Missions of Hope: Mama Linet

I wanted to share this uplifting missions update out of Kenya. (Click on the highlighted title below, to read the post).

"Mama Linet" and little Linet.

Missions of Hope: Mama Linet: Hello friends, I was able to meet Mama Linet on Wednesday of this week. Mama Linet, is of the Luo tribe, like President Obama in USA. She ...

Dreams

All men dream but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity; but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dream with open eyes to make it possible.
T.E. Lawrence

"He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,
when deep sleep falls on people as they lie in their beds."
Job 33:15 (NLT)

As a child, I had dreams; lots of dreams and a vivid imagination.  Money and material things were in short supply in our household.  That meant my family didn't own a car among other things and we lived somewhat out of the city district of my small city. I had lots of time to myself each day during the school year, walking to and from school.  I remember walking through vast fields in Fall, Winter and Spring through all the seasons of the school year. My imagination came in handy.  I would hold conversations with my imaginary friends and keep myself company on the way to and from school.  It was a long and lonely walk, especially when I started junior high school and my brother was still in the elementary school so we had to take different routes.  Don't get me wrong.  I wasn't living in a fantasy world and "seeing" people that weren't there and believing that they actually existed.  I was simply imagining a different life; a life full of adventure and travel and exciting things.  I had no real idea of what I might do in future. I only knew that whatever happened, life would be better.  At the same time during these tender years, I was going to Sunday School.  I believed very much in God and looked forward to Sunday service as well as services during the week.   It was there that I was introduced to missions and to the continent of Africa. I even envisioned that one day God would send me to Africa  as a missionary.

Then life happened.  And indeed life was better. God gave me many rich experiences and blessed me in many ways. He enabled me to gain a university education, one of the few people in my extended family who has been blessed with a rich university education.  He also enabled me to travel and see many of the things that I always wanted to see.  However, I was very much tied to my family and the extended family and their needs.  Thoughts of Africa became a very distant memory and an almost forgotten one.  A place that I would see on television when it came time for public appeals for funds to assist drought stricken or poverty stricken places.  It seemed Africa was no  longer much on my mind.

It wasn't until much later that my dream of Africa came to life again. I can't explain exactly how it happened. Suffice to say it was a God thing. My latent dream of helping in Africa came back to life and I've never been more thrilled.  However, instead of going as a missionary who lives in Africa and raises funds to spread the gospel, I have a more modest calling.  One in which I've been involved for a few years now.  I've been helping widows and orphans in small villages in Kenya in various ways as God leads and provides. I've been to Kenya several times and have been able to help in a number of ways (food, education, medical, jiko stoves, planting).  Some of the work has been featured on this blog.

It gives me a great deal of pleasure to assist there and to assist directly those people who have needs.  I do work through pastors and lay leaders in the communities where I visit and through friends who are Christian.  My deepest desire is to "see" the aid reach the people who need it and to know that I am really making a difference in one person, or several persons' lives.


My God opened efforts have taught me too the real meaning of the biblical teachings on "giving" and "helping" the widows and the orphans. Scriptures like

"If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person?  Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth."

1 John 3:17 

and

 "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world." 

James 1:27

Although I got a late start in life in missions to Kenya, I know that with God there are no limitations and there is no such thing as impossible.  Through God's grace I pray that He grants me many more years and ability to do what I can and perhaps even to inspire others to join me.

I had gone to this village in Kenya to see first hand the jiko stoves I had made for some of the village women. We decided to do a food distribution as these were widows and it was close to Christmas.  There were many more woman than I expected.

We had purchased food for several stops at different villages to meet with widows and orphans but this first stop required much of the food we brought. The male leaders said we should not distribute more than we intended but I could leave this first group of women without food.  At my request, the pastor kept going back to the car to bring more food.  Somehow God made enough for the other stops we had. Kind of like the loaves and fishes story.

Everyone is making their way to where food has been prepared. We were invited also but due to the inclement weather and needing to make several more stops before the day's end, we couldn't join in the feast.

Sometimes I get overwhelmed with emotions when I think about where God brought me from and how much he has done for me. I can't even believe it myself sometimes. He has surely been with me all the days of my life.  I can't thank him enough for it.

I have burdens for others and sometimes those get overwhelming too.  It is those times when God lets me know that He is in charge and I need to trust in Him.

What are your dreams?

My blogging friend, Shanda Oakley has started a new meme called "On Your Heart Tuesdays" and this is the very first edition of it.  I do hope you've enjoyed my contribution and that you will join Shanda and others here in this new venture. Happy reading and sharing.

Chepkurbet Jiko Stove Project Continues (Part 3)

Hello readers and friends,

I began telling you about the Jiko Stove Project awhile back. If you would like to read more please look here and here.

You will remember perhaps that my friend Pastor Jonah hired two local women, Emily and Regina to make the jiko stoves. These women are so passionate about making the stoves and they do it with a lot of joy and gusto. They have to be strong to make these stoves but they are also very creative and I am so pleased and happy that they have been able to help us out in making this project come to life. 

Emily and Regina are working very hard on behalf of all the women in the villages.  They have worked so tirelessly and they have worked with gusto despite not being supervised. They have also taken it upon themselves to teach the other women how to care for these stoves. It is a true pleasure to have them working on this project and to see them take on the making of the stoves as their own project. The widow woman in the top photo wearing the blue t-shirt is Mrs. Irene Songony, the recipient of this particular stove.

Here you see the two ladies pounding the soil that will ultimately become the new stove.

Here the ladies are smoothing out what will become the bottom end of the new stove.

Here is a look at one of the new stoves. See how the ladies have made some decorative edges all around. they have also created shelves at the back of the stove.

A clearer view of the stove.

Here is a close up of the stove. You can see the spaces for the firewood and also see that the stove top has two holes for cooking pots. Both holes need to be covered even if you are only using one. Chances are you need two pots to boil water. One for tea and one for cooking the food.

The Jiko Stove project continues. We have a few stoves to make in a handful of villages but most of them will be made in Chepkurbet. I pray these stoves would be a wonderful blessing to the women and their families.  I praise God we can help widows through this project. May God abundantly bless them and help all the widows we are helping so that their life can be as God intended for them.  I hope to share some final pictures with you soon and a few words about the impact of this project on the husbands, in my next and final instalment in this series on the Jiko Stove Project.

I hope you are enjoying this project as much as I've enjoyed sharing about it. Please pray for these women who are building the stoves. Pray that they would be blessed beyond measure and that the recipients of the stoves will also feel a great blessing from God.

Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, [and] to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27

Slippers in My World

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Yesterday I was practising knitting a sleeping sock to wear instead of slippers.  But I got frustrated. No matter what I did, I kept goofing on my rib stitch pattern. After many tries, I gave up for the time being. I need to be able to concentrate on the stitches more so will wait until I am better rested.  This photo shows my progress to a certain point n the sock, but I've since unravelled it all and will try again another day.

Today I tried a new pattern for slippers rather than socks. This one requires me to cast on stitches in the middle of a project so I had to figure out how to do that. It took me awhile to find a satisfactory method and I can now do it! Yeah! But I will have to work on the actual knitting with more care. I made a model of it just so I know how the whole thing goes together.

Next, I will now focus on making this slipper and making the purled seams properly as well as the ribbing at the toe. This is a great little slipper; a classic pattern and once I get the hang of it, I can make it in several different sizes for the Kenyan orphans with the Missions of Hope.

Blue Doily, Blue Monday & Socks

I've been making doilies this past week. I finished the second one a few days ago and I simply love the turquoise blue colour. Though this pattern is called Pineapple Blossom and pineapples are yellow/gold when ripe, I think the turquoise thread really brings out the pattern nicely. If you would like, you can see my first doily here.

Next thing I am working on is my first pair of knitted socks. It seems like a simple pattern but I've started over and over again because I'm not used to knitting a rib stitch. I'm working it in a 2x2 knit and purl rib stitch (or at least the first part of it) and I keep goofing. Unravelling the stitches and picking them up again took a little getting used to and I don't unravel all my mistakes. If I can make the first sock, the next one will be much easier. That is always how it goes for me.

I'm hoping to make some of these socks as sleeping socks (instead of slippers) for some of the orphan children near Kericho, Kenya. Many of them don't have adequate blankets and I think the socks will help to keep them warm at night, especially in their winter months.  Socks are easier to ship than afghans or quilts, especially when you want to send a lot.  If I have funds, I prefer to wire funds so that blankets and mattresses can be purchased there by the leadership.  This helps the local economy and also saves a fortune on shipping costs.

If you would like to help with these needs by sending funds or hand made goods, please let me know.  Perhaps you even have a group of women you know who would be pleased to get together to make things and raise funds to ship them to Kenya. I'd be happy to put you in touch with the leadership.

For more blue Monday, click here.

Savings in April

The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof; 
the world, and they that dwell therein.

Psalm 24:1 KJV

Some of you read my post on saving money in March. If you haven't already and you would like to read it, you can do so here.  I wasn't going to do another post about savings this month but I had a couple of really great cost savings and I wanted to share.

Over the weekend I was lamenting the bare freezer and lack of meat in it for my roommate who eats a lot. Also the coffers were quite bare and wouldn't take much of a hit. There was virtually nothing on sale last weekend meat-wise or food wise. Since I've been sick with cold all week I didn't have much time to address my mind to how to solve this problem. Well God is good.

After reviewing last weekend's flyers and finding nothing, I was so blessed this week to find chicken on a great sale. Chicken legs (drumstick and thigh) were on sale for $1.00 a pound. This is a virtually unheard of price so I sent my roommie off to the store to bring home about 33 pounds of chicken.

This has now all been re-packaged into servings for two and there are also 3 larger packages for making larger dinners ahead of time or for inviting someone over.  Altogether I counted 20 packages of chicken.  Tomorrow we may get more to fill up the rest of the freezer.  This protein source will be supplemented with pulses like chick peas, navy beans and kidney beans and a few other meats like minced beef and a bit of pork.

On the top and bottom are the bags of chicken, red items on the right are bags of buckwheat to put on tired muscles, bags of ice and frozen fruit for smoothies on far left.

Normally, I try to make oat porridge and this month I have added Cream of Wheat to the stocks.  But I also like to have cold cereals on hand for those days when I want a change. I was able to purchase these two boxes of cereal (below) for $2.99 each. This is a savings of almost $3.00 per box of cereal.  The box of cheerios is made of whole grain wheat and the bran flakes are full of fibre.  For other wheat type products I hope to buy 5 kg. of flour for $6.99.

Flour as well as many other staples like meat have really soared in price over the last many months. I don't know exactly when it happened but it is certainly noticeable at the food stores.  Sometimes the cost of steak, chicken, and other meats/fowl is more than double to what it was selling for over the summer even.  Flour has also doubled in price so I do not buy it unless it is on sale. I remember when I could purchase 10 kg. of flour for about $10.99 and you now pay that for half the amount of flour. Has this happened where you live too?  I think it is a world wide phenomena. I'd heard that pasta prices were going up long ago due to the cost of wheat and semolina flour much of which comes from Canada but I don't know how the prices have increased in other countries as a result.

I like having fresh fruit on hand but always look for it on sale. Here is a box of clam shell strawberries for $2.98 (I often get them for $2.50 a box) and a bag of red grapes for $2.45. I won't pay more than $1.99 per pound of grapes and they don't come often at this price. I got these ones for $1.50 per pound. Perhaps I should have bought a bit more and freeze some for snacks. They are good cold. Have you ever eaten them that way?

I like avocados in a vegetable sandwich or in a salad and in home made guacamole though I haven't made the latter in a long time. I thought 3 avocados for $2.00 was a fantastic buy as they are often $1.50 per avocado.

 

I also got 5 large lemons for $2.00. I like using lemons in cooking and in adding to tea or coca cola to cut the sweetness. Other good deals this week were two packages of chocolate chips for $2.50 per package.  These will be great for making cookies and/or squares. Another good deal was a small package of dry salt pork for $1.78 for the next time I want to make baked beans.

I was also able to replenish paper towels at 6 rolls (70 sheets per roll) for $4.99.  I prefer at least 80 sheets per roll but you get what you can, when you can. Toilet paper stock was added to by purchasing 12 double rolls of 270 sheets per roll. This paper cost about $5.99 on sale and is made from recycled paper.

In surfing the websites I like to frequent, I was directed to this video and this short, thought-provoking article entitled "Are You an Over-Buyer or an Under-Buyer".  I enjoyed it a lot and thought you might too so you can find it here.  I know I am most certainly an over-buyer which is why I have clutter. I like to be prepared for all things and sometimes take it a little too far. As the woman says, one "type" is not better than the other. We each have our challenges and I am trying not to overbuy where it isn't necessary.

In my earlier post on savings I mentioned that I hadn't yet got around to seeking a reduced interest rate on my credit cards.  Well I did get up the effort this month on one card.  The bank agreed and brought down my interest from 12.99 percent to just under 6%. Can you believe it? That is more than a 50% reduction in interest rate and I could have had it much sooner. I hadn't realized until I made the call that I was on a fixed interest rate, not a variable one. I feel blessed for having found this out. While I know that interest rates are intended to go up, it is not likely to affect this credit card rate anytime soon. At least I will have some breathing room on the interest accruing on the unpaid balance.

I added about $2.80 to the Snowflake Jar Fund. When it reaches $200.00 I hope to help a woman entrepreneur in Kenya to expand her business by giving her a loan. Once she pays back the fund, it will be re-loaned to another woman and so on. The challenge will be to find women who can benefit from a loan this small as Kenya is fast becoming a very expensive country.  This will be my little contribution to helping women in the developing world.  I'd love to have you join me in this if it is something you would be interested in. Write me and I can tell you more.

Kibet and I are Very Excited

Hello friends,

This is just a short praise report to let you know that a little boy named Kibet was able to get some medical help for his leg.

I first saw Kibet a few weeks ago in a story here . I was able to send some funds and get this little boy and his family some much needed help.

Kibet was very excited, and he could not hide his joy as my pastor friend took him sandals to keep his feet dry and clean and also a blanket to keep warm.

It brought my friends Jonah and Thomas a lot of joy to help this poor family get basic things that some of us take for granted, like doctor visit and medicine for his foot, sandals to keep feet clean and dry, a blanket to keep warm at night and a small treat of fresh oranges.

[Caption: Brother Thomas checks over the oranges for the children.]

[Caption: The children are enjoying the oranges and the blanket.][Caption: The children say goodbye to my friends .][Caption: This little girl also needs to see a doctor]

Please pray for Pastor Jonah and Brother Thomas as they move one step at a time to help these dear ones. A few dollars can be stretched to meet more needs.

Thanks for your continued prayers.
and if you can help please click here