Marcia, Gabriella, and Abigail at the HOHH

It is Friday 5:00 pm here in Naivasha, Kenya, and as I write this I’m surrounded by children from the House of Hope who are fascinated by the computer.   They are also braiding my hair.

We are doing the final preparations for a celebration dinner in a few minutes.  Rand is carving the freshly cooked goat and lamp and pineapple is being prepared.  We cannot wait!  It is like Christmas here at the House of Hope to have such a party.  It is a good way to end our time here with our friends and family at HOHH. 

It has been an amazing week and you all should be so proud of our partners here.  Joel and Susan Karanja are amazing, faithful people who have created a loving, God-blessed home for these beautiful children.

Rand carving the goat for dinner.

This morning we toured a government school nearby.  We even played soccer with some of the 350 students at the school.  Our partners, Heart of the Bride, have begun some important ministry with this school in the past year and we are blessed to help and to see what they have done.

Tomorrow we will travel to Kijabe for the day and night to tour Rift Valley Academy (RVA) and the Kijabe Hospital.  We will be blessed to also stay with Tim Myrick for the evening.  On Sunday morning, we will travel to Masai Mara for our safari.  On Tuesday, we return to Nairobi for a day of shopping before we fly out Tuesday night. 

We are so blessed and God is at work here in Naivasha.  We can’t wait to share pictures and videos of our friends and family at HOHH.

Sisi twawapenda nyinyi wote. (We love you all!)

Melissa

The handsome Jack

It is Tuesday afternoon here in Naivasha, Kenya.   We have a chance to use internet so wanted to send a longer update then our tweets. I notice that the tweets are only showing a Facebook link here on the FBCJC Mission page.  I’ll try to correct that.  Regardless, you can always read our updates on my twitter feed at www.twitter.com/melissahatfield.

Things are going wonderful here!  We are so blessed to be at the House of Hope home once again.  We arrived here around 10:30 am this morning for the first time and were warmly greeted by the staff and some of the children.  The other children from HOHH are still at school.  So much has progressed here in the past year.  Three new classrooms are up, there is a greenhouse full of tomato plants, and they are finishing the touches on a building for six milking cows.  Joel’s store that he uses to financially support the home has doubled in size and he is adding a second floor for more room to sell furntiure and appliances.  The town of Naivasha continues to grow and Joel’s department/grocery store is one of the only ones in this area. 

Gabrielle and Abigail with Faith and Ruth

We had chai time (tea break around 10:30 am every day) and just finished our lunch of rice, beans and cabbage.  The ladies on our team are finishing up the dishes and the rest of the team are preparing to paint ceilings.  Next, the ladies will be going into the classroom to teach a Bible story and to teach a craft with the 35 students there – some from the House and many from the community who pay to attend school here.  It has been so great to see all the kids here!  The youngest five have grown so much and are now talking.  They are full of joy and love and are so well taken care of.  This truly is a house of hope and love.

WELL UPDATE:  We are able to see where they have begun digging the well.  Remember that our church has worked this past year to raise $25,000 to drill a water well which is desparatly needed.  We raised nearly $12,000 and another church from Michigan raised nearly $12,000 so the money is almost in.  They started drilling the well a few weeks ago and then the drill bit broke.  The school is at a very high elevation and they have to drill down 200-some feet.  After 10 feet, they hit a lot of rock and stones.  At about 80 ft, the drill broke.  So, the House is waiting on another company to come from Nairobi to finish the well.  They should be here in the  next two weeks to finish it out.  I can’t convey how much this will help the home.  They are out of water and have to buy 4,000 liters of water a week to keep the house going and take care of the kids.  They have a huge garden and a greenhouse that is struggling because they have not had rain. It is desperately needed.  Please join us and the people here as we pray for rain!!!  It stormed last night where we were staying, however, they did not get a drop here at the home.

GREAT NEWS! Our luggage finally arrived and we have all of it.  We are so thankful because we truly are starting to smell. God has been good and provided for us way beyond our needs.  Jason and Lisa Hovingh are such amazing hosts and we want for nothing.

It has been such an amazing trip thus far.  Everyone is healthy and in great spirits.  The team is a solid team that are ready and willing to follow God’s lead and serve others.

Our Kenya Mission Team flies out at 2:09 pm on Saturday, June 25th.   We will arrive in Nairboi, Kenya, around 8:30 pm Sunday night (Kenya time) which means it will be 12:30 pm on Sunday here.

Our access to internet will be very limited so the best way to keep updated on our trip is to look to the right of this post in the box that reads “FBCJC Tweets”.  Melissa will send brief text message updates to her twitter account and they will update the feed on the right.  To see all “tweets” or updates from Africa, you can go to www.twitter.com/melissahatfield.

Thank you for your prayers during this time.  Our team of eight will be spending six days with our partner children’s home in Naivasha, Kenya, before spending two days on safari at Masai Mara and then returning home on July 6, 2011.

Needless to say it was great to return to the House of Hope Home (HOHH) in July 2010 after first meeting Joel and entire family in June of 2009.  There were so many changes since our first meeting.  Joel continues to work with much passion and faith for the future of the young people.  The growth continues as well as the learning of what will work and what needs to be reassessed as to how it will benefit the HOHH.  The hog pen we constructed in 2009 has now been converted to a poultry house as the hogs were too expensive and troublesome.  The four hogs have been replaced with several laying hens.  Plans are to expand this livestock project to provide support for the HOHH.

Classroom at the School at the House of Hope

The school room, which had just been completed, was now being occupied with several students as the school has been opened to others in the community providing early education to about 40 children.  Also, there has been an addition of a computer lab, which several in our group worked to get the handful of computers up and running.  The garden has expanded about three times the size and has several coffee trees growing very well.  There is a structure of a future greenhouse to also support the HOHH.

The guys set the rain barrel onto the concrete base to collect water.

Even with all these projects being completed and several more dreams in the works, the greatest project and most important continues to be the relationships with all 23 kids and Joel and his family.  Everyone who makes this trip is changed – and the kids are so amazing with their spirit, faith and dedication to the Lord and their education.  I look forward to returning.

Our 2010 trip focused on two primary construction projects – the addition of a rain collection system attached to the school and the expansion of the outdoor kitchen.  The rain collection system was funded entirely from the young people of FBCJC and the kitchen was funded approximately 50% from FBCJC.  Both were a great addition to the HOHH and will greatly help the Home.  The big need for the HOHH is the deep water well which the FBCJC youth are working diligently on providing the funds.

“Nobody is so poor that he or she has nothing to give, and nobody is so rich that he or she has nothing to receive.” -
Pope John Paul II

Jenny Allen with new friend, Julius.

Having just returned from a visit to the House of Hope Home in Kenya, these words by Pope John Paul II are the clearest way to explain the encounter I had with Jesus in Naivasha, Kenya. Over the years, my walk with God has led me to the simple truth that we are called to love others concretely; to offer all we have to give to those in need.  It wasn’t hard for me to realize that I don’t do a good enough job at this and that I needed to stop making excuses, so I began to pray for a way for me to share God’s love in concrete ways. The Lord placed Africa on my heart through this time of growth, so when I learned of our partnership with House of Hope, I was eager to jump in and make the journey over to Kenya.

During our trip, there were many things I had anticipated that came to fruition and many things I could hardly have anticipated. I had made many preparations for the trip. I did research on Kenya, made several packing lists and I was fully prepared to give; to offer supplies and time and love. What I did not fully expect was the amount of love that I would receive. My time there quickly became less about giving and more about sharing. We shared stories, meals, prayers, laughter, tears and tremendous amounts of love. How foolish of me to go into this experience thinking that we were the only ones who had something to offer.

Our mission to the people at House of Hope is so much more than helping to put roofs on buildings and digging wells. I still believe we are called to give in these concrete ways, yet there is something so much deeper at stake and I learned that to be relationships with people.

May we always give as much as we possibly can while keeping our hearts open to letting people in; to knowing them and loving them and learning from them