Kenya 2013. With Humphrey, Part 2.

NOTE: do to privacy laws in Kenya, you cannot “out” someone with HIV.  If the individual has not stated that they have HIV, then no one can speak openly about it.  This is to protect jobs and status in the community.  While the stigma of HIV is lessening, individuals are still shunned from communities and families if they contract the disease.  This is both a social and religious stigma, and the lack of education is a primary contributor to the problems that HIV patients face.  This is the ministry and world that Humphrey moves in every day.

 

Another family belongs to Alice.  Again, her husband gave her HIV, and then he died from the disease.  She is currently taking medication provided by the income she makes from her fruit stand.  And yes, she learned how to work the stand from Humphrey.  Her children also get food and clothing from her work.  She did not know what she was going to do, but Humphrey helped her to see how God could help her.  Again, Humphrey is a bridge from hopelessness to hope.

As a bonus, the young man in the black t-shirt had never been to church.  We shared the Gospel with him, and he came the next Sunday.  He is interested in the story of Jesus.  Pray that he will say Yes to Jesus!! 

Kenya 2013. With Humphrey, Part 1.

I was glad to spend a day with him on Saturday, visiting some of his clients and others that he has been reaching.  Here a few of the stories I found.

NOTE: do to privacy laws in Kenya, you cannot “out” someone with HIV.  If the individual has not stated that they have HIV, then no one can speak openly about it.  This is to protect jobs and status in the community.  While the stigma of HIV is lessening, individuals are still shunned from communities and families if they contract the disease.  This is both a social and religious stigma, and the lack of education is a primary contributor to the problems that HIV patients face.  This is the ministry and world that Humphrey moves in every day.

In order to be somewhat private, I have changed names and also added generic photos that illustrate the families we visited.

One family we visited was a mother and son, both of them over 35.  The son is mentally challenged.  The mother contracted HIV from her husband, who recently died from HIV complications.  She had no way of providing for herself, and her son is unable to truly help. What is she to do?

Enter Humphrey.  Humphrey provides classes on Tuesday at Living Proof that educate the poor on HIV and also on life skills.  He teaches them how to start their own businesses.  So, the woman, Iris, has learned how to open her own food stand, and now makes money selling fruits and vegetables at a road-side stand.   She makes enough money to by rice and beans for her family.  And she gives God the glory.

And Humphrey was the bridge from hopelessness to hope.

Kenya 2031: Meet Humphrey, again.

Humphrey with some local clients

On March 16, I spent my afternoon with Humphrey Ngaine, the youngest brother of Linus Kirimi Ngaine.  Both of them work with Living Proof Baptist Church in Limuru.  Four years ago, on my first trip with Wayland to Kenya, I met Humphrey and saw firsthand his ministry with families suffering from the HIV epidemic in Kenya, specifically in the Limuru area.  In May 2009, I wrote this on another blog.  “He is a volunteer who is called to serve God. His ministry is quite extra-ordinary.  The ministry that Humphrey leads is one to HIV positive men and women. He has put together a year-long class that is designed to meet immediate needs, bring evangelistic witness, educate HIV infected men and women on prevention, and to help their families cope with long-term care."  Humphrey has 38 people currently enrolled in his ministry, and see many lives changes.  He has also seen many of his clients die from complications of HIV.  His client list is constantly changing.  But he never gives up HOPE.  He is the founder of this ministry, SHADE COMPASSION MINISTRY, and is registered with the Kenyan government.

The following posts detail some of the contacts I made with Humphrey.

And you can pray for Humphrey.

1) That God will continues to provide for his family's needs.  He volunteers to help the sick.  His wife is a teacher, and her pay provides food and clothing.  Their rent is subsidized by ministry gifts to Living Proof Baptist Church and LInus Kirimi.

2)  Pray for protection over Humphrey as he builds bridges to hope.

3)  Pray for his unnamed clients--for health and hope 

4)  Pray that his contagious vision for the Gospel will spread--to all of us

Kenya 2013: Concerning rain, umbrellas, and narrow gates.

Woke up this morning to rain. Lots of it. And it kept coming through breakfast. As I prepared to walk to class, I noticed an umbrella in the kitchen, tucked away and unused for some time. So I dusted it off, walked out the front door, popped the umbrella open, and then headed into the rain. As I left the guest house area, I came to a gate, which is intended to protect us. The gate itself is able to open for a car and is certainly large enough for anyone to pass through. But on this morning, with the rain pouring down, and with me being in a hurry, I was faced with a decision. You see, the umbrella opened was not going to fit through the gate. I could either hold the  umbrella, sheltered from the rain, and sit in front of the gate and wait. Wait for the larger gate to open. Wait for the rain to stop. Waiting, safe and dry.

Or I could fold the umbrella, risk the rain, and press on.

There was little question what I would do. I folded the umbrella, let the rain dampen my shirt, jacket, tie, and pants, and press on to my commitments. Wet. Colder. Living life with others around me in the same shape: wet, walking, and enjoying even the rain.

But how many times do I wait in life, holding my safety umbrella, waiting for a larger gate to open—one that will not ask me to risk my comfort or safety?

Jesus touches on this idea in Matthew 7:13-14 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it. Also, I think of Jesus and the rich young ruler in Luke 18:24-25: Jesus looked at him and said, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God! 25 Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (a small gate) than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”

Truly, in order for someone to enter a narrow way or a small gate, they must leave behind all baggage and come through as they are.  This is why God uses small gates sometimes.  To remind us that some baggage is temporary and meant to be left behind at times.  Remember, if God says it is big enough for us to go through, then we press on through the narrow gates--so that we may experience the life on the other side, with all its joys and sorrows, even it means taking a risk and getting a little wet. 

Kenya 2013: Meet Beatrice.

 Beatrice is a member of Living Proof Baptist Church.  She had three children and a husband who struggles to find work.  When we prayed with her, she was cooking samosas, rolling out the dough and boiling peas that will go in them.  She will then fry the flour shell on a hot plate that sits on the coal stove in her living room.  She struggles to make church on Sunday because she is selling this food to help support her family.  They sell for a quarter apiece.  They live in a two room shanty that it is in a row of shanty houses.  We are sitting in the front room that is no bigger than 8x6.  The back room in no bigger, with a bed in it.   This is a typical story in the slums of Limuru.  Not enough work.  Precious children to care for.  Little reward for a day's labor.  And the questions of how Christ fits into this life she lives.

She asked for prayer for her marriage, children's schooling, and that God would meet her basic needs.  We can also pray for the salvation of her husband.  Would you join me in prayer for Beatrice and her family?

Kenya 2013: I live in a small world

I have settled into my accommodations.  They are certainly adequate.  Will know more in a couple of days.

Under the heading of AHHHHH!  My power adapter is not working.  Just quit.  Need to find another so my computer will stay power up for lectures.  Will make things work regardless, but the reliance on technology is truly a double-edged sword.

So, while working over my power adapter, I met a missionary from the Far East (name changed for privacy purposes).  He offered me his adapter so I could work in prep for class tomorrow.

In conversation with this Baptist. I found out that we were at seminary together in the early 90s.  He is curently planting churches in Khartoum, Somalia.  Now, though, he is in Kijabe because he was forced out of Somalia.  The work is difficult in such a war-torn nation that is heavily influenced by Islam.  He said they had managed to start four churches in a town of 16,000.  But after appointing pastors they were forced to leave.  In his words, Satan and human powers were very much against the Gospel message being proclaimed in Somalia.  Yet, he is seeing seed sprout and grow in a very dry area.

So, while he has been exiled from his work, he has met another Christian from Ethiopia--the only Christian with Baptist roots in the Western part of Ethiopia where he is working.  This Christian man heard the Gospel in Egypt and returned home and began preaching the Gospel to his family and city.  The missionary is trying to find a way to help him spread the simple, biblical Gospel.  (There are Catholic and Presbyterian converts, but no believers who understand Scriptural authority like Baptists do--and thus salvation by grace, etc.  This is not to speak poorly of those Christians.)

As I listened I was in awe of how God is moving in the world all around me.  All I hear about is political upheaval and human struggle.  Yet, the Gospel in power is breaking through dry ground in many places.  It is a hard work that God has called the Parks to, and yet he is living the Gospel with great joy and anticipation of what God might do.

And I am so touched by his contagious vision and calling.  And the stories of God's work in places where we would never think God can work.

God, do great things in your church.  Do great things in the Parks as they minister in Ethiopia and Somalia.  And God, please do God-sized things in my church--SHBC.  Set a very real and concrete vision in us--what do you want us to do in our community?  Set you vision in us--and let us attack the darkness and spiritual drought around us with a contagious Gospel. 

Kenya 2013. Esther

March 16

I had the privilege of making some visits with Linus Kirimi today.  We walked through the slums in Limuru and visited some prospects and members.  One of the beautiful people I met was Esther.  Esther has a fruit stand that she operates out of her front door.  She was a couple of children, but no husband.  When I asked her what we could pray for, she said that she was marveling at such a beautiful day.  She prayed for more business so that she could feed her children.  However, she was very grateful for what God was doing for her youngest son, who is 5.  You see, Esther has been dealing with a life-threatening illness for several years.   And then she found out she was pregnant.  She gave birth to her son and is hopeful that he will remain healthy in the midst of the daily struggles that her family faces.  She gave thanks to God again today that her son is still strong in health in spite of the disease that ravage many in her community.  She hopes that she will see him grow up.  I hope this too--so that Linus will not have another student to feed in his Christlike Academy.  

So, I am inspired at Esther's resolve to work and provide.  She laments that she cannot help her mother and family when they get very sick.  But she is grateful every day for her son's health.  And her words of praise and hope are certainly forged through fire.  So, when I hear her sing tomorrow in worship as a part of the worship team at Linus' church, I will know the genuine nature of her love and thankfulness to God.