Three journeys in June

GLI participants from CoSoPax

This is the quintessential blog-writing moment: on the plane between Nairobi and Washington, D.C. I wish I were more awake for it! But I’ve been on the road constantly for the past two weeks and I am tired. Furthermore, the recent escalation of violence between the US and Iran makes me feel quite apprehensive about being on a plane at this moment. One of my colleagues had a flight leaving a few hours after me, passing through Saudi Arabia. I’m yet to find out if the closure of Middle East airspace impacted him.

CFGB visitors from Canada and Ethiopia at church

But I do need a chance to look back and take stock of all the movements and relational moments since the last blog. Although Paul and David have been in the US for a while now, I’ve felt anything but alone. There was that highly memorable MCC ladies’ baking night at my house, and then a day of leading worship at church the next morning. Thankfully, I gave myself a little time to decompress Sunday afternoon.

Nelly, Judith and I on the road

On Monday morning, we loaded up a vehicle heading for Tanzania to accomplish multiple missions with one trip. My colleague Nelly and I planned to visit a partner outside of Arusha. Nelly supervises our young adult exchange programs, and we will be placing volunteers in Tanzania for the first time since Tanzania and Kenya became a joint program in 2021. Given our prior experience in Northern Tanzania, I had recommended ECHO East Africa Regional Impact Center as an excellent place to send young people for hands-on learning in sustainable agriculture, appropriate technology, and community engagement. ECHO hosts several volunteers and interns every year, and they are quite experienced in keeping young adults busy. But we also needed to lay the groundwork for identifying host families where our two volunteers will stay.

Judith (left) working with the TEMBO team

Meanwhile, health and education officer Judith needed to go and meet with a Tanzania partner, TEMBO Trust, as they develop a new proposal to support Maasai girls’ education and work on culture change around female genital mutilation by promoting alternative rites of passage. Paul and I have worked closely with TEMBO since 2017 when we moved to Tanzania, and I’m thankful we can still support their work.

Nelly and I with Charei at ECHO

Judith’s firstborn arrived in December, and so she has not been able to travel personally to see the partners she supervises for several months. On this trip, it made the most sense to have her daughter come along, together with the nanny. So, we filled up the new Land Cruiser with 4 adults and a baby in a car seat and lots of luggage in the back and headed for the border.

Unfortunately, some recent political tensions between Kenya and Tanzania gave us difficulty on the way. In the past, Kenyans have had no trouble entering their neighboring country, but this time officials needed to see letters of invitation. We found ourselves scrambling to have our two partners send letters of invitation by WhatsApp. It seems that this was the first time my colleagues had felt unwelcome in a foreign country, and it is not a good feeling. Meanwhile, the process of clearing the vehicle to drive it into TZ also took a long time.

Evening giraffe outside Longido

We finally left the border 3 hours later and kept driving to the nearby town where TEMBO is located. They had kindly kept lunch waiting for us, but it was almost 4 pm by then. Nelly and I were due to meet the partner in Arusha in just an hour. And so we had to leave Judith, baby and nanny
with TEMBO and just keep driving, subsisting on the snacks I’d brought along. Thankfully, we were rewarded with a giraffe sighting along the way – one of my favorite, frequent surprises along that stretch of road.

Sophia, Rebecca and Nelly at ECHO

We met ECHO staff member Sophia and immediately drove up the hill to meet the first prospective host mother, a retired lady with grown children. Ironically, I actually met the oldest son in that family, who married a Peace Corps volunteer friend of ours from Arusha Community Church back in the day. We enjoyed getting to know Mama Eben, and our Swahili got a workout immediately as we learned about her family and their frequent experiences of hosting foreign volunteers. By the time we got back to the compound where our guesthouse was, it was almost 8 pm, totally dark, rainy, very cold and I was out of energy to keep driving anywhere. It looked like there would be no dinner for us anywhere, anyhow, a very dispiriting feeling. But I was able to persuade the guesthouse manager to allow us access to the kitchen. We threw together some eggs and bread, with the cherry tomatoes and snap peas I’d carried along, made hot tea, and had a makeshift dinner a bit like hobbits on a journey.

Meeting host Mama Same

Fortunately, we had a slower morning, which allowed us to take a walk and do a bit of prep work before we met with ECHO again. We met a second host mother, an equally warm and lovely woman of retirement age. As we left, we felt very good about having our two volunteers placed in these two families. But there was still work to do: meet with the ECHO leadership, make sure we know what is needed for work permits, prepare secondment agreements. And then we needed to go back to each of the two families to confirm that we would like them to host and write up details needed in their agreements. We headed back up the hill at 4 pm, utterly out of relational energy. But somehow, we were able to have a good connection again with Mama Eben. We got down to Mama Sam at 5:30 and had even less energy! All of that conversation in Swahili! But God’s grace was sufficient. By 7 pm we had accomplished our work. I had promised Nelly a hot dinner and the 15-minute drive to a nearby restaurant wasn’t terrible. It was great to talk more personally with Nelly about cross-cultural differences and things that we had experienced in our lives. She is a delightful travel companion, always ready to laugh and be human.

Breakfast for the goats

We got up early in the morning and drove back up the hill, this time to share breakfast with my old friend Erwin Kinsey (former director of ECHO and now retired). We enjoyed some of the fruits of his garden, including tree tomato compote and yoghurt and feta made from the milk of his dairy goats. It’s always so peaceful to sit on the terrace at Erwin’s house and to enjoy the fresh air early in the morning. He took us on a walk around his garden, and we marveled at his well-tended vegetable garden, fed his goats and enjoyed glimpses of the tree orchids he nurtures. Erwin and my family have shared a lot of history, serving together on ACC church council, singing in the choir, trying to promote sustainable agriculture – what a delight to have a reason to connect with him again.  

Giraffe crossing

The drive from Arusha back to Longido was absolutely exhilarating. Nelly and I enjoyed amazing views of Kilimanjaro across the West Kili plains and had to slow down for yet another giraffe cross
ing. We arrived right in time to join the TEMBO team for a final debrief on the community evaluations and discussions that Judith had led the day before. They fed us a very nice ugali lunch and then we hit the road again (albeit about 90 minutes later than I thought was wise). The border was a breeze going back, just 30 minutes, but I was already dreading the certain knowledge that I would be driving through Nairobi in the dark. That’s the trouble with our quarterly visits to Arusha – when you drive south, the drive gets easier and more pleasant the closer you get to arrival. It is absolutely the opposite when driving back north to Nairobi. The roads are worse, the traffic is heavier and more hectic, and then it’s night-time. I was also apprehensive because the last time I myself drove up from Arusha, David and I were involved in that bad accident. Anyway, it was not fun at all, but I eventually got home by about 8:30 pm.

Mt. Meru above the ECHO office

I had three days back home in between trips, during which time I needed to complete a bunch of urgent work (monthly finance report submission, issues arising with prospective volunteers because of the US closing visa interviews). I also had quick opportunities in between to share a meal and a coffee with a few folks from church. I also slotted in a visit to the dermatologist – apparently, 17 years of working in the tropical sun has not been good for my skin. They have punched out something that didn’t look great – we shall see what that amounts to. I tried to spend the rest of the time at home, preparing for my next trip and sharing time with my cat. She also needed some medical attention for scratches on her back because of interaction with other cats in the neighborhood. I felt pretty terrible leaving her alone for much of the last two weeks, fending for herself.

Charley my cat and my sack gardens out back

On Sunday morning, I left early for my next trip to Uganda, to join the GLI Leadership Institute in Kampala for, I believe, the 10^th time since 2009 (including 2 online Institutes). Several previous blogs have featured this experience while I was in Burundi and Tanzania. Essentially, it is a gathering for “restless” Christian leaders around the Great Lakes region of East Africa, people who are disturbed by the level of violence and conflict in these predominantly Christian countries. Often, ethnic or political violence is even condoned by religious leaders, which does not line up at all with our call to be ambassadors of Christ. So every year, we gather to reflect theologically: reconciliation is the mission of the Christian God, reconciling all things and all people through Jesus.

Witnesses from CoSoPax -- businesswomen from
Congo, Rwanda and Burundi,
who are working for peace.

The nature of the gathering has changed since 2009, when most attendees were high-ranking leaders of churches and NGOs. Now, at least half of the participants are under 40 and quite a few could qualify as Gen Z, but we still all benefit from very thoughtful scriptural imagination (i.e. focused biblical preaching) from gifted African theologians. And each day at the Institute, several witnesses share their stories of working practically towards reconciliation.

My role again this year was to help facilitate worship. I worked together with a younger Kenyan woman named Faith, choosing songs from the region’s languages and cultures, supporting the themes and key scriptures of each day of the Institute. It is interesting, creative, and relational work, trying to bring together a community, inviting people to share their gifts, trusting it will all work out. I’ll just highlight a couple of favorite moments during the week:

Evening worship: Lament prayers at the altar

On the second day of the Institute, we ask the question “What is going on?” and we find ourselves drawn to lament. During the evening worship in the Catholic chapel, we entered into God’s presence by singing “Angalia Baba” (Look down on us, Father… do not leave us forsaken, do not forget us). One of our gifted translators, Jean Marc from Congo, led this sung prayer with deep passion. As we were singing, members of the community came forward to kneel and write out their prayers of lament at benches around the altar. Finally, a group of elders laid hands on all these written prayers and lifted them up in prayer to God.

Prayer at the pilgrimage site

On the third day, we rose early and went on pilgrimage… driving two hours to reach a children’s home called Noah’s Ark. First, we considered the question of struggling hope, lost hope, and resurrected hope through the story of Abraham and his childlessness. Rev. Elizabeth Obat led us to consider the ways that Abraham prayed in complete faith for others who couldn’t have children (the women of Gerar), even before his own prayers were answered. Taking the step towards hope of a child in his old age required active, physical participation from both Abraham and Sarah, and leads us to imagine what hope looks like when we feel we have lost it.

 The Dutch founder, Papa Piet, was fascinating to listen to. He does not recommend anyone start a Children’s home. It is endless work and responsibility, and it is the worst solution for children who are rejected and cast out. It’s far better for children to remain in families and to have real fathers and mothers. And yet, it is also a necessary solution when those children have no other options. He talked about how he has experienced God supporting his work – he never fundraises, and yet people send funds for materials and salaries. So he has decided to do what he is called to do, and generally, the resources always show up. 

Vocational ed: electricians learning their trade

He’s older, but he trusts that if this is God’s mission, God will provide a successor when the time comes. And a point he made when asked about expanding the ministry: 1 + 1 = ½   If he expands, he will divide his attention, and he won’t be as effective anywhere. What gets him up in the morning is spending time with a four-year-old, a child who was rescued as an infant from a pit latrine, covered with maggots, and who is now a confident imitator of his leader, Papa. We took a tour of the baby care home, the children’s home, the vocational school, and really appreciated the confidence of the young people we met.

TZ worship team

Another highlight was sharing a time of worship led by the Tanzanian group of Gen Z Christians from the Mennonite Church. The Noah’s Ark children’s worship band joined in accompanying with drums, keys and guitar and they were much more skilled in that magic of African musicians that I just can’t pull off – when the singer just starts a hymn and then the instruments figure out when key he is singing in (“It’s C#!” they whispered to me).

Oscar (center) offering part of his story

I am so grateful for these moments to reconnect with dear friends from our past service in other East African countries. From Burundi, I had time to talk more with Amos, another of our translators. And I had a long conversation with Oscar about where he sees opportunity now in peacebuilding – by going into politics. I was shocked, but he explained his reasoning, and the need to help equip the ruling party leaders to think better about their leadership skills and how to truly benefit the country. Otherwise, it looks incredibly bleak in Burundi right now, with the economy so bad that there isn’t even fuel available and meanwhile one party holds 100% of the seats in parliament.

Participants continuing the debate over tea

I also was grateful to share time with a team of Anabaptist Christians from Ethiopia, including one MCC staff and two partner leaders. In particular, I had good, long talks with the President of the Meserete Kristos Church as we shared transport to and from the airport and got to know how he is handling his leadership responsibilities as a human being. He will be the primary responsible person for hosting the next Mennonite World Conference in Ethiopia in 2028 and I hope there are ways that I and others can support him from around the region.

Seminar group with lots of young people

I participated in one of the seminars on “The Prophetic Voice” together with the whole team from Tanzania, and a few people we sponsored from Kenya. Fr. Jacob Onyumbe led us through an exploration of several different prophets – Moses, Joel, Obadiah, and Jeremiah. Their messages are not at all comfortable, and that is always because prophets arise in response to a Pharaoh, in response to things going badly wrong. Fr. Jacob strongly encouraged us to read the whole bible, not to shy away from difficult parts. He postulated that if a prophetic passage doesn’t seem to speak to us, then we are probably not reading our context well. And he pointed to Jeremiah as an example of a prophet who had to fully participate in the despair of his audience in order to offer a message of credible hope, spending his money on a plot of land, even when he was in prison in the middle of a siege.

With Fr. Jacob

I had a few hours available one afternoon, and enjoyed some really special birdwatching, suddenly spotting a species I’d never known existed: the double-toothed barbet.

Back at home in Nairobi on Saturday afternoon, I tried to soak up as much time as possible at home, in my garden with my cat. It wasn’t easy – there were a few social things to attend to and I needed to sort out some corners of the house before I left. I was overcome by how much I enjoy living where I do, and how peaceful it is. I am glad to be on my way to see Paul, my boys and my extended family. But I don’t feel like I need a break from Nairobi – it’s a good place to be content. I hope all will stay well there in my absence. Soon I will land in DC, for a very different rhythm for the next two months. I hope I can maintain the attitude of looking for ways that the present moment, just as it is, is perfect enough. 

-          Bonus photos: 

Learning about building

Vocational school

Shoe-making as vocational ed

ladies on pilgrimage

Baby house

Gen Z learning about Prophetic Voice

Tanzania team with Rebecca and William

2 TZ leaders

Hodari Twizerimana, son of former colleague Eugene

well-dressed women of Cosopax

Cosopax leading worship in French, Kirundi, Swahili

Kenyan worship team

Ethiopians letting off steam

Plenary at GLI

Lizard buzzard

Farewell lunch with Mona in Nairobi