Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Mission 2014
We are excited to announce we are planning our second trip to Kenya in the summer of 2014 - while are are just in the planning stages, God is working in amazing ways to already pull the details together. I love that He is the God of the Universe but also a God of small, minor details that make life just work! We are in the process of pulling our team together for next summer's trip, and planning our fundraising efforts. Since our visit in 2011, the school has grown to over 85 students! Pastor Martin and his staff have added new modern bathroom facilities, equiped with toilets and sinks and are just awaiting God's timing for running water to be available on the school/church grounds. We have also purchased a plot of land which is the future building site for an orphanage and have also recently purchased a van (or matatu) that the school can use to transport children. This van is a huge step in the goal of the school becoming self-sustaining. During the day, the matatu can be used as a public taxi in the city of Eldroet. We are praying this matatu will begin to generate revenue needed to run the school. We invite you to prayerfully consider joining our ministry - to give these precious children a hope for a better future...a warm bed at night...a safe place to call home and the BEST gift of all - a personal knowledge and relationship with Jesus! The most important thing you can do to help is PRAY! If you are interested in joining us in prayer or financial support, please contact us at: KPietz@glorybchurch.org. We'd love for you to Like our page on Facebook too for all of the latest updates, pictures and upcoming fundraising events! God Bless, Tanya
Monday, August 29, 2011
Adjusting to Life at Home
Well - we have all been home for almost a week now and to say that it is an adjustment returning home is an understatement. Not only the recovery from jet lag and getting adjusted to our own food again...but an adjustment to every day life. I know we will never take forgranted a comfortable place to sit and some of the little luxuries we just expect in our lives.
For the first few days, I didn't have the words to even describe the trip or our experiences - our time in Kenya was so radically different than our lives here it took some time to put our thoughts together and begin to articulate what we have learned through this experience. In some ways the time in Kenya felt like a dream. But, as we talk through our experiences, read through our journals and look at our pictures our thoughts are coming together and I feel better able to articulate things. Maybe my brain has also recovered from the lack of sleep!
My thoughts so far (and I'll speak on behalf of the group)...
Somehow we have to take what we learned, what we saw and experienced in Kenya and incorporate that into our lives here in America - our experiences were LIFE CHANGING and I know each of us on the trip will never approach our day-to-day lives quite the same. However that doesn't minimize our stresses, problems and struggles here. I had a friend talk to me about some of her stresses and problems while we were gone and she said, "but I know that is nothing in comparison to the problems you saw and what people to through in Kenya". While this is true - I want to make sure to not minimize our problems here - they are our reality. And, I don't know why we were born into life in America and not in Kenya - that is a part of God's plan for our lives. I hope we can learn to approach our lives here with a new way of thinking, a new paradigm...and a rewnewed energy to do the best we can with what we have been given and help the children in Kenya in any way possible.
We are also experiencing a bit of a let down (or at least I am) - which makes complete sense, but was another piece of the puzzle I wasn't quite prepared for. When planning for such an experience, you tend to focus solely on your time in country...what you will do, what you need to plan for, what the culture will be like. But, you fail (or at least I did) to plan for life after such an adventure. I have to admit that life seems a little quiet now...not that I entirely mind the extra time to relax and focus on areas of my own life I have neglected for some time...but there is a definite let down.
We are giving ourselves a couple of weeks to recover and clear our heads and then our team will be coming together, gathering pictures and developing a presentation to share with people about our time in Kenya and what our next steps are with the Kenyan Orphan Project at Glorious Academy. We will be sharing this with our church family and are open to talking with other groups or churches...just let us know if you are interested and we'll see what we can schedule!
For the first few days, I didn't have the words to even describe the trip or our experiences - our time in Kenya was so radically different than our lives here it took some time to put our thoughts together and begin to articulate what we have learned through this experience. In some ways the time in Kenya felt like a dream. But, as we talk through our experiences, read through our journals and look at our pictures our thoughts are coming together and I feel better able to articulate things. Maybe my brain has also recovered from the lack of sleep!
My thoughts so far (and I'll speak on behalf of the group)...
Somehow we have to take what we learned, what we saw and experienced in Kenya and incorporate that into our lives here in America - our experiences were LIFE CHANGING and I know each of us on the trip will never approach our day-to-day lives quite the same. However that doesn't minimize our stresses, problems and struggles here. I had a friend talk to me about some of her stresses and problems while we were gone and she said, "but I know that is nothing in comparison to the problems you saw and what people to through in Kenya". While this is true - I want to make sure to not minimize our problems here - they are our reality. And, I don't know why we were born into life in America and not in Kenya - that is a part of God's plan for our lives. I hope we can learn to approach our lives here with a new way of thinking, a new paradigm...and a rewnewed energy to do the best we can with what we have been given and help the children in Kenya in any way possible.
We are also experiencing a bit of a let down (or at least I am) - which makes complete sense, but was another piece of the puzzle I wasn't quite prepared for. When planning for such an experience, you tend to focus solely on your time in country...what you will do, what you need to plan for, what the culture will be like. But, you fail (or at least I did) to plan for life after such an adventure. I have to admit that life seems a little quiet now...not that I entirely mind the extra time to relax and focus on areas of my own life I have neglected for some time...but there is a definite let down.
We are giving ourselves a couple of weeks to recover and clear our heads and then our team will be coming together, gathering pictures and developing a presentation to share with people about our time in Kenya and what our next steps are with the Kenyan Orphan Project at Glorious Academy. We will be sharing this with our church family and are open to talking with other groups or churches...just let us know if you are interested and we'll see what we can schedule!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Home Sweet Home
We are safely back home from our trip to Kenya - a trip that was amazing and certainly life-changing in so many ways. We all feel blessed to have the opportunity to be part of such an experience and thankful for the prayers and support of so many people.
Because of our limited internet availability in Kenya, we didn't get to post pictures while we were in country. So, I wanted to take some time to share some of our pictures with you as pictures often tell a story in a way words cannot.
Please enjoy the pictures! We will be preparing a presentation with photos and our experiences in Kenya to share with our family and friends and anticipate doing several presentations at our own church and others that may be interested in learning about our time in Kenya and the work of the Kenyan Orphan Project.
This is a typical shower/toilet in a hotel in Kenya. This is a picture of the one in our hotel in Nairobi. We were very thankful we had a shower that we could use on a regular basis. The water was not always warm, but just being able to rinse off was a blessing!
The kids are playing in the open lot we have purchased to build an orphanage. They are all wearing new tshirts we brought for them and tennis balls we brought along - they were so happy and so thankful!
Tanya is teaching class 3 - we are working on plurals and English. Class 3 has kids from ages 8 - 12, depending on their testing level when they started school. They also taught us Swahili!
View of downtown Eldoret - traffic was always crazy, people everywhere and a sort of organized chaos!
Another view of buildings in downtown Eldoret.
Kevin, Tanya and Melissa with Velgon outside her home - she was all smiles and so excited that we came to visit her home after school. She walks over 1 hour to school each day and lives in this very small mud hut.
Two of the boys are playing and building houses at the school - they are very creative and use sticks and blocks to build with!
Driving through town one afternoon we came across the fire station and this is the firetruck the city of Minneapolis donated to the city of Eldoret (they are sister cities)! The truck still bears the Minneapolis name along side the Eldoret name. An ambulance was also given to Eldoret by Minneapolis! What a fun connection!
The church ladies are hard at work preparing meals - they worked so hard while we were there preparing porridge for the kids in the morning, our morning tea, lunch for us and the kids, afternoon tea for our troup and then often our evening meal! Often they would cook in a very small dirt floor kitchen (behind the aqua colored door), but this afternoon they prepared the meal outside. They are amazing women and we are SO appreciative of all they did - the lady working over the stove is named Caroline and she walked about 50 minutes home from the church after the dinner meals - it was often 8-9pm by the time she cleaned up the dinner dishes and was able to leave for hom. And she always had the happiest heart and biggest smile!
Some of the school kids outside the church.
We all planted fruit trees outside the school before we left - this is a typical tradition in Kenya.
Kevin with some of the youth group members from the church - Pastor Abu (in the black t-shirt on the left) is the youth pastor of the church.
On our very last day in Kenya we took in a game drive at Lake Nakuru National Park - this is Tanya, Amy and Melissa in our "safari hats"! What an amazing experience that was!
Because of our limited internet availability in Kenya, we didn't get to post pictures while we were in country. So, I wanted to take some time to share some of our pictures with you as pictures often tell a story in a way words cannot.
Please enjoy the pictures! We will be preparing a presentation with photos and our experiences in Kenya to share with our family and friends and anticipate doing several presentations at our own church and others that may be interested in learning about our time in Kenya and the work of the Kenyan Orphan Project.
View of downtown Eldoret - traffic was always crazy, people everywhere and a sort of organized chaos!
Kevin, Tanya and Melissa with Velgon outside her home - she was all smiles and so excited that we came to visit her home after school. She walks over 1 hour to school each day and lives in this very small mud hut.
This is the Nursery class - they have kids in this class ranging from 2 - 6 years old! The classrooms are very small with dirt floors and no lights. They only light they have comes through a small window.
Two of the boys are playing and building houses at the school - they are very creative and use sticks and blocks to build with!
Driving through town one afternoon we came across the fire station and this is the firetruck the city of Minneapolis donated to the city of Eldoret (they are sister cities)! The truck still bears the Minneapolis name along side the Eldoret name. An ambulance was also given to Eldoret by Minneapolis! What a fun connection!
Friday, August 19, 2011
People...not time!
We apologize for not updating more frequently - getting on the internet is more difficult than we imagined - we have been using a cyber-cafe...with very slow computers! I will try to cover a few days in one post.
We have had a busy week - the children completed their 2nd term exams. We have all fallen in love with the children in the classes we are teaching. The children of Kenya and at Glorious Academy have beautiful servant hearts. When they have morning porridge, the oldest students serve the younger ones. When we arrive at the church, they all rush to the van to help us carry in our bags.
On Tuesday evening, we made an American meal for the teachers and school leadership. We served almost 30 people a spaghetti dinner with coleslaw and we even had s'mores for dessert. We found a store called Nakumatt (like WalMart) here in Eldoret where we can get almost anything we need! There was lots of laughing from the Kenyans while they ate spaghetti, so we are not certain if they liked the meal. However, most came back for seconds!
After exams on Wednesday, we took some of the children home in the van (those who live farthest from the school). These children walk over an hour to the school (on a good day with no rain). Velgon is a 9 year old girl who lives with her mother in a tiny mud hut - her mother is HIV+ and leaves Velgon alone for months at a time while she is out prostituting. We have no idea what this little girl does for food during these months. Her mud hut is no bigger than 10 ft x 5 ft with absolutely nothing - no furniture, no bed mats, no water, no electricity. We only saw a few pieces of wood and a tiny charcoal stove for cooking. It was heartbreaking seeing such an extreme existance - but the most amazing thing was how incredibly joyful Velgon was t have us at her home. She was filled with joy and so happy to have visitors!
We have been blessed to learn that people in Kenya, while they have few material things, they care so much about people! I think when you have less "stuff" you care about people more - what a gift learning that lesson is! Life in Kenya is about people, about relationships - people are first...not schedules or to-do lists! They will stop in the middle of a road or intersection to roll down the window and shake a hand and say hello!
We also visited Angelin's home that day - she is a 6 year old girl who lives with her grandma and a two year old brother. There are 6 mounded graves outside the front door of her home where her parents and other family who have died of AIDS are buried. I cannot imagine walking past that every morning - how heart wretching! Again, Angelin beamed because she had visitors at her home.
These are the beautiful children we came to serve and help - just to do what we can to show them that they are loved! The heartbreak of seeing children live like this was overwhelming and cemented the realization that life for these children is about survival..it's about day-to-day existance.
We spent most of Thursday in the marketplace and exploring downtown Eldoret - we even drove by the Fire Station and saw the Minnapolis Fire Truck that the city of Minneapolis donated to Eldoret (the two are sister cities). Minneapolis also just sent over an Ambulance and some trainers were just here last week to train the Eldoret Fire Department on EMS training.
We also toured two hospitals on Thursday - a large governmetn hospital and a small private hospital. The differences between hospitals in America and Kenya are as different as our cultures! All I will say for how is that the shoes they wear in surgery are mudboots spraypainted white. They gave me a tour of the surgical suite and just had me take off my shoes to enter the "sterile" surgery suite!
We concluded the week on Friday with the end of term celebration at the school - the classes did presenttions and the top performers in each class were recognized. We ended the celebration by presenting each student with a backpack filled with school supplies, a small teddybear and a toothbrush/toothpaste. They were overwhelmed wtih happiness at receiving the backpacks - a special thank you to everyone at home who donated clothing, backpacks, school supplies and so much more - you have touched the hearts of beautiful children, you have made them feel special and brought smiles to their faces. We were blessed to be able to give these gifts on your behalf.
Lives were touched and these children know they are loved!
Thank you for your continued prayers - we only have 2 more days in Kenya and we are getting excited to return home! Tanya
We have had a busy week - the children completed their 2nd term exams. We have all fallen in love with the children in the classes we are teaching. The children of Kenya and at Glorious Academy have beautiful servant hearts. When they have morning porridge, the oldest students serve the younger ones. When we arrive at the church, they all rush to the van to help us carry in our bags.
On Tuesday evening, we made an American meal for the teachers and school leadership. We served almost 30 people a spaghetti dinner with coleslaw and we even had s'mores for dessert. We found a store called Nakumatt (like WalMart) here in Eldoret where we can get almost anything we need! There was lots of laughing from the Kenyans while they ate spaghetti, so we are not certain if they liked the meal. However, most came back for seconds!
After exams on Wednesday, we took some of the children home in the van (those who live farthest from the school). These children walk over an hour to the school (on a good day with no rain). Velgon is a 9 year old girl who lives with her mother in a tiny mud hut - her mother is HIV+ and leaves Velgon alone for months at a time while she is out prostituting. We have no idea what this little girl does for food during these months. Her mud hut is no bigger than 10 ft x 5 ft with absolutely nothing - no furniture, no bed mats, no water, no electricity. We only saw a few pieces of wood and a tiny charcoal stove for cooking. It was heartbreaking seeing such an extreme existance - but the most amazing thing was how incredibly joyful Velgon was t have us at her home. She was filled with joy and so happy to have visitors!
We have been blessed to learn that people in Kenya, while they have few material things, they care so much about people! I think when you have less "stuff" you care about people more - what a gift learning that lesson is! Life in Kenya is about people, about relationships - people are first...not schedules or to-do lists! They will stop in the middle of a road or intersection to roll down the window and shake a hand and say hello!
We also visited Angelin's home that day - she is a 6 year old girl who lives with her grandma and a two year old brother. There are 6 mounded graves outside the front door of her home where her parents and other family who have died of AIDS are buried. I cannot imagine walking past that every morning - how heart wretching! Again, Angelin beamed because she had visitors at her home.
These are the beautiful children we came to serve and help - just to do what we can to show them that they are loved! The heartbreak of seeing children live like this was overwhelming and cemented the realization that life for these children is about survival..it's about day-to-day existance.
We spent most of Thursday in the marketplace and exploring downtown Eldoret - we even drove by the Fire Station and saw the Minnapolis Fire Truck that the city of Minneapolis donated to Eldoret (the two are sister cities). Minneapolis also just sent over an Ambulance and some trainers were just here last week to train the Eldoret Fire Department on EMS training.
We also toured two hospitals on Thursday - a large governmetn hospital and a small private hospital. The differences between hospitals in America and Kenya are as different as our cultures! All I will say for how is that the shoes they wear in surgery are mudboots spraypainted white. They gave me a tour of the surgical suite and just had me take off my shoes to enter the "sterile" surgery suite!
We concluded the week on Friday with the end of term celebration at the school - the classes did presenttions and the top performers in each class were recognized. We ended the celebration by presenting each student with a backpack filled with school supplies, a small teddybear and a toothbrush/toothpaste. They were overwhelmed wtih happiness at receiving the backpacks - a special thank you to everyone at home who donated clothing, backpacks, school supplies and so much more - you have touched the hearts of beautiful children, you have made them feel special and brought smiles to their faces. We were blessed to be able to give these gifts on your behalf.
Lives were touched and these children know they are loved!
Thank you for your continued prayers - we only have 2 more days in Kenya and we are getting excited to return home! Tanya
Monday, August 15, 2011
Let's All Do the Conga!!!
Sunday morning... We enjoyed our first African worship service today - the joy and enthusiasm and energy and praising God was beautiful! The air wa filled with the sounds of whistles, hooting, calling, and spontaneous prayer. They are beautiful dancers who's bodies feel the music and are so inspired to praise and worship our Lord. Several times throughout the service a spontaneous conga line would form and would wind all the way through the church, out the doors, back in again - finally after 10 minutes the conga would stop and the service would continue. A church service in Kenya lasts neary 4 hours - I doubt anyone in the US would sit in church that long!!
The Praise Team asked me to join them - and knowing NO Swahilli or what they were singing I joined the team in dancing and clapping (and I am sure I looked quite silly!!)
On Saturday afternoon, Anne took us to her dress shop - for us girls there are no words to describe how excited we were...the piles of beautiful fabrics, the pictures of all of the patters/style on the wall! We each picked out fabrics we liked, a style of dress and Anne's dress maker (Kevin) will have the dresses made in 3 days...you can tell Anne loves the dress shop as well - she was smiling and so excited to help us pick out our favorite fabrics and a style of dress we would most like! I think we could have stayed in that dress shop all day long and I would have lovd to purchase several more outfits...next trip I think!
We are all doing well...we are healthy, are falling in love with the children and enjoying all of the new sites, sound and smells of life in Kenya.
Thank you for your prayers...more as soon as we can get to a computer again (we are at a little hole-in-the-wall Cyber cafe now...it's upstairs of a little shop and the ceilings are less than 6 feet high!) Tanya
The Praise Team asked me to join them - and knowing NO Swahilli or what they were singing I joined the team in dancing and clapping (and I am sure I looked quite silly!!)
On Saturday afternoon, Anne took us to her dress shop - for us girls there are no words to describe how excited we were...the piles of beautiful fabrics, the pictures of all of the patters/style on the wall! We each picked out fabrics we liked, a style of dress and Anne's dress maker (Kevin) will have the dresses made in 3 days...you can tell Anne loves the dress shop as well - she was smiling and so excited to help us pick out our favorite fabrics and a style of dress we would most like! I think we could have stayed in that dress shop all day long and I would have lovd to purchase several more outfits...next trip I think!
We are all doing well...we are healthy, are falling in love with the children and enjoying all of the new sites, sound and smells of life in Kenya.
Thank you for your prayers...more as soon as we can get to a computer again (we are at a little hole-in-the-wall Cyber cafe now...it's upstairs of a little shop and the ceilings are less than 6 feet high!) Tanya
Mary Weds Titus
Our trip in Kenya is going well - last Saturday, Cheryl received a special honor. She was able to travel with Anne to pick up a bride - Anne was in charge of picking up the bride and driving her in the wedding processional. They went to the church where the men of the church decorated the van with streamers and then Anne and Cheryl went to fetch the bride (the roads were horrible, they were driving through a market area full of goats, chickens, cows and pigs). Finally they arrived at the bride's home - they came out of the house carrying her. Along with her came 17 bridesmaids of various ages all dressed in pink. There were also 18 pageboys dressed in black suits.
Everyone in the community gathered around the car - cheering, hooting and blowing whistles as Anne and Cheryl drove the bride back through the streets to the church for her wedding. When they arrived at the church, the bridesmaids got out first - they danced into the church followed by the bride (her train was carried by two little girls dressed in white). Although we can't upload a picture (we will share pictures when we get home) the bride was dressed in white, a very typical American wedding dress. Anne and Cheryl were just the processional drivers for the wedding - so they were't able to stay but Cheryl enjoyed seeing a glimpse of this piece of Kenyan culture.
Everyone in the community gathered around the car - cheering, hooting and blowing whistles as Anne and Cheryl drove the bride back through the streets to the church for her wedding. When they arrived at the church, the bridesmaids got out first - they danced into the church followed by the bride (her train was carried by two little girls dressed in white). Although we can't upload a picture (we will share pictures when we get home) the bride was dressed in white, a very typical American wedding dress. Anne and Cheryl were just the processional drivers for the wedding - so they were't able to stay but Cheryl enjoyed seeing a glimpse of this piece of Kenyan culture.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Bubbles, Bubbles, Bubbles
Friday morning at the school began like we believe every day begins at The Glorious Academy - devotional time in the church and then porridge and play time in the play yard. The play yard is the land our church helped purchase and is the future building site for the orphanage.
This morning we brought three bottles of bubbles to play with the kids - there is no way to describe the pure excitement and joy...giggles and squeals...laughter and so much fun! The kids all came up to us and said "Teacher...and me, and me" asking if they could blow bubbles. We had to tell them to blow slowly, slowly...pole, pole (in Swahili..."pol-ee, pol-ee"). It was amazing to see such pure joy - we are now wishing we brought more with us!
We had a chance to teach the students again - Amy was teaching in Class 2 - she taught maths (and yes, they add an s on the end), swahili and english. They wanted to skip lunch and have her teach science! The children are all so incredibly eager ot learn. Melissa was taking pictures of each child with their name on a badge so we can take their photos back and match them up with pen pals in the United States. Lee and Sandi were taught Swahili in Class 1. They were in the advanced Swahili class - learning grammer and how to change words for plurals. Kevin and Tanya taught Class 3 (there are 8-12 year olds in the class). One thing we are learning is that 8 year old kids are the same all over the world (they reminded us very much of our 8 year old son, Arik!!) We taught math and science and were amazed at the children. They love to learn - Kevin taught about the parts of a tree and what we use trees for.
This afternoon our amazing adventure will continue - Abu (the youth pastor here) asked Kevin to speak at a youth conference he is coordinating in Eldoret today and Saturday. He is expecting 300 youth from all of the Baptist churches around the Eldoret area. Kevin will be speaking for 2 hours this afternoon and teaching a class on Evangelism - all of the MAD4Christ youth in Kevin's youth group at home will recognize that Kevin has been talking to them about Evangelism for the past several months...isn't it amazing how God works all of this out! Kevin had no idea he'd be asked to teach youth at a conference...but what an amazing opportunity! We are teasing Kevin that he will now be an international youth speaker!!
Thank you all for your continued prayers! God is good and we are so happy to be here, we are welcomed by the most amazing people with beautiful hearts and spirits who show the love of God to everyone they meet!
This morning we brought three bottles of bubbles to play with the kids - there is no way to describe the pure excitement and joy...giggles and squeals...laughter and so much fun! The kids all came up to us and said "Teacher...and me, and me" asking if they could blow bubbles. We had to tell them to blow slowly, slowly...pole, pole (in Swahili..."pol-ee, pol-ee"). It was amazing to see such pure joy - we are now wishing we brought more with us!
We had a chance to teach the students again - Amy was teaching in Class 2 - she taught maths (and yes, they add an s on the end), swahili and english. They wanted to skip lunch and have her teach science! The children are all so incredibly eager ot learn. Melissa was taking pictures of each child with their name on a badge so we can take their photos back and match them up with pen pals in the United States. Lee and Sandi were taught Swahili in Class 1. They were in the advanced Swahili class - learning grammer and how to change words for plurals. Kevin and Tanya taught Class 3 (there are 8-12 year olds in the class). One thing we are learning is that 8 year old kids are the same all over the world (they reminded us very much of our 8 year old son, Arik!!) We taught math and science and were amazed at the children. They love to learn - Kevin taught about the parts of a tree and what we use trees for.
This afternoon our amazing adventure will continue - Abu (the youth pastor here) asked Kevin to speak at a youth conference he is coordinating in Eldoret today and Saturday. He is expecting 300 youth from all of the Baptist churches around the Eldoret area. Kevin will be speaking for 2 hours this afternoon and teaching a class on Evangelism - all of the MAD4Christ youth in Kevin's youth group at home will recognize that Kevin has been talking to them about Evangelism for the past several months...isn't it amazing how God works all of this out! Kevin had no idea he'd be asked to teach youth at a conference...but what an amazing opportunity! We are teasing Kevin that he will now be an international youth speaker!!
Thank you all for your continued prayers! God is good and we are so happy to be here, we are welcomed by the most amazing people with beautiful hearts and spirits who show the love of God to everyone they meet!
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