I wanted to update my travel blog for the newsletter and give a quick report of my trip to Turkana. You can scroll below to read more about some of the adventures we had - this is only a summary.

We drove to Lodwar after the dismissal of the Bible School. The first day in Lodwar, we picked up the first team of Feed the Hungry, who were coming to document some of the things they are sponsoring in Turkana. On the second day, we drove to a small village called Edos where we talked with the people, interviewed children whose lives have been changed, and distributed food packs to the people.  After returning to Lodwar, members of the Feed the Hungry team went with the Bishop and two vehicles to pick up the president of Feed the Hungry, Pete Summral, and additional team members. 

The next morning, we all loaded into two vehicles and drove about an hour into nowhere to a small village called Sopel. Here we met with the children of the school, did a feeding of those children, spoke with the village elders and village residents, and did a food distribution of maize and a dry soup mix.  It was a long, hot day - and a real experience. While we were in Sopel, a young school girl came and began talking with me in the Turkana language. One of our interpreters was close, so he came and told me what she was asking. She asked me what disease I had that caused me loose my color. She was so sincere and caring in her request! I just smiled.

The last day in Turkana, we returned to Edos to feed school children, do more filming, and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a successful trip - we found two and possibly four young men who want to come to our Bible School in the fall. It was such a great experience - and i honestly can't wait to go back!

Today was very interesting! I was with Bishop, Robert and Sean from Feed the Hungry (FTH), our driver Hassan, and Dan, who is an administrative person here in Kenya for FTH. Together we drove from Lodwar to Edo – where the FTH team were going to prepare for an outreach tomorrow. We drove for over one hour, and we met the FTH truck coming from the south – we had missed our turn. It really isn’t surprising – there is nothing out here but dry bushes and sand! The only way you know it is a road is that there are tire marks there! We turn around, and went back until we came to the right area, where we turned to go to the interior about 6 km.  When we arrived, we found many people waiting for us.

Feed The Hungry is sponsoring a feeding program for children and helping the community to build a school for those children of the area. Currently the school meets in three “classrooms” that are made from dried bush stems – but FTH is helping them to build a nice four room school house with a teacher’s quarters. The foundation is laid, and the sand and gravel have been secured with a few new bricks to continue the work.

We were met by the community, dancing and singing! It was eye-opening to be in Turkana for the first time, and see the people we are ministering to frequently. (Bishop Javan the distribution contact for Northwestern Kenya for Feed the Hungry. The vision of FTH is to feed the body, soul, and spirit. But they feel the best way to witness in these situations is through nationals. Where I come in is that we are offering training in Ematsayi Mission for people called to full time ministry, and we are looking to train people from this area to be a witness and start churches in these villages.)

We took a lot of pictures, and I spoke to many young people individually with the help of my lousy Kiswahili and a young man who did understand my English just a bit. One young man spoke to me and said that he felt God was calling him to start a work in the area, and wanted to know if he could apply to attend our Bible School. I took his contact, and will try to work with him.

Something I learned today – hunger is real. I spoke with the chairman of the school in Edo who tells that he and his family often go for a few days with no food. If after a few days they can find nothing, they may “bleed” a goat for blood to drink, and upon occasion will roast goat meat to eat. Since goats are their livelihood, they have to be very hungry to kill a goat. For the most part, they will gather small fruits that they will boil and eat – I tasted two of them while I was there – the one was very small…even smaller than a blueberry, and had a pit in the center. The other was about the size of a blueberry, but the outer shell had to come off, and then it could be cooked to eat. Both were quite bitter – although the first one was a bit sweet. How people could sustain on these fruits is amazing to me…certainly there is hunger in this place!

The Chairman of the school too us to his home, where we saw his bedroom, living room, kitchen, store and corral where the goats are kept at night. I was told that the goats can be eaten by both Hyena’s or by leopards that come from the hills. (Is it bad that I thought it would be cool to see a leopard or hyena?) Each “room” of the dwelling is a separate “building.” I was a bit confused – I thought one of the rooms was the bedroom as there were mats on the floor – but turns out the bedrooms had no mats, they just sleep in the dust…the mats were places where they can sit in their sitting room – and where they eat their meals.

The conditions these people live in are so primitive…they are truly hungry, truly in need, and truly ready to receive the good news of Jesus Christ! I did have one young man come to me after we distributed food asking if he could somehow join our Bible school. By faith, I told him if he could get to Kakamega, I would make sure he was taken care of. Thank you so much for helping us be a witness to these people! In this area, only 1% of the population is evangelical – and probably most of them are in town, not in the bush. To be a witness in the bush, in the small villages will make such a great impact! Together we really DO make the difference.

Adventures in Africa! What else can I call these?

Saturday morning we were to be ready at 8AM to begin a trip to Lodwar - we were to drive to Kitale, visit a pastor's widow in West Pokot, then spend the night there. Early Sunday morning we would then leave by 7AM to drive to Lodwar - well, we left about noon on Saturday for Kitale, but all was well, and we accomplished everything we set out to do.

The trip to Kitale was really quite uneventful - we arrived in Kitale by 3 or so, and immediately after checking into our hotel drove to West Pokot to visit the pastor's widow and pray for her family. We got back to Kitale before dark, had dinner, then walked to the market (about six blocks away) to do some quick shopping before retiring for the night.

Sunday morning, I was up at 5AM to get my shower (for some reason, the water heater would not heat my water, so I had a cold shower) and get ready for the trip. As I was taking my "cold" shower, I reminded myself that I had heard Lodwar was VERY HOT so would probably wish i could take that night too! Anyway, we left by 7:15 and began our journey. We drove from Kitale, through West Pokot, into Turkana. I found this online about the journey from the United Naitons...actually I found it online AFTER we arrived in Lodwar!

"All travel by road north of Kapenguria require armed police escort. ... where mandatory escort are required, you must obtain written clearance (Fax or email) from the head of your organization in Kenya. ... Kitale - Lodwar 298 km - 8 hours"

When we arrived in kapenguira, there was no police escort for us - we were told we could either drive on without an escort, or wait for a few 'hours" to see if one could be arranged. We all felt peace about moving forward, so we continued our journey with NO POLICE escort!

At one point, the driver remembered one other time he drove through the area, and remembered where bandits shot at him and hit his car - so he stepped on the gas pretty hard to get through the area quickly. But you have to know HOW BAD THE ROADS ARE!! So here we are, diving in an area we have been warned not to go without police, and speeding on roads that are horrid! I was just thinking about all of that when we began to spin out of control on the highway (it is called a super highway, but I have no idea why - there is barely any pavement, mostly just sand, gravel, dirt and what is left of tarmac). On either side of the road was a culvert that was not too bad, but with our high profile vehicle, I had an instant vision of the vehicle flipping...and it certainly felt like it was about to flip! Our driver was very skilled, and kept the car from turning over, but it went straight into some bushes and a set of trees! Wham! We came to a sudden halt, but no one was injured, not even jarred too much.

Remember - we are in Africa, in a dangerous area, and now in the bushes up against trees! YEP - the driver put it in reverse, stepped on it, backed out of the bushes, back on the highway, and hit the gas again! Thus we drove to Lokichar without stopping! In Lokichar, we stopped to check the car - there was some exhaust damage, and it felt to me like some shocks or springs were damaged - but those will be fixed today here in Lodwar. We did arrive safely in Lodwar about 4PM local time Sunday night.

We were booked at the St. Theresaa Guest house, and when we checked in, we were told that we had only one room, not two - there were two single beds in the room, so I said no problem, Bishop Javan and I have shared rooms before - but they were going to charge us the same as if we had two separate rooms, so he decided to go elsewhere for one night. After Sunday night they will have enough rooms for everyone. I spent Sunday evening in my hot room with the fan is on HIGH, it is hot as blazes, but i am feeling so good to be here safe and sound!


It is now Monday morning - and I am showered, dressed and fed. I think today will mostly be waiting around for another group from the US and Australia to come and work with us. So, I will catch up on some reading, so some writing, and hopefully get a newsletter done. Will post more as we travel along! 

Grace & Peace - TOGETHER we really DO make the difference!!