Thanks for your help!

Over the course of the past year, we have sold t-shirts, necklaces, sock creatures, paintings, and other crafts to raise money for Kibera Penda Project. Since we get sponsors for all of our high school students, we usually use the money raised towards needs at New Hope Primary school which is the school we work with in Kibera.

About a week ago I met with the deputy principal at New Hope and asked about the needs. We don't like to cover primary student's school fees ahead of time because parents would begin to not try to pay school fees because they would just expect us to cover them. However, Francesca, the principal gave me a list of student who had not fully covered their fees from January to June. The school has a huge heart for these kids and doesn't want to kick them out of school. They also know the family situations of many students and their are many orphans living with older siblings. however, what this causes is teacher salaries not being paid in full and other supplies the school needs are unable to be met.

Before coming, Ava had calculated how much we had raised on selling merchandise and crafts and the total was really close to 3,000 dollars. Francesca handed me the list of missing fees In Kenya shillings. That night I converted the total to dollars and Guess what it converted to ...$3013! Wow! Ridiculously cool!

Soooooooo... If you have bought a t-shirt, sock creature, painting, magazine bead necklace, even a magnet from us in the past year THANK YOU for helping partially sponsor 144 primary school students!!!!

A New Meaning for the word POVERTY

"...until we embrace our mutual brokenness our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good."

                                             - Steve Corbett

I feel like each time I am in Kenya something I read/listen to completely blows my mind about bringing God's kingdom to earth now and serving the poor. I remember my first summer it was Irresistible Revolution and last summer it was the Radical Series by David Platt. This year it is the book I'm reading now- When Helping Hurts. I've read in words a lot of things that I've seen and felt but couldn't fully explain or comprehend. 

The book talks about God's call to serve the poor and free the oppressed but specifically how a lot of what we (mainly North American Christians) do that actually hurts the poor more than helps and hurts ourselves in the process. A World Bank study showed that people who are economically rich define poverty as a lack of material resources. But the economically poor define poverty as a lack of worthiness, feelings of inferiority, shame, powerlessness, and hopelessness. 

"For a poor person everything is terrible - illness, humiliation, shame. We are cripples; we are afraid of everything; we depend on everyone. No one needs us. We are like garbage that everyone wants to get rid of." 

                                           -part of the World Bank survey from a person in Moldova 

Poverty in one from is a lack of material resources but poverty also includes spiritual poverty, mental poverty, and emotional poverty. He

Poverty in one from is a lack of material resources but poverty also includes spiritual poverty, mental poverty, and emotional poverty. The author uses an example of going to the doctor and the doctor either misdiagnosing you and giving you the wrong medicine or giving you medicine to relieve your symptoms but not actually fixing the underlying problem that is causing those symptoms. Kyle and I have been talking a lot about "When Helping Hurts". We are glad that we have relationships with the kids that we work with and have gotten to speak some into their lives about the material, emotional, spiritual and mental poverty. But we really have been wrestling through how this affects our scholarship ministry. We have seen issues of entitlement of students seeing sponsors as their "god", parents feeling they don't need to be responsible for their children anymore. It's difficult at times  because God is showing us our own poverty. And so good because He is also showing us He is the healer of emotional, spiritual and mental poverty.

Penda rewards students with good attendance!

A few days ago we took 8 of the high school scholarship kids with the best study hall attendance to pizza, ice cream and the Giraffe Center! It was a great day of new foods and kissing giraffes!

Collins A, Collins O, and Gladys eating ice cream. It took them about an hour to finish the cone, TOO cold!

I have about 20 pictures of Dennis feeding the giraffes. He was obsessed with the giraffes and with the pictures of him with the giraffes.

Frankline 

 

 

 

 

Medical Assistance: Brian's Heart Issue

Kyle's mom and I were just talking a couple nights ago about how many serious medical needs that we have come across in our friends and students in Kibera this summer. Way more than in years past. In the past week, we have had a student in a car accident, with an unknown heart problem, potentially diagnosed with cystic fibrosis, very sick from AIDS. A mother in the hospital for a prolonged time after having a baby. A mother in Biashara's child with TB and unable to begin walking. We are feeling like we need to help but don't have much of a medical budget. I don't have any pictures or beautifully written story, but I decided there's no harm in asking for help...

First Grader Brian

Brian has been having heart problems for awhile now. His mother has taken him to a clinic several times and they have said there are issues going on but haven't been able to do more detailed tests. CAT scans and X-rays and other tests that will be able to give more clear answers are way more expensive. The cost for Brian to go get tests done on his heart are $200. Please consider donating to help Brian receive needed medical assistance. Donations can be made at www.kiberapendaproject.com. Also, please pray. Pray for Brian to be pain free and comforted. Pray for his family to have peace in God's purpose and plan. Pray for doctors to have wisdom in discovering the problem and knowledge of good treatment.

NEW Hope.

I was messaging my friend Whitney about how much New Hope Primary School in Kibera has changed since just last year. And then I started thinking about 4 years ago, the first time I visited Kibera and how much the school has changed. I think it is fitting that the school is called "New" Hope. Pastor Simon always tells the story of when they changed the name after they spent days praying for food and Kyle's parents came to visit the school and helped start the feeding program. But every year it feels like an even New-er Hope. I keep thinking about the Robbie Seay band song...

"All things bright and beautiful You are

All things wise and wonderful You are

In my darkest night You brighten up the skies

A song will rise...

I will sing a song of hope, sing along

God of heaven come down. heaven come down

Just to know that You are near is enough

God of heaven come down, heaven come down"

New Hope School 4 years ago

One of the new blocks of 4 new classrooms just finished in early 2011

From 300 students to 540 students.

From 8 classrooms to 12 classrooms. 

Grades split into two separate classrooms so there is not 60 kids in one class!

Two new school buildings with LIGHT in the classrooms.

A playground in the process of being built! 

From 10ish students passing 8th grade to 30 students.

Students with discipline and a work ethic in the classroom.

From zero students in high school to 60 students in high school.

A school nurse!

Heaven has come down. This is a NEW school. There is a NEW hope. I will sing a song of HOPE. 

Sing along...

High School Trip Home Safe

It was good to sit with the high school team their last night in Kenya and just reflect on the trip and talk about stories that impacted them. I think it is amazing to see hearts change in the lives of youth and also for me to remember that God is still working in my heart. I think after seeing poverty a lot, it doesn't impact you as much. But really, God calls us to continuously be broken hearted for the poor.

Somethings our students learned...
thankfulness...for the ways that God had blessed them, for their families and the love they receive from their parents
God loves the poor...God says that it is harder for a rich man to go to heaven. The students saw this in the faith of the people of Kibera. Many of them said it was a faith that they had never seen before because we can rely on all the things we have but the people they met had nothing. Therefore, they only had God to believe in and rely on for everything.
 the blessing of education...The students at New Hope Primary School and the students in the Kibera Penda Project scholarship program see their education as their way out of poverty. It is their hope. The 8th graders spend all of their time studying for their big primary school exam. The high schoolers are soooooo thankful to be in secondary school. Many students DREAM is to go to boarding school. Many of our students realized they take learning for granted.
strength and perseverance... Many of the relationships that students built with the students in Kibera grew strong for only 2 weeks together. Many stories were shared and our students got to know the lives of the kids in Kibera. Many of these kids have been through so much and are so strong and so joyful. Our kids would talk about their new friends and were so amazed when they found out this friends parents had both died, or they took care of all their siblings because their mom was sick with AIDS. They felt like they complained about such small things when such huge difficulties were facing their friends. 
 
 

Penda Youth Camp 2011

We started Penda Youth Camp 2011 with the 6th-8th grade students from New Hope today. We got the opportunity to go over to Lang'ata High School and use their fields which gave the students from Kibera a lot more space.

Our group led the four teams in cheers, camp games, worship, a soccer tournament. The students also rotated to sports stations and received training in basketball, volleyball, handball, American football, and dance. Taylor Koch, Brenna, and Parker led a great half time (our break in the day to do some worship and lessons) and talked about only searching for satisfaction from the Lord. And Taylor Gentry and the worship team led the kids in praise.


Their were lots of relationships that grew, kids had so much fun and got to learn new sports. The leaders were excited, passionate and also taught the students teamwork and discipline through sports.

We are all exhausted and sunburned tonight and some kids are already in bed even though it is only 9:30 here!

First Day in Kibera for Youth Group

We all made it to Kenya safe and with luggage and exhausted!

Today was our first day in Kibera with 25 person youth team that arrived yesterday. They spent the day visiting the kids in New Hope Primary School, walking about Kibera and starting to build relationships with kids. The team was amazing and we had to drag them back to the bus at the end of the day. And then enjoyed some Ethiopian food! (which all the picky teenage kids loved)

Pray for our team as they put on a day camp for K-5th grade tomorrow, Sunday School and Youth Services on Sunday and Penda Youth Camp for 6th-8th grade next Monday-Thursday!

The team includes:
Robin, Chase and Avery Hawthorne
Amy and Bo Phillips
Steve and Mallory Stone
Parker Franklin
Rachel Bergmann
Matthan Myers
Sam Egliht
Sarah Fountain
Madeline Broyles
Alyssa, Brittany and Wendy Smith
EC Nolley
Haley Glover
McKayla Riley
Taylor Koch
Taylor Gentry
Brenna Degroot