My First Week

I spent my first whole week in Kenya working in the Pangani center in Mathare Valley.  I have been getting acquainted with what goes on in the CHE (Community Health Development) department of Missions of Hope, International.


<< The front of the Pangani center in Mathare










For those who are not familiar, Missions of Hope, International or MoHI, is the organization that I am working directly with in Kenya.  MoHI was established in 2000, providing education, CHE, HIV-AIDS support and micro-enterprise to the Mathare slums of Nairobi, Kenya.  For the next 7 months I will be working with the CHE department of MoHI which is a community development approach assisting the poor to resolve problems through available resources, training and faith.

Before I arrived this time in Kenya I knew what CHE was but I had never personally experienced it firsthand or saw what went on within the department day by day.  I can now saw I have a bit of experience in the department, well at least a week's worth :)

The first day I went out into Madoyo with a couple of the CHE trainers, Reuben and Dan.  We went to meet with a group of CHEs (Community Health Evangelists) that Reuben has trained.  They are young people in the community that have taken on the community project of a garden.  They are planning to plant and take care of a garden for their community that will not only provide jobs for those who work the garden but when crops are produced there will be food for the community and income by selling of the crops.  Right next to the garden on the same piece of land there is a building where another group of CHEs before this one came together to build a public toilet for the community.  This toilet did so much more than just provide a bathroom and showers for the community but also jobs for those that had to wash and guard it, and as there is a small charge for its use thats how the people were paid.  On top of the building they also made a second floor room for meetings and even a small church once a week.


<< The CHEs in Modoya trained by Reuben of the CHE department in MoHI.  They are the people working on the garden.  


Sign on the toilet building in Modoya set up by the community with the help of CHE

(below) The toilet building in Modoya, the bottom is the toilet and the top is the meeting room

 (above) The beginning of the garden in Modoya

On Tuesday the CHE department all get together and go out evangelizing into the community and I, along with my brother Troy, joined them for this day.  The entire department which splits up into a couple groups and goes into different houses in an already chosen community.  We used the "evangecubes" as aids in talking to the people about the gospel and when we came across people who were already born again we just encouraged them in their walk with the Lord and prayed with them.  My group visited many amazing people, heard the stories of their lives and saw people give their lives to Christ.  It was amazing.

Wednesday was spent with one of the CHE trainers, Dan, as he did home visits.  As a part of his home visits he would encourage people in his area and also help train them on how to clean and sanitize their homes to keep their families healthy.  That afternoon after the home visits I stayed in Pangani with Timothy who is in charge of the HIV/AIDS division of CHE as he led a P.T.C. group.  P.T.C. or Post Test Club groups are group counseling meetings for people in the community who have tested positive for HIV/AIDS.  Its a place they can come and talk through the issues the face in life regarding their status and how to "live positive".  Even though the meeting was conducted in Swahili, it was still neat for me to witness such a positive group for these people to come to and share in.  

Thursday I took a short break from the CHE department and helped out in the clinic in Pangani with one of the nurses, Lillian.  She showed me how the clinic worked on a daily basis during the morning and in the afternoon I, along with a few other girls, helped her cut and fold gauze for a medical camp coming up.  That was something we had never really thought about before, the fact that in the States we get our gauze already cut and folded but in Kenya it comes in a giant roll and the nurses have to cut and fold it themselves for it to be used.  

Friday I was back in the CHE department.  That morning I spent in Kiamiako for another P.T.C. meeting for that area.  While I was at the Kiamiako center I got to see Beatrice, the little girl I sponsor.  I was excited to see her again.  She was still as shy as when I met her last year but as cute as ever.  

I have been keeping pretty busy so far and getting acclimated to what the CHE department does.  It has so far been quite the learning experience.  Soon I think I will have a project of my own :)

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11