reactkenya.com Blog

Nehemiah Construction

I am always encouraged by Dave and the work of his team in northern Kenya. Paste the address below and watch a short presentation of well driling in one of the most arid places on earth. You tube also has a 3 part documentary on Dave’s work if you look up “Too Dry for Tears” on You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSrhuFj65TI&feature=related

December 2011 Update

We are fast approaching the end of the year. Like a birthday, we look back with thankful hearts but we also look ahead with the anticipation of new things in the year to come.

The past year has seen 78 handicapped children put through another year of school. For some, it was their first year in school while others were there for their 5th year.

The Juma Home underwent wonderful transformations as they moved out of the town of Kitale and into the countryside onto 3 acres of land. This is another step towards independance as they move towards being able to produce enough food on their new land to feed the 20 extra children they have in their family. The family businesses are going well and constantly growing. The bicycle business is going well. There have been motorcycles added to the delivery fleet. The children are involved in various small businesses such as raising chickens, selling cows milk and selling popcorn in town. I am constantly impressed with the leadership of Daniel Juma!

Martin and Ruth Shikuku are busy with the many aspects of their home. In 2010, their home was radically transformed as friends from the U.S. both raised the funds and provided the manpower to build several buildings on a new lot of land. This family and their twenty-something extra children (the number varies with the school season) moved from an area called Soy to a new home about 50kms away just south of Kitale. This year has been a year of settling and bridge-building with the community.

Last winter, Daniel Lipparelli, our partner from Transformed International came to Canada to spend some time together discussing the work of ReACT. He and his new wife, Ashlie, have been a God-send to us as they continue to manage and oversee the work of ReACT in our absence. In January of 2012, I, Michael, am planning to travel once again to Kitale to spend a couple of weeks both with Daniel and Ashlie as well as the various aspects of the work there. Please pray that God would continue to give us wisdom as I see again with my eyes the work and children we have a heart for.

Regarding the deaf children we are working with, we have been investigating a technology that has the potential to radically transform many lives. In speaking with the government professionals that assess the deaf children prior to their admission into school, there is one comment that we have not been able to forget. Many of the children supported in the schools would not have to be there if they were able to use a simple hearing aid. The problem with hearing aids relates to the practicality of these simple devices in a land where most do not have daily access to electricity let alone the batteries required for them. A local friend brought to our attention a wonderful and potentially life-transforming answer to this problem with a hearing aid that is recharged with a small solar panel. I plan on bringing several of these to Kenya this winter so that we can monitor over the next year the viability of using these. Should they prove to be viable and effective, the work of ReACT as it relates to the hearing impaired may change dramatically. Please pray that God “connects the dots” for us in this experiment!

From the start, we have always recognised that the strength of ReACT has also been our weakness. Each dollar donated is sent to the purpose for which it was intended with nothing skimmed for administration. All of those involved with ReACT do so as volunteers. Our weakness in this has been keeping you, our partners, properly updated and informed. We hope that in 2012, this will change as we have been talking with a friend about keeping you effectively informed. We look forward to keeping you posted on this new chapter as the New Year begins.

For anyone still hoping to make a donation for 2011, we remind you that we need to receive your donation by Christmas in order to process it before the end of this year.

In short, we want to thank all of you, our friends, for believing and entrusting your hard earned funds to ReACT. We are honoured to serve as a part of the bridge between you and these children and pray that we can continue in 2012 in the many directions that God is taking us. The children of Kenya join us in saying “Asante!”.

Crumbs

What do you do with $150 million and an overpowering desire to save the earth? You sell out your comfy life and buy your own Yosemite.

As a teenager in the early 60’s, Douglas Tompkins moved to California and worked there as a mountain guide. He borrowed $5,000 to start a clothing company called The North Face, one of the first companies to capitalize on the outdoor sports boom, then sold it a few years later for $50,000 and started Esprit clothing. By the mid-eighties, Esprit’s sales worldwide had topped $1 billion. During this time, Tompkins spent much time in Chile with his climbing partner and fellow fashion designer Yvon Chouinard, the founder of Patagonia.

Douglas Tompkins, the now 66 year old millionaire sold out a successful career to devote himself to saving the earth. Starting in 1991, after he walked away from Esprit and moved to South America to devote his life to conservation, Tompkins has made dozens of separate land deals in Chile’s Region X where the southern wilderness begins. His aim has been to create with world’s biggest private nature reserve, which he calls Pumalin Park. Land was cheap in this part of the country. His first 24,700 acres-purchased, as were many of his holdings, from absentee foreign owners-cost him just $600,000, with a herd of cows thrown in. “Less than a condo in San Francisco”, he says. Since his first purchase, he has added to his collection of land another 700,000 acres all in the name of conserving the rainforest and ecosystem from possible exploitation. The park includes active volcanoes, calving glaciers, 4,000 year old trees and a wildlife list that reads like a who’s who of protected species.

Tompkins recalls, “When we were part of the fashion business, we were part of the problem,” he says. Now, he argues, he is at least less of a part of it. “There’s a phenomenon I call eco-lite. This is when you are worried about the environment and you try to write another message on top of the advertising budget. We did it at Esprit to an extent. Bennetton does it. But I say that if Luciano Bennetton sold his company tomorrow and put all his assets into a foundation that was dedicated 100 percent to what is supposed to be his viewpoint, he’d make more of an impact, one heck of an impact. The same thing with the Patagonia company. I keep telling Yvon Choinard that if they want to put a real dent in things they should just sell up and take all the proceeds and work 100 percent on what they believe in. Instead, they have to spend 90 percent of their effort just to keep the wheels going. When I was at Esprit,” he concludes, “I spent 20 hours a day on the business and only a few hours thinking about bigger issues. Now I have 24 hours a day to concentrate on what really matters.”

Some days I feel like that. I feel like I am spending 90 percent of my effort just keeping the wheels going instead of working 100 percent in what I believe in and I am positive that I am not alone. How is it that we overwrite our lives with appearances and “marketing strategies” to replace risky adventure with a safe and comfortable life. I am encouraged by reading about people that sell out on the easy life and pursue their passions in the face of uncertainty and obstacles. “A ship is safest in the harbour, but thats not what ships are built for.”

We are always asking ourselves whether we are compromising the vision God has given us for the safe harbour. We are asking God if we need to sell out to invest more of ourselves into the things that he has called us to. What has the Voice spoken to you about in regards to your place “in the wall” you are working on?

Small is Big…

I was encouraged by the article pasted below this week. Its easy for me to think that a small ministry like ours is somehow not as significant as larger, more prominent ministries. Have a read and be encouraged by the “small” things you are doing!

http://www.edstetzer.com/2011/06/outreach-magazine-column-small.html

Congo

Here is a clip from my friend Daniel who recently took a trip to the Congo to encourage the pastors there.

The Good Life

Life here in the Great White is good.

Sometimes, too good.

We recently moved into a new home that we really like in a neighbourhood we really like. I have a new business that is going well and I find it challenging. My wife is all a guy could want and my two chicklets (Elia and Anna) are real treasures. Our parents live in town and they are healthy and well. When life is good, its just too easy to just hunker down and hold on (as seen below).

You see, I’ve been finding myself a little too comfortable here and enjoying life but so much of this comfort subtly drives away any urgency to both local and global needs.

I recently read the story of the rich man who built bigger barns to store all the grain that was coming his way. The guy had the corner on the market and was simply reaping the benefits of hard work, opportunities that came his way, and was capitalizing with a good retirement plan. Whats wrong with that? Well, JC never condemned this dude for having things go his way nor for making some good money. If he had taken on an aesthetic attitude he still would have missed the point. I don’t believe that the issue is “rich versus poor”. Proverbs shows us that there are really four categories, not two. It paints a picture of both the rich wise man as well as the rich fool. We also see a poor but wise man as well as a poor fool. The issue is not “rich versus poor”, but rather “wise or foolish”. The thing the rich man in JC’s story was condemned for (to hell, I might add!) was that he thought all this goodness coming his way was so that his life would become easy and comfortable. He built reservoirs instead of seeing his resources as a channel.

I think, if we are all honest, we are all like this guy…at least I know I am. I hate to say it but my time, talent and treasure is sucked up into self preservation without even thinking about it. I feel as though there is so much padding between myself and the needs around me; padding that makes me feel so little compassion these days. Its a struggle to keep primary visions primary and not pursue secondary visions at their expense. I am not always, actually, I am rarely as deliberate and focussed in my pursuit of God and the justice He is looking for as I perhaps think I am. It means being deliberate.

Its time to make some hard choices.

On purpose.

Vampires and Zombies

I am always encouraged by ordinary people doing extra-ordinary things.

Remember the story of the boy with bread and fish? The snotty nosed kid whose mom was the only one to remember to pack him a lunch but an ordinary lunch somehow fed 5,000 men because Jesus came his way. Crazy story, eh?

Remember the dude, Moses, who when standing in front of a burning tree heard a Voice that seemed to come out of the flames that said, “What’s that in your hand?” Just a walking stick, right? Of course, he was just a sheppard. But Bigger Hands wanted his sweaty stick to part seas, swallow snakes, turn water to blood and, most importantly, deliver men from slavery. Bizzare if you ask me. (Whats with all the fascination about vampires and zombies when the Ghost might just show up?)

These guys were not looking for something extraordinary to put their hand to. They were just going through their day doing what they always did when God blindsided them, took them off guard and made “just another day” something to blog about. God’s initiative in their lives, not just clever scheming.

Check out this short Vid. I’m shamed but inspired by people like Narayanan who simply do the right thing. Doing justice where we are with what we have in our hands.

What’s that in your hand?

(Copy and paste this address…)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_3BEwpv0dM

Doing Justice

One of my fav preachers is Tim Keller and I had to share this with y’all. Please find the time to download and have a listen. Copy the following… http://theresurgence.com/2006/07/18/doing-justice-audio

Oh yea, Happy New Year!!

Merry Christmas

I just received these pictures from Martin Shikuku this morning and I wanted to share them with you. There are some good pics of the new home that was constructed this past year as well as the well and Jiko (Kenyan Oven). Thank you for your interest and partnership this past year. We are amazed and humbled to have partnered with you and are anticipating what God has in store in the year to come. Enjoy these pics!

December 2010 Update

I’ve just watched a part of a documentary that George Clooney has been a part of in his advocacy for peace in Sudan. While I have never been a “star-gazer”, I appreciate anyone that takes up a cause for the poor, especially in Africa.

One thing that has stuck with me from this, besides the footage, is his message about preventing crisis. The world spends billions of dollars in the wake of disasters and wars when we could be avoiding crisis and save an incredible amount of money at the same time. If we had the foresight and concern before crisis happened, lives could be saved and our efforts made more efficient.

“If I told you that there was going to be an earthquake that would destroy 200,000 people, would you not do everything in your power both individually and globally to save those people? Sudan is not a natural disaster but a man-made disaster that can be avoided…We were too late in Rwanda. We were too late in Congo. We have a chance to avert a man-made disaster if we will only open our eyes and take action.”

In January 2011, the people of southern Sudan have the opportunity to vote on separation from the Arab North. This vote will undoubtedly stir the hornets nest in the North where the President wanted by the UN for genocide is ruling from. Many are saying that this vote will end in trouble for the “Christian” south.

So what does this have to do with ReACT and the work in Kenya? First of all, we are concerned for all of Africa, and especially the children of Africa, be it Kenya or neighboring Sudan, who have no voice. Second, we feel that our work in Kenya is not dissimilar and we see our reflection in the crisis of Sudan. Disaster for many of these children has already happened and continues to happen through disease, abuse and neglect. Most face personal crisis without intervention. Though the face of disaster is often hidden, the children facing various stigmas and handicaps in the countryside and urban areas would number in the hundreds of thousands. Our heart has been to search for and offer hope and a chance at an education and together with you, personal disaster is being avoided. With individuals like you, organizations like Transformed International and the work of our God, the forgotten children of Kenya have had a fresh start. In 2010, you helped over 100 children attend specialized schools for Deaf learning as well as other specialized schools.

We want to take this chance to thank the many people who have partnered with us and made this year a success. Our Kenyan partners, Transformed International (www.transformedinternational.org) are indispensable to the work with these children. Daniel, Sean and Meredith and their Kenyan team perform the required groundwork on a regular basis to ensure a steady connection with each child. We are incredibly grateful for their sacrifice and steady input into all of ReACT’s projects as they do all the ground work without any financial compensation. They simply carry a vision for this work and give voluntarily of their time and efforts. We are excited to spend a few days with Daniel at the end of January 2011 as he travels to Barrie after having been to his home in Reno for Christmas for the first time in 4 years. Without TI, the work of ReACT simply would not happen.

Many of you have followed our blog as well as our American friends, led by the Pollocks, that sacrificed incredibly to see the home of Martin and Ruth Shikuku relocated and re-built. This project simply amazed us as we saw 4 teams travel from various US locations to a rural location outside of Moi’s Bridge Kenya to transform a field into a safe and complete home for underprivileged children. All of the funds for this project were raised by this US team. A huge “thank you” goes out to all of you that gave beyond your capacity to see this home transformed.

Thank you to the Rotary Club of Barrie that raised the funds for beds, a seed-press project and the dug well for the new Shikuku Home.

We are grateful for the individuals and families that sacrificed and gave so that children could go to school for the first time. I have spoken to some who have worked extra shifts on a monthly basis specifically to sponsor children. Some have given in memory of others. Some have sacrificed little luxuries so that a child could have a fresh start. It amazes and inspires me when I talk to many of you! For $250 Canadian, you averted personal disaster for a year, providing books, uniform, room and board. Without you, we are limited.

For anyone wanting to sponsor a child for 2011, please note that in order to give a charitable receipt for 2010, we need to receive your donation no later than December 19th so that there is time to send it off to our main office in Woodstock for processing.

We are still working on improving our communication with you in the upcoming year. We feel that, like many things, our strength is also our weakness. We are pleased to say that 100% of your donation goes towards the sponsored child. Nothing is taken for any overhead. This is also our weakness and we are working to improve communication with you through our network of volunteers.

Who knows what God will do in 2011?! We are amazed at all that happened in 2010 and look forward with anticipation and hope to the new year. Who knows what personal disasters will be averted in the coming days…who can say what stories we will hear in another year’s time if we take action now before crisis occurs?