Scorching Sun

On the plane back from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia yesterday, I was once again overwhelmed by the African reality. Scorching sun, bare hills, thousands of acres of open land — without a single tree. The once lush forests surrounding many of the Rift Valley rivers and lakes from Ethiopia through Uganda to Kenya have been cleared. All these translate into drought, famine and never-ending food aid.

Praying?

Most of these regions were thickly forested not too many years ago. What we have now is an encroaching desert. We in the Horn of Africa cannot afford to sit back and wait for the worst to happen. There is a window of opportunity in which we can reverse the desertification.

The campaign for reforesting the Horn of Africa needs to go full blast. We appreciate the Green Belt Movement initiatives and tree planting efforts already in place. However, the campaign needs to become a wholesale movement in the nations of the Horn. The church, the government, the media, the mosques, the youth and women’s groups, schools and colleges: all sectors need to come on board.

I HEAR THE LORD SAYING THAT IT CAN BE DONE, BUT IT MUST BE BIRTHED IN PRAYER. We also need transformation training for mindset change and practical alternatives for fuel energy.

Please pray with us (and the camels?) “until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high, and the desert becomes a fertile field, and the fertile field seems like a forest. How blessed you will be, sowing your seed by every stream, and letting your cattle and donkeys range free” (Is 32:15, 20).

Pray that we may we awaken intercessors in the nations of Africa, intensify transformation/ change-agent training, and find easy-to-manage, environmentally friendly fuel for our energy needs.

~ Ibrahim

Seed Time and Harvest

I received this text from a DOVE missionary in northern Kenya today: “The heavens are in applause as we have ushered Pavan* into God’s Kingdom.” I called her back to verify what I was reading. “Yes, we just led him to Christ,” she confirmed.

Pavan (not pictured) was a student back in 2000 when DOVE’s school, in his village, was meeting under a tree. Today the school comprises 3 well-built classrooms, an office, kitchen, and colorful playground. “He remembers the things we taught him 12 years ago. He remembers that we took him to a barber when his parents could not afford it. He has been thinking about this decision very seriously. This is a genuine conversion,” our missionary narrated. By that time I was in tears. Converting from Islam never comes easy. But after years of selfless, sacrificial service in this ‘dry’ land, this moment apparently made it all worthwhile.

I contrasted this with my own experience this Saturday. I met Florence at 4:03 p.m. just outside our church compound. By 4:15, she was praying to ask Jesus into her heart. She was receptive from the moment we started our conversation, and thrilled after getting saved. In appreciation, she freely shared mangoes with us that she was supposed to be selling.

Sometimes the rewards take a long time in coming. Other times, they are almost immediate. But seeds that are planted in love and watered with prayer WILL grow. It is a law of nature. It is a law of the Kingdom. Whether it is 12 years of hard sowing or 12 minutes of free-flowing conversation, the angels rejoice all the same. And so do we!

What seeds are you watering with prayer today? What harvest are you waiting for? Whatever it is, be encouraged that your labor is not in vain. “Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up” (Galatians 6:9).

~ Diane

*name has been changed

Searching

Giving relief food in northeastern Kenya. It is not enough — but helps (?)

Poverty. Injustice. Contrasts and contradictions. These are a painful part of everyday life here. Sometimes, you slide into a complacent lull. Then something happens that brings the horror of it all back into focus. That was my experience on Tuesday morning. During my usual 3-mile walk around our neighborhood, I noticed that it was garbage collection day. There were trash bags at almost every gate. But there was something more.

Children and women from a low income area nearby were also carrying bags. They had ravaged through the trash in search of food, used clothes, shoes, books, strings, old electrical equipment – just anything. Some of their finds could be used and others could be fixed and resold. This got me thinking.

How could the neighborhood like the one I live in reach out to low- income residents? Must they be left to search in the trash? Can we provide employment? Help in some other way?

The next day, Diane and I were invited to a scholarship award ceremony where President Kibaki was the chief guest.  This was a partnership between Equity Bank, MasterCard Foundation, US-AID and other major donors. The 2,140 very needy scholars were receiving awards that would cater for their costs through high school and university: a 6-billion-shilling project.

Listening to the stories of hardship and suffering brought many of us, including the President of Kenya, to tears. When a boy who had lived on the streets for 6 years narrated his story, almost everyone in the packed gymnasium was crying. A young girl from a nomadic tribe described escaping from 7 forced marriage attempts in order to stay in primary school. Now she was fully sponsored — her search for hope in life had been realized.

It is encouraging that this year, over 70% of Kenya’s students who completed primary school will be able to go on to high school, up from around 40% just a few years ago. Education is seen as the only hope for many – the answer to a vicious cycle of poverty and despair. But is education all it will take? I don’t think so.

After the ceremony, a select 150-or-so ‘special guests’, including Diane and I, went for lunch ‘with the President’ at an exclusive hotel. The food was extravagant and delicious . . . but could there have been another way to celebrate? Contrasts and contradictions. The cost of that lunch alone could probably have sponsored at least 10 more desperate students through high school.  Why did we have to go and “eat” what could have been a life-changing opportunity for even that number of children? Yes, 2,140 sponsorships were great. But the needs are still astronomical. What can possibly get us out of this extreme poverty?

Are we directly responsible for the suffering of others? How do we respond when many believe that they lack precisely because I have in abundance. Or more bluntly, in the words of our oldest son, when “You and I are using a cell phone today because a child in the Congo has been underground in a mine for hours or days at a time. There is a direct correlation.”

 “What does God require of you, o man? To act justly, and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

How would Christ want us to respond? Please help me search and pray.

~ Ibrahim

Be Anxious for Nothing, BUT. . . .

Life gives us plenty of things to be anxious about. If I am to speak for myself, it might be:

• Wondering whether the team that traveled ‘aaaaall this way’ will actually be able to get into the refugee camp as they wish;
• Worrying about Debbi navigating her summer plans all alone;
• Trying to figure out where money will come from to pay bills;
• Fretting that there’s no way we will finish the current meeting and still be on time for the next.

Last Saturday was particularly not good. We were having a DOVE leader’s retreat here at our guest house. Short on staff, the day’s schedule packed, the car not starting. . . it is usually the little things. The “straw” that snapped my anxiety string was realizing at 11 a.m. that I had forgotten to buy the beef needed for lunch. I just started to cry.

Now that I’m over 50 (smile) I find myself forgetting things much more often. So I try to analyze. For example: “WHY did I forget to buy beef? Ooh, I was concentrating on the meeting.” Or, “WHY did I forget my phone? Oooh, I was thinking about my shopping list.” In other words, one thought replaced the other. There’s only room for so much in my active brain function at any one time.

Similarly, Apostle Paul doesn’t stop at telling the Philippians not to be anxious. He continues: “But in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make your requests known unto God.” Prayer, then, becomes the real solution for beating anxiety. Staying occupied with “But in everything by prayer and supplication” is the very thing that will drive anxiety away. There will be no room for it in my mind or heart.

What are you anxious about today? Every time the worries come, switch gears to prayer. Focus on the “But…” God will handle things much better than you or I ever could!

~ Diane

Not Without Reason

Last week we enjoyed several days at Kenya’s magnificent Indian Ocean coast. While there, Michael and I indulged in a full-day boat trip to a secluded island. I spent the night before in eager anticipation of the lobster/shrimp lunch that we had been promised – and was not disappointed. WOW! But what we did not anticipate was being the only two people among about 100 who did not speak Italian. Yes, the boats were full of Italian tourists. But also the Kenyan captains, beach boys, cooks, waiters . . . everyone was fluent in Italian and used it throughout the day. Interesting!

Apart from reveling in the majesty of the mighty ocean that day, I realized afresh that the irritating ‘white-people-always-have-a-lot-of-money’ mentality is an attitude that Kenyans have come by quite fairly. Consider that the largest industry in Kenya is tourism. Largest industry. In other words, Kenya is defined by and dependent on wazungu (white people) who come with money! It is basic to the economic and cultural fiber of this nation.

Back in Nairobi, at a rather upscale coffee shop, I couldn’t help but notice that probably 90% of the diners were wazungu. It is a scenario that is repeated over and over.

I continually feel frustrated when, because of being white, I am viewed as rich. It is draining to be bombarded with needs – that you are expected to meet – just because you are a mzungu. It is embarrassing when teams that come for missions are inevitably met with request after request for financial help. Dependency is debilitating. Dependence on the “white” West is a mindset we are trying to break.

But all I am saying in this little speel is that I really should not blame Kenyans for this mode of thinking. It is not without reason. Based on most of the evidence, and on the facts of global inequality / injustice, it is a very fair assumption. In our struggle to overcome this ungodly thinking pattern, we probably need to extend more grace. That is, “in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding” (Eph 1:8).

Grace to you!

~ Diane

New Nation – Open Doors

“Come over to Macedonia and help us” is all that the angel said to Apostle Paul in the Acts 16:9 vision. The beckoning to Southern Sudan seems much more emphatic.

“This is a very young nation. We need to develop,” said the Provincial Commissioner of Morobo County. “We invite you to set up an agricultural college and a church in any place that is suitable to you.”

Definitely Southern Sudan is experiencing a new dawn. As we toured some of Sudan’s virgin and fertile land last week, the elders made a proposal. “We are ready to give you 1,000 acres,” they offered. “You can do any project you want to. All we ask is that you give local people jobs in your project. We also are in need of a school or home for the war orphans, a health center and fresh drinking water.”

A Morobo businessman-cum-driver-cum-interpreter who went everywhere with us summed it up: “We need a clear understanding of Christianity. We need to learn how to forgive.” This husband of two, whose first wife had attended an inner healing seminar taught by DOVE Nairobi members, went on to ask, “But must a man really have only one wife?”

Southern Sudan will indeed be our next frontier in 2012 and beyond. The challenges are many but so are the opportunities for sharing the gospel among people who are just beginning to recover from the trauma and losses of over 20 years of war. This could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bring healing and lay a foundation of godliness and sustainable development in newborn nation. I, for one, do not want to miss it!

~ Ibrahim

Readiness

You are likely familiar with the spiritual armor identified in Ephesians 6. If we leave out the armory and get down to the essence, we have truth, righteousness, peace, faith, God’s Word and salvation. All good!!

This armor is not intended to be put on and paraded in a fashion show. It is intended for using in action.  And I noticed today a word in the mix that is often overlooked: readiness. (In the NIV translation, the subject noun in verse 15 is ‘readiness’; ‘the gospel of peace’ is a modifier). God expects us to be ready to move – ready to obey – ready to ‘fight the good fight’ – on a daily basis.

The opposite of readiness could be reluctance. We see what needs to be done, but procrastinate and delay. We hear God’s instructions, but are still waiting for more clarity or for the perfect timing. Sometimes that is valid – but sometimes it is just our own un-readiness taking the upper hand.

We probably have all had experience with people who sound good and look good, but are very hard to move. That is not readiness.

I want to BE READY for whatever God asks of me this year! Ready? Set? Let’s GO!

~ Diane