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During the month of August, Nehemiah's Restoration hosted a group of 18 youth and their chaperones from the Crossing Church of the Nazarene out of Westminster, Colorado. The work they performed there left a lasting impression on the locals with eternal implications!
Their work there was four-fold with their first task being to build three Build A Home projects. These homes consist of a metal roof held up by wood poles. Their job, along with the recipient family and locals from the village, was to place mud in-between those wood poles to form the walls of the home. After the mud dries, the homeowner will finish the walls by smoothing a coat of mud mixed with cow dung on the inside and outside walls. This creates a sturdy, smooth, plaster like finish for the home that is weather resistant. The homes along with a latrine are donated by individuals, families and/or businesses from the USA.
The following day they hosted a celebration for the recipient family and all who came to help with the construction of the home.
During this time, the participants formed a line and passed the new homeowner's possessions from one person to the next and moved the family from their old home into their new home.
Afterwards there was a time of celebration with singing and dancing, fellowship and eating. Their meals consisted of rice, ugali (similar to grits in texture), chipati (a flat bread), kale or spinach, boiled meat and/or chicken, and for desert, mandazi (a sweet bread that is served warm and is very tasty!). As always, the meal isn't complete without mixed tea (hot tea with milk and sugar).
Their 2nd task was to conduct a Vacation Bible School with the local youth for the children in the local villages. Our group spent the morning canvasing the village to invite the children to this event. We are always amazed as to how fast word travels and could hardly believe how many children arrived. As best as we could count there were over 250 children that participated with us that day.
Everyone sang together, played games, our group taught them a bible story and they made a craft. Their enthusiasm was amazing!.
The event was followed up with a meal for the children consisting of ugali, rice and mixed tea. Everyone waited in line patiently for their turn to receive the food and afterwards the locals thanked our team over and over again for the meal.
As the day came to a close and dusk was beginning to fall the children started walking back home. What an incredible day it was!
Third, our group spent some time with the youth of Siaya. What an eye opening experience this was for the youth from both countries.
They were able to spend an afternoon together playing "football",
rim ball, jump rope and tag.
They ended the day by sitting down for a time of questions & answers between both the youth groups. The local youth there were very curious about life of an American teen, as were our young people about life of a Kenyan teen. Needless to say, both groups found out that life is very different in their countries.
Their final project was a community outreach project with some of the same local youth. They divided into small groups and did some service projects together within the villages. They were able to visit some homes of widows, most of whom are infected with the HIV virus, and helped with daily tasks like fetching water from the river, cleaning around their homes, washing dishes and harvesting their crops.
Checking in on them is something the local youth do often. Most all the people they assisted were so excited our group came all the way from America and spent some time with them in their homes. They all wanted to share tea with our groups and invited us back to visit again one day.
As we returned to the U.S. we were told that the very next Sunday four new families showed up for church that day. Their reason we were told, was because of the love the young people from the U.S. shared with them the week before. That's an AMEN!
The team also participated in a local Safari and visited President Obama's Grandmother while in Kenya!
On behalf of the President and Founder, the Board of Directors and the volunteer staff from Nehemiah's Restoration, we wish to thank this team from Crossing Church of the Nazarene for their work in Siaya, Kenya and for having such a major impact on the locals where we work!
FROM ALL OF US.... THANK YOU!
If you'd like to learn more about this amazing program, take a team to Kenya or become our next Build A Home sponsor, go to
Build A Home Project.com
Photog
raphs courtesy of Pastor Jay Boykin from the
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