A visit to Africa

Last week I went to Kenya to visit Nakuru 3:16, a home for street children in Nakuru, Kenya. If you're not familiar with our family's involvement in this project, here's the quick backstory. God led us to Nakuru more than 10 years ago through a mission trip, some insightful and compassionate questions, and an unexpected inheritance. The project was started in 2006 to help address the problem of the cycle of street living in Nakuru:

Poverty and disease have combined to create a staggering number of orphaned children in sub-Saharan Africa. Since there is limited government assistance, most of these children end up living on the streets, even at very young ages. With a crippled economy, there are virtually no opportunities to escape the street life, despite any amount of desire or willingness to work. Females are the most marginalized. They quickly become victims of violence and sexual abuse; disease (HIV) and pregnancy both follow. The girls raise their children where they can: if they are lucky, they can rent or squat in a shanty. Otherwise, they live in the garbage dumps and alleys. They make money however they are able, often resorting to prostitution. A disturbing number of the girls and their children die from malnutrition or disease. The ones that live perpetuate the “cycle of pain”, as the children grow up to be another generation on the streets.

The idea was to take young mothers and their children off the streets and bring them to a group home. There the mothers would learn to kick the dependencies and habits that were acquired on the streets, work to complete their education, receive job training, and finally graduate to become successful contributing members of society. At the same time, the program would ensure that the resident children received the education and upbringing they needed to avoid becoming the next generation of street children.

The Nakuru 3:16 home

Over the last 10 years the project has helped dozens of women and children find relief from life on the streets. Our home church, First Presbyterian in Missoula, MT, has been a big supporter. They have sent 3 mission teams to visit the project, and helped fund the construction of the beautiful home where the residents of Nakuru 3:16 now live. Several other churches in the U.S. have also sent mission teams and funds to Nakuru.

I was part of one of the mission teams that went to Nakuru 3:16 in 2011. After only being involved in the project from afar for the first five years of its existence, my commitment to the project increased exponentially after my visit. While in Kenya I saw firsthand the dumps that the poor people of Nakuru live in. I saw the addiction to sniffing glue in order to dull the pain of hunger and hopelessness, I saw the starvation of adults and children alike, I saw the literal feeding frenzy that occurred when we served a meal to the homeless in a local park, I saw the terrible physical condition of some of the residents of the street and knew that there was no medical care available to them. Then I saw the Nakuru 3:16 home. There I saw smiling kids who love to put stickers on their foreheads and wear dime store plastic rings on their fingers. I heard the laughter of kids who are in a safe place with enough food to eat. I saw the school uniforms worn by children who now have the chance to get an education and escape their previous fate. I saw smiles on the faces of the mothers who had been rescued from that life and had a shot at something better for themselves and for their children. My heart was forever imprinted with the stark contrast: where these people had come from vs. where they  are now; where they would have been without the existence of Nakuru 3:16.

Since that visit 5 years ago, hardly a day has gone by that I didn't think about the girls and kids and wonder how they were doing. We used to get fairly regular updates from the house, but the program director left in 2013 and communication has been spotty at best since then. I had hoped to visit 2 years ago with a group from FPC Missoula and a church in Whitefish, but we weren't able to get enough people to commit to a date that worked for everyone. Then Dan and I decided to move to Germany and it has taken this long to finally make plans to get back to Africa. On the plus side, the trip from Berlin to Nairobi is only about half the time and distance as from the United States, it's considerably cheaper, and it's only a 2 hour time difference! Those things made the trip much easier. It was also very easy to plan since I made the trip alone; I didn't have to coordinate with a mission group. So I literally decided in February that I would go in March, and I bought my plane tickets just one month prior to the trip.

I was a little nervous to be making the trip by myself, but the benefit was that I could organize my own itinerary. My goals for the trip were broad and somewhat vague. At the most basic level, I just wanted to see for myself that Nakuru 3:16 still exists and is functioning. But assuming I would find that that was true, the main goal of my trip was to communicate to the kids and girls (now women) who live at the house or have lived at the house that I haven't forgotten them. That I think about them, pray for them, and hold high hopes for them. That they aren't just some African people I met one time on a trip; rather, they are special. I care what happens to them, even if don't get to spend much time in Nakuru with them.

I had a secondary but equally important goal, to check in on Dan Cripe Wanjiru, the sweet little boy named after my husband, whom we had learned in 2013 is deaf. When I first learned of his deafness I was fairly distraught, worrying about what kind of a future there would be for a deaf kid from the streets. I spent time researching conditions that cause deafness, possible interventions, and Kenyan sign language, but I felt powerless to make a difference from so far away and without a direct way to communicate. So a major objective for this trip was to find out how Dan is doing.

I am thrilled to report that the trip was amazing and exceeded my expectations. I found the house in great condition and the children happy and well. Many of them were babies when I visited before, so I was a stranger to these 5 and 6 year olds now. But the older ones remembered me and were happy to see me. I visited Dan at his school, which includes a classroom for the deaf. Dan got a late start with his learning, but I was told that he's a quick learner and there is good reason to believe he will eventually be able to communicate via sign and also read lips. He can already sign the alphabet and has a small vocabulary of other signs too. I was able to spend a lot of time with Monica Wanjiru who, with her 4 children, has a special relationship with us. I met with members of the church congregation, Presbyterian Church of East Africa-Nakuru West, who oversee the project. I was able to piece together what has been happening over the last 5 years and clear up some misunderstandings about money and communication. I spent time at the house playing ball with the kids, letting them fix my hair, taking photos, and eating meals. I spent hours and hours talking with Zablon Kuria, the head of Rock Bridge Ministries which originally began and administered the program before it was mostly turned over to Nakuru West. Although my trip was short - just 3 full days on the ground in Nakuru - I feel like I was able to get caught up on what the project has been doing and where it is going, and I'm pretty confident that my message of love and hope came across to the kids at 3:16.

The biggest challenge facing the program right now is not the kids but the adults. It is relatively straightforward, with adequate funding, to feed kids and send them to school. But mentoring adults who are accustomed to their independence is a much harder task. The project has been only mildly successful in terms of rehabilitating the mothers and sustaining them in a healthier and more productive lifestyle. It turns out that was a much tougher task than we had the funds and experienced personnel to tackle. So the focus of the program has shifted towards the children, but that presents its own challenges as those children grow up. Education becomes more expensive as the children advance in school, and mentoring becomes more and more important in order to steer kids in appropriate directions. Joyce has lived at Nakuru 3:16 for the last 8 years or so, and just graduated from high school. If she is to continue to university, we will need to find someone to sponsor her because the program doesn't have the funds for advanced education. There are 3 other children currently in high school who will need to sponsors in the next few years in order to realize their dreams. So funding remains a challenge, as it is in nearly every charitable organization.

This is just the CliffsNotes version of my trip. I plan to write in much more detail about each resident of the house, what has been happening for the last 5 years, and the current needs and challenges of the project. Stay tuned if you want to know more!

P.S. If you are interested in donating to the mission, you can see how to do so here. Be sure to indicate that the donation is for Nakuru 3:16.

Me, Monica and Regina with Dan!

Anne and Charity braid my hair, while Monica practices
her pedicure massage on my foot

The kids play with the soccer balls I gave
them while the clouds darken with
an approaching storm

Someone's got my camera, as always! Virginia and Anne
pose on the front steps, Grace licks the remains of her
Ritter Sport bar, and Fathili and I watch from the porch

Sophie takes a whiff of dinner