Our first stop is about a 4-hour bumpy ride from Kismu, Kenya in a matatu (imagine an industrial mini-van and a taxi rolled into one). We are visiting Lwala Village, which is becoming more and more like home to me. The village has no running water or electricity, but has taught me so much about caring for and spending time with people. This is the most alive I’ve felt in a long time. As soon as we arrive, Suzie and Yuka and their women’s group greet us with song and dancing, followed by a traditional African meal – rice, chicken, ugali, and the freshest fruit I’ve ever had. The hospitality we are shown is unprecedented – there is an obvious reversal of priorities between Africa and America. Sometimes I marvel at our loss of these values in our search for efficiency and success. Surely God is reminding me to slow down and linger in the meals and conversations.

For as seemingly simple as thing look at a glance, there is a strong infrastructure of education and organization, including very formal meetings and plans to better serve the community. The children go to school and begin learning English in third grade, and most adults speak at least 3 different languages quite fluently.

B:WM has already funded a well in Lwala that should be functioning very soon. Our Kenyan friends here, Fred and Milton, are building a medical clinic to serve the broader community, and to deal with diseases such as AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Right now they are in med school in Nashville, so their brother Omondi hosts us. There is a hopeful anticipation here about the clinic, and there is much more discussion about HIV/AIDS than when we were here just 8 months ago. It’s important to break these myths and prejudices now so that adults can have a better chance at life, and their children can learn how to survive the wake of AIDS’ destruction.

As we walk around the villages, there is a steady stream of children almost pouring out of rows of maize (corn) and sugarcane. I love interacting with the kids and am aware of a delicate balance of sadness compassion, and just plain awe at their resilience and laughter. It’s not uncommon to see a 3 yr. old carrying a younger sibling on their back. I’ve heard many staggering numbers regarding orphans in Africa, and we see it everywhere we go here.

Last time I was here, I met a young girl named Apiyo, who quickly became my favorite sidekick. Apiyo often stays home from school because of her cough, and stays close by like a shadow, with her gorgeous smile and big brown eyes

After a tough goodbye to our beautiful friends in Lwala, we spent a few days bouncing from village to village in western Kenya, visiting with women’s groups that have applied for a well from on of our partners. B:WM funds these partners that work directly with villages, teaching sanitation, well maintenance and responsibility. It’s a great system that gives ownership and credit where it is due – to the Africans. You wouldn’t believe the difference in those villages that have a well compared to those that are still waiting for one. A well means that women and children don’t have to wake early and walk miles to fetch dirty water for cooking, cleaning and bathing. Instead, kids can go to school and women can work in the fields or care for orphans and sick friends, or learn a skilled trade and sell products at the market. Clean water also drastically reduces opportunistic diseases that cripple productivity in a village and attack those that do have AIDS. I will never look at water the same way. A woman named Dorkas claims that she looks 20 years younger since her village received a well. The clean water has softened her skin and she feels stronger and younger.

We are learning that a well is only the first step in improving the heath and hygiene in a village. Proper latrines (bathrooms) are equally as important, and very likely the next step in working with the women’s groups. Traditional latrines in Kenya are a hole in the ground surrounded by walls of rusty aluminum. When the rainy season comes, they become flooded and unusable, not to mention the health and sanitation issues that follow.

One of the things I am quick to mention in Africa is that I represent many Americans that care about Africans and want to serve those that struggle against poverty and disease every day. I wish all of you that supported B:WM this past year (with just a dollar or more) could see this firsthand. I also wish you could all witness the great exchange – that Africans have so much to teach us about life and faith and love. God is using them as a model for the rest of the world, and as we bring them clean water and offer ourselves to them, we are given so much in return. What a beautiful picture of the body – the Kingdom – that we might come together and agree, and give of ourselves according to our strengths and needs. Thanks be to God!