2013 Trip reflections / Randy...


Mathare kids and group leaders arriving at Camp Brethren


Amid a wild mix of memories from our two-week journey, some clarity shines through:
  • Helping with the first-ever ArtCamp that blended kids from the urban slum Mathare with kids from Eburru's rural poverty
  • Discovering Kenyans rich within poverty, constantly
  • Building relationships, right and left
  • Mathare church time focused on not exchanging the temporary for the forever
  • Encountering a culture with a deep tendency of pleasing first, truth seeking/telling a distant second
  • Processing two financial requests: Funding a rare Eburru man seeking a teaching certificate  and/or "couches and chairs" for a home with a constantly leaking roof
  • Ongoing connections and blending with the elements of our core book Simple Spirituality: Humility, community, simplicity, submission, brokenness [one of many key verses: "Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." – Genesis 28:16]
  • A teammate breaking past fear...another teammate helping develop an accountable small group...another teammate seizing every opportunity to engage Kenyan life...another constantly affirming...each teammate discovering unique expressions of learning, gifts and passions
  • Challenging, humbling flights to Kenya that bonded the team and set the pace with challenging our American "status quo"



 More glimpses:
Foreshadowing @ DIA


Missing our flight in Zurich


On the door of a Zurich church…


...where we started to make prayer a priority


A foggy walk on our "rest day" upon arrival in the highlands of Eburru


Community celebrations on our first night in Eburru


Praise music with interpretation (Jackson and Francis)
Tribal elder Mathemba, 92 years young, former Maumau commander during the war with Britain in the 1950s


Kelly getting a taste of "shamba" weeding


Students and Chris engage a math challenge


Moving the Mathare kids into high altitude housing


Small group "huddles up" upon arrival at Camp Brethren


Shepherding art at Camp Brethren


ArtCamp's "everybody" meeting

"Tossing and catching" while awaiting next steps at ArtCamp


Early morning focus


Mathare video team interviews Rex


On a school wall
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