tried to help one group leader think through what should be included in a grant that she wanted to apply for.
After the week in Limuru we moved to Nairobi. On that Monday and Tuesday we had the opportunity to visit some of the projects that one of CRWRC Kenya’s partners is working with. It was very encouraging to see how well some of these groups are doing. One church was providing business training and giving loans to church members. Another group consisted of 80 women in a community who had gotten together to improve the lives of their families. They saved their money together and bought iron roofing one sheet at a time until every member of the group had a good roof over their head, then they continued on with other projects. In another area, several farmers had received training in sustainable agriculture and had a wide variety of projects that allowed them to feed their whole family plus many others. It was exciting to see the look on the face of the partner staff person who was with us when she saw these successful development projects. I think she was very inspired to continue on with her hard work.
The rest of the week was spent in Nairobi catching up on a little work and meeting with friends, both old and new. I spent the weekend at the home of one of the Kenya staff along with a volunteer from California and a visiting staff person from Canada. We had a great time going to the market and visiting a place where glass is recycled into everything from glasses and vases to artwork to building decorations. While we were at the market the Kenya staff person kept telling all the vendors who were urging her to buy stuff that she only had 6 shillings (about 10 cents) and she would buy whatever they would sell her for that. One guy decided he would take her up on her offer and sold her a beautifully painted soapstone egg . We decided that we would make a catch phrase out of it, so we started referring to good situations as “better than a 6 shilling egg”. See if you can use that in conversation sometime soon. We also had the opportunity to have dinner with most of the Kenya staff in order to welcome the US Director of our organization and the Executive director of the denomination. It was good to converse with them about our work and the ostrich fajitas weren’t bad either!
The last week in Kenya was back in Limuru for our Regional Team Meeting on Monday and Tuesday. We got the opportunity to share our work and discuss our hopes for the region in the year to come. We also had a time of prayer for each country. Following the Team Meeting we had 3 days of Environmental Stewardship training. We looked at the biblical basis for creation stewardship and also took a half-day field trip to visit a local tree nursery, a Farming God’s Way demonstration plot, and a school that has a group of students planting trees. The training was excellent and really inspired me to think about how my actions effect God’s creation. My goal is to be more intentional about what I do and what I buy. I have also decided to start a rooftop garden at our office. More on that later.
I had a great time in Kenya. It was a good time of learning and sharing with new friends and old. I am so thankful that I was able to be a part of it and I am very thankful that we all made it there and back safely dispite animals in the road, busses catching on fire and planes with emergency warnings. God is good and brought us through it all. I am happy to be back in Tanzania, but I can definitely say that my time in Kenya was better than a 6 shilling egg!
