Starfish and the Slums..

One day a young man was walking down the beach when he saw something strange in the distance. As he approached he noticed that a man was throwing something into the ocean. The closer he got he saw that the man was throwing star fish into the sea over and over again.

When he got close enough he noticed that the tide had washed hundreds of thousands of star fish onto the beach. They would be dried up by midday.

He shouted out to the man, "Sir what are you doing?"

The man replied, "I'm throwing these star fish in, they will die if I don't."

Shocked the young man answered "Surely you don't intend to throw all of them in? There are hundreds of thousands of star fish out here. It won't matter, there are too many of them."

The man stopped and without speaking picked up another star fish. He threw it into the ocean. He gazed for a moment at the young man and said, "It mattered to that one".

(this poem is taped up on the wall in New Life Home.)

Sometimes we get caught up in looking at Kenya, seeing the overwhelming need, knowing that so many people are starving, knowing that people are struggling to get through the drought and food crisis here, passing the beggars each day, seeing so many orphaned children…it can make you want to just throw your hands up in the air and give up. There’s no way we can help everybody anyway.

But, then we are reminded to look right in front of us, to the people we cross paths with who need our help, and realize that God has not placed us here to save the world, or Africa, or Kenya, or even Nairobi. God has placed a few people into our lives that we have come to love dearly, and has asked us to help them.

One example today. Mitumba Slum. There are so many things to be said about this place, not the least of which would be hauntingly beautiful kids, wearing tattered clothing, with bright smiles, but sad eyes. I spent the day in this slum today. I will be continuing to go there one or two days during the week, and then Trevor and I will keep going on Saturdays to help with a Bible Club and youth Bible study. So anyway, back to today. I went to help with the vitamins for the kids, to make sure all the kids were getting their vitamins and that they were taking them like they’re supposed to. That didn’t take long, so the rest of the day I helped wherever I was needed. What precious, precious kids. Every time I go there, my face just hurts from smiling so much!!
I sat in with a Standard 7 (grade 7) math class, which after the lessons were over I admitted to the kids that I had just learned as much or more than they had, as I had forgotten everything I ever knew about fractions!! (that may have been on purpose, as I hated fractions!!) They are such sweet kids.
I also helped with taking pictures of the kids for the sponsorship program, which I will be explaining more about (and which I am VERY excited about, by the way!!).
The rest of the day I just did little odds and ends, a lot of visiting (it’s the African way!! :) ), and talking about what the Lord is doing in the slums of Nairobi. I asked Pastor Shadrach some questions about the needs that they have, and how we or other people could help. You guys…they need so much. They rely on God to:
-feed 300 kids EVERY DAY
-provide school supplies
-be able to pay to send the high school kids to school
-be able to buy uniforms for the kids
-for medication and vitamins
-pay the teachers
-complete the home they are starting for those kids in the most desperate situations (about 30 right now), and then be able to properly care for them
-help when crises come up…like just this last week a fire raged through an area of Mitumba, and over 100 families, who already had so little, now have nothing.

…as you can see, the list is very overwhelming. And yet, when you listen to Pastor or his wife Violet speak, they are absolutely overflowing with joy at what the Lord has done, and are completely and fully confident that God will continue the good work that only HE has started.

They are looking for ideas on how to raise money so they can start to support themselves for some of these needs and also help the community surrounding them…some things they are already doing is recycling the garbage found in the slum to make “brickettes” (sp?)…a long, slow burning brick that they can sell at a cheap price to the people living in Mitumba, and are also trying to sell it to some of the supermarket chains. This business is now employing 17 families, who can put food on the table for their children. Wow!!!
Another thing they are doing is starting to look into making some crafts like jewellery and bags to sell to tourists and people in other countries.

The most recent thing they are working on is the sponsorship program that I mentioned before. They are really excited (as am I!!) to get this going, and to be able to link all their kids at the school with sponsors who will then provide the funds to give that child food, clothing, uniforms, school fees, plus the joy that it gives that particular child who knows that someone cares for HIM. Someone is willing to pay for HIS school fees. Someone loves him enough to send HIM a letter, maybe with a special treat. When he gets to high school, someone will pay for those expenses, so that HE can reach a higher level of education. This will also ease some of the burden on Pastor Shadrach and Violet if they have people willing to help out the kids in this way, and they can then continue to develop the school and children’s home and all the other things that they are still trying to maintain and develop…like getting a nurse to check the kids on a regular basis, training and hiring someone to make the uniforms for the kids (uniforms are mandatory for all school kids in Kenya), be able to put effort and funds into helping some of the needy families who live in Mitumba…oh the list could go on and on!! I know the idea of sponsoring a child is not new to any of you, and most of us already do sponsor at least one child. But this feels so incredibly personal to us…to hear these sad and awful stories of these kids lives directly, to see the sad eyes behind that smile, to know of the hurt and heartache…

Yes, there are a lot of needs in Mitumba slum, and I know I have barely even scratched the surface. If anyone feels that they would like to contribute to any of these needs mentioned, please let us know and we would love to tell you more. (but please don’t feel pressured…we just feel like we have a responsibility to get the word out and wanted to tell you about it.)
This place has a tight hold on our hearts already, and we feel so blessed to be able to be a part of God’s work there.

There are many other people that we have come to love and care for here in Nairobi, and I will elaborate more on that some other time. It’s so wonderful and encouraging to know that we can make a difference. You can make a difference to those you come into contact with. God is so powerful, and with Him working in our lives…other lives can and will be changed!! We have come to realize that it doesn’t matter where God has placed us. It only matters if we are willing to complete the task He has set before us, no matter what that may be.

The story in the beginning of this entry, about the starfish, really puts life into perspective. No matter where you are, if you are willing to let God take over, you can make a difference to one precious life.
~A