Sunday, October 25, 2009

VISITORS FROM HILLCREST
Harrison, Arkansas

PART 1

During the first week of October we had the privilege of hosting a group from Hillcrest Nursing Home in Harrison Arkansas. The Home offers a foreign trip to one of the missions to those who volunteer their time at the home for at least 15 months. This time it was to Kenya. Twenty-two years ago I had served a year at Hillcrest so personally this was interesting. Leonard and Caroline Mast came as supervisors. Among the group were David Zook, Aaron Yoder, Sandra Yoder, Diane Wipf, Julie Martin and Janae Miller. They were with us here in Kisumu for one week and then spent the second week in Nakuru, 2-3 hours away.

During their stay in Kisumu, we took them on a tour to see an elderly couple from the Kajulu church far up on the mountain side. Diote and Perez are Mennonite squatters on government land. No one seems to care that they are there. Only half of the group is pictured here because some of the men were further up the mountain in search of baboons.



Jenipher Juma, one of our widowed church sisters, had a delicious Kenya meal for us. The mountain setting at her house is very pleasant with the meal outside under the trees. Our peace was somewhat disturbed, however, with the half grown chicken that insisted on flapping over the table, taking several mighty pecks at the ugali (cooked cornmeal) in the process.


Group leaders, Leonard and Caroline Mast.


Janae Miller, cuddling a little Kenyan toddler. In background is Daniel Kauffman, Aaron Yoder and Sam Kauffman.

to be continued...
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Part 2

HILLCREST VISITORS

Early one morning before the sun arose, the Hillcrest group went out on Lake Victoria for a boat cruise. They were hoping to get a glimpse of the hippos. These creatures come out at night to graze on the land and around dawn slip back into the water. The waters are most often calm in the morning, where as in the evening it's more windy and choppy. Lake Victoria is second largest fresh water lake in the world. The largest is Lake Superior.

(credit is given to Jevon Beachy for these photos)


Some fisherman trying to make a living.

African wildlife and birds are quite interesting and unfamiliar to Americans.


After the group started boating they saw one or two hippos along the way until they spotted this pod of hippos. There must have been 10-15 together. It's an impressive sight to see them in the wild. Locals say hippos can be very dangerous animals if you get between them and the water!


What a baleful stare from this papa hippo! God must have used His imagination to create these massive creatures!

Life goes on rather quickly for us Kauffmans in Kenya. We enjoy interacting with the church people on a social level during the week and also at Sunday services. Today Sam preached on the Sheep and the Good Shepherd. There are MANY children attending. Martina and I teach the English Sunday School classes outside. We have about 20+ children each with Martina teaching the younger and I the older ones. Besides these there are two large Luo classes. Last Sunday three dirty,bedraggled little boys off the street meandered into my class and today they were there again. Words fail me when I think of the opportunity at my fingertips. Pray that seeds can be planted during this short period of time.
The country of Kenya is white to harvest and there are so few laborers.

Sam and Mattie Kauffman
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Sunday, October 18, 2009


THE TOM OGEMA FAMILY

(This article was part of the AMA newsletter, with some editing, and we decided to post it here as well.)

When we first arrived in Kenya, we were appalled at the masses of people, the “squaller” and poverty....the trash...it was everywhere! How can people live like this....? and survive?! But, soon we adapted to our surroundings and started knowing the people as individuals. We soon discovered what former missionary friends had told us, “ you will fall in love with their shiny, black faces!” The warm hearts and friendly smiles soon made the poor conditions in which they live fade. They don’t seem to mind, why should we? Then again, do they know any different?
Being assigned to the Kajulu church, we are learning to know and appreciate the Christians very much. The simple faith is so refreshing and encouraging. Sometimes it puts us to shame. No, they are not quite all that way. Like anywhere, there are always a few annoying cranks and beggars who think the Americans owe them something. But we sure appreciate the level-headed, faithful ones we have come to rely on heavily. They know their people and their culture much better than we do and can meet and interpret the needs more appropriately. One of these is the Tom Ogema family. (I will introduce a family from time to time and tell you what we know about them. There are some very interesting stories.)




Tom and Pamela and their four children attend the church in Kajulu. Eddie is 18, Ida, 16, Alvin, 12 and Elmina is 4 years old. Not everyone is so fortunate to have the entire family with them. Born in 1957, Tom handles the English langauge very well and is the main interpreter.
How did this all begin? Back in early 1996, Tom was asked by Barack Abuto, a friend he bought newspapers from, to attend the CBF church services at Rabuor with him. Barack was already a current member and after Tom went, he was so moved by the sound Biblical preaching ; he said he has continuously attended since. He would take his 2 oldest children with him. His wife, Pamela, 12 years younger, was not so convinced. Nevertheless, in order for Tom to become a member, their marriage was legalized. This was a requirement because of the adulterous situation. This took place in June of 1996 when baby Alvin was 2 weeks old. Tom became well acquainted with the Lloyd Beiler and Wilmer Stoltzfoos familes.
When the Kajulu Church, in the foothills of the mountains, opened it’s doors in 2003, Tom was asked to transfer and assist Steve and Martha Esh in the outreach. Pamela began attending with Tom and the children. This time convinced,, she soon became a member and now they all attend faithfully as a family. It’s such a testimony and blessing to other families. Tom also serves on the ‘Needs Committee’, and is a very helpful person to call on when the needs arise. Aside from that, in Kisumu, he has a government related job in the ministry of culture and social services. A diplomatic person, he does well in every area he gets involved in. Pamela, an accomplished seamstress, sews many dresses for the Agape Orphanage Program. This brings in extra income which helps keeping food on the table and putting their children through school. (Pamela also assits me in measurements and dressing the ladies in CBF clothing.)
Others don’t fare so well. We have church people facing a food shortage, due to lack of rain in the past three years. Crops haven’t been adequate. Closer to Naroibi, many people and cattle are dying because of no water. But locals were predicting “El Nino”to come this way and hang around awhile. Meanwhile it appears El Nino is arriving, it has poured rain and caused much flooding. Now we are facing sodden mud huts and fearing collapses. We try to encourage and assist where we can. Continue praying for the Christians in Kenya that they can be faithful even in the midst of physical and spiritual storms. A STRONG STORM WILL EITHER MAKE A TREE FALL OR PUT DOWN VERY DEEP ROOTS!

Sam and Mattie Kauffman Family




Tom translating for Sam at the church services today.


"The Needs Committee"
Tom Ogema and Joshua Ochieng
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Monday, October 12, 2009

On Saturday we attended a Rabuor funeral of a lady who came into the compound at least once a week. Rose was one the first people I met outside our own Kajulu church people. She had a regal bearing and a face one won't forget, even though her life was difficult. Our aquaintance was brief, but she touched me deeply.
Following is an article written by Bernice Troyer. I received permission from her to post this on the blog. You will find this quite interesting. Bernice and Hosea Troyer and their 8 children served here in Kisumu for a number of years.

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"You know what. Rose 'Dongo has gone to Heaven, right? Now we can't have her anymore."Joash Daniel Troyer, age 3

Rose Adhiambo Adongo
1974- 2009


Rose is her Christian name.
Adhiambo shows that she was born in the afternoon.
And Adongo means she was the second born of a pair of twins.

In a culture where people almost throw themselves at Americans, I had to wait to gain the friendship of Rose. She had a healthy kind of pride, and, unlike her peers, didn't ask for things. I admired her and wished she would talk to me, but she was shy and held me at arms length for a long time. One day, when we were walking to Bible Study, she reached out and held my hand as we walked. A warm gesture that blessed me kabisa.
Rose began coming to our compound to cut quilt blocks. She was unfamiliar with scissors, so this was a challenge. It didn't help that her hands trembled from antiviral drugs. The blocks had to be perfect, or fundis who sewed them would be frustrated. I straightened many of her blocks after she went home, so that she would still get paid for her work.

Eventually block cutting stopped, but Rose still came to work. She slipped quietly into our carport on Wednesday mornings and began the weekly ironing. When the little boys got up and wandered outside I would hear her say "JO-ahsh, kuhm!" (she'd learned the dutch word by hearing me say it so often) and "Mahcus, how ah you?" But mostly she would speak only if spoken to. She was easy to have around.
I worried that we would inadvertently offend Rose in someway if she came to our home so often. But at our farewell, she testified "I have worked at the home of the Pastah for a long time and never once was I offended by the children or anyone."
She ironed meticulously and with care, as though ironing for us was an honor. Her own clothes were neatly pressed, and she was clean. Willowy, tall and graceful, her facial features and smile reminded me of my cousin Emmeline.
Singing! She loved to listen to recorded singing while she ironed. She learned songs quickly. Her voice was high, clear and had natural vibrato. She blushed with pleasure when Pastor praised her for her lead singing. Still, she was considerate of others who wanted to sing lead, and never pushed herself forward. So modest.

Pastor would stop by the carport to ask Rose's advise or to question her about cultural or church issues he needed help with. She knew her people so much better than we did.

Rose was faithful at church, at choir, at work, at being an orphans' Matron, to her friends, to an abusive mother in law, to her children. Just faithful. And faithful to the Word of God. If there was cooking for a crowd, singing for a funeral, a teacher needed for the SS classes, a wayward sister to be visited, Rose was the one who was asked.

Rose's mother in law mistreated Rose dreadfully. Whether it was jealousy, guilt or what, she made life miserable for Rose. She claimed to have powers that could cause accidents, etc. One day when Rose was still inside her house, she watched as her MIL threw a traditional curse inside her window. MIL thought that Rose had already gone out and was trying secretly to harm her in this way. It would have been natural to fear...But as a child of God, Rose was safe and unaffected.
The MIL especially hated the CBF church, blaming them for being blood suckers, killers, and more. She was sure that Rose was trying to kill her. For some time she refused to eat anything that Rose cooked, for fear it was poisoned.
She blamed Rose for getting money from the white Pastor, but not sharing it with her. She was upset that Rose's orphaned brother Alfred received things from the orphans program, but her own grandchildren did not. Rose finally had to send her brother to another place to live. Rose took her persecution gracefully, but sometimes things were so bad, that she could scarcely bear it. The MIL turned Rose's son Kelly against her, so that he couldn't/ wouldn't even talk to her. She also took the deed to Rose's land that had been left to her by her husband, and secretly sold it. Later the village chief made the MIL return the money to the buyer and return the land to Rose.
One Sunday, stoic, non resistant Rose, stood in church to talk, but she started crying. We knew then that her persecutions were severe. Her friends gathered round her in a Sunday School room and prayed loudly and cried together with her.
I fretted about Rose's safety. Sometimes we talked of moving her to another place,and sometimes she almost considered it. Yet, something kept her there. Maybe it was her property. And when the MIL fell sick, Rose faithfully nursed her back to health. She sacrificed important events so that she could care for this tormentor of hers.
Rose was strict about locking her house, even when she stepped out briefly and not far away. One day, she came back to her house and was shocked to see that someone had bored a big hole into the mud wall of her bedroom. She kept her dead husband's clothing under her bed, and the thief had tried to pull those through the hole in the wall.
Rose continued coming to our house weekly, and gradually her jobs included hanging laundry, making fruit slush, fresh salsa and odds and ends. She would bring Angelina or Helen or another needy widow along to share the work, and they began coming more often and helping other missionary Moms too. I would cook lunch for them, before we all headed off for Bible Study together.
One day when I served milk, Rose confessed that she loves milk, and misses it, because she used to have as much as she wanted as a child. I wanted to know more about her childhood, her marriage, her husband. By now we were comfortable friends. So I began asking questions.

She seemed to have a decent childhood with her family in the mountains. Her father had 2 wives. The first wife gave him only one child, but the second gave him 12. Rose was one of those. An older sister married and moved to Nyamasaria, near Kisumu. She became acquainted with a young man named Bennard, and thought he would make a good husband for Rose.
So, when Rose was only 15, she married Bennard, and moved to the flat plains of Nyamasaria. It's just too hard to imagine yourself as a 15 year old, moving into a stranger's home, and becoming a wife, daughter in law and very quickly, a mother. Rose was only 16 when baby Evans was born. He must have been a special joy to her in her new and insecure world. But after only a few months, Evans caught a fast, fatal malaria, and was gone within a few short days. Meanwhile, Bennard added to the grief by being anything but a doting groom. I asked Rose at what point she knew that she had married a harsh man. "After one year, I knew." she said.
Kelly, another son, was born next, and then came Jarius. Imagine the grief, when baby Jarius also died from Malaria at only a few months. Martha, Clinton and Lydia joined Kelly. She was bearing Bennard's children, but she was only one of his women. Bennard was a lorry driver, and his jobs took him to other areas where he met women he liked. He would bring them home, and they shared the house with Rose, until they couldn't stand life there, and would run away. "Bennard tried to marry 6 women, but they all ran away" Rose told me.
Then one day, when they had been married about 10 years, Bennard decided to investigate the CBF Church that he had been hearing about. White pastors. Uniform dress and stuff. He started attending. And continued attending. And Rose began seeing a marked change in his behavior! He was easier to live with, and "I was very happy." she said. (And this church didn't allow more than one wife!) She wanted to be a part of a church like that and began attending also. Things went well, until Bennard fell again into the old sin of adultery, and was put on church discipline. He repented and was on a proving period at church, but he became so ill for so long, that he couldn't even go to church. Pastor LLoyd arranged with him to be tested for HIV+ and planned to take him in on a Monday. But on Saturday, Dec. 29, 2001, Bennard left Rose widowed. Widowed, with HIV+.
Rose didn't let the HIV+ stop her. When ARV drugs came to Kenya, she was put on the program, and her health improved. Some weeks before we left Kenya, she told me about pain that she was having in her chest when she breathed. Excruciating pain that really frightened her at night. I did some research on her symptoms, and printed out some info about pleurisy, and asked her to take it to her dr. But she said her dr. thought it must be due to some of the drugs she had been taking. Eventually it went away, and I heard no more chest pain- until this past Monday.
It was when Bennard died, that his mother turned on Rose, and became harsh and increasingly hard to live with. She has been the sand that has rubbed Rose until she shines like a rare pearl. Rose rarely offered complaints about her situation, but occasionally I asked. "How is it going?" And then she would tell me sad, bad, heartbreaking stuff. And the only thing I could think of saying at those times is "Iye, Sistah Rose. One day, when you reach Heaven, you will have a huge reward."
And she would kind of shrug. But now, at age 35, she has reached that "One Day". It's not for her that we are sad. (Imagine that lovely voice soaring in God's choir!!! Greeting fellow CBFers with mighty hand slaps!! Holding her baby sons!!) It's for the rest of us that we are sad.... for her children, for Lillian, Helen, Angelina, and sad for the missionaries. Marji and Lillian wept in each other's arms yesterday when Lillian came to do the fruits and vegetables.

The guy that prepared Rose's body for viewing and burial was drunk. Kim and Sarna were there, saw it and were horrified. Sarna sent a letter describing what she saw. Hosea said I may read it sometime, but not now. Like Sarna says, "Sure, Rose has a new body, but this body was still the one we loved."
Kelly, Martha, Clinton, Lydia~ prayers that they wil carry their mother's Faith!
By Bernice Troyer


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Rose's two sons, Clinton and Kelly, sitting beside Tommy Wagler. When Kelly stood for his testimony, he held his hankerchief over his face and wept.

The wicked mother-in-law. Looking at her gave me the goosebumps; I never saw such hateful, yet haunted eyes. Her testimony was full of lies.

In was a beautiful funeral in spite of the circumstances. Rose's body was buried behind her house. At the end of the graveside service, the children and the church ladies circled the grave and "planted" the roses Kim had gotten for them into the grave. Hosea's had ordered the roses as a gift from them. It was a touching gesture. In background, Sam and Merle are discussing the day's events.
Pray for the children of Rose, that they could have faith in God and still live with a grandmother who hates godly people.
Mattie Kauffman
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