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Christchurch Ware Kenya Trip (latest news received 1900 on 18th April)
The 12 member team departed Thursday 8th April 2004 and returned Sat 24th
They visited David and Rachel Williams, Crosslinks mission partners at Carlile College, Nairobi.
For more general information on Kenya visit the Crosslinks Kenya pages
Carlile College is a Bible College in Nairobi, Kenya. The team aims to renovate and redecorate 60 rooms in the Theology Block. While in Nairobi, we will also be visiting the Centre for Urban Mission and the Kipawa Card Project based in Kibera – the largest slum in Kenya. At the end of our time, we will be going to the Masai Mara on safari, to relax before heading back to the UK and work!
The Overseas Support Project was set up with the aim of supporting missionaries who have moved overseas. David and Rachel Williams were at Christ Church from 1993-97 when David was Curate. The Williams family moved to Nairobi, Kenya in 1998 as missionaries with Crosslinks. David is Principal of Carlile College and Rachel manages the Kipawa Card Project. Tom, Sam and Jonathan, their children, go to school in Nairobi.
The aim of the team is to support David and Rachel in their work. Thank you for your hard work which has raised a large amount of funds and 70 pairs of curtains, generous giving and support which has enabled us to go. One final request, please could you pray for us each day, we will need it.
Prayer
Diary. A subject to pray about for each day the
team is away
The
Team (with mug shots!)
More pictures direct from the team in deepest Africa - click below.... (most recently received are towards the bottom of list)
Some of them at least pretending to be working
Termites for tea? (Jonathan, Tom and Sam frying live termites in butter for us all to sample - whether we liked it or not!!!)
Penny and Ali painting the rails on the stairway
Ali, Victoria and Paula (ie the women) washing brushes and rollers!
Victoria just about to start painting the staff room
Jez doing some DIY in the toilet
The team and Tom the mini bus driver outside Kipawa card project
The kitchen at the center for Urban Mission
In the street outside the Center for Urban Mission
Some of the team with Rachel at the Kipawa Card Project
Paula cleaning a urinal!
Andy making friends with Zephania and Collins
Jackie working!!!
The students teach Penny how to blow up a balloon (Send your caption ideas direct to Penny!)
One
Carnivore
Group of Carnivores
News and prayer information
...the journal... hot off the email as it is received...
24th April ---- no more emails, but I can now report that they are back safely!
Days
1 - 5 of the saga
Day 6: Tuesday 13th April
Even though we were off out at 10am to the Centre for Urban Mission and
the Kipawa Card Project we were still up at normal time to get in some
work before we set off.
Team meeting and breakfast and ready for work by 8:15.
We were all down on our knees scrubbing paint off floors and were quite
relieved to leave our Kenyan friends to it when it was time to change
for our visit.
The journey across the city was hairy enough and we were scared before
we even hit the slum!
We arrived at Kibera. Even those who thought they knew what to expect
were shocked. Words can't describe the smell, the poverty or the mud.
What we thought were small rivers were pure sewage. Children ran around
us, some wanting to touch us while others just looked or shouted "How
are you?" - which appeared to be the only English they knew. We spent
some time at the Centre for Urban Mission as David told us all about
Kibera and what they do there. The statistics are shocking and we all
sat there in disbelief.
David advised that we used the toilet as the one at the Center for Urban
Mission was nicer than the one at Kipawa. I dread to think what the one
at the Card Project must be like as the hole in the ground described as
a toilet was pretty awful.
We made our way back through the slum to Tom our driver and the college
mini bus - both of which were still there.
We headed off to the Kipawa Card Project which is on the edge of Kibera.
It was a real joy to spend time there with the ladies and see not only
the cards being made but the paper being processed and the designer at
work.
We headed into Kenyatta Market on the edge of Kibera with Rachel where
we had fish and ugali (traditional Kenyan food!) for lunch which was
enjoyed by all!
We drove back to Carlile each of us reflecting on what we had seen,
grateful for the lives we lead, the security and the comfort.
Remembering how as we walked around Kibera still there were laughs and
smiles on some of the faces we saw.
We are now back at the college with a few hours of work to do this
afternoon to get the second corridor finished.
Praise points: Safe trip to Kibera and the card project
That we are now starting to see some finished results of our work here
Prayer points: Safe travel for the members of the team heading to meet Andy Keay tonight
That Andy would settle in well
Stamina as we now have 4 days straight of working
We did a hard afternoons work and managed to get a few more
rooms completed.
We upset the cook when they found out that we had had fish for lunch as
they had prepared a delicious fish dinner for us!
Some of the team did some more work while Sarah, Ben and James went to
the airport to collect Andy.
We spent time with the Kenyans teaching each other more songs and waited
up till Andy arrived.
It was great to see Andy, he had a safe trip and arrived well and ready
for work! We settled him in then got ourselves off to bed.
Day 7: Wednesday 14th April
England seems a million miles away as we have settled into our routine
here - got used to the bizarre foods that they give us and even the way
of greeting each other each morning.
This morning we were given bread and meat filled samosas for
breakfast!!!
We have cracked on today and been blitzing our way through the corridor.
When the water goes off as it frequently does we just use the fire hose
- I'm sure there would be a health and safety issue with that in
England...
Tonight we have a games evening planned which should be lots of fun!
Praise points: Safe arrival of Andy Keay
That the small teams are working really well
Prayer points: For strength for those of the team who are feeling
really exhausted
That we would have a great evening of fun and
relaxation tonight
We spent the rest of the afternoon finishing off our daily tasks and worked quite late into the evening.
People are getting tired and we had a few set backs with a mix up of
emulsion and gloss - oops!
We were given a huge dinner as always then all gathered for an evening
of fun and games!
Victoria was the winner of our 'Rip an animal out of newspaper in 2
minutes' competition! The Kenyans and the English alike enjoyed the
'Numbers' game and everyone got the hang of the 'Sofa game' and the
older members of the group turned out to be the best at it! Penny and
Kenyan team mate Zephania were the winners of our balloon competition!
Day 8: Thursday 15th April
Usual start to the day with a wake up call from Ron, colder than luke
warm showers, team meeting and not your average English breakfast!
We broke into teams and got started on the days work.
The bathroom is now complete! We only have one team left in the old
block doing a clean up operation while the rest of us are now onto the
girls block.
Quite a few of us have got colds - partly due to dust particles and
paint.
We are attempting to complete in 2 and a half days what has just taken
us 5 days so we are feeling slightly exhausted at this prospect.
We are all looking forward to getting out to Carnivore (a restaurant for
meat eaters where all sorts of game meat is served) tonight with the
Williams family and all our Kenyan work mates!
Praise points: A great fun evening for everyone last night
Almost completion of the 1st block
Prayer points: For Sarah, Victoria, Penny and Paula all suffering with colds
For safe travel and a great time at Carnivore tonight
Stamina to keep going for the next 3 days
The team had a hard day, so a trip out to the Carnivore Restaurant
was
just what we needed to get our spirits up and give us a boost of
enthusiasm. The Kenyans all dressed up, and so did Ron and Jez, but the
rest of the team just about managed a shower and to get rid of the worst
of the paint. We had a fantastic evening, great fellowship and super
food, including ostrich, crocodile, gazelle and zebra. I kid you not.
Day 9 Friday 16th April
While Jez and Sarah (slave drivers) were in such good spirits we had
convinced them to let us have our team meeting at breakfast rather than
before, giving us a 20 minute lie in, which we were all very grateful
for. Friday was a manic day, the teams were a bit depleted as some of
our Kenyan team mates (also volunteers) had other commitments. But we
all focused on the task and got a huge amount done. Another ten and a
half hour day complete and we were all shattered. Most had an early
night, but we have introduced "Bop-It" to Kenya so some of us took part
in a "Bop-It" in the dark challenge that went way into the night. Paula
won!!!
Day 10 Saturday 17th April
The last day of work!! Jan was greeted early in the morning at Nairobi
airport, after a comfortable flight out from the UK with three seats to
herself. We had a morale boosting team meeting with our final targets
set. Due to the safari next week and Sunday being a rest day we knew we
were working against the clock (hence no time to stop to take photos!)
After a 12 and a half hour day we completed all the tasks we had
targeted - the boys block and the girls block including two stairwells 7
bathrooms 6 corridors and 67 rooms are finished and the staff room /
lecture room are also looking immaculate. We as a team have some very
stained clothes and shoes, permanent gloss and emulsion marks all over
our skin and hair, a new profession in painting and decorating, new
friends and a huge sense of satisfaction and achievement.
Day 11 Sunday 18th April
We were all looking forward to a lie in until we found out that we were
leaving for church at 8.15 for a 9am service. This was a bit of a shock
to the system for those of us used to an 11am start, and an even bigger
shock for those who come to the evening service! Some of the team went
to St Jude's Church at Pumwani on the east side of Nairobi. It was an
awesome experience, a true sample of the Kenyan church and very
different to the cathedral service we went to a week before. We were
given such a warm welcome and it made a change for people to take photos
of us rather than the other way round! There was no worship band with
keyboards or anything like that, but a brilliant choir who were
accompanied by drums. The Vicar had visited us earlier in the week at
Carlile College and had asked us to be involved in the service. Ron
shared his testimony wearing his newly purchased Kenyan tie and dye
suit, and Jackie preached an incredible sermon. Over 100 people squeezed
into a corrugated iron church to praise the Lord and hear the word. It
was truly an amazing and awesome experience. Then the children's church
came in to perform a poem and song and dance. They came in from one door
and we thought they would never stop coming - over 130 of them. We were
told that the numbers are all repeated at the 11am Kiswahili service -
incredible. We returned to Carlile College for lunch and have spent the
afternoon enjoying the Kenyan sunshine, sleeping, reading and writing.
Some of us challenged the Kenyans to football, frisbee and all sorts of
games for the others.
Tomorrow we set off to the Masai Mara for our safari, so this will be
the last bulletin.
Praise: A very special night out at the Carnivore
We've finished all that we felt we might be able to
achieve at the start of the week!
Jan's safe arrival
David and Rachel had a good weekend away together and a
safe trip
All colds have now cleared up
Prayer Ben Willis has a bit of an eye infection, but has got some
medicine from David
Safe travel, fun and relaxation for the team on safari
Penny, Rachel, Tom and Sam as they travel up country to
go back to where Penny worked as a volunteer
For David and Jonathan in Nairobi
That what we have done, the relationships we have built
and the experiences we have had will have a lasting impact.
1 April prayer requests:
General Prayer needs:
