Tanzania and Kenya Update – November 2008

A Kenyan Pastor had a revival meeting in Eldoret. Many hundreds were saved by Gods grace and after the service a young women came and asked the Pastor a question. She said “Now how do I eat?” The Pastor said to her, “what do you mean? You don’t look hungry, you look well fed”. “That’s true she said, but you don’t understand. Until I got saved this evening I fed myself through prostitution, now I can’t do that. Tell me Pastor how shall I eat?” Poverty does wicked things to people. The story of this lady really touched my heart and gave me an understanding of how things work on the ground level in the poorest regions of Kenya and Tanzania. This ladies story is a challenge to the church as it operates in these areas because this lady is just one of a million stories of poverty and hardship.

The Moriel orphans are another story of poverty and extreme hardship. The local Masia culture is a male dominated culture. Women are not educated (hence the hatred they have for Moriel educating their female children) The lot of a young girl is this. At the age of 10 or as early as 8, a pubescent male will rape them. What he is saying is this, “This is your lot in life, get used to it”. Added to this female circumcision is still practiced. And so young girls find themselves coming to Moriel for protection and education. This time the situation was compounded when at the end of term our girls went back to their villages to stay with their guardians. The guardians sent them all back to us “you are now Moriel children, let Moriel look after you” and so the last week or so the children have been sleeping rough at the mission station. It even got worse when during a raid the harvest from our 22 acres was stolen by a local family. Now we have a situation where the children are abandoned and without the food we planted for them. The ring leader was caught and there is now a court case but the food wasn’t recovered.

Out of the funds collected I have given permission for an initial $3000 to be used to buy mattresses, lamps and food to make their stay bearable until the first two buildings are complete, then the girls can move to the new village site which is nearer to Arusha and dwell in safety.

I met with four prospective builders at the new site which is truly a wonderful place. We have our own Bananas plantation, good soil and enough room to develop. This is due to the generosity of Mr & Mrs Ninja the local governors who love the Lord and love the work we are doing with the children. May the Lord richly bless them. It is hoped that when the tender is given work will begin from the 1st next month and the first two complete in January and ready for occupation. It’s been really frustrating as work in Tanzania is slow, there are no big DIY companies, the locations of the sites we work are remote and it’s a totally different pace of life. But this trip I feel really encouraged that real progress has been made, it was a tough trip physically and spiritually but that’s to be expected as we know we are in a constant battle against the world the flesh and the devil. Can I also convey my gratitude to all those who have given generously to this cause and may I also encourage readers to consider their long term help as we will need to keep going with the day to day costs and maintenance for the future.

Kenya was tough. O boy that road from Nakuru was a killer and it took us 6 hours to travel the 150kms to Eldoret. I was accompanied on this trip by Jim Cottingham and John Burston who are elders with the Christian Ministerial Fellowship International (CMFI). They were traveling to Bungoma to see Moses and then onto Arusha in Tanzania to see Norbert to discuss opening branches of CMFI and to ordain Moses and Norbert into the organization that holds our ministerial credentials. I really enjoyed myself and had great fellowship with John and Jim. Both are a credit to themselves as believers and great ambassadors for CMFI and for Christ Jesus. But this road took its toll on all of us especially when we broke down in the middle of nowhere. It was in the hill country and was quite cold and all of us were freezing as the car was jacked up to receive some attention. We eventually go the vehicle moving again but it limped ever so slowly into Eldoret and so we abandoned the journey to Bungoma there and sought sanctuary in a hotel for the night.
The next day we took a local taxi to Bungoma, flying at breakneck speeds along the Africa roads it’s was at the same time thrilling and unnerving.

Bungoma is a typical scruffy African town, lots of problems, lots of poverty but we were ushered to the home of Moses who welcomed us with a much needed soda and food. Moses, his wife Violet, their three children share their home with 10 orphans. We were so touched by his generosity amid obvious poverty. The Lord has really placed on their hearts a burden for these young people whose life has been devastated by HIV/Aids. The following days were involved with meetings and the ordination; it was thrilling to see many saved and ministers of the gospel rededicating their lives to Jesus. But the thing that touched me was the care of the orphans. Moses coordinates a work that touches 400 orphans who are loved and fed. Moriel purchased an acre of land for this work but although it is being fully utilized the land does not have the capacity to feed so many hungry mouths. Therefore we need to raise approximately $10,000 to purchase adequate land or mouths will grow hungry especially next year when Kenya expects food shortages due to the torrential rain that is rotting thousands of hectares of Maize.

The work of planting churches in the area is going well. At the conference for CMFI were representatives from over 50 churches and Moses communicated that thousands have been saved and attend churches affiliated or planted by Moriel. Moses is doing a great work in the Lord and needs our encouragement and love.

Well I hope to be back soon; meanwhile I have so many things to do here for the preparation of the end of the year and the beginning of the new. So thank you for your prayers and support and I will keep you up to date with developments.

In Jesus

Dave Royle
Director of Missions for Africa