A Cry to the Heavens......

Hello All,
As we have passed through this last week with sorrow in the wake of the terrorist attack in Nairobi, we all feel a sense of loss and vulnerability.  The loss for the victims and their families and also in a selfish way for ourselves - for our freedoms.  There are many stories of heroism coming out of the mall attack.  Many stories of people showing love to each other no matter what religion they are.  The terrorists were al-shabab extremists and even Muslims were helping non Muslims to escape. Here is a link to an article by the former ambassador to Kenya and Jim's former boss at UCOM in Stuttgart Germany.  It tells how Kenyans are uniting to overcome.
Here is a link to anther article that show heroism and loss.
It is hard to understand how something like this is "allowed" by God. Our freedom to choose and the fact that there is sin in the world define this human existence.  But God overcomes evil with good, redeeming us from this world.

Here is another article written this week by a friend and doctor here in Kijabe.  As the work of healing the sick continues here at the hospital, stories like these make you want to continue in the work that is sometimes difficult at best.

Below is an elegy written by Trevor's class:


A Cry to the Heavens

An elegy by the Senior Class, Rift Valley Academy

Scattered shoes and broken glass
Strewn on sparkling marble floors,
Sounds of trickling fountains
Drowned out by thunderous gunfire
Exploding from men with dark intentions.
Lives lost in senseless slaughter
Leave the hallways of our hearts empty.

Our spirits are heavy,
Minds full of fear and doubt.
Finding peace in the valley of the shadow of death,
To the Lord we cry out
with every labored breath –
For meaning, answers, forgiveness, hope,
Healing, and REDEMPTION –
Come before tomorrow
for we need light in the darkness,
a darkness wrought with sorrow.

We cry out to the Heavens for
An answer to the madness.

Restore to us the gift of peace,
The promise of life free of fear.
The days go on and on
Healing cannot happen fast,
But through love and strength and unity
The cowardice of evil men will not stand.
We can hope for another day,
A sky filled with joy and not with blackness
And the laughter of children
Will restore our halls to gladness.

It is with love and unity that we pray for all of you who are grieving and shaken by this horrendous act.  We stand together with you.  You are not forgotten. RVA Class of 2014

I know this week's blog has a lot of links to other articles.  There are so many written this week that were amazing I just had to share a few.
As we continue life here, please pray that we won't forget the reason for it all.  God has work for us to do and we need to lean on Him in all things.

In His Hands,
Jullie T.

Need to Pray!

Hello All,
We need to pray.  There is a shooting going on right now at Westgate Mall in Nairobi.  They say gunmen stormed the mall and are now inside surrounded by police outside. The gunmen most likely have hostages.  There is at least one RVA family there now pinned down but separated.  I was there on Thursday to shop for the senior store that we put on today.  Please pray for them to be caught and no more loss of life!

The RVA Art Center Project:  Here is the fix!

Remember  last week when I told you we had some cube tests that failed on the Art Center project?  Here is the fix. We basically add another layer to the base while supporting it with rebar and digging into the column.  It will help support the column and distribute the weight.  Things are going well with this project.  We are behind but hopeful that we will continue to move forward.

The BKCC Wing:  Well, they had "the big meeting" on Thursday and all seemed to go well.  The contractor and consultants were able to come to an agreement so that we will let the contractor continue on the project.  This is a huge relief.  I sure hope the contractor will step up to the plate and get the building done!

We are continuing to help our friends with education funds. This is Agnes (the tall one) in the picture.  She is living with Njoki (the shorter lady) having come from a bad situation.  She is able to go to the local school and has a loving home to go to.  She is so grateful to all who have helped. 

Agnes and Njoki

We hosted a Caring Community group last week end.  It is an opportunity to have some students in your home about once a month.  We love it because we get a chance to know them a bit better.  We ate pizza and played the Wii.  This is a group of 7th graders who are MUCH different than Trevor's class!  The seniors just wanted "food and to hang out."  This is a direct quote.  I can do that.  These 7th graders like to move.  They are going to tire us out even more - but it is worth it!

The school had an open house on Friday where the parents were able to come to class and see what the kids do.  It was a very busy day for me with 3 kids in 3 different areas but it was great.  I actually got to my office for a total of about 1 hour and got a bit of work done!  

Timothy and Michael

Sallie making a geocube

Timothy presenting data with his group in Math class

Today was the first of our Senior Stores for first term.  We will have 2 more before Thanksgiving and 3 in 2nd term. That will finish us out and hopefully we will have enough money to go on our Senior Safari.  That is a 5-6 night stay at one of the resorts on the coast where we swim and just laze around for a week!  I am looking forward to that even with 72 Seniors!

Do you see the monkey?  He is there:

This is the loquat tree in the front yard.  They are really good especially in jelly.  My neighbor spent 2 hours peeling loquats last Sunday for 6 jars of the stuff.  It was worth it for her, but I just couldn't get there from here.  The kids like them but so do the monkeys:

They are all over it in the mornings.  It is fun to watch them scatter.

This last picture is of another girl that we are funding for school.  Her name is Beth.  She is coming from a motherless home where she has a father and 2 brothers.  She is in a boarding school for girls (very common to send your high schooler to boarding school).  This is a great situation for her.  She will be a Junior in January.  We are hoping she will graduate and do well.

I am officially exhausted.  Starting a bit of a cold and just need to rest after senior store.  One more errand to do related to that but after that I am officially on strike!  

Please continue to pray for the people at Westgate mall.

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

Need Some Neurosurgery?

Hello All,

This has been another very busy week.  The craziness just seems to magnify!  I was able to get into town last Monday to finally get loaded up on groceries.  The first week was pretty sparse on the kids' lunches.

We started soccer with the Titchie (elementary) kids this week.  We are going to run a 4 day a week program.  I say "we" because I have another teacher helping me out.  There are about 70 kids so we can each take 2 days and the kids will get a lot more playing time.  Last year, we only did 2 days a week.  We have a playing schedule for the next 11 weeks.  Please pray for me!  Keeping up with 1-4th graders at my age is not an easy thing to do!

Need any Neurosurgery?  This was a question posed to Jim this week!  Our resident neurosurgeon wants to repay Jim for all the help he has given them in fixing things that are wrong with their apartment.  But, I think we will take a rain check on that one!

Today is Saturday, and the day for people to "visit."  We have had almost non-stop visitors since this morning.  Mostly people needing money, or coming to work, or coming to sell us something.  The challenge is in the having empathy, no funds to give and being able to get anything done.  It is not easy and one of the hardest parts about living here.

I may have mentioned about how we were able to raise some funds while we were home for the people that come to the door to ask for money for education.  We were able to connect with a few of them this week and let them know.  They are all so excited.  Jane is finishing up High School.  As she waits for her exam results (they take "the Big Exam" in Dec and the results come in Feb or Mar) she wants to take a computer class.  She is 18 and has never operated a computer.  It is hard to imagine in our world, but it happens here all the time.  Kenya Kids Can is a program started by a friend from RVA that sets up containers as computer class rooms at local elementary schools.  If you want to check it out, their web site is http://kenyakidscan.org/  She will be able to take a class for about 3 months to learn about computers while she waits for her results.

We also let Patrick know that he is funded.  He was so happy!  

He is just about to finish his Grade 3 level in electronics and will now go on to Grade 2 in Jan and hopefully grade 1 the following year.

Esther also found out that she can continue.  She has a diploma (18 months) in Catering and Hotel Management and wants to continue.  We are searching for the best program for her and she will be able to start in Jan.  We are so grateful to all who have helped us help these people.  It is so cool to be able to tell them they can go to school!  

Today Trevor and Timothy went on outreach programs with the school.  Timothy went down into the valley to an orphanage.  They played with the kids for a few hours and had a great time.  Trevor went over to the sokoni (local market) and was helping to make some coverings for the window openings.  It gets very cold in the building so this will help so that the ladies don't freeze.  

Trevor and Ted helping

Those are the plastic coverings for the windows

Sallie and her "big sister"

Sokoni

We have has several issues with projects around here.  

Bethany Kids:  Not sure what to say here.  They need a lot of prayer right now.  They are having issues with the contractor and have a big meeting next week to determine if they will even continue with them.  It sure would be costly in money and time if we have to find a new contractor.

RVA Art Center:  We had some failed concrete cube tests this week.  We went to the lab in Nairobi to watch them crush our 28 days samples.  If I had done a lab like that in college, I would have failed!  They were not precise with the data, but claim to have gotten it accurate.  Not sure about the whole thing.  The structural engineer has a "fix" that will not be too painful, but it will take some extra time.

Upendo Village:  Jim stopped by there this week to talk about making stabilized soil brick (the kind we did a year and a half ago).  He also saw some columns that have just gone up with large cracks in them!  The structural engineer has some work to do here too!

John 10:27-30
27 My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 
NIV
I love this verse.  He will never let us go no matter how hard the going gets.  We have lost some babies in the hospital this week and a good friend has lost her sister.  There is nothing to say, but that He is with us.  Here is a link to a blog that a missionary in Tenwek, Kenya wrote.  It is a children's book that tells the story of the loss of their baby girl last winter.  It is well worth reading:
http://www.aaroninkenya.com/

Hope you have a great week.  We have soccer, massive shopping for Senior Store, more soccer, projects to progress, meetings, drawings to finish about projects, kids to feed (I almost forget that one every week), and bible studies to attend.  

In His Hands,
Jullie T.

Back in the Grind!

Hello All,
God is Good!  We have packed, said "good-bye," traveled, been tourists, unpacked and said "Hello" in the past few weeks.  It is hard to imagine that we were on the beach in New Jersey just over 2 weeks ago!  We are back in Kijabe and getting settled in - no scratch that, we feel like the rollercoaster has never stopped and have jumped back into the thick of things.  School started this week and the kids are doing great.  Timothy is having a bit of "transition to Junior High" issues, but he will be OK.  We arrived here after a short stop in London with all of our bags and the adventure at the airport, where the international terminal was burned down in early August, was not too taxing.

Us with all of our "stuff" at Heathrow

 Little town of Harmondsworth

 

Place we stayed in Harmondsworth near Heathrow - Lovely!

required stop at Buckingham Palace

Favorite statue in London

required picture in the "Booth"

 

 

We had one day to tour in London so we took the double decker bus and went around the city.  It was a great day with great weather.  We had a lovely dinner back in the little town of Harmondsworth, where we stayed, at a local pub.  Glad we did it but everyone was really ready at that point to just get on home.  But, if you need a place to stay near Heathrow, this was the best!  The room was a family room and was clean and the breakfast was wonderful and the help superb!  We also found a taxi service that could haul all of our stuff and us there for only 12 British Pounds.  All in all, very successful.

Harmondsworth Guest house: www.harmondsworthhall.com

020 8759 1824

Private Car Hire: www.lhrcars.co.uk 01895 444 333

 

The projects -

The Bethany Kids Wing:  They have made quite a bit of progress in the last few months.  You can now walk from the front of the structure to the back and not be on the ground!  They are working on the superstructure now and it is great to see.  Still some issues, but the Clerk of Works that was here all summer has done a great job.

 

BKCC wing

 

The Arts Center up at RVA:

This project has moved along well with Darrell in charge.  He is the other EMIer that is here helping to build this thing.  He is a great wealth of information when it comes to construction!  Here is a picture of the progress:

 

Foundations getting in and columns coming up

 

The Admin Building at Upendo Village:

Can a building go too fast?  It can.  This one is just flying, which is really different for us here.  But, the problem we see is curing time for concrete.  Was it kept wet for the required number of days and not loaded until it was ready??  Not really sure, but we had a meeting this week with the architect, structural engineer and contractor.  We are hoping to all get on the same page soon.

 

When we left, we had just put a shovel in the ground!

 

 

We are all swept up in the busyness of this life, especially at this time of the year when the schools get started back up.  Having time to spend reading God's word and praying and listening is really precious.  In my life, it needs to be on the schedule or it is hard pressed to happen!  Ephesians 1:3-4 "Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ.  For he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world that we may be holy and unblemished in his sight in love."

 

We are here for one more year - Trevor will graduate in July and hopefully BCKK, RVA Arts Center and Upendo Village Admin block will be complete.  Wouldn't that be something to see all of that done?   We are glad to be started in the routine of life again and hoping that yours is as fulfilling.

 

In His Hands,

Jullie T.

 

One more picture to add.  This is our Masai friend Patrick

 

Here in Kijabe

 

back with his people (now a pastor)

 

Love this guy!