Kalabashes!

After 14 weeks of seeing God work in, through and regardless of our efforts here in Chipolet, the sending off process is underway. The word has somehow escaped into the town that we are leaving this Friday. At any given time or place friends, acquaintances and strangers alike have been saying to me, "Block, you are leaving us soon? You may take me back to America with you." We've taught our last English class, attended our last Sunday morning service, cooked our last meal of ugali and bought our last can of Red Plum Jam.

On Monday we were invited to the home of Mama Lucy, the founder and owner of St. Ann's Academy where we had been teaching English once a week. She wanted to have a ceremony to thank us for our time and effort in teaching and playing with her students. The ceremony was to take place at two pm, past the usual lunch hour so, being hungry young men, we made ourselves a pretty big lunch of noodles and oranges. We entered Mama Lucy's living room pretty full, expecting her to say a few words of thanks and to give us a little gift (because she told us she wanted to give something, not because we felt that we deserved anything. We've managed to stay humble despite our star status here) before returning home.

Not five minutes had passed before a large plate heaped with Kenya's most filling dishes was placed before of each of us. We spent the next half hour trying valiantly to put and keep down the mounds of food while defending our plates from the repeated attacks of our host, who very much wanted to bless us with more food. Our friend and outreach coordinator, George, found this all very funny. He had understood that this "ceremony" included lunch so he hadn't eaten and could sit across from us and chuckle at our stifled groans and looks of anguish.

After that ordeal, everyone present gave a little speech thanking us for teaching their kids, for playing soccer with them and for bringing fame and an increased attendance to their school. The head teacher, school director, school chairman, secretary and finally the owner thanked us and thanked God for blessing the school in general, not just with us. I was surprised and a bit humbled by how genuinely thankful they all were for the one hour per week and amateur teaching skills that we provided to the school.

After this, the head teacher asked George if he could come once a week to give a Bible lesson to the students. We had thought, since the school was called St. Ann's, that the Catholic Church was sponsoring the school, but we found that they were looking for sponsors and for other organizations to partner with to further accomplish their mission of supplying education to the poor and orphaned children of Chepolet. This could be an opportunity for our Mennonite church to partner with a school as the church at Olepolos did, in order to better achieve the goals of each, which seem to be very similar. We were all pretty excited about this.

We then went outside for the gift presentation part of the ceremony. They had hired a photographer and he snapped pictures as different members of the staff shook our hands and handed us each a kalabash, a hollowed out and decorated gourd traditionally used to sour milk but often given as gifts to signify friendship. They are pretty impressive. Many more pictures followed, with staff and the entire student body. Our little ceremony was ended by the evening's rain, which arrived right on time.

This is just one example of the appreciation that so many are giving to us for our work here during our short time here in Chebolat. It feels like we haven't done very much though. There is so little physical evidence of our work here and so much more that needs to be done. However, these people are showing us just how much of an impact we've had in our 4 months here. We have planted seeds and encouraged so many to live for Christ. Its been such a blessing to see God use us to bless others and I cannot wait to see what God continues to do in this church and this community after our time here is done.

Counting it all joy,
Brook Musselman

Praises:
-4 months of wonderful growth and service in Chipalet
-KALABASHES!
-God is alive and kicking in Kenya

Requests:
-Continued health and safety in our travels
-Smooth transition as we leave Chebelat
-Continued growth and stability in the Church