Sam has been sending me threatening text messages all day about writing on the blog. So, here I am writing on the blog.

Big things in life right now- my mom just had surgery for bladder cancer, and my dad is searching for a job. I don’t know if this blog is just supposed to be about “missionary stuff,” but it sure is tough being thousands of miles away when your family is going through trials. It is really frustrating not being able to do anything tangible for them from over here. I guess that is God telling me to do the only thing I can do- pray. Why does prayer sometimes feel like a last resort? Shouldn’t it be the first resort? It’s like we (or maybe it is just me) sit around and think, “Oh I guess if will try really hard to do this, manipulate this, or work this all out for myself. Then, if I fail, and have nowhere else to turn, then maybe I will ask the almighty Lord of the universe if he could help. Even though he lets pathetic sinners come into his throne room and bathe in his majesty whenever we want, I think I would rather just wallow in my problems all by myself.”

Yup, that makes a lot of sense.

So, anyways, life goes on at West Nairobi School. I feel like a woman with many hats at such a small school. I am a teacher, a field trip supervisor, a class trip organizer, a fund raiser helper, a sports event cheerleader, a mentor, a friend, a pilates teacher, a curriculum guide writer, an AP course creator, etc.  But, I really cherish being a real part of the lives of these kids instead of just their American history teacher 50 minutes a day.

The kids are just dying to figure out what Presidential candidate I support, but I refuse to tell them. I want to be a neutral arbitrator, but I am amazed that they haven’t figured it out yet. Seriously, I think I am a bit proud that I have managed to appear non-partisan, when you all know I am an extremist at heart!

More about WNS later…and pictures to follow…

Hi all!

Life continues to be interesting in Kenya. I (Sam) am really enjoying working with World Concern. When I first started working for them Kenya was in the midst of it worst violence, so most of what they had me do was geared toward relief work - working with refugee camps, etc. That was great to be involved with, although it was difficult for me not to be overwhelming (and angered) by the situation. Since the violence has cooled down, though, I’ve been shifting more away from relief work and more towards work in their economic development program. Its been great! This is exactly what I’ve been studying for the past three or so years, so its great to finally be able to put some of these things into practice.

Almost all of what I do now is centered around rural Financial Service Associations (fancy phrase for a village banks). I’ve only been working with this project for a little while now, but I’m sold-out on the idea. When I did some work for “The Reckoning” (see KAKAMEGA post) I helped with a microfinance project. This project aimed at getting loans into the hands of rural entrepreneurs who would otherwise have no access to any kind of capital to start or expand their business. They are given loans in group settings, in order to provide them with support and mutual accountability (since they have no collateral). All of that was a really great way to empower the poor to be able to use their own talents and gifts to better their families.

World Concern takes this idea one step further: they use the microfinance principles to create permanent and self-sustaining banks that will make financial services continually available to the poor. The bank is literally owned by the community - as in, all members have shares in the bank, they collectively make decisions (such as interest rates, loan terms, etc.) at shareholder meetings, and they make yearly dividends. Out of the money from shares, the bank is able to make small loans to its members. The interest collected goes back into the bank (instead of back to the organization), and the bank even hosts three jobs in the community. World Concern’s role in all of this is just to provide the start-up costs, initial training, and technical advice as they need it.

I know all of this sounds really boring, but it really changes lives. It’s not charity - it’s empowering people to utilize their own resources and creativity. And it works! It’s not going to end world poverty, but it can be a great solution in certain situations. The poor in rural Kenya are used to charity from organizations, not being told by the organization that they believe in their creativity and ability to solve problems. People wonder what motivates World Concern (i’ll just call them WC from here), and WC is ready to explain that its probably has to do with the spirit of living God in them. And if there are any Christians in the area, they often feel challenged to support the community development initiative. The bank I visited last week in Embu has been sponsored by a church in the area since WC has cut the umbilical cord. WC usually offers “Biblical Values in the Marketplace” training (in addition to other business training) where ever they set us these banks, giving members the opportunity to hear the gospel and how it affects their business ventures and the rest of life. They almost always draw a crowd.

I hope you can tell that I’m excited about this. And all of this has got me thinking about how development agencies could work more with local churches where they exist. What would it look like to shift our focus from trying to develop communities as organizations towards trying to enable the local church to bring about community development? more thoughts on that to come….

By the way… have I showed you all my nephew lately?? I think its been a while.

(that’s a safari edition cradle, by the way)