Our Final Week in Siyiapei

Our final week was one filled with many amazing moments, where we would try to simply take in every thought, scent, sight, and sound, in hopes of not forgetting a detail. We had the opportunity to visit for the last time the homes of our close friends Orpha, Fred, Pastor Jimmy (Pasi), Nelson and his family, Pastor Kinayo and his wife and grandchildren, Derek, and Limet. Their stories and the well wishes they bestowed on us often inspired and brought us to tears. The clinic along with the AIC church we have been involved with, invited members of the community and church to a giant feast and thanks ceremony for us. They slaughtered a goat, made some delicous side dishes and a cabbage mixture flavored with the intestines and stomach of our goat. They gave us some bottled sodas, before saying words of encouragement, giving testimonies, singing Maasai and Swahili hyms with us, and praying over us.

Earlier in the week we spent the day at the Narok District Hospital, in the center of the nearest town to Siyiapei. We arrived early in the morning in time to join the students and interns for rounds with the attending physician. We got to see and hear so many of the patients cases and treatment, learning so much! It was a great taste of what medicine is like in a larger hospital in Kenya. Afterward, we spent our afternoon in maternity where we witnessed our first birth in Kenya! It was incredible. On our way back into town to catch a matatu home, we were met by four Maasai women we had never met, who ran up to us with giant smiles and circling arms for hugs, asking us where we were coming from, our names, and telling us who they were. They held our hands and enlocked elbows with us, walking with us until we had to part ways, giving us hugs and kisses goodbye, so filled with joy we thought they would pop. Their laughter was contagious and we felt so blessed by them!

We visited the AIC Childrens Home one morning this week where we were greeted by 21 curious faces, some of which were farmiliar from seeing them at the clinic or in the community. They each introduced themselves, said a different Bible verse, and then all sang and danced Maasai and Swahili songs for us! We sang and danced two for them and then encouraged them in Jesus and prayed together before taking some funny pictures and hugging and waving goodbye. We fell in love with them instantly and wished we had the chance to come again.

After spending our last day with our two best friends Fred and Orpha in town and having them over to our house for chai, we cleaned up our house and packed all of our things together in preparation for the morning. We had planned a short visit to the Maasai Mara before heading back to Nariobi, so early Sunday morning we said our final goodbyes, and met our Saphari driver outside! The Maasai Mara was all that we could have hoped for, mesmerizing us and reflecting the fingerprint of God in every sense. We saw a male Lion, girraffe, gazelle, and wildebeaste even before entering the park, and along the way learned the 6 reasons a Saphari van will stop: 1) Bumps 2)To use binoculars to look for animals 3)when animals occupy the road 4)to greet other Saphari vans (typically filled with chinese people bearing huge lensed cameras) 5) when one of us has to use the bathroom (aka big thorny bush) and 6)when we have to retrieve a piece of the van that falls off on the side of the road. But really, we all agreed that this was one of the best experiences of a lifetime and were so excited and thankful to have been given that opportunity! We stayed the night in an amazing tented camp and after a morning drive at the Mara, left for Nairobi.

Our Short-term coordinator PJ and his wife Emily welcomed us into thier home in Nairobi where we will be staying the next two nights for debrief. We will be flying out Wednesday evening, heading back to the AIM home office before all saying goodbye and going our separate ways to each of our families. We miss them a lot!

It has been amazing to see all that God has done in and through each of us during our trip this summer. We have learned so many things and made relationships that we will forever hold on to. God has been faithful in every aspect, often blowing our socks off in the wonder of who He is and how He is working among His people all across the nations. We want to thank from the bottom of our hearts those who have been praying and supporting us every step of the way. There were so many times where we could honestly feel the prayers of Gods people working on our behalf. What an honor to be a part of Gods hands with you, following His example as we go therefore and do likewise.

Week Six!

What an exciting week we’ve had! On Thursday we had the opportunity to go to Nairobi! Fred had to go for the day to pick up some things for his lab tech certification so it worked out for us to tag along with him. We were super excited to be able to spend time with PJ and Emily, the AIM short-term coordinators for the Eastern Region of Africa. We left Siyiapei bright and early so we were able to enjoy the sunrise over the beautiful Kenyan landscape on our ride there. When we arrived to the city we stopped at a cute little café called “The Mug” for a second breakfast and some yummy coffee. PJ brought us to the AIM office for chai time/prayer meeting after that. Being greeted by the group of smiling faces and having the opportunity to worship the Lord with them brought us a little taste of home. We got a lot of souvenir shopping done at the Maasai market, which takes a lot longer than your average shopping trip due to the extensive amount of bartering that must occur. This day was such a blessing to us because it was a little boost of energy to help us finish strong as we approach the end of our stay here.

Instead of working in the clinic on Friday, our team went for an immunization outreach to a Maasai village nearby. We traveled by car over many bumps, rocks, and ditches (it’s amazing what these taxi drivers can do) and arrived at a small school to set up our temporary clinic. The head school teacher informed us that word did not get out into the community ahead of time to let them know we would be there so she sent out a few students to run home to spread the news. While we were waiting for patients, we had the chance to speak with this head school teacher about the countless challenges that this school and this community face. She told us that the biggest challenge that her students face is hunger. Even the school sometimes does not have food to feed their students for lunch. The second greatest challenge they have is elephants. Elephants are very dangerous animals in the wild. They kill their crops and can hurt, sometimes even kill people as well. It was hard for us to hear her stories and to know how to respond to what she was telling us. Our response, and we ask that your response as well, will be to pray for the people of the Erusiai village. After our conversation with her, patients started trickling in. We ended up immunizing about 30 children!

 

 

 

Saturday was very leisurely. In the afternoon Fred and the youth pastor from the church we attend took us fishing! They made us our own fishing rods out of sticks, string, a little hook, and a piece of rubber for a buoy. We caught a couple “mad fish” and some frogs along the way. We screamed every time we pulled them out of the water. The mad fish became our dinner that night and were very tasty!  

 

On Sunday we had the great privilege of going to Maasai land, where Fred’s family is from. After we arrived and met some of his family, the men led us to their herd of goats so they could choose one to…slaughter for us! When they chose a good one, they led us into “the bush” to watch this important event occur. Usually goats are only slaughtered on special occasions so we felt honored that they wanted to do this for us. While we were watching the procedure it reminded all of us of dissecting animals in our anatomy and physiology classes J THEN Fred asked us very nicely if we would like to test the goat’s blood. We hesitantly agreed so we each took a little sip…what an experience! Following the slaughter we proceeded back to the little mud house for chai. The women of the family graced us with exquisite hand-made Maasai necklaces that we even got to keep as a reminder of this special day! We ate a LOT of food including: an appetizer of chicken then roasted goat, chapatti, rice, peas, boiled potatoes, and beef. Wow.

Today was a good, relaxing day at the clinic. It’s nice to be “back home” as the past few days were very busy. We ask that you pray that our team would finish strong during these last two weeks in Siyiapei.

Love to you all!

Alyssa

Week Five!

Jambo Marafiki (Translation: Hello friends)

We have officially completed our (Janie, Janessa, and Alyssa’s) 5^th week and Ashley’s 3^rd week! We have had a great week, filled with building relationships and quality time with people. One old hymn that I used to sing growing up has come to my mind throughout this week: Count Your Blessings. The line that keeps invading my thoughts goes like this, “Count your blessings; name them one by one. Count your blessings; see what God has done.” I told the other girls about this and so we decided to tell you about our week by obeying this hymn and “counting our blessings.”

Blessing One: July 4^th Burgers: We decided that we would celebrate America’s Independence Day big time here in Kenya. We invited the clinic staff over for a wonderful lunch of burgers (our first time eating beef since being in Kenya!), fries, and lemonade! We threw some guacamole in there as well, because, I’ll be real honest, we four missionary girls can make some killer guac. We sang the National Anthem for our dear Kenyan friends, which they loved. Fred even tried to learn the first few stanzas in honor of this American Holiday. It was such a cool experience to share part of our culture with them!

Blessing Two: Jiko: There are a few things that can elicit girly screams of terror from our four mouths: spiders, snakes and lizards (we saw our first African snake this week at the clinic), lack of coffee or chocolate, and RUNNING OUT OF GAS FOR OUR GAS POWERED STOVE. The final item on the list occurred on Friday night, right in the middle of cooking a lovely meal of potatoes, green beans, and fish. The thought of having to instead eat yet another peanut butter sandwich was enough to drive us bonkers, so Janessa and I ran over to Derek’s house (our next door neighbor). Thankfully, he had an extra Jiko (essentially a campfire in a pot) which he let us borrow. We got to have the real African cooking experience, along with being able to eat our coveted meal of fish and chips.

Blessing Three: New friends and S’mores: We have been able to get to know James and Tara, two Americans that are here for a while working with a non-profit and the Kenyan Red Cross. It has been great to hear their stories, as well as discuss health care here in Kenya. They also brought us one of the best gifts anyone could have ever given us: marshmallows! We were able to construct a makeshift s’more using Kenyan things we had lying around the house. If anyone there in the motherland wants the recipe, it includes: tea biscuits (NOT the round, easily breaking ones, but the rectangular, thick ones that have the word NICE on the top), 8 chocolate chips (the number is important here, as we have to be a bit stingy with the number that we use, in order to last us the rest of the trip), and a marshmallow (we have a mixed bag of regular and strawberry flavored; regular is my personal favorite). This tiny joy of roasting marshmallows over our little borrowed jiko was enough to bring squeals of laughter, and definitely deserves to be put on the blessing list. It’s the small things that count, right?!

Blessing Four: Frederick and African Hair: Our dear friend and lab technician at the clinic, Fred, took us into town on Saturday for our first experience with a Kenyan hair salon. We entered Pinkie’s Hairstyles at 10 AM and left with braided heads at 2 PM. What a fun experience! While I wasn’t too enthusiastic about the pain, I loved being with these beautiful Kenyan women and joking about the differences between sturdy African hair and “wazungu nuele” (translation: white people hair). I count it such a blessing to be given this opportunity to totally be immersed in their extraordinary culture, even down to the hair on my head!

Blessing Five: Kenyan Adventures: I cannot even begin to express how grateful I am for these fantastic three girls that I get to live with this summer! I often times wish that I had a secret video camera taped to my shirt so that I could capture every moment. There is an incredible amount of laughter that goes on here. This week we discovered the joy of making a tent using sheets and a mosquito net, lugging a thermos of hot chai and a HUGE bowl of popcorn upstairs, and reading to each other. We got to have adventures outside of our little Shalom house as well this week. We visited Orpha’s shamba (garden) and played in the stalks of corn. On Saturday, after getting our hair done, we went with Fred to a nearby boarding school where his younger brother lives. While Fred met with a teacher to check up on his brother’s performance, we played games with the kids. It is these moments of laughter and joy that make me realize that it will be incredibly hard to leave this place in three weeks.

Well, dearest friends and family, we love you all so much and are praying for you daily. We miss all of you immensely and can’t wait to see you all very soon! Thank you once again for your prayers and emails of encouragement. They are so very much appreciated!

Love to all,

Janie and the Siyiapei Girls

PS: Special shout-out to all the family birthdays this week: Hunter, Mama Rhodes, and Aaron! Happy Birthday!

Week Four!

         Bright-golden rays of sunshine beamed across the valleys and onto our now rosy cheeks as we walked from the clinic to the Siyiapei primary school. We were much grateful for the warmth. We arrived at the gate of the compound where many children had already run out to greet us. Waving and running up to shake our hands in shy excitement, they made us feel welcomed even in our first moments upon arriving. We met with the principle and several of the teachers, and then we were taken to a meeting place where hundreds of happy and curious eyes fixated upon us while a shush filled the room. We sat at the front looking out at all the students that had come to listen to us talk about America, healthcare, who we were, why we were here, and in return to tell us about themselves and answer any questions we had. I must say that it was quite nerve-wracking at first, but the atmosphere quickly turned lively as we laughed and shared, seeing them get up the courage to show us a Maasai dance, and us speaking English with funny accents or Swahili with strange pronunciation in our explanations of different health infections they asked about. We loved singing praise songs with them and experiencing a glimpse of what their lives are like. When the session ended and everyone was dismissed they crouded around us, combing through our hair, rubbing our palms, giggling, asking us questions, plucking our armhair and giving us hugs. It was wonderful to be able to spend a big clump of time with so many beautiful little Kenyan boys and girls. And it is amazing how brightly Christ shines through his children. We waved and hugged goodbye and made our way back to our home, promising to come back again soon.

           At the clinic this week we were graced with presence of Nelson and Tom, both skilled in nursing, who stepped in for Orpha when she had to attend a conference mandatory for all nurses employed under the government. We missed working with her but were so blessed by getting to know and learn under both Nelson and Tom. It was really good to see how, while each person has a different style of treating patients, all display an amazing model worth emulating, as they whole-heartedly show the patients care. We were able to learn so much this week and talk with, treat, and pray with many patients. Most of the people we meet are Maasai and it has been incredible to see and experience their culture. Conversations with those who know Jesus Christ intimately have given us an understanding about how they relate to Him in thier culture, and has revealed so many unsearchable truths about His character. It has blown my mind to see the faith and dedication of so many we have met. Often, we have found that people depend on God to supply even their next meal or their fare to get to school the next day, waking up early just to spend time in prayer with Him, giving away thier best simply to love and welcome others. We have recieved many a fruit from people sending a dozen mangos or several avocados our way wishing us blessings and sending us greetings (a few days ago we recieved two huge bushels of banannas from a mama who is 85 and still working the garden!) One morning, talking with our Lab Technition, now really good friend Fred, about his growing up in the orphanage, he told us about how he and nine other friends would pray together every morning from 4am to 6am just to pray. He said that not a single one of them ever went to bed hungry and that all of them now have jobs, that God has and always will be faithful to meet every one of their needs. Another woman we met, though physically weak and in great pain, could barely contain her joy as she exclaimed her love for Jesus.

      

       Earlier this week we were surprised when a knock on our door turned out to be a young boy, 12, who had remembered us from church, wanting to take us for a walk. We thought this a strange proposal but accepted nonetheless thinking it the cultural thing to do and come to find out, he was wanting us to come meet his family at his house. Passing the breathtaking prairie and musical herds of cow, sheep, and goats along the way, we arrived to see a quaint mud house with a tin thatched roof and two little girls peeking around the corner. It was one of the most at-home places we have felt as the mother, Sabina, and her children (who warmed up to us shortly after we arrived) sat and spent the afternoon with us, their jubilant personalities and laughter contagious. We were touched and put in awe by her story and the love that we not only saw but also felt by their family. We are looking very forward to having them over to our home tomorrow after church!

       It hard to believe that already, half of the time we have here is over! Amidst the ups and downs, trials and blessings, the vast depth of how much God is working behind the scenes continues to amaze us, much of which remains to be revealed. We have been able to grow so much as a team, make relationships with, and further those relationships with the people around us each day. On Thursday, we had a blast celebrating Fred's birthday with a home cooked meal of goat, ugali, sakumawiki, cake (which according to their tradition, you feed to each other), a good ole fashioned birthday card, and water (important for pouring over the head of the birthday boy when they least expect it, we learned). Each saturday we hear the beautiful voices of Maasai hymns being sung by a group that meets on the other side of our house in the morning, and we have even come to learn a few! We hope to be able to preform one at church before the end of our stay! We are praying for continued opportunities to witness, encourage, learn, and develop deeper relationships with those around us (at the clinic, at church, in the community, possibly having some of the older women over for chai and sharing how Jesus has worked in our lives, mentoring some of the children at the school, etc.). We are so thankful for the support and prayers, knowing and experiencing how faithful the Lord works on behalf of them!

Many thoughts and much love from Siyaipei!

Week Three!

Hello everyone!!

The four of us are finally together at last.  I (Ashley) was warmly welcomed into my new home last Monday by Alyssa, Janie, and Janessa with a meal of guacamole, chapatti (similar to a tortilla), rice, and beans.  It was delicious and, I must say, that I am so very impressed with the way the girls have embraced and demonstrated true Kenyan hospitality. Also, after only living in Siyiapei for three days, I am so very excited for all that the Lord is going to teach us this summer.  We have quite a bit of down time both at the clinic and at home, and this allows us plenty of time for reading, praying, and bonding both with each other and the staff at the clinic. 

One of my favorite moments of this week occurred yesterday afternoon.  We were privileged to meet an eighty-five year old woman named Ruth who had walked to the nearby church to pray.  From the moment we met her, you could just see the joy of the Lord on her face and in her smile, and the first words out of her mouth were praise and glory to God!  Despite her significant pain from her leg, she began to quote Psalm 23 to us in Swahili (with Fred, the lab tech, translating for us).  She then proceeded to pray with all of us and give us a bag of avocados. 

My other favorite moment of this week occurred this evening as Alyssa urgently called us all into the bathroom.  To our dismay, we discovered a HUGE (okay, not really that big) LIZARD (okay, maybe a gecko) in our bathtub!!  Yuck. Yuck. Yuck.  We tried to make a plan without screaming too much.  Orpha (the nurse) came over with her daughter Saphie to help us, and reluctantly informed us that it was poisonous and we needed to kill it.  Great.  Plan 1: use a broom/plastic bag lizard net.  Plan 2: use a bucket.  Plan 3: turn on the water. Plan 4: call Fred to help us.  As it turns out, by the time Fred arrived, the lizard had already drowned under the bucket.  Mission accomplished: our bathtub was lizard-free once again.  Praise the Lord!  Bwana asifiwe! 

Love,
Ashley or Nashilu in Maasai (pronounced nah-she-loo)

Week two

We have now been in Siyiapei for a little over a week and we are finally starting to adjust to our new lifestyle here. We have met a lot of wonderful people in the community and have a lot of dates on our calendar for lunches and chai time with them! Yesterday we went to our dear friend, Lucy’s, house for lunch. Her home is very quaint with a beautiful blue front door. Her son, Henry, and her daughter, Eva, joined us for lunch as well. They were all so welcoming and kind, as many people are here. She made us the yummiest lunch we’ve had since we have been here--stew with beans, potatoes, and corn. Sounds simple, but it was absolutely delectable! :) We are looking forward to having her in our home on Thursday for chai!

Over the weekend Orpha (the nurse at the clinic) taught us how to make chapatti which is kind of like a thick, bready tortilla, but much more tasty. We are happy to announce that we are blessed with hot water now in our house! This make showering much more pleasant :) The power has gone out during the day a few times, but thankfully it always seems to turn back on right before sunset…when we need it most! We have successfully completed a few loads of laundry by hand and are getting better with each attempt!

As each day passes in the clinic, we are gaining insight into a variety of health problems that we are unlikely to see in America. It is amazing to watch how they treat these problems with the limited amount of resources and drugs that they have in the clinic. We are struck by how blessed we truly are with the healthcare that is at our fingertips back home. One story that has touched our hearts is of a 2-year-old boy who accidentally stuck his forearm into a scalding hot pot of chai. His mother brought him in last week and they have returned twice since then for follow up treatment. It was pretty hard to watch Orpha clean the burn as he shrieked in pain the whole time. On Monday this week we found that the healing skin was infected and had to be removed, which was also extremely hard to watch. The mother remained calm and was great at soothing her child who was in such terrible pain. She was very thankful to receive this medical care.

This week we have also had the opportunity to converse with several patients as well as pray with and for some of them. We are praying for opportunities to share the gospel with people while we are here. We have really enjoyed getting to know each other more, sharing what is on our hearts and minds with each other, and growing as sisters in Jesus Christ. We anxiously await the arrival of our fourth team member, Ashley (***IF YOU’RE READING THIS PLEASE BRING US GOOD DISH TOWELS AND CHOCOLATE!!!***), next Monday!!!

Little boy with burned arm

Maasai man with his two wives

Making chapati!

Lucy's family in front of their house

Love to you all,

Alyssa & the Siyiapei girls

Week One!

Jambo from Siyiapei!

I am so sorry that this blogpost has taken so long. We actually don’t have internet at our house in Siyiapei, so we had to wait until the weekend when we could go to an internet café. This week has been such a time of spiritual growth for each of us, as we have been stretched outside of our comfort zones in almost every way possible. We are learning so much about God’s goodness to us, even in our weakness and complaining. We cannot even begin to tell you how faithful He has been in meeting us where we are! I think many of our thoughts are summed up by Lamentations 3:21-41! We urge you to go now, pick up your Bibles, and read it. We are memorizing this passage together as a team and have received so much strength from its words.

African culture is very different than American culture, which has definitely been an adjustment. We were aware of this coming in, but have daily been struck by the contrast. Our new friends here have been incredibly gracious and patient with us. On Wednesday, we were excited to have our friend Orpha (the nurse at the clinic and our next door neighbor) allow us to enter her kitchen and watch her cook dinner for her family. This was a huge deal, as most Africans are incredibly hospitable and want you to relax in their living rooms at all times, usually never allowing visitors in their kitchens. We were incredibly honored to be givenMaasai (the tribe we are primarily working with) names! We were amazed to have a Maasai man and two women agree to take a picture with us, since many still hold their cultural belief that a picture taken of them will steal part of their soul. Even though our cultures are so very different, we are learning from each other and building relationships with the people, by the grace of God. Bwana asifiwe (Praise the Lord)!

God is also taking care of us physically as well! A man came today and fixed our water, hopefully giving us hot water for showering! The spider count has seemed to decrease, possibly from seeing the large number of bodies that have already had death by flip-flop. We are well-fed with homemade guacamole and rice. The electricity was out all day, but has just now come back on, right before the sun had fully set. In an attempt to create thankfulness in our house, we have created a “Thanks Wall” where we post things we are thankful for. I was reading 2 Chronicles 20:21 the other morning, which proclaims, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.” We are choosing to fight our flesh daily and obey this command!

We are so very thankful for the prayers on our behalf, and have felt them daily! Please continue to pray that we would have more opportunities to share our faith with our patients. Also, please pray that we would become more comfortable in our surroundings and that we would have joyful spirits in all circumstances. We are also praying that God would increase our love for the people here, and that we would love as Christ has loved us!

We love and miss you all very much and are praying for you all back home as well! Thank you for partnering with us in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Love,

Namunyuk (Janie’s Maasai name, meaning “blessing”), Naserian (Alyssa’s name, meaning “peace”), and Nashipae (Janessa’s name, meaning “happiness”)