Partners Worldwide

Kenya/Uganda

August 19-29, 2009

Kenya feels like a gigantic dust bowl this trip. This is a result of draught…no rain for past 3 years, and in some areas 10. Everywhere we go in the city, we encounter Maasai herdsmen leading their cows along city streets side by side with cars and trucks, searching for a patch of grass to devour. There is little to be found, anywhere. Along the roadsides here and there, lie the carcasses of dead cows. Kenyans are also hungry, and according to the Methodist Church of Kenya leadership team, there are increased cases of starvation….people literally dropping dead.

The UN has asked for $230 million to provide emergency food aid over the next six months to 3.8 million Kenyans affected by drought and high food prices .(www.newvision.co.ug) The maize crop is projected to be just over half what it is in a normal year.

We were travelling as a group of five: Cheryl Broetje, Suzanne Broetje - Executive Director of Vista Hermosa Foundation, my granddaughter Asha Broetje Bairstow, who is almost 10, Jack Moffett and Glenn Cross from CFS. Our purpose was 1) to speak about servant leadership at two conferences , one in Kenya, the other in Uganda, with Partners Worldwide, a U.S based, international Christian NGO that partners North American businesspeople with entrepreneurs in the developing world, and 2)  make site visits to several projects of Vista Hermosa Foundation.

Days one and two of our trip were spent getting to Nairobi. We  checked into the Methodist Guest House and went to bed. But the next morning we headed out at 8am with Doug Seebeck, PWW  founder and E.D, along  with several of his staff, Tyler from U.S, Nana from Ghana (currently working in the U.S for PWW, and Martin, a Kenyan. These young professionals are at once  both highly skilled and committed to Christ.

We traveled to visit a number of Gitithia affiliates: business/ministries that are partnering with PWW to make products that benefit both producer and community.

• First stop: a family business that makes the African Handcrafted cooker. Its an insulated basket but acts much like a crock pot!! Boil rice for 5 minutes, for example, and put the pan in this covered  basket, and it will finish cooking. And, the food stays hot for 8 hours. This cuts way down on amount of fuel needed, hence resulting in a savings to the family. They sell about 30 baskets per month currently. They got this business up and running for a $700 loan from the affiliate, and paid it back in 6 months. 

• Next stop: We were taken to a house where 5 orphans are living, ages 6-11, one of whom is mentally challenged. The affiliate is supporting the youngest of the five in this family, and 30 orphans total (about 150 live in their community) with 300ks/month, about $ 4.30 USD. This buys some food which is shared among the siblings. This was a hard visit for us all, because the children live in this house alone.  The elderly woman who took them in, has raised 13 children of her own. She took  these kids in because their father was gone, and their mother went ‘mad’. When the old woman heard that the mother was in the act of preparing to sacrifice (kill) them, and had already removed all their clothing, (3 years ago), she brought them to her house. When her husband became sick last year they had to move, they let the kids live in their home and they found another one. Their son donated a cow, and so the kids cook, and milk the cow and get themselves to school each day. Their adopted ‘grandmother’ comes to see them on weekends. When we arrived it was a cool day (very cold for Kenyans, as this is their wintertime). All the kids had filthy clothes on with runny noses. They live on the rim of the Rift Valley. Apparently the ‘forest people’ from the valley recently robbed these children of their blankets.  We  spent much time in conversation over the dilemma between the benefit of them living in a community versus living in an orphanage.

• Next  stop: Circle of Light Energy Store: This  business charges  car batteries that are outfitted to charge a cell phone, or a light bulb that will give 3 hours of light for 28 days. The orphan family we visited had one of these, so they are able to read at night to do their homework.

• Next stop was a computer lab where PWW offers a course for their partners to learn to keep good records,  manage budgets and cash flow on computer.

• We also visited a small, but thriving family owned hotel/restaurant business.

The next day we attended the Kenya PWW conference at the Metropole Hotel, with about 70 leaders of affiliates in Kenya. Cheryl told the audience the story of Broetje Orchards, and spoke about the servant leadership work we do. Justus Wamalwa, a participant in our 2007 course in Kisumu, was invited to speak about how servant leadership has completely changed the way he thinks about evangelism.  He says he no longer does open air preaching in hopes of getting people saved and into church membership. Now, they just come to church on their own, because they see that their neighbors are finding real hope of having their needs met there.

He is one of 7 pastors in the Kisumu course who, at our challenge, came up with an income generating proposal which VHF later funded, in order to move their congregations towards self-sufficiency. He reported that he is just thrilled with their cow project. They are selling milk, and plan to give every other calf born to the most needy widow in their community. Now there are also several more groups in his church dreaming up new projects.  

The main purpose of this conference was to introduce a new book Doug has written, with a companion study guide: My Business: My Mission. Broetje Orchards in one of the stories included in this book.  PWW hopes their leaders will read these books with their cell groups (around 240) and learn from the experiences of others.

Sunday we drove south of Nairobi to Mlolongo, to visit the Heritage of Faith and Hope Children's Home, and their founders, Teresia and Joseph. This is also a PWW project which VHF has partnered with. Teresia owned a small butchery near a huge truck stop where poor women came to work as prostitutes. She watched as many children were being born who didn't attend school. She decided she had to do something. She sold enough meat, going door to door, to rent a tiny room to serve as a school 7 years ago. Today she has more than 200 kids, 70 of whom are orphans, from babies to college age. They are in the process of building new facilities at a safer location, on land the city has donated due to the constant threats of kidnappings and rape in that area.

We attended their worship service. As the children sang with passion: “We are one, we are family”, we visitors were given the privilege of taking turns holding 2 month old baby Joy, a girl they found lying in a field nearby…now the newest member of their family.

Monday we spent the entire day with Methodist Church Kenya at their new ministries center.  Since water is now being rationed, this affects their electricity as well. They are having to use a diesel generator at the cost of 56,000 ks every two days ($800 USD)! Between the famine, and the water shortage due to draught, their budget has been exceeded.  This has acted as a catalyst to their newest proposal to drill 10 boreholes in 10 communities at a cost of about 100,000USD per hole. The water will be piped to the small villages  in close proximity of each.

Another catalyst for this initiative has  come from Lemayian’s water project in Kajiado. Lemayian Tawuo was another participant in our Kisumu course. He developed a proposal to pipe water (first time ever) to about 40 families living in outlying areas, from a pipe that runs from Mount Kilimanjaro to a village close to where they live, We were able to visit Lemayian Monday afternoon. Everything is now in place for the project to be completed in about one month. They will also build a small home for a caretaker to provide 24/7 security of the water storage tank. The villagers will save in both time and money as a result of this project.

We noticed that the MCK is thinking about community development more these days…we received no proposals for the building of churches… It seems that the current crisis in Kenya and servant leadership….the desire to lead by serving the legitimate needs of those in your congregation/community is changing the way they think about development.

The presiding bishop also very proudly showed us their 2010 Standing Orders book from the annual conference in August, which includes a new servant leadership department! The P.B invited us to come to Kenya in January or February  of next year to facilitate a SL course for he and his administrative team in the conference office. We told him that we would like to work as a bi-national team this time, since we have already presented the course for about 10% of MCK pastors, several of whom we have sponsored for a masters course in servant leadership which is offered at Pan African University in Nairobi.  This program needs to be transferred and owned by Kenyans as soon as they are able. Although Kenya is now being accused of having the most corrupt government in East Africa, their vice president, Kolonzo Musyoka has publicly embraced the need for servant leadership. The P.B has invited him to open our course next year.

Tuesday we spent visiting several programs working in the slums. Humble Hearts serves deaf kids and their siblings, in “Sinai Paradise” where open sewers run down the middle of the small streets. They have completely outgrown their primitive buildings, and have been given a grant to build a home and school in a  newly developing suburb. We are told that deaf and handicapped children are considered cursed in Africa. They are abused and often abandoned or hidden away. 

We also visited a program called Mothers Concern. This program teaches poor mothers, many single and unskilled, how to make handcrafts that they can sell. We were shown beaded baskets, pins and necklaces. We bought several items.

Asha has been a hugely popular attraction everywhere we visit! Kids and adults alike just flock around her! Each day she is looking a little more African as she adds beads, bangles, purses, a giraffe wrap and a top in African print She brings the beautiful gifts of friendliness and cheerfulness.  It‘s a lot of fun being part of her entourage!

Wednesday we flew from Nairobi to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda.  It was both breathtakingly beautiful and deeply disturbing as we flew over the vast waters of Lake Victoria, with lush green grass and trees EVERYWHERE we looked. What a sharp contrast with Kenya’s current situation.  Since  Victoria is the largest fresh water lake in the world, it looks like an ocean.  It reminded me of flying into Vancouver, British Columbia, where we had just been a couple of weeks before coming here.  We were told that only ¼ of the land is arable in Kenya, while ¾ is arable in Uganda. 

However,  looks aren’t everything. This is also the land where, in the north of the country,  little boys and girls are taken from their homes to become boy soldiers made to kill their families or be killed as part of their induction to the Lord’s Resistance Army. Girls become servants and ‘wives’ of the leaders, bearing children at an early age. 

The next day at the Ugandan PWW conference, we met Marilyn, who lives in the north. She talked about how these children need extensive counseling if they get away from the army. And that isn't enough. They need to do the terribly hard work of forgiving themselves for what they have done. She told us that it must be a choice of the heart, to go the way of love rather than hate and violence. She was thankful for the work World Vision is doing in that area., which we were glad to hear about since VHF has been a partner with WV to fund their work in that region.

In Uganda, the dropout rate for children from primary school is 57%. According to a group called Education for All Global Monitoring, only 2% of Ugandan children attend preschool. Their 2009 report says that if 40% of children attended, it could result in a 13% school completion rate increase.

After Cheryl’s talk, we handed out a servant leadership  packet of resources and asked participants to gather in small groups to discuss the story of Leo. Then we facilitated  a time of feedback gathering their reflections. We believe that many seeds for more intentional servant leadership  have been planted here. Although many of these people are already carrying so many people besides themselves and their immediate family, we believe they could benefit from the intentional study of servant leadership, getting down its language, and incorporating both the theories and the actions of servant leadership into their community based initiatives.  This is a way to nurture a new kind of leader within these local grassroots business as ministry affiliates. 

We flew out of Kampala that evening and started the long journey home.