[All Church] [Fwd: Update from Kenya]

[karen.hayes at cornerstoneisu.org]

An Update from Tabitha -- it is amazing!!!

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Hey Family and Friends,

It's Saturday here, and we have a little free time. So I thought I
would take the chance to email you all. Our time here so far has been
crazy already. The weekend that we arrived, everyone was so tired from
traveling for three days. But we survived. We spent the weekend,
getting to know the Missions of Hope Center in the slums, the people,
and Nairobi. Kenya is really amazing. Everything is so different, it
is almost too hard to describe over email. On Monday we started
working in the slums. They gave us a chance to work in each
department, one on each day. We did, CHE, Social Work, Education,
Spirtual develoment, and Business. The ministry in the Mathare Slums
is amazing. Mission of Hope International (MOHI) has 10 centers all
through the Mathare Slum. The kenyian people are really focused on
relationships. That has been wonderful to see but also challenging at
times. Time is not a concept here, instead relationships are more
important.

CHE (Community Health Evanelsim) is incredible. IT focuses on the
holistic perspective of the individual. They help to build
relationships between the person and the community, the person and
themselves, the person and other people, and the person and God. They
work with people who have aids, they help people make their homes as
sanitary and safe as possible, they work with the disabled, and
through all of that they minister to people. God is at work in
everything they do.

I have spend many of the days working in the slums doing home visits.
One home visit that stood out the most was in a young mothers house.
She has 6 children. One who was born literally the day before (and
mind you this mother was back in her home after just giving birth the
day before) a disabled one and half year old, and 4 children in
school. When MOHI first discovered this family, they were all in the
house starving. The kids did not attend school and no one left their
hut. MOHI has helped them tremedously.Now they have food, and the
children go to school. THe husband is also out helping provide for his
family as much as possible through construction jobs. I was able to
hold their disabled daughter. This was an amazing moment for me. I sat
in her 10 by 10 foot hut and held her one year old daughter who
couldnt hold her head up. At that moment I realized how strong this
mother was for having this many children, and how strong her faith was
knowing that God will provide and give her strength. I asked the
mother what her name was and she said Dorcus. How crazy (for those of
you who don't know, Dorcus is Tabitha in the bible) God has shown
himself in amazing ways in the slums.

We all have been learning so much from the people in Kenya. Our team
has been doing great together really supporting one another. I am
blessed to be working here. Next week we pick departments, and I will
most likely be working in the social work department. Keep praying for
me. Everyday is very long. We leave at 7 30 am and don't get back till
really late in the evenings. Thank you all for you prayers and support.

Tabitha

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