Day Camp

We had a very busy, but very fun, week this past week. It was our Day Camp! The kids had the week off of school, so we planned activities for them for every afternoon. We split them into four teams, and we rotated so each of us got to have each team for one day. It was a great way to get to know the kids. I feel like I know way more of their names after this week. And since the interns changed teams every day, we assigned “team leaders” to each team, who could help lead the team the entire week and also help us translate. The team leaders were the eighth graders, and a few seventh graders. I think it meant a lot to those kids to be given the honor of leading the other kids, and each one of them stepped up and did a great job helping us all week! They’re all so good with the little kids.

On Monday we had a craft day. We had four craft stations, and each team rotated through the stations. On Tuesday we went on a hike and did a photo scavenger hunt. Wednesday was our reading and drama day. Each team got a children’s book, and they read it together and then made up a skit to act it out. At the end of the day, the teams performed for each other. The skits were so cute! Some of these kids are great little actors! It was really fun to see them bring the stories to life. I had blue team that day, and their story was about a boy who gets a bunch of hand-me-down clothes from his brother and sister and they’re all a little big on him, and so one of the little boys on my team put on a whole bunch of big kids’ clothes. It was precious. Thursday was game day – we did a few group games like Lions & Gazelles (aka Sharks and Minnows), Red Rover, and Tug of War, and did a bunch of relay games too. It was a very high-energy day, and we were all exhausted by the end of it, but the kids enjoyed it so it was totally worth it.

On Friday, we ended the week with a talent show. I loved watching the kids perform. Nentaya, my family’s sponsor child, did a dance with some other girls and she was definitely a standout! That girl can DANCE. I felt like such a proud big sister watching her. The little boys and little girls danced, too – even Faith, who just turned three. She was adorable. A few kids did a skit, and it was hilarious. Even though I couldn’t understand what they were saying because it was in Swahili, I was cracking up just watching them. Some kids did soccer as their talent, some did sports broadcasting, one boy drummed during all the dances. All of these kids are so talented! I’m so glad we had the chance to see them all shine. And at the end of the show, the four interns did a dance to Waka Waka by Shakira. It was pretty hilarious.

After that long week, and after spending today in the bush visiting the day program, we’re just having a relaxing night at the guesthouse tonight. Then we’re jumping back in tomorrow – we’re going to Kilgoris for church, then teaching devotion at the children’s home tomorrow night. Next week we’ll be doing some home visits, leading devotion a few nights, and just hanging out with the kids. It’s hard to believe we only have one more week here! I am so not ready for this trip to be over. I have grown so close with so many of these kids, and it’s going to be so hard to leave them. I’m praying that this week goes by slowly! I'm having the time of my life :)

 Yellow Team on our hike/scavenger hunt

"Take a picture with a cow" 

A few of my Yellow Team girls

 Blue Team reading their story

 The little boys doing their dance in the talent show

Highlights from this week

We got to the Hill on Saturday and we've been having an amazing time! Here are a few highlights from the past few days.

On Sunday we went to the bush for church and a baby dedication. Church was under a tree, which was really cool. It was super short for a Kenyan church service – only about two hours – and then we went back to Pastor Joseph’s home in the bush (he also has a home up on the Hill) and ate lunch. After that we just played with the neighborhood kids for a few hours. They were ADORABLE. Some of them are part of the Oasis for Orphans bush program, which is a feeding program on Saturdays. Others were just kids from the community. None of them knew English (many of them didn’t even know Swahili, only Maasai), so we couldn’t communicate with them, but the language barrier didn’t prevent us from having fun together. We played a bunch of games and took some pictures. This one little boy learned from Mallory how to ask politely for us to take his picture, so he kept coming up to me and saying “Pleeease… take… my… picha!” in his little Kenyan accent. It was so cute, I couldn’t say no. There was one little girl named Potishoi who clung to me all day. She would put her arms up for me to hold her, and when she got heavy and I tried to put her down, she would wrap her legs around me as I slid her down my legs and as soon as she touched the ground she would put her arms up again. I ended up holding her for about 2 hours. The bush kids were super sweet and I can’t wait to go see them again when we visit the bush program next Saturday.

This week we’ve been playing with the kids a lot and planning for our day camp that we’re doing next week. While we’re here we’ll also be responsible for leading devotion two to three times a week. Our first one was Tuesday night. We taught about Shadrack, Meshach & Abednego and the Fiery Furnace. I had actually just taught this story at Spotlight Camp earlier this summer so this was a fun one to start with. We acted out the story and had the kids help us act it out. We provided little costumes and even had one part where the lights went off and we used a flashlight and sheet to show the silhouettes of the people in the fire. It was a big hit with the kids! We had a lot of fun and John, the chaplain of the children's home, seemed to really love it as well. It takes a little bit of his load off to have us do devotions certain nights.

After devotion, right before we headed back down to the guesthouse, the power at the children’s home went out. It was pitch black. Immediately, someone turned on a flashlight and started waving it around, and a kid started drumming on a box, and all at once everyone started dancing. We had a little dance party in the dark for 5-10 minutes until the lights came back on. It was SO much fun. The kids were all giggling and dancing and going crazy. It was probably the highlight of my day that day. One of the things I love about this place and these kids is that they can have so much fun with the simplest things. They don’t have much in the way of material possessions, but they have so much joy. That little dance party was a perfect example – it was so simple and so joyful. I kind of wanted it to go on forever.

Yesterday we were able to join in on the women’s Bible study. The mamas from the community come up to the children’s home every Wednesday and Ann Smith leads a study. This week they were going to be reading Daniel 3, which is the same story we chose to teach on Tuesday night to the kids, so Ann had us teach the mamas. After we finished telling the story, the mamas chimed in with their own opinions and interpretations. Elizabeth, the director of the children’s home, translated. It was so cool that, even though we come from such different places and such different backgrounds and we speak different languages, we can still come together and read God’s word and learn from each other. It was a really awesome experience. After Bible study, the mamas gave Shayne and Jackie their Maasai names. (Ryan and I already had names because we've been here before.) Now all four of us can introduce ourselves by our Maasai names, which are much easier for people here to pronounce than our American names. My name is Lepishoi, Ryan is Naguran, Shayne is Nainepu and Jackie is Tipitip.

Tonight we weren't teaching but a few of us went up for devotion anyway, and I'm so glad we did! It was such a great night. The kids sang worship songs at the beginning, and I was tearing up a little bit watching them. I didn't even know what they were saying, but they were getting so into it and it just melted my heart watching these kids worship God with so much passion. And right when the last song ended, every child in the room started praying out loud. For several minutes, the room was abuzz with dozens of kids earnestly praying in Swahili and Maasai. It was one of the coolest things I've ever witnessed. I totally felt God's presence in that room. After devotion, the chaplain, John, called us into his office and we spent some time talking with him. It was great. He is so sweet and we loved getting to know him more and hear about his family and his life.

Those are only a few snippets of what we’ve done these past few days. We’ve been keeping busy and we’ve already done and experienced so much! I would have to write a novel to recount everything that’s happened. Just know that we’re all having a great time! Thanks for checking in :)

-Kara Lepishoi

 Nentaya and me the day we arrived

 Potishoi, my little friend from the bush

 kids in the bush

 our team cooking with the mamas

MOSES!

Kibera

Today we visited St. Martha's Ministry in the Kibera Slum. It's a ministry for HIV+ women, founded by a couple named Caleb and Eunice, who live in the slum and are both HIV+. The women meet for Bible study every Thursday, so they were already there when we arrived today. They introduced themselves and shared their stories. I was so moved by their testimonies. These women are all widows, living with HIV, trying to raise their families in the largest slum in Africa. They have every reason to be angry at God and to be miserable, but they're not. They all talked about how they're "living positive," how they're thankful for every day, how they're grateful to God, and how God has sustained their families. It was convicting for me, because how many times do I tell people that I'm thankful to God for my life? How often do I acknowledge all the ways God has blessed me? Not very often. Not enough, that's for sure. And I live such a charmed life. I'm healthy, my whole family is healthy, I always have enough to eat, I live in a comfortable house where my bedroom is five times the size of the houses in Kibera, and I go to a great college. I have so much, and I take it for granted, but these women who have so little are grateful for every single day.

We walked through the slum to go on home visits. I've never seen anything like what I saw there today. There were tiny tin shacks as far as the eye can see, and the streets were full of garbage and raw sewage. It was poverty like I have never experienced before, except maybe in movies. But what stood out to me was the kids we saw. They were so full of joy. It was a stark contrast to the depressing surroundings. These kids had the hugest smiles, and when we'd walk by they'd either yell "mzungu!" (which means "white person") or chant their chorus of "how are you! how are you!" in their adorable Kenyan accents. They loved to high five us or shake our hands. They were absolutely precious and they totally made my day, but at the same time it broke my heart seeing where they live, and knowing that, most likely, they will spend their entire lives in the slum and never get out. There are over 1000 NGO's in Kibera, and they have had virtually no impact. Nothing seems to be able to break the cycle of poverty. It does make me feel grateful for people like Caleb and Eunice, who are working to make life better for HIV+ women in Kibera. And most of all, it makes me even more excited about Oasis. Because of Oasis, those 100 kids on the Hill aren't living in Kibera or someplace similar, trapped in a never-ending cycle of poverty. They have hope and a future. After today, I am filled with an even greater passion for the work Oasis is doing, and I am so humbled and grateful to be able to be a part of it over this next month.

We're here!

Just wanted to let everyone know we got here safely! We got to Nairobi late Monday night. Tuesday we had a relaxing day, went to the mall, got some froyo (anyone who knows me knows how exciting it was for me to find a froyo place in Kenya), and started our training back at the guest house.

Yesterday we went to a place called Amani Yaa Juu, which is a place where women from Kenya and other places all over Africa come and learn how to sew, make fabrics, make jewelry, etc. We took a tour, did some batiking (you stamp melted wax onto a fabric to create a pattern, and then dye it.. we each brought a t-shirt to batik) and went shopping. The women at Amani were so friendly. They sang when we came into the first room during the tour, and they all came and gave us each a huge hug. And we all LOVED this one woman named Maggie, who Mallory has known for years. She was the cutest, sweetest woman who gives the best hugs out of anyone I have ever met.

Other than that, we haven’t done too much yet this week. These few days have really been about bonding as a team. There are a total of five of us: four interns (Jackie Ader, Ryan Bradley, Shayne Carroll and myself) and our leader, Mallory. I love these girls, we all get along so well. We have WAY too much fun together and have a ton of inside jokes already, but we’ve also had some really awesome moments where we’ve been able to open up to each other and be vulnerable. There has been some crying… but rest assured that most of it has been from laughing. :)

Yesterday our assignment was to decide on a team Mission Statement for this trip. Here is what we came up with:

“We will strive to learn and form meaningful relationships by serving, loving, and listening to the kids, staff, and members of the community.

We hope to experience joy and bring joy to everyone we encounter.

We pray that we will grow in our relationships with Christ and have faith in Him

We are open to whatever God has planned for this trip and for our futures.” 

In a few minutes we are going to head to Kibera, the largest slum in Africa. We're meeting with an HIV+ ministry there called St. Martha's Ministry, which is a partner of Oasis. Oasis is hoping to build a children's home with St. Martha's in the future. I'm sure today will be an emotional day, as we will be witnessing an extreme level of poverty that none of us have ever experienced before. But it's good for us to get this experience because Kibera is where Oasis got its start. It's important for us to see where Oasis came from and also see the kind of poverty that many of the kids at the children's home would be living in if it weren't for Oasis.

Tomorrow we're going to visit another orphanage and tour a mission hospital in Kijabe. Saturday we head to the Hill! I'm so excited, I can't wait to see those kids!

You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love

“Everybody can be great, because everybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to have to make your subject and your verb agree to serve. You don’t have to know about Plato and Aristotle to serve. You don’t have to know Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity” to serve. You don’t have to know the Second Theory of Thermal Dynamics in Physics to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love, and you can be that servant.”

-Martin Luther King, Jr.

Let us not love with words or speech but with action and in truth

It’s hard to believe we leave for Kenya in just over two weeks! I seriously get so excited every time I think about it. Last week marked two years since I left the Hill, which means it’s been two years since I’ve seen those kids, and I miss them so much! I’m so ready to get back there. In my short time on the Hill in 2010, the Oasis kids truly became my family, and I can’t WAIT to be reunited with them. I’ve been looking at pictures from my last trip a lot lately and it just makes me so happy to think that in a few short weeks I’ll be with them again, hugging them and playing with them and singing with them and talking with them. I’ll also get to meet the 25 new kids who have come to the Children’s Home in the two years since I’ve been there, as well as visit some future Oasis sites, meet even more kids, and join Oasis in the process of transforming these children’s lives. I really can’t imagine any better way to spend the last month of my summer.

Each member of our team chose a trip verse – something they want to focus on during our time in Kenya, a verse that kind of encompasses what they hope to get out of this trip or what they want the trip to be about for them. I chose 1 John 3:18: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with action and in truth.” I want the focus of this trip for me to be love.

As I’ve been preparing my heart for this trip, I’ve spent a lot of time reading through 1 John, and focusing especially on chapters 3 & 4. I think those two chapters do a great job of explaining what love is and why loving others is so important. Jesus gave us the perfect example of love by dying for us. If we truly want to follow Him, then we need to love others with that same type of all-consuming love. And we love not only to be more like Jesus ourselves, but also to help others experience Jesus. 1 John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” I know I will come across people in Kenya who don’t know God. And if someone has never heard of God, we can talk about God all we want, but it’ll be hard for that person to fully understand. Some people might not even know what it means to be loved; how are they supposed to comprehend that the creator of the universe loves them enough to die for them? The only way they can really understand that kind of love is if someone shows love to them first. My prayer is that, in every encounter I have with people in Kenya, God’s love will be made complete in me. I hope that I can show love to each and every person I meet, and that through me, they can get a tiny glimpse of God’s unending love.

The reason I chose 1 John 3:18 as my trip verse, rather than another verse in one of these chapters (because there are a TON of great ones… see 3:16-17, 4:7-8, 4:12, 4:16, 4:19, 4:21), is because I like the way this verse makes love seem like a verb. You can talk all day about loving people, you can tell someone you love them, but if you don’t act on it, if you don’t SHOW them that you love them, it’s not really love. God didn’t just SAY he loved us. No, God SHOWED his love for us by laying down his life for us. Love is an ACTION. It’s something you DO. I don’t just want to talk about loving others; I want to love. I can love by serving. I can love by listening. I can love by being patient. I can love in everything that I do, and that is something I'm going to really strive for during this trip. When it comes to love, I want to walk the walk and not just talk the talk. And while this verse is specifically talking about loving others, I think it can apply to loving God too. I feel like lately, my spiritual life has been a little dry. I talk a lot about being a Christian and about loving God, but to what extent am I living out that love? Is my love for God evident in everything I do everyday? It’s not, but that’s something I really want to work on. I hope and pray that, through this trip, I will not only learn to love others more, but also to love God more.

I recently read a book called Kisses from Katie by Katie Davis (which I highly recommend, by the way.) Katie is only a few years older than me, and she has committed her life to loving and ministering to children in Uganda. I love Katie’s heart, her willingness to wholeheartedly follow Jesus and her passion for showing love to every person she encounters. I want my life to look more like hers – or, rather, I want my life to look more like Jesus’, because she really captures what it means to love like Jesus loved. I came across a quote in her book that really stood out to me:

"I believe in miracles and mostly I believe in love, God's love - big, extravagant, unconditional. His love moves mountains and changes the world, love that is freely given, that we may also freely give it to others." –Katie Davis

God, help me to love like Katie, and to love like You. Help me to not forget the incredible, extravagant, unconditional love that You have so generously lavished upon me, and help me to show that same kind of love to others. I ask that You open my eyes to every opportunity to show love on this trip. Help me to be selfless, God. I pray that I will not only love with words or speech, but with actions. And I pray that my life will begin to better reflect my love for You. I don’t want to just talk the talk, I want to walk the walk. I want everything I do to be all about my love for You and my love for all of Your children. My life does not look like that right now, but I am confident that this trip is a step in the right direction and will help me grow in this area. I can’t wait to see what You will do in me and through me in these next few weeks.

Amen.