KENYA 2011 - FEB.

Sorry that we changed the location of the blog for this trip from here to our website:
http://www.thenaz.org/blog
All is going well! Thanks for your prayers! - Crystal

Days 14 & 15 - Final Days!

Hi everyone, this post will have to be short and won't have much detail and I apologize. We've been so busy and were running out of time! Friday went pretty good, it was exam day for the students and then all of the teachers buckled down to get them graded by the end of the night. So nothing to exciting just lots of packing and grading. Today (Saturday) we went to the Masai Market which was quite the experience. It'll be more fun to tell everyone about that in person! I just want you all to know that we are doing good and are getting ready to head to our last meal here at ANU and then heading to the airport. We really appreciate all of those who have followed along with us on our journey and really really appreciate all of your prayers and support! We have loved our time here in Kenya, it was a life changing experience and I think all of us hope to return one day! We shall see you all soon!!

Day 13 - Last Day of Classes

Good morning everyone! Well our day today began with an amazing devotion in chapel by Cliff. This man sure has a way with words and he is so good at relating scripture in the bible to our lives. Such an inspiring person! In his devotion he shared with us the very well known verse ask and it will be given to you, seek and you will find, knock and the door will be open or if he were talking to his computer class he would say ask, seek, click. He’s inspiring and funny! The students and faculty enjoyed his devotion very much and he truly did a great job. We all also got a kick out of the worship they did before the devotion. They sang a worship song about spreading God’s word through all the nations (or tribes) and then the lead singer would call out different tribes. Like I said before, the worship here is always exciting and in this particular song each tribe has a different “dance” move for the chorus. So as he said each individual tribe the students would dance to the song the way their people would. This was so fun! So of course when he said Muzungu (white person) Ken would do the disco. This was a great way for the students to relax because exam phobia had kicked in already and you could feel the tension in the air. After chapel Melanie and Art taught their morning classes which mainly consisted of reviewing with the students for the exams. Mel also took her class to the computer lab to begin research for the term paper they must right by October 15th. I accompanied the class and I was glad I did, because unfortunately 85% of the class had no idea how to research online! Yet here they are expected to write 4 of these term papers, one for each class, by October 15th and they are so confused. I helped as much as I could and I think they are feeling a little bit better now. Of course they have our emails and they can contact us any time and we will gladly help them! Being in the lab with my students gave me a glimpse of what Cliff, Brett, and James face every day with the students in their computer class. The afternoon classes were similar with all of the teachers basically reviewing in their own way with the students. Cliff went the extra mile and his class left around 6pm for dinner, and then he met them back at the computer lab at 8pm to keep helping them so that they would be ready for their exam. If there is one teacher here that went the extra mile it is Cliff. All of our teachers did so great with their classes and the relationships built will last for quite some time. Between morning and afternoon classes we were honored to join the Vice Chancellor and a few other members of the faculty for a private lunch in one of their conference rooms. It was so neat listening to them speak about their visions for ANU with us. They want to continue to partner with us and our teachers to help build their school and curriculum, I got the since that this helped pave the way for a long relationship with ANU and I am so excited! After afternoon classes we had a wonderful dinner prepared by the lovely chef, Fred, and we were joined by the other two teams that are here working at ANU. And to my surprise I was spoiled again! Ken walked around the counter to “whisper” with Chef and I could tell by his goofy smile they were up to something. Then they came out from behind the counter and everyone started singing happy birthday. Chef had made a beautiful light green cake in the shape of a heart with cream writing and decoration saying Happy Birthday Ashley with the number 21. He is such a sweet person I will never forget him. (Here in Kenya celebrating birthdays isn’t something they really do, and making cake is abnormal so this made me feel so special, again!) I thanked him and my group for all of the birthday celebrations and we shared the cake with everyone in the room. We then had devotion which Brett had lead. He chose to share 1 John 215: 15. He expressed how it meant that we should not love the world but love our God. We thought that this fit perfectly with our trip, which is what this is all about, loving our God and sharing his love with everyone. It was a great ending to our day; of course we followed it up with some scoop scum and then headed to bed. That night I know that our students were in our minds, we had all prayed for them that the Lord would be with them and that they would feel at ease. We also heard a little bit from the group in South Africa, they are doing well and all is going great. Thank you for your continued prayers and for following along with our journey!

Richard Says Hello!

Hi again, one thing I forgot to mention in yesterdays (Wednesdays) blog is that we have run into Richard a few times. For those who don't know our church (BNC) has provided him with a scholarship to study theology here at ANU. He is so grateful for all the church has done for him and he sends all of his love. He gave us a card to bring home and read to everyone. He and his family are doing very well. I saw him again today and he is studying hard for his exams!! We are hoping to spend some more time with him before we leave but with exams on Friday that may be tough. Like I said he sends his love and thanks and appreciates all our church is doing for him! I am so proud of our church, I know it's hard sometimes for everyone to imagine the impact we are having here in Kenya at Ewasso and at ANU but I PROMISE all of the dedication, prayers, and giving from our church is blessing the lives of many! Our God is so good and I know he is proud of all we are doing!

Day 12 - A Sense of Relief

Good morning! Thank you for taking the time to check in and see how the group is doing. Today we began with our normal routine of breakfast, chapel with the students, and then off to class for the morning teachers. But as usual, a day here at ANU is never normal! There is always something that happens that makes us stop and say “wow, thank you God.” Let me start with my day in Mel’s class. Today was my birthday; I get to say I turned 21 in Kenya! The student’s knew it was my birthday so I had no idea what they had planned. After being in the class for about two minutes I sat down to begin the blog and they started singing “Happy Birthday” to me. It was the sweetest thing and their voices are so amazing! Then they proceeded with the “how old are you,” and “May the Lord bless you,” and one girl ended by singing, “we went to the zoo, we saw a monkey, was it you?” They love to joke around with me and the feeling is mutual, I told them that “yes” of course the monkey was me and they all laughed. Then throughout the class they continued to spoil me with gifts. Each time I got tears in my eyes, because I know how little some of the students have, and the sacrifices they have to make just to come to ANU. I couldn’t believe that they would be thinking of me, and what they could give to me! Even though I missed my family, I had never felt more loved than by the students in Mel’s class. Art and Diane had a special day as well. After Art taught his morning class and him and Diane ate a quick lunch, they left for the evening. They went to the Kenya National Theatre Conservatory of Music where Art had been invited to sing three songs, and then give a lecture on the care of the professional voice. His audience consisted of voice students, professional speakers, and 20 international students who were the children of the U.S. Embassy employees. At the end of it all he was applauded, asked many questions, and also asked for an encore. He also made some big contacts including the director of the Nairobi Chamber Choir, who is also the director of Cultural Affairs and Planning for the U.S. Embassy. Diane was of course along for the ride as she as always, beautifully plays, the piano to accompany Art’s songs. As for back in the classrooms here at ANU, Dave had a good day. He has one student who had been struggling for quite some time with the complicated math and yesterday it all seemed to just click for her and she is feeling comfortable about the exam. Dave also spoke with Mary Ooko who is the Department Head of Distance Education, she was a big help in our beginning confusion when we arrived and has been one of our “go to” people ever sense. She told Dave that she has had nothing but positive remarks about our team from the students and other faculty, and that they are so thankful we came. In Cliff’s computer class there is still some struggle with lack of resources. Unfortunately the class always seems to be one computer short, and with the frequent power outages, and slow network it is hard for them to finish the tasks he is trying to teach them. Please continue to uplift Cliff and his class, Cliff is worried for his students because he wants them to learn all they can about the computer but they keep running into conflicts. James and Brett as his assistants are feeling the same struggles. However Brett had a nice moment with one of his students today. He had been helping her type an email and he walked away to help another student, when he returned to check on that particular student she had emailed him saying “you have been such a great help to me over the past week, and have spent so much time helping me individually. I thank God for you.” This obviously made him feel very special and he knew that all of the frustrations were worth it. Daphni is still enjoying her time assisting in a variety of classes. Her bonds with the students continue to grow each day, saying goodbye will be hard. Ken’s class is going well also. He was so grateful today to finally feel a sense of relief. I know most of the teachers felt the same on this particular day because Thursday was going to be a day of review for the final exam and then Friday was exam day. All of the pressures were for the most part off of the teachers and all of the planning and organizing of lessons was at an end. Aside from helping their students prepare as best they could the hardest parts of the class were over. Ken also shared with us at devotion how he feels Africa needs more engineering programs. Some of the students are learning these complicated math skills along with other things but they have nowhere to apply them. He came up with the idea to help ANU create an engineering program so that in the future, students would be able to gain all of the skills of an engineer and have a use for them so that Africa can use these students to build up their technology and advance in many ways as other countries have. You can tell he has a big heart not only for ANU but for the country of Kenya and Africa itself. One more story I must share with you is from Melanie’s class, this is heartbreaking and it really opens your eyes to the struggles students here face. One of her students very cautiously pulled her aside on their break. Towards the beginning of the trip he had shared with her how where he and his family lives is a dangerous place and there is always lots of tribal violence going on. He proceeded to tell her that on Monday, the very first class of our two week session his family had been attacked in the night. As far as we know everyone was ok but it was very hard for him and his family, as you can imagine! Then he got really quiet, and he asked Mel if she remembered how after our safari she shared with the class how she was able to use something that allowed her to see the animals from a distance (her binoculars). The student said that you can’t always prevent the attacks but the two best things you can have to protect your family is a gun, and something to see them coming. Almost as if he couldn’t say it he asked Mel if she would just consider giving him her binoculars. All he wanted her to do was think about it, and she immediately took hold of his hands and told him she didn’t need to think about it, that they were his. This brought tears to our eyes. This particular student has been the leader for our class always helping the other students and explaining things so that they could understand them. Not once has he been late or missed a class, yet all of this was going on at home. Again this reminds us of the sacrifices these students make to come to school, and it blows our minds the things they have to deal with on top of these intense courses. Like I said there is never a normal or dull day for us here at ANU, we are awestruck by the people here and their love of God and determination to get an education. After dinner Art treated us with a devotion on having faith and it was one that fit perfectly in with our group. Our entire trip has been a learning experience where each day there were things we just didn’t know what to expect, but if we were to let our worry and fear take over we never would have had the outcomes we have had from this trip. Then to my request since I was still playing off being “birthday girl” I asked if we could all play a round of scoop scum and of course the group was up for it. This was another amazing day here at ANU and we again had that sense that God has had his hand in everything on this trip. Every bit of confusion, misunderstanding, and lack of communication was all a part of his plan and we couldn’t have asked for anything different!

Day 11 - A Fun Night Out

Hi everyone! It is hard to believe that we are almost done with our classes, it is bittersweet. After todays class we have two more and then it is time for final exams. Our Tuesday began just like every other week day, we had our always delicious breakfast made by chef and then we went to chapel. As always, chapel was full and people were standing all around to hear what was being said. After chapel the morning teachers (Art and Mel) and their assistants headed to their classes, while the rest went to their rooms to prepare for afternoon classes. Art’s U.S. History class is still enjoying learning about our history and all of the knowledge he has to share with them. In Mel’s class, the students did some of the teaching themselves. Mel gave them a question in groups and they presented to each other. These are some of the most intelligent students I have ever met! Listening to them work together to make sure everyone understands is so rewarding, they truly care about one another’s success. The afternoon classes went well also. In Diane’s children’s literature class there is always fun to be had, and today in Dave’s class Ken came and spoke a little bit. In Cliff’s computer class the students continue to embrace the new skills they are learning that will help them advance in the future. The teachers for the afternoon classes let their students out a little early so we could have an early dinner. We met for dinner and then immediately loaded up on a University bus to head out for the evening. The team decided to go out for ice cream at Java House for an early birthday celebration for myself. If I may, I have to share the fun that we had this evening. When we got there, we all placed our orders and then Mel and I left for a second. When we returned Ken and Art were gone and I had asked where they went? I had ordered a brownie sundae and they were out of brownies so when Ken found out he set out on a mission to find me a brownie. When he returned he had a large piece of cake and he proceeded to somehow stick 21 individual candles on it and light them all. Everyone sang happy birthday and blew their very loud noise makers. As embarrassing as it was I was so thankful for Ken and the group and everything they did for me that evening. I felt like a very lucky girl and it made me somewhat feel like I was back at home with my family. We all then enjoyed our delicious shakes and sundaes, and then headed back to ANU. We were delighted and honored to have Don Gardner join us for our night out at Java House, it was nice to catch up with him and learn how his travels were going. He is one busy man! I forgot to mention this earlier in the week, but we had also received a text from Evie Gardner about how Crystal and the Radically Changed team were doing in South Africa. At one of their recent assemblies they had over 1,500 people in attendance!! Some of the group included Muslims and people of other religions. They said it was an amazing opportunity to share their testimonies and worship with all of these people. They know God is with them and that he will bless all they are doing on this trip. Please continue to keep them in your prayers as well. God has been blessing us with every moment on this trip, we are so thankful for the opportunities we are presented with each day. Thank you for all of your prayers and for checking in on how we are doing, it is nice to know the love and support we have back at home!

Day 10 - Back At Home (ANU)

After arriving home Sunday evening we all headed our own ways to prepare for Mondays classes and then off to bed we went. After a night of much needed sleep, the group met for breakfast and then off to chapel we went. Each day before class our group has been attending the University’s morning chapel. These sessions are inspiring! They begin with worship which is always so alive and full of energy. Each morning by the time worship is over the chapel is so full, there are always students standing. It is amazing to see the love the students here have for God. Attending chapel is not mandatory, and it means getting up earlier. Yet every morning the building is overflowing with students and faculty praising the Lord. After a stimulating message and announcements we were dismissed to class. Classes were pretty routine for everyone. Coming back to ANU and jumping into classes felt like a normal thing for the entire group. We have that feeling that this is home. In Diane’s children’s literature class, the students are always conversing and interacting with her and each other to further their knowledge. On this particular day she had them playing a game that had been so much fun, their laughter was heard by her husband, Art, across campus! Art’s U.S. History class is finishing up WWII. The student’s are always so interested to learn about our history. Yet each day there is always a tough question that they have for Art. Today’s question was about the prison system in America. The student’s were wondering if people are paid to go to prison, and if they get to watch T.V. while in prison? Like I said they always have very challenging questions but Art handles them brilliantly, the differences in our cultures are always discussed in his course so it is educational both for him and his student’s. Let’s just say there is never a dull moment in history! On a side note of WWII, we learned on our trip through the gorgeous Rift Valley, that the road we took was built during that particular war. And there was a small church that we passed that had been built by the Germans and Italians. This church was built specifically during the war for them to pray in before they went off to battle. In Cliff’s computer class, again the student’s always want to know more. He had one student stay a half hour late in his class to have some one on one time with him. It is so encouraging to know that there are over 100 students taking this basic computer course. (Cliff teaches 1/3 of them) Once they gain computer skills, they will have the ability to go out and share their knowledge with their own students. Think of the impact this will have over time! Cliff unfortunately continues to struggle with power outages. The power goes out frequently here and when it goes out so do the computers. This poses a struggle especially when they are in the middle of an assignment. But with the guidance of Cliff, and Brett and James Joslin the students are learning skills that will help them progress along with the rest of the students in our technology based world. In Dave’s math class he is enjoying his two students. He is currently working on teaching them vectors, and ironically the one student is a High School math teacher who teaches his students vectors in Form 9 (grade 9). Dave found it funny that he was teaching a student about vectors, when this student already knows more than he does on this topic. It works well though because the other student has not learned them yet so they help each other. Ken is enjoying his class as well. The marketing skills the students are learning are going to allow them to have the knowledge to become successful in many things. In Mel’s class she continues to build strong relationships with her students. They are learning so much from her experiences throughout her career and when you walk in the room you can sense the deep respect they have for her as a person and an educator. I know that she hopes that everything she is sharing with them they will use to impact the lives of their special needs children, and I know deep down they truly will. I am also enjoying being her assistant. My relationship with the students grows each day as well. I promised them I would have their names memorized and I finally do! The students here at ANU are truly some of the most intelligent and sweetest people we have ever met, and you can see their love for God is so important to them. Many of them ask questions about coming to the U.S. They want to know what the people are like, and what our culture is like in general. My biggest fear is that as Kenya becomes more and more modernized and materialistic like our country has become, that they will lose the wonderful love of God they have now. Tonight in our devotional, Daphni shared the verse James 2:5. This verse talked about being monetarily rich, but poor in spirit and in faith. Unfortunately our country seems to be focusing on material wealth instead of finding riches in the word and in God. I have not met a single person here in Kenya who was not smiling and verbally thankful for everything that they have, even when what they have is so little. Even Chief John, who sleeps two hours a DAY is no doubt about it thankful for everything he has. And they all believe that their blessings are from God. How amazing would it be if our country could be like that again, that no matter how much or how little we have, we are undoubtedly grateful for everything, and we knew that we owed all of our thanks and praises to the Lord. As we all know, nothing is possible without the Lord, and we owe all of our successes to him!