Friends

Rebecca and Sheila

Where do I start?  Every day we have a knock at the door.  It is usually a woman, a mother, who is either hungry and wanting food or a mother asking for school fees for  her child who has passed his exams and is ready to go to Form 1 .  Form 1 is our equivalent of high school which in Kenya means boarding school.  It costs approximately $450.00 for the year which includes room and board.   It does not include uniforms, shoes, etc. which comes to another 9500 shillings or about 95 dollars.  Form 1 begins in January so this is crunch time for finding school fees. 

Rebecca patiently sat under a tree in our side yard for probably at least an hour before my house help Sarah saw and recognized her.   I could see them conversing before Sarah invited her to come and sit on the front porch.  Then Sarah came into the house and told me the story of this poor woman.   She may have nothing, but she has the heart of a mother and she is persistent when it comes to her children!  Rebecca had talked with the “daktari” who lived here before we did and who has volunteered here long term.  He and his late wife started orphanages and have a fund that helps many people. Rebecca had talked with him and was under the impression that he was going to help her.   She did not realize that he had gone to the States and that we were the new residents.  She was pleading for help to pay the expenses for her daughter Sheila who had been accepted into Form 1 at a boarding school in Kericho about two hours from here.  Thus began the saga of Sheila!  I checked with the doctor to see if indeed he could pay, he directed me to the hospital chaplain who also has funds available to him occasionally;  I was turned down at both attempts.  Marv and I could not resist and decided that we would help this family.  By this time a couple of days had passed and the funds needed to be at the school by Feb 12, this Thursday.    Getting money here is no small task because the ATM is constantly broken!  The bank said that our check, although good, would not clear for 21 days which was way too long for school fees!   I desperately approached a missionary neighbor who runs the orphanage fund and he was able to bail me out!  He wrote a check to the school and Rebecca and Sheila will bring it with them when they travel to Kericho tomorrow.  Even giving is not easy in the third world! Please pray for Sheila as she begins this exciting but very scarey new adventure.  Going from a hut with no modern conveniences to a school where she will be expected to conform to a strict schedule beginning at 4:30 in the morning as well as to maintain excellent grades will not be easy.  I expect that she might be a bit homesick as well.  If she can make it, she will be able to change her family’s life.

The other friend that stopped by this afternoon is Cecelia whom you may have heard me talk about in the past.  Cecelia is a Rwandan genocide refugee whom I met 6 years ago. She is a widow with six children.  When I first met her she was unemployed and destitute.   I am happy to report that she now works for another missionary and not only that, she is involved in the Women’s Bible Study program that reaches almost 2000 women in their villages weekly.  Her life has improved immensely; but her struggles are still very real.  I am pleased to say that since she has 3 teenage boys I gave her some of the fleeces and sweaters that I collected at First Presbyterian!  She was thrilled as it is chilly here when the boys leave to walk to school at 6 AM in the morning.   She is a marvelous Christian who puts her trust in the Lord each day of her life. She is example to me of how I should live my Christian life and a good friend.   I thank God that He has put her in my life.

Miss you all, 

Love,

Mom