Pokot

We have had another week of very full days, leaving us with much to talk and think about. I will try once again to summarize the many thoughts and events as best I can. We have now finished up our time at Kapsowar, and are currently on a bus from Eldoret to Kijabe. We should be arriving back in Nairobi sometime tomorrow, and will be back in the US on the 13^th (after a short three day stop in London, England!). The travel has been going pretty well, although our vehicle got stuck in the mud 4 times on the way to Eldoret yesterday… Everyone worked together to get it out, although the last time it was REALLY stuck and nothing seemed to be working. Suddenly, a man appeared with a tractor and quickly and easily pulled us out. It was such a blessing and answer to prayer! We enjoyed spending yesterday in Eldoret, with a shining sun (rare treat lately!) and the luxuries of good food prepared for us, a hot shower, a nice place to stay, and paved roads for the rest of this trip! J

We ended up changing our plans, as mentioned at the end of our last post. Instead of going to Nukuru for a safari, we decided to extend our time in Kapsowar an extra couple of days in order to got on a trip to the Valley. The village we went to was called Lodengo, and the people there are of the Pokot tribe. We arrived at the village after a five hour ride (in the back of an old ambulance), on VERY rough roads most of the way. The travel there and back was the hardest part for me, as I get car sick anyway, and the road conditions added to the challenge of a queasy stomach. Anyway, despite the travel conditions, the trip was well worth taking. The scenery was absolutely beautiful on the drive, the people were welcoming and grateful for our coming, and we had the adventure of getting all three vehicles stuck in the mud more than once. J

    When we arrived in Lodengo, the pastor of the church there, along with many other people, welcomed us and gave us food and Chai. We then went to see the new clinic that is being built, and the well that they are working hard to dig so that the people and the clinic can have clean water. One of the missionary’s named Dr. Jones (you can see his blog here - http://joneshousehappenings.blogspot.com) has been working with the people on these projects for quite some time. It was so fun to see the work that God is doing there, and the way the local people are excited and involved. We then set up a temporary clinic where we saw patients for several hours. I was placed in charge of the maternity portion (a fun change for me!) and enjoyed checking on women and their babies, and offering them multivitamins and iron from the “pharmacy” to hopefully build up the health of them and their growing babies. Overall, it was a fun and happy occasion, although there was one woman having a miscarriage at about the same point that I did in the past, and my heart went out to her. There is so little that can be offered there in regard to fertility support, and even emotional and spiritual support is hard with the language barriers and lack of resources. I prayed with each patient, but spent a little extra time with her, trying to offer comfort and hope in Christ. I don’t know if she knew God or not, but I pray that she does because only He can truly comfort the grieving soul.

   Jason and Dr. Jones saw the rest of the medical patients and took care of their needs the best we could. Jason was quite a trooper as he randomly had an allergy attack when we entered the valley (constant sneezing, watery and scratchy eyes, etc). This was so strange for Jason, because he rarely has any allergy issues, and had never had anything like this happen. He took a Benadryl, and somehow still made it through the clinic. Although he fell asleep during dinner / visiting time, he awoke to give a devotional as previously planned. J He did a really good job – reminding us from the book of Daniel how Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego chose to follow God fully – despite any circumstances in their path. They said that they knew their God was able to deliver them from the furnace, but that if He chose not to they still trusted, believed, and served Him (Daniel 3:16-18)  Jason then challenged us to give up anything we are holding on to, and to follow God fully wherever He calls us, and despite any circumstance that may come.

    The next morning, after a night of sleeping in a tent, with many tents full of families around us, we enjoyed worshiping with the Pokot people at their vibrant and growing church. I played guitar, while both the Kenyan people from Kapsowar, along with the Americans with us, sang a song in English, and then one in Swahili. It was a lot of fun and the church seemed to enjoy it! Dr. Jones delivered the message from Nehemiah – reminding the people that in the same way that the people came together to build the wall in Nehemiah’s day, the Pokot people were coming together to build this clinic, dig the well, and build up the church. He reminded the people that the reason Nehemiah and the people succeeded in their work is because God was the one accomplishing the work through them. He prayed that this work being done in Pokot would be the work of God, and that they would not lose that focus or vision. Several of the young men in the church shared testimonies of how God had called them to repentance – away from the wrong and harmful things they were doing – and how He brought them to life and light. One young man in particular stood out to me as he asked for our prayers for him. He lives in another village not far away and said that next weekend is a scheduled ceremony for him that represents his entrance into manhood. The ceremony includes killing a cow, drinking blood, and worship of some sort that is not to God. This young man is a Christian and feels strongly that he cannot participate in the ceremony so he asked his family if they could take the money and time they would spend on that and invest it in his education, or something else. Not only did his family not agree to this alternative plan, they said that if he did not do the ceremony that they would not pay his school bill, that he could not be a part of their family, and they even threatened to kill him. This boy is now trying to decide what to do and how to move forward.

    This boy’s story made me realize again what a gift I have been given by my family and upbringing. To have to make these kind of decisions in order to stand up for what you believe in, is something that few of us will ever have to face. He will live with the major consequences of this decision for the rest of his life – however long his life is. What an example for us to learn from...

    After church and lunch, we began the journey back to Kapsowar. About three quarters of the way through the trip, we were stopped by a large truck that was half buried in the mud. The truck was loaded down and the men couldn’t figure out any way to get it out. While wondering how we were ever going to get around it, Jason and one of the other short term missionaries at Kapsowar began moving large rocks / small boulders with their bare hands – throwing the rocks into a deep sink hole to try and create a bridge of sorts for us to drive around the truck. A really funny part of the event though was when the missionary helping Jason threw one of the rocks into the mudhole – not realizing that there was a man standing not too far away. The man looked pretty annoyed that he was now covered in mud. The missionary was flustered and said “A-asante Sana”, which means “Thank you very much” in Swahili. J Jason couldn’t contain his laughter and told everyone the story once we were on our way again… J

    Upon returning from Pokot, we all had dinner together back in Kapsowar. The long term missionary, along with several of the hospital and church leaders, wanted to honor the Joneses as they are leaving this week to head back to the States and finish raising support to come back long term. We had a nice dinner with them all. We felt sad to have to tell everyone bye as we’ve become friends with several people in such a short time. However, we are also excited about the next step of heading home for a few weeks to spend the holidays with our friends and family, and to get some things in order for our return trip to Kenya.

I feel like I have many more stories and thoughts to share, but really need to go for now. I’m planning to update at least one more time in the next few days. Hope you are all enjoying the beginning of the holiday season. We’ve already started listening to Christmas music from here in Kenya! 

     - Meridith -