HoMa BaY!!!

I finally got to go back to Homa Bay last weekend, and for lack of a better word, the trip was AMAZING! It started out with lots of laughs as Bethany and I attempted to squeeze under one mosquito net. We slept on mattresses on the floor of Julie’s house, and we only had one mosquito net and nothing to hang it from. So we got innovative and positioned a fan, a computer chair, a piece of luggage, and two other chairs around our mattresses; we then fastened the corners of the net to whatever would hold it and stretched it across our mattresses. If you can imagine the type of forts kids build with chairs and sheets in the living room that leave only enough room to crawl through, then you would see what we slept under. The net only covered a sliver of my bed, and Bethany’s mattress was a bit higher than mine, so I was completely enclosed. I felt like I was slipping in a coffin or something, with a wedding veil over my head as the net was draped on my face most of the night. I didn’t necessarily get the best sleep, especial because every two minutes Bethany was asking, “hey are you asleep yet?” but we got some good laughs out of it. It was a fun time we won’t soon be forgetting.
It was Fellowship there on Saturday, so the day was very full. Julie brought in a couple of nurses to do HIV testing, and all of the guardians were tested. There were about 40 in number and less than 10 tested positive. In a weird sort of way, that number is a miracle. The testing went on in Julie’s house, and while she took charge of that process, she left the kids in our hands- Bethany and mine. We were supposed to organize games and get things going, but it started out a little awkward. Robert had us take profile pictures of all the kids, and they definitely were NOT interested in looking happy for our snap shots. We then brought out a couple of mini-footballs ((it was all we had)), and I attempted to get a game going. Unfortunately most of the kids couldn’t and didn’t speak English, so mostly I just got blank stares. Ordinarily I think I would have just given up, but for some unknown reason an idea came to mind and we pushed through. I went and got a sheet and had Bethany hold one end. We put the balls in the middle and started shaking it like a parachute. This got the kids interested, and some of them came over to join us. Once they knew we were safe and weren’t quite as alien as they thought, a couple of the older girls came over and started playing volleyball with the football, and I got to join in with them. So we had about 8 of the 30 or so kids playing at this point. It still wasn’t quite what I had in mind, but at least some of them were having fun, and I was getting to interact. After about 30 minutes of the footballs, they got old and everyone went back to sit down under the tree. Bethany started taking down their names, so I just started taking more pictures. I was beginning to think that all was lost on the whole “let’s have fun playing games today,” but then like always, God blew my mind. Who comes walking up to me but Purity, the one girl I met last time I was there!!! She came up, greeted me excitedly, and though last time she hardly said two words to me ((me thinking she couldn’t really speak English)) we carried on a whole conversation. Her English is impeccable. She asked to take a picture with me, and then she asked how to use the camera. I showed her and that is all it took. Apparently Purity is somewhat the ring leader when it comes to all the older girls in the program, and once she approved of me, I had an “in” with the rest of the group. I think we spent the next hour taking photos together with her and the rest of the girls, and they, in turn, got all the little ones interested too. Peter then ordered all of them to come together to sing; Purity invited me along as well. I didn’t really know any of the songs we were singing, but everyone thought it was funny that I was trying to sing along. Then came the dreaded moment where I had to lead two songs. Yeah, that was really interesting because remember they don’t speak or understand much English. So I picked two songs that had hand motions, and they followed along. The guardians really found humor in this, and there were smiles all over. It was A LOT of fun, but worship leader is definitely NOT my calling. The sun was really shining, so it was time for another break. Purity was talking with me some more, and we decided it would be fun to play some games. I taught them one- red light, green light- and then they taught me one with a ball- similar to a random rendition of dodge ball. Then we combined two of our games- tag and duck, duck, goose- and everyone joined in. By this time, most of the testing was finished, and all the guardians were outside watching. The joy, the smiles, and the laughter echoing throughout was a glorious occasion. Julie said she hasn’t heard them laugh like that in a really long time. Praise be to God because that was my prayer! To finish up the day, we ate lunch (rice and tea) and distributed the maize. I was sad to see the day come to an end, but it was getting late; the families had a far way to walk, and we had to get back to Kisumu before the rains came. We said our goodbyes, and the girls taught me goodbye in Luo, which is “oritti.” Peter, Robert, Bethany, a guardian from Kisumu ((don’t know how he ended up in Homa Bay)), and I loaded up in the truck and headed for home. The ride home was great fun. We took turns teaching each other worship songs some in English and some in Kiswahili. The roads were really bumpy, so we sounded like chipmunks, but it was a joyful noise nonetheless. We stopped for a bite to eat, and as a gift, the Kisumu guardian bought our meal. He was probably the only one there who REALLY couldn’t afford it, but he wanted to do something for us. Talk about sacrificial giving; I can’t get over it.
Well that is Homa Bay in a nutshell ((or maybe too many details for you; it all depends on how you look at it I guess)). At first, I am tempted to say that God showed up in a big way while I was there. But then if I say that, it looks as if God wasn’t there in the first place, which is overwhelmingly NOT true. He was ALWAYS there in a BIG way, and I think maybe this weekend I was ready to show up as well. Like Jacob said when he woke up from his dream in Genesis 28:16, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” Praise God that He is ALWAYS bigger than anyone or anything I could ever be, and He is always overwhelmingly present. Please pray for the people at Homa Bay; pray for the guardians who tested positive, pray for Purity as she continues in school, and pray for LCW to continue to show up where God is at work. Amen.