Story 1:

I’m riding down the road in a car at about 15 mph. Kids from every direction catch a glimpse of the mzungu. They run after the car saying Halo, Halo, Halo. Give to me a sweet!!!! A sweet!

Story 2:

I’m walking down the street from the tarmac road to my home about ¾ mile away. After 1^st hundred yards I look back to see I have a following of about 20 kids. They have dropped all they were doing just to see where the mzungu is going. The bravest among them skips up beside me and I say with a smile, Sasa (what’s Up?) The little boy replies poa (awesome) and then giggles. He then looks at me with huge black eyes and says, give to me a sweet!

Story 3:

I’m shopping at the local supermarket and 3 little girls come up to me in the potato chip isle. They stay at a distance at first looking and giggling among themselves. I look up to acknowledge them and I said ,Sasa. They replied, fit (fine, or fit as in healthy) One of the girls looked me straight in the eye and said, buy for me a sweet.

These stories are not isolated events. They occur on a daily basis.

Give to Me a Sweet! Halo, Give to Me a Sweet! Mzungu a sweet??? Do you have a sweet for me? Over and over again these sounds resonate in my ears and break my heart. You’ve heard of starving children in Africa right? Well I’ve seen them with my own eyes and I know with my whole heart that SWEETS are not the answer.

Now if you’ve even been to Africa with candy in hand hoping to bless the socks off of all the cute little kids in the street, this next part may be offensive to you, but I say what I say with no apologies attached. I know that volunteers come with the best of intentions and may even think, what a great way to build trust and earn an ear with the kids. That’s what I use to think too. Unfortunately even the best of intentions do not always translate cross-culturally. In fact they rarely do.

The message we intend to get across with pockets full of candy is this: I love you and God loves you. I want to help you know Jesus and have hope in Him. See this candy? Isn’t it sweet and wonderful? So is Jesus and in Him is a life sweeter than any other.

The message that translates is this:

Wow a white person. They smile all the time and if I get close to them they have great things. They have lots of money… maybe if I say hello they will give me some. Oh, yeah and they always have those sweets in their pockets. All I have to do is ask and they will give me one. I don’t see the white people very often but if I see one it’s a sure thing that they have pesa and sweeties and the ones that smile will for sure give me one or the other or maybe even both. They are so rich and wonderful. I should follow them everywhere they go. Good things are surely to follow.

So here’s the problem with good intentions… they send the wrong message. If our goal is to show the love of Christ… it must translate as the love of Christ. Every time a child comes up to me, a perfect stranger and asks for a sweet, it irritates me. My anger is not directed to the innocent children, but to us who have programmed these children to make such requests. What’s done is done, but my goal is to reprogram the kids that I meet (esp. on my street) to think of the white lady, not as a walking smiling piñata, but as a lady that if you stick around long enough is sharing a gift much sweeter than a piece of candy. Those little sweeties fade away in an instant, but the gift of Christ is far sweeter and lasts forever. Lord I know I can’t change the world, but I can make a difference on my street where you’ve lead me to be a light for you…. May I proclaim you clearly as I should! May these precious little ones find sweetness in you alone!

“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth. I gain understanding from your precepts therefore I hate every wrong path. ~ Psalm 119:103

The Best Sleepover Ever

Well all the kids went home for a 2 week break and 4 of the older orphan girls who had no where to go got a special treat with Teacha Amanda and Teacha Bella. After dinner we invited Matrober, Sharon, Faith, and Sophia over to the guest home. We then escorted them to our room and had a wonderful surprise waiting for them. A laptop with the Princess Diaries 2 DVD ready to play! Their eyes were huge in anticipation…. Oh but it gets better! Now I’m not one for handing out sweets left and right ( more to come on this in my next blog) but tonight was a special treat and I was in the mood for a little spoiling!!!!! I went to the kitchen and collected some glasses and poured each girl a cup of COKE!!!!!! Again picture eyes lighting up like Christmas. And the icing on the cake… a HUGE bowl of peanut M & M’s. It was like our own little fairy tale. We pushed the beds together and watched as Princess Mia gets her prince and we reflected on the thought that they each have a Prince of their own… His name is Jesus! AWESOME night!!!!! After the movie the fun continued as all the girls were allowed to sleep over! They giggled for a couple of minutes and then they were off to sleep… or so I thought. Right after the movie I got a call from SaraBeth who was in Nairobi as the team was on their way back to the US. One of the girls got sick in Amsterdam and they would not allow her to board the plane.

SIDE STORY: The last day the team was here this volunteer felt like the Lord was leading her to give her favorite Bible to Sophia. She asked me if that would be okay and I said sure. Later that day Sophia was looking at the Bible and they began to underline their favorite verses together. At the time Sophia had no idea that later the Bible would be hers . It was such a special moment to seem the volunteer give her special Bible to Sophia and we told her that maybe she could pass it on to someone else someday. Afterall, that’s the way the gospel spreads, finding it and loving it so much that you share it with others. I have included one of my favorite pictures of this volunteer giving her Bible to Sophia. VERY SPECIAL MOMENT!!

After a few minutes of talking with SaraBeth teacha Bellar and I went to sleep. The next morning we awoke to all the girls staring at us sleeping. We heard the giggling resume as the girls laughed at the fact that some had more pillows than others. Why giggling about this you ask??? Well, they usually don’t get pillows so the fact that some had 2 was a BIG Deal! We began to ask if they had a fun night and if they slept well. They all replied with a resounding YES! Then out of nowhere Sophia said I prayed for the volunteer last night, is she okay? I asked her how she knew and she said she heard us talking on the phone to SaraBeth and she prayed that the volunteer would be okay. My heart was beaming with joy. An orphan praying for the safety and healing of a volunteer??? It just doesn’t get much more humbling than that folks. These kids truly understand the power of prayer and they live trusting God to come to their rescue! Unwavering faith abounds here and I’ve been inspired time and time again by the least of these! When all the girls were up and stirring we all piled on my bed for a morning Bible Study. We shared scripture together and we took turns praying. Man do these kids know how to pray. They are so thankful for the gifts of each day. This is probably one of my favorite moments so far!!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE these girls and I am so blessed that the Lord allows me to pour into their lives!

Too Many Needs and Not enough Hands

This is a Journal Entry from July 30, 2010

I woke up this morning to the same revelation… the everyday needs are overwhelming here. I was bombarded with these thoughts: one of the orphans is sick with the mumps, how is the teacher that revealed to me yesterday that her husband tried to beat her again, are the teachers really understanding that my purpose here is to help them, are the kids really getting the best possible education… this one has jiggers, that one HIV. Snotty noses, ear infections, every problem is magnified here. What about water or the lack of food? It would be so nice for all the kids to have shoes, a uniform with all the buttons, notebooks and pencils they don’t have to sharpen with razor blades. Not to mention a textbook of their own. What happens to this one when they walk home 6 miles in the rain or does this one really have a home to go home to? My eyes have seen each of these things first hand and my heart has no idea where to begin. I have been paralyzed by the sheer number of needs, big and small. I noticed when the team arrived that I am unable to record events of the day like before. I finally realized today that my eyes have been seeing one need at a time and it’s been easier to manage and process thoughts and possible solutions. When the team arrived an amazing thing happened. 20 sets of eyes began to see and process the needs at Tumaini. All of a sudden I was being made aware of 20 very immediate needs at once. My brain began to shutdown and feel helpless to do anything about even 1 need. I’m thankful that while talking with my parents tonight the Lord brought this thought to mind. All I can do is what the Lord brought me here to do and with His strength and power it is more than enough. Every issue big and small is in His hands.

10 Join the Family of God

Every year the ISF SportsPlus team comes to share the love of Christ with the Tumaini Kids. They come for a couple of weeks to run a VBS type camp for all the kids, including sports games, crafts, music, and a bible lesson. At the end of the week they present the Gospel message and give the children an opportunity to respond. This year 10 students made decisions to accept Christ. We also gave those who had already accepted Christ but just had questions about how to have a closer relationship with Him an opportunity to grow deeper in their knowledge of Christ. Over the next few months it will be my responsibility to come along side of the new young followers in Christ as they are also being discipled by the qualified staff at Tumaini. We are so excited to watch these young believers grow in the knowledge of Truth! Praise the Lord (Bwana Asifiwe)

Prayer Request: Please pray for the 10 new member of your family, that they may continue to seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. Also pray for the leadership at Tumaini as they continue to pour into the lives of these young ones. They are doing amazing work here and I am so blessed to be a part of it J

Learning to be a teacher among teachers…

Coming to a place that is not your home, taking up residence, learning all the do’s and don’ts, and trying to fade into the faces is not easy. Many days I wake up and ask God to tell me again why he drew me to this place. It’s not long before the answer is staring me in the face once again. Every morning I walk the 100 yards to the school to see 10 teachers and 220 beautiful children ready to face their day, and I am reminded once again of the task at hand. When I first arrived I thought I would be doing some teaching, preaching, and working on a sponsorship program for the kids. I do get to do these things, but a task I was not prepared for was working alongside of the head teacher (principal) to assist him with helping the teachers be more prompt and prepared. This means I am basically a temporary assistant principal. Now, I do have a fairly good command of organizational and time management skills, and I understand the in’s and out’s of classroom structure and management, but I was in NO WAY prepared for this role, especially not cross-culturally. After talking with Rose, she trusts that I am the woman for the job and looking back at it now , she may be right. Everyday is a challenge to balance what I know to be true and what I know to be culturally sensitive to. For example, time in Africa is not the same as time in the US, so how do you implement a program that requires the teachers to be on time, when they don’t have the same understanding of time as you do… it’s a mystery! The task is always challenging but what I love about it is that in order for both parties to be on the same page, you have to spend time building a trusting relationship. That’s what I’ve been able to do over the last couple of months. It’s difficult but equally rewarding. You may be asking, where does this fit in to your calling to Africa? I asked myself the same thing, I’m not a principal, I’m a missionary. Then I realized, being a missionary involves the relationships God develops while working with the teachers and kids. I am excited to see where this task of helping the teachers leads in the grand scheme of His kingdom. Pray that my heart is refreshed by this thought each morning.

A major encouragement regarding this issue came about when the team visited and among them were seasoned educators. During their stay I arranged for 4 teachers from the US to teach a class with both the Kenyan teachers and students in attendance. The purpose was to demonstrate different teaching techniques using only the resources available to them in Kenya. I think this was a challenge for the American teachers and eye opening for the Kenyan teachers. A few days later I arranged a teachers in-service where the American teachers and SaraBeth’s dad, a former Superintendent, encouraged the Kenyan teachers and talked with them about new ideas, teaching techniques, classroom management skills, etc. Then we had a Q and A time for the teachers. It was such a blessing and again I think both parties benefited. Praise God for working this out and I pray the teachers will be able to implement some of these new ideas this coming term.

Please continue to pray for the children, teachers, and staff at Tumaini as they work hard to raise up future leaders for the glory of God!

Shall We Gather at the River

On the same day that the Amanda Mudd adventure took place for me, the rest of the team traveled to a traditional African Penacostal service. When I returned to the guest home to share of my fundraising goat acquiring adventure they also had a story to tell. I’m gonna let my good friend SaraBeth tell this one for me. Sara Beth you now have the floor:

Thank you, Amanda for giving me stage-time in your African Adventure Blog…….it is my pleasure to recount one of my most favorite Tumaini memories.

The entire team had gone to Sunday School at the school with the children. After that, some of the team members decided to go to the church where several of the adults from Tumaini worship. Hesbon escorted us. We rode in a matatu with Amanda and the Roses for a few kilometers. There were 23 of us in the matatu – which is supposed to seat 14. A few minutes later, we arrived at church – and the praise and worship was already underway.

When I say praise and worship…..I mean Kenyan style. These women have the joy of the Lord that is just not very common in the US. I believe that it stems from their relationship with Christ truly sustaining them. For many people in Africa, their faith is the only constant in their life….so their worship is filled with a gratitude, joy, and reverence unlike any that I have ever seen. Hesbon asked me to choose someone besides myself to ‘give a word’ of encouragement to the congregation. Little did I know that this was because he had OTHER plans for me later on in the day….but we will get there eventually.

I asked Bellar to share, and she did a great job talking about worry and how sometimes women really struggle with worrying about the future. She shared from Matthew 6: 25-34, and it was very good. We were told that the service would be cut short because they were having a baptism service in the afternoon. The lady who was telling us about the baptism was the mother of one of the children at Tumaini – and she informed us that her daughter, Cynthia, would be baptized at the service. This was a really cool moment for me. My first Kenyan baptism service, and God had worked it out to see one of ‘my’ Tumaini kids be baptized.

The service was short (REALLY short for a Kenyan service). Once we were dismissed we lined up in a procession for a “SHORT” walk to the river. Now, after traveling to Africa off and on for the last 8 years, I have learned that when an African says “SHORT” it really has a different meaning than when an American says “SHORT.” The procession consisted of drums, cymbals, triangles, singing, chanting, and praying. About an hour later, we reached the river. Every village that we walked past, we added a few more people to the procession. We started with around 60 people – and by the time we reached the river, there were at least 200 of us!!

After we arrived, Hesbon informed me that I would be preaching the baptismal service. Looking back, this would have been nice to know at the church, so that I could have at least had an hour to prepare my thoughts as I walked my 'short walk.' So, literally, in about 2 minutes, I gathered my thoughts for the sermon. I am not really sure what I said, but I am quite certain that God was shining through the spontaneity and ‘unpreparedness.’ Afterwards, some of the team members were teasing me that I was a little long-winded – not to mention that I had given a theological explanation of salvation from Genesis all the way to the New Testament.

Next, came the actual baptism. The drums and singing continued as one by one each person walked into the river to be baptized. Once they came up out of the water, they literally danced out of the river. It was one of the most beautiful memories that I have of my time in Kenya. After everyone had been baptized, we began the procession back to the church.

By the end of the day, we had worshipped with new friends, walked 6 miles, and watched 5 people be baptized. It was a great day full of memories that I will never forget.


One Year Later… Sylvia’s Story

So, many of you know that I sponsor a girl at Tumaini named Sylvia. Last year when I was visiting Tumaini Sylvia celebrated her 11th birthday. We laughed and danced together and sang Happy Birthday. Sylvia is shy so she kept quiet but she really enjoyed the celebration. When it was time for us to leave for the night we shared with Sylvia one last gift: a BIG box of Raisinettes. We told her the chocolate was for her because it was her special day. What transpired next changed my life forever. All the kids from the Children’s Home began to gather and watch as Sylvia opened the box of chocolate treasure. Keep in mind these kids NEVER get sweets like this. NEVER! Sylvia could have stood before these kids savoring ever single bite of the gift given to her, eating all the treasure for herself… after all it was her special day. But she didn’t. In fact she began giving the chocolate away one by one until all the little hands held out before her were full of the treasure. In the midst of this activity she did’t even take the time to try one for herself until all the wazungu watching realized what was happening and intervened by saying, “Sylvia, try one!” At that point she put ONE in her mouth and as her eyes lit up with pure joy at the taste of it she reached into the box again and gave the remainder of the treasure away. WOW what a lesson from the least of these. Sylvia knew she had a treasure in her hand and she had a choice… keep it for herself or give it away. She knew the gift given to her would be sweeter if shared with others. I watched with tears in my eyes that day as I observed the children of Tumaini sharing in the sweetness of the treasure all because a little girl named Sylvia saw more value in giving the treasure away than storing up the treasure for herself. She challenged me that day and now I am challenging you… First of all, do you have the sweetest thing…. That being Christ Jesus? And if you do, are you choosing to store up the treasure of Him for yourself, or are you willing to share the love of Christ with others?

On July 25th I had the pleasure of celebrating Sylvia’s birthday with her again. The ISF team was here so we had a dance party, sang Happy Birthday and of course Sylivia’s birthday would not be complete without… you guessed it…. Raisinettes. This time I brought 3 boxes… plenty enough for her to have some of her own and plenty to give away. The biggest blessing was the opportunity God gave me to share Sylvia’s story with the team and the kids at Tumaini. Praise be to God! I challenge you to think of Sylvia and her gift every time you look at a box of Raisinettes… I know I will!

Many days have passed since I last posted a blog and much has occurred so I will take the next couple of days to attempt to catch you up to speed on all the ways that God is at work. Since the team from the US arrived I’ve spent much of my time ministering to their needs and helping them make the transition to life in Kenya. That’s my passion so I really enjoyed getting to know them and helping them have a pleasant and insightful experience. On the down side that left very little time to keep you informed about the adventures taking place here in Kenya and for that I apologize. Thankfully I’ve kept a journal of the experiences over the last couple of weeks and I look forward to catching you up to speed.

Let’s begin with the story I promised from my last blog. The adventure where I when to a church fundraiser and came home with a goat and a good story. It all began when Rose asked me to accompany her to a fundraiser at a church where she was to be the honored guest speaker. I knew beforehand that it would be a long day and I should be prepared for anything. We arrived in true Kenyan fashion… about 2 hours late and we were escorted into a room full of honored guests and pastors. After about 30 minutes they ushered us into the church. Rose sat on stage and I the only mzungu among the entire crowd sat in the front row. As each honored guest was welcomed to say a few words and introduce themselves it seemed that everyone, including all the other guests were interested in repetitively introducing me ( the visitor from the far off land) When it was time for Rose to introduce her friends including myself, a teacher from Tuamaini named Leah, and Rose 2, I was prepared to address the crowd: I said bwana asifiwe followed by some encouraging scripture from Colossians 3:16-17. I then handed the microphone to Rose and she passed it back to me as the congregation shouted back at me. I had forgotten to tell them my name. I laughed and said Jina langu ni Amanda and the whole place started to laugh. Fun times. After much singing and praising in true African Penacostal spirit, a lady who had been watching me from outside the church danced her way to the front row where I was standing. She was wearing rags and carrying a bundlel of sticks at her side. She had no shoes and judging by the way the other Kenyan ladies were looking at her she was probably a bit mad. I acknowledged her at first but then I began to observe how the other ladies were ignoring her and I did the same. At the end of the song the lady stood directly in front of me and thumped me on the chest while shouting MZUNGU, MZUNZU. Needless to say I was a bit caught off guard. Soon after that, one of the men of the church tried to find her a seat but she refused. She just kept dancing in and out of the service as the music continued. When it was time for Rose to bring the message all ears were ready to hear from her. She is a woman who gets things and gets things done. She preached from 1 Kings 17:8. It was inspiring to see a congregation of men and women inspired by the words God had placed on her heart. After the message it was time for the offering. It gave a whole new meaning to giving of your first fruits. The offering included money as well as ground nuts, eggs, bananas, and 3 stalks of sugarcane. In total this church was able to raise 49, 523 ksh, which is about $650. I’ve never seen such generous and joyous giving. At the end of the service Rose was presented with a goat for her fundraising efforts. This was really a blessing because one of the orphans really loves taking care of goats and we didn’t have any at Tuamaini. After Rose collected her goat the pastor of the church insisted that we ride to his house in the cab of his truck for it had been raining heavily during the service. I piled into the truck with Rose 2 and away we went to lunch… It was about 4 pm. About 20 guests packed into the living room of this house and we chowed down on ugali and the largest most tender, flavorful, slow roasted chicken I’ve ever had in Kenya!!!! After eating we decided we would walk to the tarmac road to catch a matatu, but again the pastor insisted that we ride in the truck. This time I insisted that we ride in the back, standing up with about 10 other Kenyans. All was well until we got stuck in the ditch after sliding off the road. We finally got out after many Kenyans came together to push as the driver gave it some gas. As this point he couldn’t continue on the main road so he decided he would take a short cut through someone’s yard. The deeper we went, the more narrow the path and the truck finally came to rest after taking about 15 yds of hedge out. It was fun (and a bit dirty) working with the others and seeing their spirited efforts to help us return to the tarmac road. When we arrived at the road by foot a lady offered me a basin of water and some Vaseline (not exactly sure what was supposed to do with that). It was so sweet. Also a lady offered Rose her shoes to walk in so that she did not get her dress shoes dirty. What an adventurous day!!! As we were standing by the road waiting on the matatu to take us home I inquired about what we should name the goat. Rose took one look at me covered in mud from head to toe and said with confidence and a laugh….. Amandamudd

So there you have it… a love tap on the chest from a perfect stranger, a wild adventure in the back of a truck, a long walk in the mud, and finally a goat that now carries my name…. I think in the US we call this PRICELESS!

Hello faithful friends... I just wanted to take a moment to apologize for my lack of blogs recently. I've been very busy working with the team of 19 from the US, making sure they felt at home at Tumaini and serving them and the Tumaini folks in any way I could. Then it was off to Maasai Mara with my good friends SaraBeth and her family along with my llama friend Bellar. We had a wonderful time of rest and restoration. Spending time with God and admiring his creation is one of my favorite ways to feel refreshed. After that SaraBeth and I continued on to Mombasa with Rose to buy a car for Tumaini... Yes that's right... Tumaini now has a car to transport children when they are sick and to make it easier to obtain supplies. In Mombasa we were able to treat Rose to her very first back massage! We also had a meeting to talk about the future of Tumaini while overlooking the Indian Ocean... It was such a blessing. After leaving Mombasa Rose returned to Tumaini and SaraBeth and I continued our adventure to Uganda, which is where I am composing this blog from.... shhhhh.... don't tell my mom ;) We will be in 5 cities in 5 days, so be in prayer for our travels and that we will be able to connect with local leaders and come along side of them as they pursue Christ's calling on their life... so far it's been amazing.

So I will make this quick, but my friend "Chewy" had a baby on July 27th and I got to see him on skype today. Praise the Lord for modern technology.... It was awesome but skype tends to draw an audience, so it makes it hard to hear and forget privacy. I really wish skype worked in my room, but so far I've only found it to work in very public places. It's hard to be culturally sensitive when the only white person (mzungu) in the city is shouting and smiling at her computer. This time I did find what I thought to be a private place, but our matatu drivers found it interesting that I was talking on the computer with my friend in the US and they wanted to meet the new baby too! Welcome to Kenya! Lovin it here and lots of amazing stories to come. God is doing some amazing things and challenging me to live a life worthy of the calling. Prayer requests: the team is leaving tomorrow and my good friend teacha Bella (Bellar) is staying behind for a few days and then we will be traveling as well, so pray for us. 10 children accepted Christ after our VBS this week and many more had some very good questions about having a closer relationship with Jesus! Praise GOD!!!!!!! Please pray these young ones will continue to grow in their faith and that myself along with the staff will continue to come alongside of these new believers and encourage them to become active members in the body of Christ. Well it's the last night to be with the team so I should go, and again I have some great stories and God moments to share..... to be continued!!!!!