Serving At all Costs

Alright, so I am super inconsistent with this blogging thing....sorry about that, but I appreciate all of you who regularly check to see if I have posted!!

It has been an interesting week. We got three new volunteers from California last Sunday afternoon. Mari (who was here the first day I got here) she is here until April 16th. She is super cool and has an amazing heart and desire to follow Jesus!! She brought her Pastor and his wife along with her; Dan and Tasha. They are leaving on Monday already, but they are super easy to get along with and we have had a blast this week, I will definitely be sad when they have to leave.

Since I have been here, there have been 11 different volunteers here with me, and another one is coming sometime next week. It has been so cool to have these different people in my life, because I get to get to know people from different walks of life. It has also been very interesting realizing the difference between Christian believers and non. I have appreciated conversations with each volunteer, but at the same time there is something special about having other volunteers who love Jesus and can encourage me (like the three right now). The four of us have had some amazing conversations and they have encouraged me soooo much. I definitely take community and fellowship for granted, because at home I am surrounded by, and in fellowship with, believers several times a week. And here I have gone through times where none of the volunteers are believers, and it is totally different!! This is one of the things I am thanking God for right now.

Updates:

• Cathy is back at Happy Life!! She looks super healthy, and she even has chubby cheeks now :)
• There are no babies in Isolation now, Praise God!!
• One little boy though isn't doing well. He is about three years old and he has a rectal prolapse. The poor guy won't eat and he will barely drink. I will try to find out his name, because I don't remember. Please send up a chorus of prayers for him. He will be well in Jesus' name!!!!
• The building project at Juja Farm is going slowly but surely. I have been giving your donations to Peter a little bit at a time (as I have a limit at an ATM that I can withdrawal). This money will be going towards the Juja Farm project, and before I leave I hope to be able to be involved in using the money to purchase the needed supplies!! I am excited about that so that I can report back home and say what exactly your donations were used for.
• The rainy season is definitely here, but it isn't what I expected. I thought it was rainy all day every day, because that is what Google makes it sound like. But in reality, it rains at night then is cloudy in the morning then it gets sunny, then it rains again, then it gets sunny again. So there is still sun during the day!!!

There are only 32 days left of this journey for me, which is super crazy!! I am very thankful that I didn't plan only a two month mission because that would mean I would be heading home soon and I am not ready to go. This place feels like home, which is a God given blessing :) This past week has been full of business outside the orphanage because Dan and Tasha are here for only a short time so I have been showing them around to a few places. Today I was planning on going to Liuba's house (the nurse) to learn how to make mandazi (pretty much rollkuken!!) but I realized yesterday that I miss the babies and being here with them. I decided to stay at Happy Life today to feed the babies and play soccer with the older kids. I might even paint some of the little girl's nails :) I love the fact that I feel like I should be here. This past week I have gone to Victorious-Joy School/Children's Home and back to Kicheko Slum in Mlolongo and don't get me wrong I enjoy visiting there, but I know that God has called me here to Happy Life for this time.

Several times this week I have felt very overwhelmed with the need here. There are so many different organizations and orphanages and projects going on. Some to help kids, some to help people with HIV/Aids some to educate children, and the list goes on. It breaks my heart how many people suffer here. It is a different kind of suffering here than at home though. Lots of people (maybe not all) at home are in a homeless or jobless situation because of choices that they have made or because of laziness. Here, there are so very many people who are born into a bad situation and can't get out. When I go visit these places I feel a tug at my heart to give money or help to them, but at the same time, I can't give to everyone!! It is hard for me to visit them and not help them, you know?? I know God has a plan for these organizations, and they are all awesome, but it is hard to see. Not gonna lie, there are lots of these organizations that are not faith based and that surprises me. It makes me wonder why the church isn't doing more?! Why do we stay at home in our comfortable lives when God could call us to live an amazingly radical life, but we are just too scared to accept it?! I know God calls people to be the supporters of missionaries at home, and that not everyone is called to be a missionary.

Are we really doing everything that God is calling us to do??

Are we seeking Him every day??

Are we asking Him to guide and direct our lives no matter what the cost??

Do we love Him enough to pick up our crosses and follow Him??

 

Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." ~ Luke 9:23-24

Slum {Sluhm}:

noun: a squalid and overcrowded urban street or district inhabited by very poor people

 

 

What is a slum to you?? When you think of their living conditions, what do you envision?? When you think of what they wear, what do you see?? I challenge you to grab a pen and paper and write down what YOU picture when the word slum comes to mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

On Thursday March 14^th 2013 I visited Kicheko Slum in Mlolongo, which is south east of Nairobi. I had no expectations going in, in fact I didn’t think too much about what it would look like. I can tell you though, it shocked me. This first picture is of new apartments going up about three hundred metres from the entrance to the slum and picture two is the entrance. It was quite ironic to me, because of all the money that goes into these buildings, and yet the slum across the street has no electricity or running water…

 

 

 

LPM -- Living Positive Mlolongo

LPM is an organization seeking to improve the lives of women and families suffering from HIV/AIDs through income generating programs, education, and more.

One of the slums they work closely with is Kicheko; home to anywhere from 5,000 to 10,000 people, it is hard to count.

These are two groups of kids in "classrooms" in a makeshift daycare/school.

Most parents in a slum would never even entertain the idea that their child should or could go to school.

LPM is trying to get these kids sponsored so that they can go to grade school.

The sad part is, lots of parents won't let their child be sponsored because they feel like the child should be at home to help with things.

This is something I would ask you to pray for; that the parents would understand the value of education for their children.

This beautiful woman is Penina :)

For the last seven years she has lived with HIV.

She has four children, only one of which was born after she found out she has HIV.

Her husband is an alcoholic, who isn't home all the time.

The six of them live in a room that is about 8' x 10' (pictured below).

They have one bed, a couch, two chairs and a desk.

I think she must cook outside because there was no room for a kitchen.

 

  

 

 

 

 

You could call this the "main street" of the slum I suppose...There are shops and houses down here as well and kids, sheep and chickens. It was crazy to see how these people live. There is garbage everywhere and we went on a day that was very rainy and so the whole place was a mud slop. This was with one day of rain, imagine what it is like in April when it rains every single day!! And yet the floors of the homes that we visited were spotless, because the woman who are involved in the program are proud of their homes and want to be presentable when guests come. I realize now, that this picture doesn't even show how muddy it actually was, but my flip-flops were actually getting stuck in the mud

(not the best choice of footwear, btw).

The picture on the left here is kind of hard to explain. Just past the kitten there is a doorway on the lefthand side; this is a woman's home.

But down the way on the right hand side are three other rooms which she wants to rent out, I think. So I am standing at the gate of the "gated community" as they called it, looking in.

The picture on the right is their garden...LPM has some fundraising to do and they want to use this garden to grow veggies to sell. Their ultimate goal with this fundraising is to bring tourists for day visits to this slum. While at the slum the tourists will learn how to cook, wash, do crafts, make jewlery, that sort of thing. The reason for this is that LPM wants to help these families earn money from the things that they make and sell. I'm still not too sure where I stand on this idea though, honestly, because a part of me feels like it becomes a "gawking" session, but on the other hand, it will definitely help these families earn an income. As you can see, their houses and buildings are made of scraps of tin and wood, which isn't exactly rain proof...I couldn't imagine living there on a sunny day, nevermind a rainy day in April. 

 

 

 I feel like these shoes symbolize their need. If this pair of shoes could tell its story, I bet some of us wouldn't want to stick around to hear it.

 

I was awed at the amount of garbage lying around and in piles. Where I live, Roysambu, there is a lot of garbage and it smells....turns out it is nothing like this.

A mom hard at work. No need to waste any time chasing a child around!! This way you always know where he is :)

Kenyan Slum Facts:

• There are a total of 15 slums regions in Nairobi
• In Kenya over 4 million people live in slums
• 71% of people living in urban areas in Kenya are living in slums
• Average monthly rent in most slums is 700 shillings
• equivalent to $8.35 cdn with today's exchange rate

I hope you have enjoyed seeing into a slum, as much as is possible. I would like you to look back and compare the thoughts you wrote down to the pictures you saw. How do your perceptions differ from my photos and explainations?? I would LOVE to hear your first answers as well as your final thoughts. My goal, when I get back home, is to try and make more people aware of the reality of poverty. If I can have your thoughts and stories, it would help me a lot in the future. Comment them if you would like others to read it or simply email me at rachelbergen_13@hotmail.com. I hope you accept my challange!! :)

 

 I know for me, any previous pictures I had in my head, are now replaced with {reality}. It is a totally different world than the one we live in and I am seeking God with how I can make people aware of this. If you think of it, please pray the I would be confident in knowing what God's plan is for me when I return home. I feel like, now that I have seen this kind of poverty if I don't do something or at least attempt to make people aware I am living in ignorance and I simply cannot do that.

 

Thank you for reading and pondering my photos. Love you all!!

 

Rach :)

Clinic Visit

Hello!!

On Tuesday night, I was awake a lot of the night with a terrible stomach ache and feeling like I was going to throw up every 5 seconds. It was awful. Now it wasn't the same pain I had on Sunday, that one went away, but now it had moved to my stomach. Wednesday morning I decided to go to the clinic just down the road to see what was wrong because I have been sick for two weeks on and off with all different sorts of symptoms. I was at the clinic around 10:45am and I was out by 2:30 ish. They discovered that I have a UTI (urinary tract infection) which is caused by mild food poisoning. They tested for malaria as well, which I do not have!! They are also going to check for any water-borne diseases at a later date. Thank you for praying for me during this time. I was struggling to hear what God was telling me to do. I didn't know if I should go to the clinic or if I should just keep praying for healing. I was very confused, but I think I made the right choice. It absolutely sucks being sick here. There are so many things that I want to do here, but it is hard when I feel sick. I think I have been more sick here in the last seven week then I have been at home in the last year...it is horrible. But I am learning to trust God in these things, and work through the pain.

On a completely different note; the rainy season seems to have started early!! Usually it only starts a little ways into April, but here we are in the middle of March and it is cloudy. And when it rains it pours!! The babies have been pretty good lately and I am getting to know the babies in infant B a bit more. They are super funny because they all have different personalities!! AAAAND....I got to name a baby!! I named him Erik :) cuz I am that cheesy!! He is super chunky and cute.

Today Elise, Madi and I are going to a slum. I think it will be a good experience, but I have no expectations because I have no idea what to expect. I will be posting about it and some pictures tomorrow sometime, so please look back for those!!

May the Lord bless you today and always :)
Love: Rach

Pictures Finally

 

 

 

 

 

So I was thinking today, and I have taken tons of pictures but I havn't posted very many!!

Here are a few that I have taken. I hope this helps you see what I see :)

Enjoy!!

 

 

This is called the "Playpen" where the toddlers and young kids play during the day.

Sometimes I go in there and sit with them and hold them if they cry. Some of the kids are quite mean and beat on each other :( so I try to stop that the best that I can.

 

A couple of weeks back, I had the chance to visit a different orphanage/school.

(I mentioned it in one of my posts a while back)

These two pictures are from there. The kids were supposed to be in class, but all they wanted was for me to take their pictures over and over again!! It was quite funnny.

 

These are some of the babies from Infant A. On warm sunny days they get to lay outside for a little while to enjoy some Vitamin D!! Some of them don't appreciate it too much...

 

This is how bananas grow!!! I was pumped :)

 

This is baby Micah who is with Jesus now.

I miss the little guy, but I know Jesus' lap is a way better place for him!!

 

 And this is baby Cathy, who is currently in the hospital with pneumonia.

Please send up prayers for her!! She is getting worse every day.

This is my buddy Tendai!! He is super cute.

And on the right side, you can see formula cans, a thermos and bottles. I spend a lot of my day at this table!! It has come to the point where the "moms" will ask me to go in and start the feed until they can get there, it is great!! Today I fed the entire Infant B room by myself (it was quick because most of them hold their own bottles) but it is cool that they trust me that much!! There are definitely lots ofthe moms that I have gotten close with, and it will be sad to leave them.

These big eyes belong to Jayden  :)

This kid is always full of smiles!! But right now he is sick, please pray for him also.

This is one of the three girls at Juja farm!!

I will be posting more Juja pictures hopefully soon, but this one was too cute not to post.

 

I hope you have enjoyed these few, and I apologize for not posting them sooner. Thank you again for praying and continuing to pray for the sick ones as well as for me.

 

Keep checking back for more updates and pictures!!

 

Love: Rach :)



The Ultimate Healer

Hello,

I wanted to thank you all for your prayers for me in the past 6 weeks. For the past week and a half I have been battling some sickness or another. Two Tuesdays ago I had a fever and Wednesday I was recovering from that. Last weekend I had a runny nose and head cold. Then the past couple of days I had the dizzy spells. Last night and today I was having stomach pains in my appendix area and got told by Mom and auntie Jane and Carol to go see a doctor. This morning I woke up and the pains were still there. I was praying for healing and wanting to be able to go to church, but I didn't feel like I could sit there that long. I asked the guy who was driving the Happy Life kids to church if he could please drop me off at the clinic on the way. He agreed and off we went. It was crazy because I could have gotten Tim the taxi driver to bring me to the hospital, but for some reason that didn't seem like a good idea. So we drive to the clinic and it is closed...oh well, and off to church we went!! It was a great service and at the end Bishop Peter prayed for healing for anyone in the room who was suffering sickness. At this point I started crying and asking God to heal my physical body. I was feeling a little faithless though, and I think doubt creeped into my head. We got back after church and I prayed some more and layed down for a nap. I felt pretty decent all afternoon, but then this evening I was up on the rooftop praying and my pains were back. Then God told me to go ask for prayer from some of the ladies. I went to the first ladies I found, Dorcas and Julia and asked them to pray for me. They prayed over me and asked for healing for me, and this time I went up the stairs pumped because I KNEW that God healed me this time. I kept on praying and thanking Him for is wonderful works. I serve an AMAZING God!! So after the evening feeding I even had an appetite so I ate some spaghetti for supper and I am so excited to go to sleep and wake up feeling refreshed and healed and not have to worry about going to the doctor or paying for those things because JESUS IS MY HEALER!!! I know though that satan will use any chance he can to get into my head and put in doubts, and so I ask that you will please continue to pray for me throughout your day today, as I sleep, so that I may be covered and protected by Jesus blood. I want to have faith that I am healed, but satan is good at getting into my head.

Thank you for reading and for praying. I needed to share my good news with you all!!

Don't forget that we serve a mighty God. Nothing is impossible with HIM!!

Love: Rach :)

45 in & 45 to go!!

Hey there blog readers!!

Thanks for being so supportive of me by reading what is happening in my daily life!! I know I don't post every day, but I hope I post enough.

So today is day 45!! My stay is already halfway over and it went by soooo fast. I am hoping and praying that the next 45 days are as exciting and eventful as the first.

Thursday we went back to Juja farm!! The town is called Juja Farm, as well as the 2nd location of Happy Life. It is approximately a 45 minute drive from the Nairobi location. It is amazing out there. They have one house with 17 kids, a house mom, a teacher and a cook. They are working on the second house, which will be the same setup. They have a large church, where the locals at Juja Farm can attend. They are looking towards building a school, as they have 5 acres of land. This school will be for the children at the home, as well as the local children. There are many parents in that area who would never even think to put their children in school, because they cannot afford it. This school would be a way to get more children educated, as well as provide jobs for the locals as teachers and helpers. Also in the future, there are plans for a clinic. This would also be for the locals use, as well as the children. Juja farm is an amazing addition to Happy Life children's home. I will be sharing much more about this project when I get home.

The last two days for me have been filled with dizzy spells and hospital visits. Every now and again during the day (for the past three ish days) I all of a sudden get dizzy and have to go lay down. I think it is from not drinking enough water. Unfortunately, since the elections and all, some people say don't go out and some say it is fine, so I was conserving my water supply...bad idea. I will not be doing that anymore!! And if they don't go away, I will chat with the nurse here and see what she thinks. And as for hospital visits, I was asked yesterday and today to accompany some children to the clinic. Yesterday (Friday) we took four kids, all under 2 to the clinic to get treated. Some have pneumonia and some have the flu. Today (Saturday) our nurse isn't in, so we had to take the babies back to the hospital to get their daily injections. Now, I am sure you are picturing us loading all of these babies into carseats in a big van and driving to this clinic...WRONG. We don't use carseats here, we just hold them on our laps. It is pretty crazy. Yesterday we had one lady per baby and the 2 year old was buckled up. But today was a different story all together. We had one driver, Winnie and then Hannah (a house mom) and I and five children. Veronica is about three so she sat in her own seat, but the others are all under 1 1/2. So I was carrying one baby and had another lying on the seat beside me and Hannah had one baby in each arm in the front seat!! It is super crazy, but this is totally normal. And I got to experience today what it felt like to have triplets. Picture this, I am sitting in the back seat of a van. I have one screaming baby lying on my lap while another is lying on my chest and I am patting her back. The third one, who desperately wants to be held, is on laying on the seat beside my leg while I pat his tummy. It was crazy because all of them are hungry and sick!! Not too sure if I want triplets anymore.......hahaha!! If you can please pray for our sick babies:

• Cathy; who is currently staying in the hospital with pneumonia. She is three months old.
• Seth; not too sure what he is sick with, but he also may be deaf. It is hard to get him checked out because the waiting time for a specialized doctor is a long time. He is about 2 years.
• Naima; I think she has the flu. She is about  1 1/2 years.
• Jaden; also the flu and is 8 months.
• Patrick; he has diarrhea and is about 1 1/2
• Hannah; she has been sick lots lately. Not too sure what she has this time. She is 7 months.
• Sophie; is 8 months and has the flu.
• Veronica; she is about 3 years, and she also has the flu.

On the bright side, after six looooong days of waiting and tension in the air, Kenya finally has their 4th President!!! Uhuru Kenyatta from the TNA political party. From what I hear he is the better choice because the other candidate who was closest in votes, would have lead the nation downhill. He is suspected of being a devil worshiper...so thank The Lord he didn't win!! And there is peace right now in this country which is super amazing!! You should have heard the noise today. It started at 3am this morning, when they heard that Uhuru had won. I heard the noise at 5am and it has continued all day. Car horns going, people cheering, party horns being blown and house moms dancing and singing!! At 3pm this afternoon was the "official" announcement and then the noise rose up loud once again. I am so thankful for all of your prayers, and for peace in this country. God is so Good!!

Tomorrow will be church in the morning and a pretty regular day in the afternoon. Nothing too big planned for next week aside from maybe visiting Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa. Whether we go or not depends on any post-election violence. Usually the violence starts in the slums, so we will have to see if we can go or not.

I talked with Rev. Peter about the donations that I raised while I was at home, and I have started giving him the donations. Mostly they will be going towards Juja farm, but I will be given a list of all of the things that your donations went towards!!

I hope you are well and enjoying your winter :)

Thank you for your continued prayers and support!! If you are intersted in donating to Happy Life Children's Home please email me at rachelbergen_13@hotmail.com.

Love: Rach :)

Counting and being a Nurse's helper

Hey!!

The last couple of days have been pretty good. Went into the City center on Sunday with Elise and Madi for lunch and a little bit of market shopping. Played more soccer with Fred and a couple of others and lost again...I really have to get better at this!!!

Monday was the voting for the elections, and the counting of the votes continued until today (Tuesday) and I think the results should be revealed sometime on Wednesday. Still hoping and praying for peace and safety. A few (six I think) police officers have been shot, down in Mombasa, but that is all the violence I have heard of. It was crazy because I was up at 6:30 am on Monday and when I looked outside there were people already lining up to vote. And apparently some people stood in line for five hours just to vote!! Hordigans!!! This means crazy people...

I am slowly learning some Swahili words from the older kids downstairs!! I can sorta communicate with the younger kids now, the ones who can't speak english. I can tell them yes and go to bed and "come here you" and sorry!! And today they were trying to teach Madi and I to count to 10, which is harder than you would think...haha or I am just a slow learner.

Today I helped the nurse, Leuba with a baby named Cathy. Cathy has pneumonia, poor little thing, and so it was my job to hold her while Leuba got the injections ready. I also had to hold her while she cried because of the needle. That was the worst part. I mean she isn't even my child and yet I felt for her, and it broke my heart that this tiny child of only two months has to go through these needles and medication. Please pray for Cathy as you remember, so that she will get well quick!!

Other than that, not much else is new. Elise, Madi and I might go to supper tomorrow and we are going to Juja farm on Thursday, providing peaceful election results for both of these things.

I will try to update tomorrow or Thursday on the elections. Thank you for praying!!! Keep it up please and thankyou :)

Ps, here is a little converation I had with Fred
Fred: *feeling the hair on my legs* What is this?!
Me: It's hair
Fred: Don't lie!!! That's thorns!!!
Hahahaha made my day!!