The Josiah Foundation - Helping those in need

Kenya Trip Report - June 10-23, 2011

By Dave Penner,

President, The Josiah Foundation

Thursday-Saturday (9^th-11^th): Travel to Nairobi

Flight out of Omaha was an hour late causing me to miss the connecting flight from Atlanta to Brussels.  The next flight to Brussels didn’t leave until the next day so I managed to get on a 14-hour flight to Dubai from where I could catch a flight to Nairobi.  The end result was that I arrived in Nairobi at 6:40 AM Saturday morning rather than at 10:10PM Friday night.  But I arrived alone without my luggage. Jeremiah was there with a dear friend, Obadiah, to pick me up.  Obadiah works for Kenya Airlines and he was ultimately a very helpful in keeping track of my luggage and transporting them (when they finally arrived on Tuesday) across the city to where I was staying.  I was carrying a lot of books for SIM and four laptop computers for John Elias.  I was very glad that nothing was missing from the baggage.

Sunday (12^th)

Ministered in the morning at Pastor Jeremiah’s church in the slums of Kwa Njenga, Kingdom Life Ministries.  This was my third year to visit this church and it was good to see some familiar faces and to meet some new ones.  I spoke on the topic of Knowing God and the importance of having a correct concept of who God is based on the Scriptures. Shared from Tozer’s book, “Knowledge of the Holy”, where he makes the statement “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us.” A correct concept of God is foundational to our entire life.

A man who appeared to be heavily under the influence of alcohol and demonic spirits wanted to come in and find salvation.  His actions were somewhat bizarre.  At first he didn’t seem to be able to get up and walk in; he was just down on his knees and in seeming distress.  Jeremiah bid him come to the front, which he slowly did.  He had trouble looking at Jeremiah, and at one point asked him (Jeremiah) to not look at him so “quickly”.  He would pound the concrete floor with his fists.  But he eventually did profess his faith in Jesus Christ.  One of the church leaders standing nearby made the comment while Jeremiah was ministering to him that that is what some of us used to be like. Wow, what a transformation!

After the service, had a short meeting with several of the church leaders. Some new faces, mostly a chance to reacquaint with folks I met last time. 

I hired Jeremiah’s neighbor, Ronald, to be our driver for my stay.  Ronald charges 2,000 KES per day ($23) plus fuel costs.  It turned out to be a very good arrangement; Ronald put in some long days, and he was very knowledgeable of where and when the huge traffic jams were likely to form.  Ronald (along with Jeremiah) drove me across the city to the FPFK (Free Pentecostal Fellowship in Kenya) Guest House on Sunday evening. This is the third year in a row that I’ve stayed there for the nights when I’m visiting the SIM ministry.  I called SIM’s Christel Eric to check out the arrangement for Monday morning’s Ribbon Cutting ceremonies for the Ark School. 

Monday (13^th)

What a privilege to attend the opening ceremonies for the new Ark School building expansion.  I was asked to be one of three ribbon cutters to the new first floor. The first floor contains classrooms for Grades 4-7 and has electricity and running water/plumbing (something the old school rooms do not have). The 2^nd floor of the expansion project is about half finished and the hope is that it can be completed by the end of the year.  The goal also is to construct a 3^rd floor in the future.

It was quite a ceremony with a wonderful program by the students and several of us giving short speeches.  Pastor Richard Sitati, The Ark School Chairman of the Board was the Master of Ceremonies.  I first met Richard last year during my visit to the Ark School.  I have come to be very impressed with this articulate businessman who has worked tirelessly during this building expansion.  In addition to being a Pastor (Golden Eagles Christian Church), Richard is a businessman in the field of medical equipment sales.  I am very much impressed with the way Richard conducts himself with such a humble spirit.

Following the program part of the opening ceremonies, SIM missionary/administrator Christel Eric was the first ribbon cutter at the school entrance.  She cut the ribbon part way, then I cut a bit more, and then finally Jared Oginga (Public Relations and Training Coordinator for SIM’s Life Challenge Africa ministry) made the final cut. Then we all toured the new facility. Amazing to think that just two years ago, when I first visited the Ark School, the enrollment was around 110-120 students (in addition to adults who receive literacy training in the evenings) and all the students were crammed into the five classrooms with no electricity or running water. Now there are over 200 students with room to grow. I don’t know if The Josiah Foundation is part of another ministry that with a greater potential for impact.

The program was followed by a lunch.  Then following the lunch I was asked to meet with the School staff and to provide a few words of encouragement.  Following this, I was also asked to meet with the school board members.  We prayed for each board member; it was a real privilege to join with them in prayers.

Tuesday (14^th)

I was asked to lead the SIM team’s weekly Bible study at the SIM office.  We had a great time together as we considered the importance of knowing God and having a correct concept of who He is based on the Scriptures.  Had a very good discussion of how that works out practically in our lives – of trusting Him when it doesn’t seem that God is doing what we had expected Him to do. 

Had lunch with Christel and Jared Oginga.  Jared will be filling in for Christel for the next 9 months while Christel is in Germany. 

Following lunch, Christel introduced me to Dwight Hazard, the SIM Kenya Director.  We enjoyed a good visit; turns out that Dwight worked in Liberia together (years ago) with Scott Harris, a friend of mine from years back.  They both did a lot of technical work with the electrical generation system back in Liberia, so Dwight and I had some engineering related experiences to share.

I enjoyed a wonderful dinner and evening visit at the home of Benard and Bentina in the evening.  Benard founded the school in 1998 as an outgrowth of his ministry to the M* in the slums of Kariobongi. Benard and Bentina make an incredible team as they provide the Ark School with the on-the-ground oversight and leadership on a daily basis.

Wednesday (15^th)

 Jeremiah and Ronald arrived fairly early in the morning to pick me up from the Guesthouse.  That way we could get back to Jeremiah’s home (in Donholm) before the daily traffic jams formed near the City Centre.  I purchased some groceries for George and Linet and then we headed there for a visit and a meal.  George and Linet live in Kyoli, not too far from Donholm.  Kyoli is just one step above the slums.  George and Linet live in one 10’ x 10’ room in a four-story flat.  We enjoyed a good visit.  George is hustling everyday to find work.  Linet is out of a job since the church where she worked as an administrator was demolished in a land dispute. 

Thursday – Saturday (16^th-18^th):

Ministered closely with Jeremiah and Carol in Kwa Njenga.  The three of us visited nearly 30 homes in Kwa Njenga. All those we visited go to Jeremiah’s Kingdom Life Ministries church.  Many of the homes were in the tin-roofed “slums”, while some homes were in the multi-story flats that overlooked the slums.  It was a serious privilege to listen to the dear people share the burdens of their hearts, and then to encourage them and pray with and for them.  Problems were frequently related to the need for a job or marriage issues. 

I spoke each evening at the church.  On Thursday, I followed up Sunday’s message on the importance of what we think of God with the question “What does God think of me?”.  I shared my story of how I came to a rock solid reliance on the Word of God, and the importance of faith based on the Word of God rather than on feelings. 

On Friday I spoke on prayer:

• Some prayers God doesn’t hear (Isaiah 58). 
• The answers to some prayers are delayed (Daniel).
• Some prayers are hindered (I Peter 3). 
• And some prayers we know that God will answer (I John 5:14; James 5:16-18). 

On Saturday I spoke on the role of stewardship and the importance of being faithful stewards (Matthew 25).  Each of us has been entrusted with gifts and talents for which we must be faithful stewards.

One evening after the service at the church, Ronald drove Jeremiah, Carol and myself to Obadiah’s home where his wife Margaret had fixed us a feast.  Took about an hour and a half through incredible traffic jams to get there.  Without the traffic, probably about a 15 minute drive.  Obadiah and his wife have been such good friends to Jeremiah and Carol and now it is my privilege to call them my friends also. 

At the end of Thursday’s service a young man came in and wanted to talk with Jeremiah.  Long story short is that this man, named Samuel, was once thought to be dead (several years ago) and Jeremiah had been called to pray for him.  Although when Jeremiah got to the house where he was the people questioned why Jeremiah should pray for the man since he was already dead.  He was even stiff.  But Jeremiah did pray; for about 3 hours. 

Samuel told me about that night years back that Jeremiah had prayed and how he came back from the dead.  Samuel told me how he had been in a dark ditch and 8 people were trying to pull him down deeper into the ditch.  But a “being” in white clothes was pulling him back and told him to grab the soil, which he did.  Then a rope was dropped down to him, and he grabbed it.  Finally he found himself back and conscious with Jeremiah. 

Jeremiah told me then how that quite some time later, Samuel came into the church and was manifesting demonic possession in such bizarre fashion that Jeremiah said people were running away. Jeremiah again cast out the demons, but told Samuel that he needed to make up his mind whether to walk with God or not.  And now here is Samuel again.  This time he wanted to talk with Jeremiah about whether he (Samuel) should send money to pay for some one from Tanzania who wanted money to pray for his parents to get over their sickness.  Jeremiah said that it was not a pastor but a witchdoctor and that he should not send any money.  Even though Samuel had been delivered on two different occasions from incredibly powerful demonic spirits, he has had a difficult time in making a clear choice to walk with God and turn away from the demonic powers that are so prevalent in Kenyan culture.

On Friday morning, Ronald drove Jeremiah, Carol and myself to the City Centre where we met with my longtime friend Isaac Kiva, an electrical engineer in the Ministry of Energy’s Renewable Energy Resources department.  I first met Isaac at the Haggai Institute’s training center in Maui.  We enjoyed a good meal together and catching up on Isaac’s work and ministry in his church. 

Sunday (19^th)

Jeremiah and I were scheduled to first attend the Gospel Assembly services with John Elias and then travel in the late afternoon with Possibilities Africa personnel to Embu (about 90 miles north of Nairobi) for the night.

Ronald dropped Jeremiah and me off at the Gospel Assembly Church quite early; around 7:45 AM.  First service starts at 8:30, but we wanted to make sure we weren’t late due to an unexpected traffic jam.  John Elias was already there and greeted us warmly.  Someone, perhaps an usher, quickly took our overnight luggage and locked them up in a room somewhere for safekeeping.

Bishop Rutivi had just returned to Nairobi from New York a day or two before.  He greeted us in his office just a few minutes before the first service.  The Bishop indicated to me that he would have me speak briefly.  After a few minutes of getting acquainted, someone escorted John, Jeremiah and me up on the platform where we sat in the front of several rows apparently reserved for ministers or leaders.  Someone had already placed my Bible and notebook there.  Soon I was handed a bottle of water.  Supported by an orchestra and choir, the music provided a great atmosphere for worship.

When I was introduced to speak, the microphone that was on the pulpit was not working properly, so the Bishop handed me his microphone.  I spoke about 3 minutes, keeping to my promise of being brief.  When I handed the mike back to the Bishop, he whispered “so short” with a surprised look on his face.  I enjoyed the Bishop’s message (which was televised). I was especially impressed with his ability to speak so freely from the Word.  I was challenged to be more of a student of the Word so that I can speak from the Word and not just from my own wisdom.

Between services, John, Jeremiah, and I went back to the Bishop’s large office where we were served breakfast and had more time to visit with the Bishop.  Bishop Rutivi expressed how surprised he had been at my brevity in the first service and indicated that he was much more generous with the time than I had understood.  He had meant for me to preach a bit.  He then offered for me to take the entire second service message.  It was my turn to feel surprise; I asked for just 5 minutes.  Bishop indicated that I could take 15 minutes or however long I wanted.  So this time, I did speak for about 15 minutes.  I shared about my calling to (1) know God and to (2) help those in deep need.  I exhorted folks to focus their lives and avoid distractions, and to ask God for His direction and for His dreams for their lives.  And then to trust God to do what only He could do to accomplish what He wanted to accomplish.  I offered encouragement from Isaiah 45 (although I think I mistakenly said Isaiah 47) in how God used even Cyrus, the Persian ruler.  God would level mountains and open doors and cut  bars of iron to accomplish His will – for His name sake. I was surprised to see the Bishop seriously taking notes while I was speaking.  When he rose to speak, he was very gracious and continued to share a bit more on the topic on which “Pastor Dave had spoken with sincerity of heart”.  Turns out that even though I clarified that I am an engineer by profession (with a Pastor’s heart), many pastors in Kenya also have to work to earn a living.  So in their minds, I was a pastor.  It sounded rather strange for me to be called a pastor.

Charles (Charlie) and Joe arrived with a driver and a van to take John, Jeremiah, and I to Embu.  They had already picked up three other leaders from the Kingdom Life Ministries church who would also accompany us; Benjamin, Jacob, and Margaret.  We arrived in Embu and quickly checked with the hotel staff to let them know that we were there. Then we all made a quick visit for tea with John Elias father who lived less than 5 miles away.  We had a very nice visit with John’s father in a home right across a dirt road from where John grew up.  His father appears to be in remarkable health and lives in a lush green area with fields and livestock that appear to be prospering.

Monday (20^th)

After breakfast we loaded up the van and headed for Mbeere, a rural area with small communities where we would visit local leaders (mostly Pastors) who have received training and economic assistance via Possibilities Africa and have started small businesses.  The drive took about an hour and a half, and took us over some very bumpy country roads and several groups of camels being herded along.  Our goal was to learn about the principles that have been utilized in the transformation of Mbeere and apply those principles as we work towards transformation in the urban slums of Kwa Njenga.

We met with several individuals:

Pastor Festus, pastor of the Grace Gospel Light Ministries.  He first met PA personnel 3 years ago, and was inspired by their vision of transformation, i.e. holistic transformation impacting the spiritual, economic and social fabric of the community.  PA’s method of helping Festus (and others) is as follows:

• The individuals wanting to start an economic enterprise become part of a local savings cooperative.  Each member must regularly put some set amount of money into the group’s savings “bank”. 
  • We were told that only church members are allowed to be part of this particular group. Over 20 churches are represented in the savings group.
• PA provided a loan to the savings group to subsidize the amount needed to start business enterprise.
  •  People can borrow up to 3 times the amount of their savings.  Their savings acts as a guarantee of loan repayment.  The amount of the loan exceeding their savings must be guaranteed by others.  The amount that one guarantees for others also reduces the amount that one can borrow.  In this way, all loans are guaranteed.
  • Interest rate is 1%.
  • The individual obtaining a loan for a business start-up then makes monthly repayments.
• Funding from PA is NOT repaid to PA, but rather is repaid to the group’s savings plan and then becomes available for other loans to other group members.
• PA has been specifically targeting Pastors as people to help establish businesses to enable the Pastors to model to their people the success that is possible.

Festus has a general store that he runs with his wife. He indicated that he does a lot of ministry at the store as people come there.

Next we met a most impressive leader, Pastor Don. Don works with Pastor Festus and also has started a school.  Pastor Don has a relationship with PA that goes back 5 or 6 years.  Don was helped to start a poultry project.  He is able to sell eggs as well as chickens.  At present he has 28 chickens. He had initially borrowed 18,700 KES (about $220) with a repayment plan of 1,150 KES per month.  Challenges include disease outbreak among the chickens. Don talked about the type of chicken that provides the best results.  Factors to consider include resistance to disease, feeding requirements, demand (by buyers), egg laying capabilities, etc.  Appears that Don has learned a lot about chickens and continues to make improvements to his operation.

Don also had a donkey that he hires out to people hauling water buckets to the one “bore hole” (water well).  The donkey can carry up to 5 large buckets.  In addition, PA has installed a large water tank at Don’s home.  It is set up to catch rain water than runs off the roof of his home.  Don also hauls water from the well and puts it into the tank, and then sells water to those who don’t want to go all the way to the well. This is a pilot project for PA; they will monitor the impact and consider for future projects.

We visited the water well.  It serves about 400 families and is an absolutely critical resource.  It is under the control of a local water committee.  The well is unlocked at 3 AM so that people can begin to come and obtain their water.  There is always a water committee member there to supervise and ensure the well with its manual water pump is protected.  Several of us took turns pumping water for a lady that was there getting here water.  The water committee insisted on serving us all a bottle of soda pop before we went on our way. 

Our last visit was with a woman who has a sewing machine and sews dresses for sale.  She had obtained a 5,000 KES loan, but the drought is really hurting her business as people are suffering economically as a result.

I had been asked by PA to provide a talk on “The role of Stewardship in Transformation” to the PA Partner Pastors and Church Leaders.  So after our visits, we all met back at the local church where I addressed the small group of leaders as requested.  Then after one more bottle of soda pop, we all piled into the van for the long drive back to Nairbobi.

Tuesday (21^st)

Carol, Jeremiah and I had lunch with Mr. Harrison Mmaitsi, Managing Director of Kuenea Harry’s Fresh Produce Ltd.  Harrison is a good friend of Jeremiah’s and is an Apostle with oversight of a number of churches in Nairobi.  Harrison started an exporting business in February, exporting fresh produce to the U.K.  I asked Harrison for his advice on the startup of business enterprises in Kwa Njenga.  He indicated that it is important for the right person to start a particular business; he/she must have a vision for the business.  They must also put together a business plan and do their research before starting. I asked Harrison if he would be willing to help Jeremiah’s people to develop business plans, and he indicated that yes he would.  It occurs to me that Harrison might be even more influential than PA for Jeremiah’s people in terms of working closely with individuals in Kwa Njenga.  PA is concentrating for now in rural Kenya, although they are willing to include Jeremiah and his leaders in their training sessions.  PA’s vision is to expand their ministry to all of Kenya and even into other African countries, but for now their focus is rural Kenaya. Harrison is a friend of Jeremiah’s, is nearby, and has valuable experience and insight that he is willing to share with Jeremiah’s people.   I left Harrison’s home very encouraged about the possibilities.

In the evening, Jeremiah, Carol and I visited Bishop Justice Wanjala and his wife Margaret.  Bishop Wanjala is the bishop who has provided the necessary working relationship and paper work that has enabled Deb Smith to live and minister in Kenya all these years. His wife Margaret had attended the May training with PA along with Jeremiah and his leaders.  Deb Smith has told me on more than one occasion how he has helped so many people.  Had a very nice evening getting to know the Bishop and Margaret.

Wednesday (22^nd)

My last day before heading back home!  As wonderful and profitable as my time here has been, I am anxious be back home with my wife once again. 

Ronald drove Jeremiah and myself to the Ark School where we met up with John Elias.  This was Jeremiah’s first visit to the Ark School and his first meeting of Benard and Bentina.  I picked up some books from Benard that Christel had sent with him for me to take back to the US. (for mailing to someone).  The primary purpose of our meeting was so that Jeremiah could meet Benard and Bentina and further develop the continually growing network of incredible Christian leaders. Jeremiah has a vision to start a school through the Kingdom Life Ministries church in Kwa Njenga, and Benard and Bentina are the perfect people to serve as advisors given their experience in founding and directing the Ark School.  Benard and Bentina were their normal wonderful gracious selves in spite of their busy school schedules.  Bentina is amazing; in addition to providing the hands on leadership at the school (sort of like a combination principle, dean, superintendent), she is taking night classes at the university which will eventually enable full accreditation for the Ark School with the government. They provided some good insights and advice to Jeremiah, and are willing to continue to provide him with the benefit of their experience.

Following our meeting, we headed for downtown (called City Centre here).  We had meetings scheduled at the Safari Club (hotel) where Jayne Mwangi is the Public Relations Manager.  We had a 1:00 appointment with Sheila of PA to finalize the paperwork from our recent field trip.  And we also had a 2:00 appointment with Jayne to renew our friendship.

John, Jeremiah, Ronald and I shared some pizza and cold drinks with Sheila.  I paid the last 1,000 KES to cover the bottled water expenses from our trip to Mbeere and Sheila gave me a receipt.  I have now met 4 of the 5 PA staff members: Martin (Director), Sheila, Charles, and Joe.  I’m extremely impressed with the passion, intelligence and humble spirits they all possess as they work so hard to bring holistic transformation to Kenya.  Wonderful wonderful people.

Jayne met us sometime after 2:00 where we were eating in one of the Safari Club lounge/restaurants.  We enjoyed catching up with her.  Jayne and her husband Edward are very active in ministering to children.  Jayne through her directing of the Jamii ministries with the feeding and teaching center for small children in the slums of Kibera.  And Edward who ministers through sports camps with children.  They have two teen age sons.  Jayne again expressed her surprise that I hadn’t preached a while in the Sunday services at Gospel Assembly.  I explained why and that I had preached in the second service.  Ahh, I’m learning about the Kenya culture.  I guess one must always be prepared to speak when attending any church service; not just the small churches, but even the very large sophisticated churches. Jayne expressed such gratefulness for our gift of $100 for the Jamii feeding center.  She said that they were out of food, and had a shopping list of needed food items already in the car on the Sunday that I provided her the $100.   She indicated that I had been an angel sent by the Lord.  It’s amazing what good can be done with just $100.  Good reminder for me.

We just beat the traffic jam which begins to form near the City Centre around 4:00 PM and made it back to Jeremiah’s home in good time.  Our dear friend Obadiah drove Jeremiah and me to the airport.  While Jeremiah had to wait outside, Obadiah, with his airport security clearance actually went with me all the way through the security checkpoints and saw me into the gate area.  An educated and intelligent man, Obadiah is also a dear and humble friend who desires to serve the Lord and others!  What a good friend he is.

Arrived safely back in Omaha at around 10:00 PM on Thursday, June 23.  My lovely wife Chi was waiting for me at the airport – and what do you know, so were my bags.

Summary

The following is a summary list of my salient activities while in Kenya.  Anything that was accomplished was done so by the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit.  The Lord deserves all the credit for any accomplishments; I know a number of people were praying for the Lord to accomplish His purposes.  And I clearly felt those prayers.

1. Delivered four messages to Kingdom Life Ministries Church in slums of Kwa Njenga.
2. Visited over 25 homes in Kwa Njenga. Together with Jeremiah and Carol, we sought to encourage the dear people through sharing words of encouragement and through prayer.
3.  Participated as an honored guest at the Ark School ribbon cutting ceremony for the first floor of the new building expansion. 
4. Delivered Josiah Foundation funding for the Ark School building program
5. Spoke at Gospel Assembly Church during morning messages.
6. Delivered funding for the Jamii Ministries feeding/teaching program for children in the slums of Kibera.
7. Jeremiah and three of his church leaders accompanied John Elias and myself with Possibilities Africa personnel to visit rural Kenya communities in Mbeere, where we learned firsthand about the principles they are using to generate transformation there.  Goal is to apply these principles in Kwa Njenga (and eventually elsewhere).
8. Visited and greatly encouraged George and Linet and family.  Provided funds to enable them to pay up their back rent and remain in their home.  Linet told me in a subsequent email the following: “Thanks so much Dave you are a great blessing to us, you always touch our lives in a devine way that is why you have made a permanent mark in our lives we will live to remember the rest of our lives. My prayer is God to use me also to extend that blessing to others that I may also touch peoples lives in whatever way God can use me.”
9. Possibly the greatest impact may come from the growth of our ties to a network of connected Christian leaders there in Nairobi