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My name is Janet Walker and this will be my second trip to Kenya. I am excited to be going again and look forward to building on the relationships forged last time - even though two of the instrumental people are sadly no longer with us. We will be staying in Machakos again though we do not know what specific work projects we will be undertaking yet. I am still interested in agricultural endeavours but believe the provision of clean and safe water is the most essential. Also, I hope to have the opportunity to visit a slum in Nairobi and see first hand how people there cope.
I have attended Altadore Baptist Church since 1997 and am currently a member of the Hospitality Committee. In the past, I have served on Council as well as other Committees and have frequently helped with Inn From The Cold, either preparing breakfast for the guests or doing the overnight watch.
Again I am the grandma of the group. Though now retired. I keep busy and enjoy helping people, puttering in the garden and swimming daily. My love of the outdoors and God's creatures keeps me interested and active.
Lynn - I am excited about this opportunity to return to Kenya. We will be able to see some of the people we met last time and see more of the work of the Africa Brotherhood Church and Canadian Baptist Ministries.
Darren - The reason I am going is to reconnect with the Africa Brotherhood Church and support them in their work.
In the world’s schema of things, survival of the fittest is the rule. In God’s schema, survival of the weakest is the rule. God always stands on the side of the weak and it is there, among the weak, that we find God.
Given the truth of that, we might occasionally pray the Lord’s Prayer in this way:
Our Father . . . who always stands with the weak, the powerless, the poor, the abandoned, the sick, the aged, the very young, the unborn and those who, by victim of circumstance, bear the heat of the day.
Who art in heaven . . . where everything will be reversed, where the first will be last and the last will be first, but where all will be well and every manner of being will be well.
Hallowed be thy name . . . may we always acknowledge your holiness, respecting that your ways are not our ways, your standards are not our standards. May the reverence we give your name pull us out of the selfishness that prevents us from seeing the pain of our neighbour.
Your kingdom come . . . help us to create a world where, beyond our own needs and hurts, we will do justice, love tenderly, and walk humbly with you and each other.
Your will be done . . . open our freedom to let you in so that the complete mutuality that characterizes your life might flow through our veins and thus the life that we help generate may radiate your equal love for all and your special love for the poor.
On earth as in heaven . . . may the work of our hands, the temples and structures we build in this world, reflect the temple and the structure of your glory so that the joy, graciousness, tenderness, and justice of heaven will show forth within all of our structures on earth.
Give . . . life and love to us and help us to see always everything as gift. Help us to know that nothing comes to us by right and that we must give because we have been given to. Help us realize that we must give to the poor, not because they need it, but because our own health depends upon our giving to them.
Us . . . the truly plural us. Give not just to our own but to everyone, including those who are very different than the narrow us. Give your gifts to all of us equally.
This day . . .not tomorrow. Do not let us push things off into some indefinite future so that we can continue to live justified lives in the face of injustice because we can make good excuses for our inactivity.
Our daily bread . . . so that each person in the world may have enough food, enough clean water, enough clean air, adequate health care, and sufficient access to education so as to have the sustenance for a healthy life. Teach us to give from our sustenance and not just from our surplus.
And forgive those who trespass against us . . . help us to forgive those who victimize us. Help us to mellow out in spirit, to not grow bitter with age, to forgive the imperfect parents and systems that wounded, cursed, and ignored us.
And do not put us to the test . . . do not judge us only by whether we have fed the hungry, given clothing to the naked, visited the sick, or tried to mend the systems that victimized the poor. Spare us this test for none of us can stand before your gospel scrutiny. Give us, instead, more days to mend our ways, our selfishness, and our systems.
But deliver us from evil . . . that is, from the blindness that lets us continue to participate in anonymous systems within which we need not see who gets less as we get more.
Amen.
Want to donate to any of the projects we're going to work on or to help us get there? Contact a member of the group and we'll let you know what to do next.
Can't donate but you really want us to know you care? Commit to praying for us in the time leading up to the trip and while we're there. Your prayers are invaluable to us!
Not so much into the praying thing? Commit to telling one friend about what we’re doing and how important water is to communities. We’ll post stats soon to help you spread the news.
Each of the team members have contributed a reflection for our devotional book. For our reflections on travel days and Sundays, we have included excerpts from several books. Our prayer is that through the daily reflections during this trip to Kenya, each of us will have an opportunity to grow closer to God and listen to what He has to say to us. We thank you for your faithful support and for sharing these reflections with us during our journey in Kenya.
Our intent is to gather together as a team in the evenings and consider together what God has shown to us on that day. By preparing these devotions in advance, each of the team members has had an opportunity to consider what God is saying to them before we leave for Kenya. As we meet in Kenya, each of us will have an opportunity to learn more of what God has to say to us through our experiences.
The devotions will post daily here on the blog.
Nearly one billion people lack access to safe water and 2.5 billion do not have improved sanitation.
SOYSAMBU, Kenya — A senior Kenyan wildlife official says about 7,000 zebras and wildebeests are being moved to one of the country's premier game parks to restore the balance of predators and prey disrupted by last year's drought.
A senior scientist with the Kenya Wildlife Service says the animals are being taken from areas where they are abundant in an effort to replenish Amboseli National Park's population. Charles Musyoki says more than 60 percent of the park's zebra and wildebeest population died during the drought.
KWS staff have moved 137 zebras this week from the privately owned Soysambu Conservancy.
Musyoki says 4,000 zebras will be moved within three weeks. The wildebeests will take longer because many have or are about to give birth to newborns, he says.
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