Uhuru Students Give Back

The whole construction crew (Gladys' parents standing on the right)

Last Saturday was a day that I will remember for a long, long time and is quite possibly my favorite day I have spent in Kenya. It all started when our school entered into a Film Contest and decided to make a documentary on IDP camps. As you may or may not know, Uhuru Academy was specifically created to provide scholarships for the education of girls from these Internally Displaced People camps that formed after the post-election violence of 2007. Thus, we had access to first person experiences of what that post-election violence did to Kenyan citizens as a whole and individually.

The students, both paying and scholarship (our school is about 40 percent paying and 60 percent scholarship), began working together to form interview questions and topics of discussion for this documentary. Some of our scholarship students whose parents and families still live in IDP camps were the subjects of the film which gave some of our paying students from a much higher economic class a chance to go and see the places some of their classmates inhabit when they are away from school. 

However, one student's family and living conditions made a HUGE impression.

Her name is Gladys Mbuya (seen with younger sister in left) and she is a Form 2 (sophomore) at Uhuru Academy. She is the 5th born of 10 children in her family, all by the same mother and father. When violence erupted in 2007 her family relocated from their home to a place called the Rift Valley where so many other families were forced to retreat. They literally showed up there with nothing but each other and the clothes on their backs and built a house made of sticks and plastic to live in......and they have lived that way for 7 years!

The beautiful view right outside Gladys' compound.

Due to the vast unemployment rate in Kenya (among other things), it was and still is difficult for Gladys' parents to find steady jobs. During the past 7 years Gladys has been in and out of school, working to help provide for her younger siblings school fees and to help feed her family. I could go on and on about the heart this sweet, selfless, and intelligent girl has but I would be here all day. 

Long story short, 8 people (because her older siblings have moved out) have been living in conditions that most Americans would not even consider good enough for their pet. And this ripped to the core of the hearts of her fellow peers when they saw for themselves while interviewing Gladys' mother.

The house made of any plastic they could find, sticks, and cardboard.

That day, some of the paying students were astonished at the injustice and poverty their fellow classmate was living in and decided to forfeit their portion of meat for a month to pay for the materials needed to build Gladys and her family a real house. Once this news got around to other students at Uhuru Academy, everyone joined in. Even the staff at Uhuru gave donations towards Gladys' real house fund. Before you knew it, there was enough for all the materials needed to build it and enrich the livelihood of this dear family. All that was needed were workers.

So, last saturday, all 41 of the Uhuru students, 6 Uhuru Child staff, 2 Uhuru Academy staff, 6 US college students (on a 2 week service trip with Uhuru Child), and 6 members of the community banded together to make this dream a reality! In true Kenyan fashion, the members of the community hired to help do the work (to ensure it was done properly) had put the majority of the house together by the time we arrived saturday at noon. So, we all jumped in where ever we could, carrying stones, dirt, and cement, smashing stones, digging the vegetable garden, painting the metal walls (called mabati) and rooftop, spreading manure, planting, and working together to make something meaningful and beautiful for a girl we all dearly love.

Form 1, Dorcas, digging in the shamba! 

The stones were carried and crushed, the dirt carried and spread, the cement mixed, poured, and spread evenly to form the floor inside the house (Gladys' previous floor was a dirt floor).

Form 3, Teresia, crushing the stones for the foundation.

The almost finished concrete floor is being smoothed out.

The new Mabati house! Complete with cement flooring, windows, a paint job, and stability!

As for the farm (shamba in Swahili), we dug the field, deweeded it, dug holes, spread manure, planted sukumawiki (kales), and watered them! We also dug up a lot of sweet potatoes in the process in the old garden which was also something they now don't have to do but can enjoy from our labor!

Digging the shamba barefooted!

 All smiles from  Form 3, Ann Gathoni who is no stranger to digging!

 Form 3, Gladys was teaching me how to dig like a real Kenyan!

Gladys' mom (right) and friend picking through the sweet potatoes we dug up.

Form 1, Miriam, planting sukumawiki (kales) in the newly revamped shamba (farm)!

Finished!

In addition to the new painted house, concrete floor, and revamped garden, the money also bought them a rain harvest tank. This provides them with fresh water that is at their disposal as the rains come so they don't have to walk for miles to fetch water in 5 gallon jugs.

Everyone involved in this process was touched by the amount of love that was poured out on this family, all because the students at Uhuru Academy took "love thy neighbor as thy self" literally (as it was meant to be) and denied themselves a luxury so they could provide their classmate with a necessity.

At the end of the day, once almost all the work was finished, Gladys gave a short but incredibly mature and heart-wrenching "thank you" to those who came to help. Not only was it a heartfelt thank you from her and her family, but it was acknowledgement of God's presence in the hearts of the girls at Uhuru Academy that led to this process. Gladys said,

"I know this did not happen to my family because I have been good, but only because of God's grace and mercy towards me. He has used all of you as vessels of Christ's love and He has been  glorified this day through you."

Gladys expressing her gratitude

Talk about tear-jerking! Not only was she giving us a mental picture of the gospel, but the fact that she was able to articulate it so precisely was more than I could handle! It was one of those moments where I just was so overwhelmed by God's faithfulness at Uhuru Academy to send wisdom and understanding of the TRUE gospel into the hearts and minds of these girls! The best part about what Gladys said was that they were not just words. She lives her life based on them, as do the students who understood the gift Christ has given them. Because od this, they were able in a large way, to give a selfless gift to a loved in need as an example of the free gift they have been given, eternal life.

It brings to mind a verse that is said a lot around here at Uhuru,

"Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity."

1 Timothy 4:12

I have seen examples of all of these qualities through being around these students. No, they are not perfect. Yes, they have the same problems all teenage girls have. Yes, they can be selfish like you and me.....BUT, they fight. They fight to know Jesus and show him to one another and the world. 

Thank God for the gifts of these young women and how they have shaped and impacted me more than they will ever know.

Sometimes You Just Need a Girls Day

A few weekends ago, our school had a visitor's weekend where the girls relatives can come for the day and spend time with them. This tends to be the time where you see girls running around trying to get their hair done the day before, they are franctically trying to get a phone to call their relatives and make sure they are still coming, and you do your best to stay out of their way or get caught up in the scramble. I can't help but smile though because I know what it feels like to be away from relatives and loved ones for long periods of time and I don't blame for being franctic and excited! 

But, for those girls who do not have relatives that could make it due to distance or transportation costs, it can be a different experience. Now, most Kenyans will gladly take in a child that is not their own either permanently, in serious cases, or temporarily, like a visitors weekend. A lot of the girls end up spending the day with one of their friend's families who has chosen to treat them as one of their own. The other girls, however, will have to find something to do the whole day when there are no scheduled activities.

That's where Christine and I came in.

We had had bible study that saturday morning with the girls like we always do, but we could hardly keep most of their attention because like I said, the franctic anticipation of visitors coming had begun. After bible study, we went down to the classrooms where Christine usually supervises their computer time. Once the visitors started arriving, we started to weed out the girls who did not have anyone coming for them.

Before you knew it, Christine and I had the bright idea dawn on us to have a girls day with the "orphans" as we called them. (They aren't really orphans but Christine and I adopted them for the day)  We ran home and grabbed some lunch before heading out with all our nail polishes and Hunger Games: Catching Fire and Frozen, the movies. We were gonna be the big sisters.

Once we got back to the school we found some girls in the dining hall watching television and looking pretty bored. NO visitors. Luckily, Christine and Jordan were at their disposal!

More girls started trickling as the day went on and we all found ourselves doing what girls do best, pamper! There was hair braiding, toenail painting, and watching movies with female protagonists who were the heroes! It was so fun to spend that quality time with them just being friends and enjoying each other's company instead of them only seeing us in a mentor or teacher setting.

Once we had finished both movies it was time for their dinner and us to leave to go make ours. The thanks and smiles we got for spending the day with them was the perfect ending to that day and I look forward to spending more quality time with them this next term. 

It was such a small idea to do that for those girls without visitors that day and Christine and I could have easily just gone home and spent the rest of the day relaxing or whatever. But, thankfully the Lord gave us this idea and nudged us in the right direction so that even after I leave this lovely place, I will have those smiles burned into my memory.

It's amazing what a small act of kindness and love can mean to someone. It didn't cost us anything (except maybe a bottle of nail polish remover) to spend the day with those girls and show them someone is thinking of them. How many times a day do I, you, we pass by someone who may need some encouragement or simple act of kindness? We don't know because we don't take the time to get to know.We are in a hurry or it's awkward or we just don't feel like it that day. I know I could be a lot more intentional with the people I come in contact with on a daily basis.

I pray that we would not miss out on these opportunities to show Christ's love to someone no matter what the circumstance. It doesn't cost us anything to give a kind word, hug, or verse of Scripture. I want these girls to be so affected and changed by Christ that these thoughts, actions, and words come naturally to them. I want to start with myself. I want to display this example of Christ's love to them so that when they leave Uhuru Academy, it would be second nature to them. I want them to treat people and care for them as Christ has done for them. 

I only have 7 months left in Kenya and as the time for me to leave is quickly approaching, I pray I do not become apathetic. I pray that by pressing on to know Christ better and show Him to them through myself, that I would carry that back to the US with me. I don't want to just be intentional with people because i may never get to see them again, I want to live my life intentionally for the sake of knowing Christ and proclaiming Him no matter where I am or what timeline I have.

 

As I close I would like to bring to mind this verse that Paul writes after he says he considers everything garbage in relation to knowing Christ in a fuller and deeper way. This passage reveals to me the heart behind why we would strive to know Christ more and share Him with those around us.

7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.

10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.

[Philippians 3:7,10-12]

Mt. Longonot & The God of Immeasurably More

So, there's this inactive volcano right by Jikaze IDP camp and......WE CLIMBED IT!

A few weeks ago, some friends and I decided we wanted to take a hike! One of my friends, Libbey, had her boyfriend come and visit and wanted us to get to know him. Well, what better way to get to know someone than by climbing a volcano?!

My roommate, Christine (left), Sarah, Nathan, Libbey

Our view on the way up

The rolling hills

Moving on up!

Mount Longonot is a popular tourist attraction in Kenya and right off the road that you would travel to go to different safari parks. It does cost 30 dollars for non-residents to climb but that view at the top was definitely worth it. 

On the way up, sometimes you see zebra, cape buffalo, or giraffes in their natural habitats! I was obviously most excited about this part but we were not fortunate enough to come across any on the way up or down. However, I did see the evidence of their presence so I snapped a few shots of some tracks to prove it!

Giraffe footprint

Their trail

Once we reached the top, our mouths just dropped. WHAT BEAUTY! I had never seen anything like it before! You can't compare the beauty in that volcano to anything else beautiful you've seen. And I have seen the beautiful Rocky Mountains laden with snow and the Appalachian mountains dressed in fall colors and a beautiful sunset on the beach, but  this was just unlike any of those things. All beautiful in their own ways.

Christine and  I

Sarah, Christine, Me, Libbey

Walking around the rim trail (the view of the valley on the left)

Another angle of the forest inside the inactive volcano

At the top, you have the choice of just gazing around or taking your hike a little further and walking/running/hiking the rim of the volcano. It's about 7 kilometers around I think, but unfortunately, one of my friends was feeling sick so we did not make the full circle. I can say that what we did see was beauty at every vantage point we stopped. We could see Lake Naivasha, Crescent Island, and even Uhuru Child's greenhouses in Jikaze down below! It was incredible.

Some Pummus, volcanic rock we found around the rim!

A smaller crater next to the volcano

That white rectangle is our greenhouse!

The huge drop off into the crater

 Lake Naivasha

 Crescent Island

Once we were finished sight seeing at the top, we headed back down for the rains were coming in. As we started nearing  the bottom, the thunder rolled in and so did a hasty sprint down the mountain. Now, this was a feat in itself because these were not smooth hiking trails, but rivets in the ground where the water runoff had created a trail. At times, it felt like you were walking through craters in the ground, but when a thunderstorm is rolling in and you're high up in the clouds, you don't really care what the ground looks like as long as you make to the bottom! 

One of the better parts to hike. Most of the trails were worse!

Fortunately, we made it down right as the rain downpour began! Even though we didn't see any animals up close or go all the way around the rim, I was so thankful for the experience! I had been avoiding doing Longonot because I hadn't really had the desire to hike an inactive volcano until my friends were going. I AM SO GLAD WE DID!

 I can't believe how much of God's beauty I missed out on just because I have been lazy or formed my own conclusions on what it would be like. I have learned so much more about myself and have applied this to other areas of my life where I choose to stay comfortable instead of stepping out in faith and trusting that what God has in store will be worth it and far better than what I could imagine it to be. Iwill fight not to rely on my simple understanding or limit the God of immeasurably more.

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 

[Ephesians 3:20]

39 and counting!

We are growing here at Uhuru Academy! We have accepted 10 new scholarship students in the second half of this term, bringing our new total to 39! We are thankful to  be able to provide scholarships to girls who, despite their interrupted education, have excelled in the classroom and on their end of 8th grade (Class 8) exams that qualify them for high school. The new students have been embraced by the arms of our current students and have contributed to the screaming laughter and joyful atmosphere that has been cultivated here!

Our mission would not be possible without the generous hearts of those who have pledged to sponsor these students! In a country where girls get marginalized because of their gender, its so meaningful for us to be able to provide a free education for those who would not otherwise have the opportunity! Our school is also unique in that we have students who pay to go to our school. This provides an environment where students from all economical and social backgrounds get to know eachother and build friendships based on common interests instead of common circumstances. Our school has a gospel-centered environment where, whether in the classroom, extra-curricular activities, or hanging out, they are learning about Jesus and seeking Him in all they do. If you would like to be part of providing education for an under-privileged girl at our school, I can make it super easy for you! Just click on this link -->uchild.com 

It's never too late to get involved in bringing education and the gospel to a young lady in order to free her from the cycle of poverty both physically and spiritually! 

To give you an update on what the recent happenings at Uhuru Academy, I will tell you about the debate our girls participated in last weekend against Tumaini Boys Secondary School. This was a HUGE deal because most schools in Kenya are single gender. For boys to come visit our school was most likely the talk of the term! The girls also requested that the radio be available for socializing after the debate along with snacks... making sure everything would be perfect for their visitors. However, preparing for the actual debate was the most crucial point of focus.

The two debate topics were: the mini-skirt ban in Uganda and capital punishment. Eight students from each school took their stance on both issues and battled it out in our event hall. Our girls were fighting against the mini-skirt ban and the death penalty and I must say, for their first debate they showed real promise! I was impressed with the passion and critical thinking on the spot they displayed!

Afterwards, the social began with a few dance competitions between a few students from each school. Naturally, they were trying to impress one another and show off their skills which provided me with some pretty good entertainment! Not only were the dance moves fun to watch but just watching Kenyan teenageboys and girls interact in a social setting as an outsider was entertainment enough!

I was able to get a video of one of the prime moments during the dance off. The boys were impressing the girls with their dance moves and the girls were not shy about it!

All in all, whether you are having a hard day or a really good one, being part of Uhuru Academy is such a gift. I am so thankful that I get to call this place my workplace and feel like its where I belong. Sure there are difficulties with every job, but come on! When you get to work with these crazy girls every day you can't help but smile!

The difference is Jesus

"So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth." 1 Corinthians 3:7

In this post, I have to brag on the Uhuru Academy girls for their character, humility, and patience. It's hard to know in the actual bible study lessons, or chapels, or clubs we do with them, if they are truly listening and able to apply what they are learning to their everyday lives. But, a few weekends ago when Uhuru Academy partcipated in a handball/netball tournament at a neighboring school, all doubt was removed from my mind.

 They listen. They apply. They love.

We were 1 of 5 schools at the tournament that weekend, and if you don't know what handball or netball are (because I did not beforehand), handball is similar to rugby without tackling and you can only move with the ball if you are dribbling down the field (similar to a soccer field with goals). Net ball is similar to basketball except there is no dribbling and you must stand still or pivot once you are handling the ball (like in ultimate frisbee) and you shoot into a net like basketball. Anyway, this was our first time competing in a tournament with these games and our girls had only been practicing for about a month. Needless to say, the others were definitely more prepared and conditioned.

Our students are in the burgundy track pants

She is going to kill me for posting this one, but it's so funny!

The cheering squad with their posters!

Excited after scoring a goal!

That is one of our teachers in the background jumping for joy that we got the ball back!

Playing some hard HANDBALL!

Netball! We are in the red jerseys

Setting up to shoot! We came in third overall in netball

BUT THAT DID NOT STOP US! Our girls played with such heart and ferocity that you would almost believe some of the games we were losing were close games! They did not give up, no matter what the score deficit. Some even shed tears after losing a very intense game.  When I say intense, I mean INTENSE. The other teams were ROUGH.

We, the Americans from Uhuru, soon found out how Kenyans play sports. It's rough, it's dirty, it's downright mean! But, that's just the culture. So, our teams go out to play and they are getting pushed down, roughed up, called names, and so much more but maintained humble heart postures through all of it. Sure our girls probably wanted to talk junk back or not help the girl you accidentally pushed down, get back up, but they didn't give into unsportmanslike behavior. Although the opposing players played unfairly and the coaches for the other teams were encouraging unsportsmanlike behavior and the fans of the other teams on the sidelines were calling them names and trying to distract them, the Uhuru girls did not waiver. They apologized when necessary, helped those up who had fallen, and all the while never uttered one word of disrespect even though they had every right to. They played their little hearts out despite the odds! We may not have won 1st place, but we turned heads.

Many students and faculty from other schools came up to our students or teachers complimenting them on how they carried themselves and played. They got compliments because they were different from the girls playing for the other teams. They did not display pride, selfish ambition, or hatefulness on or off the field. Even after our teams lost their last games, we went over to the vacant field to eat our lunches and hang out, and they were laughing and cutting up and talking about how much fun they had had despite the tears that were shed immediately after the losses. They learned how they could improve and what needs to be done to beat these teams without playing unfairly or putting others down. They also learned a lot about working together and the benefits of being on a team whereas some of the other school girls were putting down players ON THEIR TEAM for making a bad play.

I can't tell you how many times I thought to myself, they do listen! They are getting it! Even though in the classroom they are serious and sometimes their serious faces can look like blank stares or I interpret their silence for boredom, but they are taking it in. The difference in their actions and words during that tournament was not because of me or because they are morally good girls or whatever you wanna blame it on. They grew up in the same culture the girls from the other schools did, around the same ideas and temptations and are the same teenage school girls. It's only because of Christ in them. The difference is CHRIST. And I could not be more thankful.

It proves to me that its not my doing that is changing them but the Spirit moving in their hearts and overflowing into their actions. It shows that God is really doing something huge at Uhuru Academy that others are noticing for His glory. THAT is what this life is about. Making much of our Savior who made himself nothing for our sake. Honoring him with our lives because he received condemnation to save ours. They are getting it and maturing, even though they still remind you that they are just teenage girls sometimes! It's only because of Christ they are becoming leaders among their peers and in their society, because at the end of the day, they are just. teenage. girls. The difference is Jesus.