Life In Kenya - Luke's Observation

      How can I begin to describe Kenya?? Life here just feels different. Things move slower here, there is not an urgency to get things done, and you can feel content after a whole day of doing nothing but preparing meals and hosting guests. And we do a lot of that. I think every day there have been people over to the compound to hang out or eat a meal, sometimes scheduled and sometimes unannounced.

      I guess I should explain why I said "the compound," eh? We live in Thika-town, a pretty well developed city of between 300,00 and 700,000 people (no one can really keep track of the slums...), an hour or so away from Nairobi. Every 3 days or so we will see another mzungu (white person), but for the most part everyone we interact with is Kenyan. We live inside a compound on the outside of town, down by the river across from the Del Monte pineapple farms. The wall contains the main house, the boys' sleeping house, and maybe an acre of gardens and trees, with 2 dogs, a cat, 4 bunnies, and a steadily decreasing number of chickens...you will see why later ;) Living here are my best friends/mentors/family the Richardsons (Dave and Katie, with their kids Dessah, Ana, and Will), mzungu Jon (one of my best friends from high school), mafrika John (Kenyan intern) and his brother Newton, and George, a former street kid that Dave and Katie have taken in to help out. Sam just left to head back to America for a month, and John and Newton's sister Elizabeth shared a room with Becca for the first week that we were here.

      In addition to the regulars, every day we host at least a couple guests for one meal or another; we are regularly feeding between 15 and 20 people, and I think our highest has been around 30. Cooking is a huge task that is really going from sunrise to sundown, because each meal is huge, and everything is started from scratch. A few nights ago we had chicken tortilla soup. To make it, we slaughtered one of the chickens, chopped up about 15 tomatoes, 8 peppers, 2 onions, and half a clove of garlic, made around 25 tortillas from flour and kusuku (solidified vegetable oil) and fried them on the stove, boiled the chicken and worked all the meat we could off of it, threw in some spices, made a pot of rice, sliced up some avocados and served it all to our newlywed guests. This took around 2.5 hours of 3 people working at all times, including one round of dishes in the middle.

      So most of my days allow me to get a ton of chopa chopa and cooking experience, and I also have been able to go to the market, or at least out shopping, every other day. The trips to the market are well planned out, buying enough potatoes and peppers and other veggies for the week, and chatting with all of the market vendors, asking how their families are and catching them up on how the family is doing and letting them know who the heck I am. Most of the vendors give good deals to us now, rather than charging more cause we're white (the mzungu tax) like you would expect, and most even throw extra food in on top of what we pay for. It's because of relationship... it's so unusual for people to care about the people they run into on a regular basis. That's what sets the Richardsons apart. Street kids, taxi drivers, friends from church, department store cashiers, other missionaries, random families from around town, Dave and Katie know and care about so many people, and that's just not normal!

      What exactly are Dave and Katie doing here? Excellent questions. According to the documentation of their 501(c)(3) non-profit organization his heart my voice, their main purposes are education, religion, and science. Let's break that down. Education: they run a 6-month internship that can be attended by Americans or Kenyans. As an intern, your housing and meals are provided, and you are expected to participate in the weekly lessons and to be continually developing your lifestyle to reflect what you are learning. Dave and Katie are always trying to invest into the lives of the Kenyan people they come across, by expanding their thinking and giving them ideas on how to improve the way they live and the way they interact with others, whether that mean teaching them English or helping them start a small business. Religion: Dave is a licensed pastor, and everything he teaches comes from a background and mindset of living more like Jesus, putting the needs of others before our own and really truly caring about the well-being of others. If you want to check out Dave's theology, he's laid it all out on the website www.hhmv.org, along with an outline of his teaching notes for the internship. Their motivation and foundation for everything they do is to pursue a Christ-like life, and this love and compassion overflows into everyone they run into. As Katie puts it, their purpose here is to "train the church to be the church, and to raise up a generation of world-changers that choose to live for Christ and not for themselves." They are invested into their church here, and Dave has been asked to speak at other churches and events throughout their time here in Kenya. The science part seems kinda random compared to the others, but it's referring to social science research, as we are all trying to figure out how to best help Kenya develop into a moral, self-sustaining society. Super huge task I know, but they take it on one person at a time. They don't give out money, they take in people, and teach them to sustain themselves rather than just supporting them financially. Most Kenyans look to other people to improve their life, but Dave and Katie are working to empower their friends here to innovate and improve their own lives. I have actually been thinking about this a lot, so if you want another little essay thing I've written about it, let me know :)

      Life is restful here. Part of that is because everything is slow, but a lot of it is because I love the people I am with and it felt like home immediately. The kids are wonderful, and so funny. They love people unquestioningly. They have a blast doing anything and everything. Obviously they hang around trying to get in trouble as much as they can, walking around barefoot and play-fighting with the animals. Dave still straightens his hair. He loves singing in Swahili. Katie gives the best hugs. Jon loves cooking and made some awesome cookies the other day. George is a crazy teen that fluctuates between disrespectful and super playful. Jon is the best at Swahili and keeps picking up the random tribal languages too.

      There are good things going on in Thika, Kenya. I like it here. I'm learning a lot, and I can't wait to keep talking with people and get more of a feel for what life is like here. I do look forward to coming home and seeing everyone again, but I am enjoying and making the most of every day here, talking with people and learning what it means to be Kenyan, and I know I will never be the same.

 

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  Written By:
  Luke Allpress
  Email Luke

 

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  Photo By:
  Katie Richardson
  Co-Founder of HHMV
  Email Katie

 

If someone has enough money to live well and
sees a brother in need
but shows no compassion
how can God's love
be in that person?
1John 3:17

MORINGA TREES UPDATE
(May 15, 2012)
My first Moringa tree is thriving during this late rainy season here in Thika, Kenya. This last week I aquired 10 more Moringa trees. Unfortunately, only 6 of the 10 have survived... read more
 

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UPDATE ON BABY COLLINS
(May 11, 2012)
Six days after Collins had returned home to be with his family in the Kiandutu slums, we decided again, with the family, that it was best to bring him into our home. read more
 

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UPDATE ON BABY COLLINS
(May 1, 2012)
Today, Collins went home with his mother. He had made dramatic improvement in just 7 days. We hope his improvement continues even at home... read more
 

Update on Baby Collins
(May 11, 2012)
Six days after Collins had returned home to be with his family in the Kiandutu slums, we decided again, with the family, that it was best to bring him into our home. read more
 

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Update on Baby Collins
(May 1, 2012)
Today, Collins went home with his mother. He had made dramatic improvement in just 7 days. We hope his improvement continues even at home... read more
 

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IMPACTING YOUR COMMUNITY
WITH ERIN YORK
Erin York was part of the his heart my voice internship January 2011 in Thika, Kenya. Erin became like family to us and I wanted to share with others what she has been doing... read more

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POTENTIAL MIRACLE TREE OF LIFE
& HHMV PLAN
The Moringa Tree. We call it the 'Miracle Tree of Life' because of it's amazing potential of fighting hunger in areas of extreme poverty. How? read more
 

DAY OF ACTION
SUCCESS IN MULTIPLE WAYS
The 'Day of Action for Vulnerable Children' was truly a success. On Thursday, October 6th 'his heart my voice' joined with about 15 other local organizations read more
 

DAY OF ACTION FOR
VULNERABLE CHILDREN
On Thursday, October 6th HHMV is joining other local organizations dedicated to the welfare of street children and other vulnerable children in the Thika area. read more

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LIFE IN KENYA
How can I begin to describe Kenya?? Life here just feels different. Things move slower here, there isn't an urgency to get things done, and you can feel content after read more
 

WHAT'S WORTH MORE?
How do you find yourself at lunch with a blind man, a street kid, and an intern?
read more
 
 
 

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MY LIFE CHANGED
I came to know the Richardson’s when they were very new in the country. I met them when I was on my daily routine as their cab driver. read more
 
 

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POVERTY HAS A FACE
Jane took me to her home today in the slums. She came to our house, and though I was tired and doing laundry, I dropped what I was doing. read more
 
 

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I WON'T REGRET THAT WE LOVED
Nothing hurts the heart more than meeting the most rejected and neglected. Having no way of helping other than to offer... read more