For those who might be visiting this site for the first time because of that publication, I’m posting below direct links to a few of what are probably the most important posts here (though I’m happy for you to read more!).  I’ll also try to post an additional item in the next day or two that summarizes, as best as possible, what we did this summer.  Finally, I’ll be adding more blog posts in the near future.

Some interesting links:

http://nichols4.wordpress.com/2009/06/27/dear-miss-danise/

http://nichols4.wordpress.com/2009/06/23/visiting-kibera-slum-wow/ 

http://nichols4.wordpress.com/2009/06/15/milk-and-electricity/ 

http://nichols4.wordpress.com/2009/07/14/a-successful-trip-if/

The first answer that I gave to my friend is still the best answer I can come up, I think.  I said that I’d been praying a lot about the trip and that I really wanted for my kids to experience the world in new ways — so that they had a better sense of how big the world is, how big God’s love is for so many people in the world, how many really big problems there are in the world, and how their own lives might fit into all that.  Jennifer and I initially planned this trip initially a couple of years ago with the kids in mind (and their ages) so that they could have this experience.

Very closely on the heels of the first objective is that I (we) wanted to be helpful to the people of Nairobi — through training, bringing information and supplies, and being encouraging friends.  The third thing was that I also took the trip personally with an eye toward “scouting out” the destination.  I teach International Human Rights to law students and I would love to find very practical ways for the students to become involved in the work of human rights across the world – whether through working in the US in particular ways to help abroad or through travelling to Nairobi (or elsewhere) to learn and participate.

The good thing about asking a question about what will make a trip a success is that if/when it happens you can identify it.  (This is exactly the kind of goal-setting I was teaching in Kenya, actually: namely that unless you set forth a goal or objective, you’ll never know if you reach it and so you’ll never know if you’re really doing what you set out to do!)  It is obvious to me that both of my kids really thought about the world in new ways.  While Natalie talked more about it openly, Benjamin even said to me that while he knew about the poverty and about some of the differences in the world from our conversations he now saw that he had not understood about because he hadn’t been there.  I thought that was a pretty astute observation, and I think he’s right.  But because of the way that the kids got to experience Kenya, they aren’t thinking of Kenyans as somehow fundamentally different from themselves, but simply as friendly people that often have very few physical possessions and a short supply of food but are still basically happy and joy-filled.  As I’ve said before, I’m really glad that the kids think about their friends in Kenya at the same time that they think about poverty in Kenya – that’s all the more motivation to help, and it doesn’t make poverty seem as much of an overwhelming and scary thing but rather something that needs to be dealt with.

The other two objectives were largely met also – though I won’t write about those just now.  But what does bear mentioning is that I had to come to terms with the fact that African culture itself doesn’t like my question!  That is, I’d been told even before I went to Kenya that very much of the culture is built around relationships – and is not task-oriented in the way that I am.  It’s another thing that I really found to be true – even though I “knew” it to be true in advance.  So while my western mindset is to look for things that I will accomplish to see if something has been successful, the Kenyans were more interested in just being friends with me and getting to know me.  Fortunately for me (and my kids!), this coincided beautifully with my primary objective anyway.  So my kids now think of Africa and think about George, Nicholas, Eunice, Florence, Susan, C.J., and many many others.  I, too, leave with many more relationships and friends – with Wambu, Moses, Mbuvi, Jackton, Robin, Millie, Irene, Laurent, Beatrice, Wellington (and I could keep going on and don’t want to offend any by leaving them out!).  This is a good thing – but not exactly the kind of thing that’s “measurable” in the way my task-oriented type-A persona wants it to be.  But I think one of the lessons for me from the trip is that I need to be more content and enjoy the pace and relationships; that’s part of what God intended.  That doesn’t mean that I’ll shy away from wanting the Kenyans to work on their planning, problem-solving, goal-setting, etc., since I think those are critical to their advancement, growth, and leadership-development – but it does mean that I have a better appreciation for trying to balance those with relationships, or (maybe better) being able/willing to build relationship-building itself more explicitly into my goal-setting.

 In a couple of months I’ll have a birthday.  I bet Jennifer and the kids will make a cake, have a couple of presents, and try to do something nice for me.  I’m sure my parents will call and send a card, and that other family members will also send well-wishes.  I really like that — and have enjoyed it for a lot of years now.

But street kids don’t have birthday parties.  In fact, they often don’t even know when their birthday is, much less have anyone celebrate it.  When new children arrive at Made in the Streets one of the first (and sometimes hardest) things to do for the staff is figure out how old the children are.  They have to get a dentist to look at the children to assess their age, since most of the kids have grown up so poor that their birthday was never celebrated — or even known.

One of the wonderful things that happens when kids come to MITS is that they get to be celebrated.  Of course, if they don’t know when their birthday is they get to pick(!)  [It's kind of a funny thought to "pick your birthday," isn't it?  Of course, many clever students have been known to pick a birthday in the next month so that they can be celebrated!]  And then once each month all the students and staff at MITS get together to have a party for all the birthdays that month.  It’s not the party that we might be used to, but it’s a really important way to affirm the worth of each person and for those closest to them (since there often are no meaningful families to speak of) to celebrate them.

One of our first nights in Nairobi we were lucky to be there on “birthday night” for the June birthdays.  The routine is a set of games or something first (as Benjamin is playing in the picture above!), and then everyone gathers in a circle in the courtyard area.  Those with birthdays in June all got together against a wall and the rest of the crowd passed balloons one to the other, singing “Love is nothing ’til you give it away,” until the song ended.  At that point each person holding one of the balloons got to (had to?!) say something nice to affirm one or more of the birthday people.  This was then repeated for quite awhile, maybe 45 minutes or so, until many good things were said by many different people about each birthday celebrant.  At the end of the time it was birthday cake time, so 5 cakes were brought out to share so that each of the 75 people gathered could have some.  (That’s the other picture above).

It’s a really special thing to have people celebrate you and tell you that you are valuable.  It’s hard to imagine that so many people live without that in the world.  It’s something that each of us longs for so much that the MITS girls have been known to go back to their dorms afterwards and literally repeat the entire scene all over again — sitting around in a circle, passing balloons and singing, saying nice things to the birthday girls, and then laughing and eating together.

It may not seem like the biggest thing, but celebrating people is one of the best things that MITS does.  Building self-worth through affirmation can’t be underestimated, and I’m glad my friends at MITS now have someone to tell them at least once each year (and really much more than that!) how important they are.

Though several stories were interesting (and much more global than US news typically is) a contrast in one story really struck me.  I’d heard that Sarah Palin was resigning as governor of Alaska, but knew none of the details.  The story I read didn’t fill much more in for me, but was interesting in that it highlighted the barrage of negative press — especially in the blogosphere — that Palin has received.  I’m less interested in the merits of any criticisms at the moment (though the little I read of the resignation was odd) and more interested in the fact of the criticism, in a constant stream from sources.  We all know this sort of criticism as it tends toward obsession and destruction of people — whether Sarah Palin, Barack Obama, Bill Clinton, George Bush, or many many others not nearly as prominent.  Or the same could be said of obsession with particular people — including Michael Jackson.

My only thought here is that I’m really struck by the contrast between all that I saw in Nairobi and the ultimate irrelevance of obsession about a particular person. It’s not that I think that politics are unimportant – they’re not at all, and in fact I think they matter much more than many people I know because I know (and have just seen in Kenya) the consequences of poor leadership. But the sermon on Sunday at St. Aldate’s in Oxford was by a medical doctor who is leaving his practice to go back to Uganda to serve people who have a 50% mortality rate for children under age 5. Among other things, he asked what each person was going to do with their one precious, wild life. He really wasn’t judging, but made clear that he has been called to use his medical talents to treat children and pregnant women who can’t survive without assistance.
We each only have one life. In that book I just finished, the author (Ishmael Baeh) is a former child soldier from Sierra Leone who is now – through his book – working to change the structures of society to eliminate child soldiers and the atrocities that accompany (and cause) it. My friends in Kenya spend their lives investing not in money in people, and subsequently get the reward of seeing lives changed before their very eyes and leaders grow from people that the world had otherwise cast aside as failures.
I never want to be a person who spends every waking minute thinking about how to criticize a politician that I agree with or disagree with, nor about an entertainer whose own life was vacuous at best. God has given me only one life to live, and I hope to live it to the fullest to help others.

We didn’t have any traditional US fireworks this 4^th of July, but did have a BBQ.  Of course, given that we were in the UK I wasn’t surprised about the lack of exploding colorful things in the sky and was pleasantly surprised to have a wonderful time outdoors with friends.  More than one even offered happy 4^th of July wishes – even though we were the only Americans around!

On Saturday, July 4, we traveled from London to Oxford.  We took a coach (bus) from London rather than the train since it was so much cheaper for the 4 of us, and it was pretty nice.  We arrived late morning, since the drive itself is only 1 to 1 ½ hours depending on the starting point and traffic.  After a little maneuvering to get to our lodging – and then downtown – we had lunch at The Eagle and Child pub.  The kids were fascinated to eat at C.S. Lewis’s (and others) favorite hang-out.  Yes, we got a picture of course, and the food really is pretty good.  The kids were brave and tried the fish and chips – but liked the bangers and mash we got a little better.  (Jenni and I liked the steak and ale pie best!)  After lunch we walked around the town some so they could get a feel for it, went through Christ Church College so they could see one of the colleges (with a little Harry Potter magic in the great hall, as well as lots of other history with Lewis Carroll and many others), and then visited Blackwell’s.  It was Alice in Wonderland day (since the Brits weren’t really celebrating our Independence!), so there were lots of un goings-on at Blackwell’s.  What a great bookstore.

In the evening Patrick McDonald (founder and CEO of Viva) hosted a BBQ at his house and invited lots of friends from Viva.  We had a great time enjoying the beautiful weather and late evening, and Benjamin and Natalie made some good new friends as well – as Patrick’s oldest 2 kids are almost exactly their ages.  We had said before the trip that they’d return home with good friends in Nairobi and in Oxford, and they now know that wonderful experience of far-flung good friends…

We also were fortunate to have a few minutes to go to the British Library, where I was able to show my son the Codex Alexandrinus and Codex Sinaiticus, as well as a couple of older fragments of the Bible. These kind of items have long fascinated me – and I’m especially grateful for the current text of the Bible that I have as I witness these hand-copied versions that have preserved the text over so many years. I love that although we don’t have original autographs of the Biblical books, we have these very old volumes – and also then so many subsequent version over the years. Some are illuminated with beautiful designs, and some are more plain. All were copied by hand from other copies of the Bible until the late 1400s, with great care in the transcription. Thank you to the faithful Christians (mostly “Catholics,” but certainly Protestants also later) who have helped preserve the text for so many years.

And very strikingly, no where that I turn here in the UK do I see anyone fetching water to drink.  I don’t mean that sarcastically either — but as a serious commentary that when much of people’s time is spent retrieving water (or food) then there isn’t as much time for other things.  It’s hard to overstate how much we take for granted that we can regularly turn on a tap and have water — as much as we want, free from impurities, able to be temperature controlled, at a low cost and sufficient pressure, etc.

We also were really, really blessed to be able to see the very first day of the annual Wildebeest migration.  Each year tens and hundreds of thousands of these animals cross from Tanzania into Kenya in search of wetter grass, and then trek across Kenya until they return to Tanzania.  The journey is about 3000 km each year.  I don’t recall ever seeing a Wildebeest in a zoo, and I wonder if it’s because they are so migratory that they just can’t survive.  We saw the very first herd – with thousands of them across the plains.  The zebras joined them, the lions had killed a few near the watering hole (and the vultures were eating the leftovers), and they all just kept moving.

On top of all this we had a flat tire in lion country(!), Benjamin got to meet and talk to real Maasai warriors, we flew onto more than one dirt airstrip on a 19 seat plane that made Jennifer a bit nervous, we slept in a tent that was outfitted in its interior like a hotel room (with nice beds, bathrooms, fixtures, etc.) but had canvas walls and a wooden platform floor – and so I felt a bit like Harry Potter, saw a lioness from not more than a very few meters from the open windows of our vehicle, and on and on.  It was a bit surreal not only to see all the open country and the animals, though – but then to head back to Nairobi for one more day in the hustle and bustle of the dirty city.  We waited in lots of city traffic on the way home but had a truly wonderful conversation with Jackton (of MITS) about rural poverty and city poverty in Kenya, and about his perspectives on how to fix it.  I’ll write more on that in a later post.

This evening we say our goodbyes here in Kenya and head to the airport.  We’ll fly overnight to London, leaving about 11:00 PM here and arriving 6:00 AM London time (2 hours behind Nairobi, and 6 hours ahead of Minneapolis).  We have a full day tomorrow in London probably, but will be able to slow down a little in the afternoon if the kids are too tired.  (written in Nairobi, afternoon local time; I was unable to access internet on the Mara, and did not have a chance again at MITS.  I have tried here at the airport but the wireless that should work is failing me, so I will likely post this in London)