God Is Bigger!

Greetings oh flavoured sponors :)

Welcome to the start of May, heading into my 4th month already!! How crazy is that. Rhetorical question me thinks. God has definitely pulled and guided me through so much in the short time I have been here. This has been quite the experience up til now, going from sleeping on the floor, black outs (yes we have them too!), eating basic meals of R10, getting gas and learning how to cook, breaking my bed and then getting it fixed. Getting sick for near 3 weeks. And the awesomeness (I claim the word) of my relationship with Millicent, it is growing strong and heading towards the future. More to come :)

The big news here is that Kenya is still being randomly attacked by unorganised fringe dissidents. There have been attacks in Mombasa and Nairobi over the past week. The news is that there have been 7 attacks in a week, which is quite a bit more than the norm. Sadly, yes I have to say the norm. The scarier one was when a bomb went off on a bus near the city centre. Thankfully it was empty at that stage, so the death toll was very small. Why I call it dissidents is because the bus attacks in Nigeria showed a serious force to reckon with. Now the attention of the world is focused on Nigeria because of the 250 schoolgirls abducted. I will never understand how humans can do these kind of things, and I never will. All I hold onto is the truth that God Always Wins - Love Always Wins. So if you are looking for a prayer request or two, please pray for peace in Nigeria, and safety in Kenya. We prayed for these things in home group on Tuesday, and it was an amazing time. Once a month we have a prayer evening and I love it.

Speaking of home group, I am really enjoying it and growing. I am also the "resident" worship leader, which really excites me. It is so awesome being able to get back into helping with worship and being able to bring in free worship times as we do at MJ. I am also going to a new church, which is a church plant from the Vineyard church I was going to last year. I feel very comfortable there, it is small, I think about 50 people with half being children. Worship is a keyboard, guitar, and a jembe, and at this point no sound system. Yay! Funny enough I have only been once for Easter but I feel at peace that this is where I should be going to and serving in. It is called LVC (they are trying to be like MJ) which stands for Lavington Vineyard Church. Millicent and I were discussing churches and how we would be going to two different churches and how that would affect us. Without me asking, Millicent said she and her children want to come to LVC now, and this really means a lot to me. I feel this is another step towards our future, which between us all, is going really really well.I used the marriage word and where I think me and Millicent are heading towards when talking with Rachel, and she told me if it looks like a horse, neighs like a horse, and smells like a horse it is a horse. So what I took from is that I have to buy a horse in exchange for Millicent to marry me. And to buy her perfume.But I do have a feeling I missed out on the real meaning. Watch this pasture.

April has been a month of being sick, following up on my permit that is still being worked on but I managed to get a 3 month extension, and planning for what I can do to make money here when I stay longer in Kenya. The sickness was from one of my medications running out 2 weeks before it should have. Somehow from Dischem to here it disappeared. I will just say that a bearded dragon came one night and stole the pills, and leave it at that. As you guys will know, I am on meds for an old case of epilepsy (that God healed about 10 years ago) and also for some mood control, mixed in with other happy drugs :) The one that ran out was a mood stabilizer and I have never been cold turkey on it.Let's just say that if this is how cold turkey feels, I would rather have a cold chicken if possible. I could not sleep, struggled to speak Chinese and I could not play the banjo. Yes, that bad. I have to say thank you to Brendan and Claire hugely for running around for me sorting out my meds and sending them off at great speed. I think they are sponsoring me to ensure I stay in Kenya, but that's just my guess :)

Schools are back and I am meeting with the headmaster on Monday to see what my next term is looking like. I want to be doing more at the school, so we will be planning over a lunch where I can be used. I am loving my Class 4 and Class 5's, I just need a bit more to do. I do have options to work on going on what timing I have left over from the school. There is a Film School in Kibera that teaches youth in need of guidance and a career, in essence taking them off the streets away from a life of potential crime. As you will know, I have a lot of experience in filming, editing, script writing etc. so I will be able to help in that if I have enough time spare. God has been telling me two things - 1. To continue doing what He has called me to do (i.e. St Catherines school teaching) and 2. He has big plans for me this year and will bring these out when as I continue being faithful in what I am called to now. So it's all exciting at this point. My Merrell shoes have been fixed (they lasted me 2 years without needing a fix up) and my ankle is back to normal, so its up up and away (or is that down down the Kiberan dirt and rock covered roads to Soweto) and it's all good, time to bring more of God and His love to the beautiful kids at the school and around!!

I end this with a prayer request - that the Rand sorts itself out and gets back to being healthy and stronger than the Kenyan shilling. Yup, the Kenyan shilling is stronger than the rand and due to this I am getting charged around R250 per R1000 I withdraw. In basic terms, I am losing R3000 per month off my sponsorship. Scary yes! There are bank charges but I have checked up on the exchange rate and it is correct. So please can you pray that the rand sorts itself out, and a secondary prayer is that I can get a few more sponsors to counter this loss of much needed sponsorship. If you are aware of anyone who is interested in sponsoring me for the rest of this year, please let me know. You can always pass them onto these blogs or onto my website - http://beanycc.wix.com/the-intrepid-umzungu or my email address beanycc@gmail.com

Thank you for your sponsorship that has allowed me to buy gas, a cooker and a 19litre refillable water bottle this month (April). And to pay my rent ;) I am learning how to make Ugali, a harder version of pap. I need to get my head around it and enjoy it. I will keep you posted :) I even bought a small metal kettle to boil up a cuppa tea or hot chocolate now that Winter is coming. I may have to start wearing jeans soon...even a beanie.

One last thing I want to let you all know is that I am working on a business plan to start a film and media company for when I get to stay in Kenya. I have already got 2 interested parties and if this is right and gets off the ground, then I will be able to become financially stable. This is a goal for the future for when I become Mr Millicent, and I can then be the other half of the financial giving to the family. I am also wanting to create a secondary section of the company which would be able to impact organisations that work with children. All of this is still in my head, but I believe this is the way to go due to my past experience of filming and media work.

I love you all hugely, miss you all hugely and I look forward hearing how you guys are doing! I know have home landline so I am now available cell phone, landline, skype an whattsap :) And a visit is always allowed too!

Love Always Wins

My Milli :)

At Nyawira's Wedding with the Maphala's

The intrepid Umzungu missioning to bring Heaven to Kibera and beyond
Skype: africabeany
Cell: +254700377052
Home Landline: +254205205784

Bring On The Bouncing!

"I don't see much sense in that," said Rabbit. "No," said Pooh humbly, "there isn't. But there was going to be when I began it. It's just that something happened to it along the way." - Winnie the Pooh

I just love that, it really sums me up a lot of the time. I do things that a lot of people do not seem to make sense at all, and yes when I am in the middle of it I wonder what I am doing, but then my brain kicks into gear and I realise that the only person that I have to be concerned with their view is Piglet. Wait a bit. Did I just link God with Piglet? Well ok, if we are walking down this way let's see if Winnie the Pooh can be at all mixed with God. And please take the following as totally tongue in cheek. So....God would obviously be Christopher Robin because he knew WTP (I just can't continue all of that typing)  before anyone else. They had their closest times and is always the one he goes back to. Owl would obviously be the Holy Spirit because he is always there for WTP, friendship, care. direction, and huge wisdom. And he is always awake at night. which is always helpful while offering peace when needed. And now here's the hard one. I think I would say Jesus would be Kanga mixed with Tigger. Tigger because Jesus is just so awesome, exciting, fun, passionate, living life outside what others think are the safe ways of living. He bounces throughout our lives and invites us to throw of all our concerns of other people and come out of our of comfort spaces and jump into something new. And Kanga because Jesus is so loving, always aware of our concerns and makes it his priority, cares for the whole of the forest, the whole world actually and most definitely our personal forest/world and gives help in times of need. And a random fact is that Kanga is one of the few characters that Tigger does not bounce. Not sure how relevant that is, but it's a pretty cool thing to bring up at your next dinner date when the silence is tangible. 

So how have I been besides bonding with Winnie The Pooh... Sorry that my newsletter is out a bit later than the previous, but with internet issues and then my laptop crashing, these last 2 months have been stretching to say the least. I came here feeling I had to believe with faith that all the rest of the money I needed for my startup costs would fall from the sky, opening up the floodgates of heaven so to speak. Well, after realizing I did not need my umbrella anymore on standby, I realized that faith comes in many ways.  And it is something which I have realized is something so important in my life. Just because God said I must have faith, it did not mean in my own understanding that I wanted. I have been living off faith the last 2 months (and rice and beans with an occasional smoothie), and I have learnt how to squeeze my budget like an enraged meerkat shaking a chicken for any information on it’s stash of eggs. The school where I am based in the area of Soweto, Kibera (yes Soweto here was actually named after Soweto, in South Africa) called St Catherine is an amazing school. The children are beautiful and hungry to learn, (mixed with a chapati or 4 each day for my lunch,) brings me so much joy. The children do outweigh the chapattis tho ( I have so many photos of the school, the children etc. and following this sentence is a link to the photos.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/121337603@N05/sets/72157642895731134/

Or go onto my website which is  http://beanycc.wix.com/the-intrepid-umzungu where you will see the newest photos starting off the slide show. I also have mad a special blog page, where I will leave the latest newsletter with all the others linked back to the blog site. My Life Skill teaching is going really really well and I am bonding more each day. It's a wonder what an hour to an hour and half of just hanging out with the children for their break time does. With everything going on, they are worth it all and it's really awesome being able to have the opportunity to talk about God in my life with them too. I am still settling in, like my walk of about 25 minutes that is mostly a dirt road with rocks, holes and rain drenched areas. I have damaged my ankle twice from these roads with my trusted Merrels coming apart quite fast now, so I will be looking into getting “new” shoes (2nd hand cheaper at local market) with a better ankle protection. That has been a little frustrating. Also what has been more than that is acquiring my Permit. I am still awaiting on this process that has taken much longer than I expected. It was all supposed to be ready a while ago, then paperwork was required from me that was not previously asked for, and am now expecting some final paperwork from the organisation. And then it's just a matter of dropping it off at the Immigration office. It takes less than a month, so it will come in place at just the right time flavoured with what is less of my stress. Which I have to say is almost used up for now :)

So this is me so far, still fresh and new here, but learning as I go. I have found it easier fitting back into Kenya again, although being the only umzungu around is still something I have to get used to. I went to a local church here, called Nairobi Pentecostal Church, where I think there were 2 other umzungus there :) It was a really good service, very loud and passionate worship and thankfully not an over zealous preacher as normally heard here. A microphone made for shouting it seems, but I think the message is good if my head stops rattling. This past Sunday tho there was a guest speaker and he used the microphone as well, as a microphone. Really good message on Moses, and the questions we need to ask - the "Who am I?" and "Who are You?" (God) Really good for me to hear while being here. I am not really drawn to going back to my previous church I was at previously due to it's size.The Vineyard church is 2 services with I think between 500 and 800 per service. They are planting a new church nearer to me and it is much much smaller, and that is why I am drawn to it. SI am obviously more used to Melville Junction, and therefore will probably be happier at the soon to be newly planted Vineyard next month. I still go to my homegroup from the Vineyard, from last year, and I am loving it.

So I am growing in God, and am in a good environment to help with worship, to be prayed for when needed, and to input into other people's lives.

I love you guys a lot and again I thank you for continuing and not forgetting your sponsorship for me - this coming month of April should be so much better meaning I can buy gas and start off cooking for the first time since being here. And maybe even a buy a doughnut or something close to it. Sugar :)) Speaking of sugar, I am off to a wedding this weekend, for MJ's one and only Kenyan who met a Kenyan in South Africa and is now back in Kenya to be married, Nyawira! And yes I do have a date and yes, her name is Millicent ;)

Thank You again for keeping on giving, you have and still are playing a valuable role in my life, and my calling here. I hope your month has been a good one, know I am always thinking of you all, and please send me any prayer requests I can pray for.

It's always good for me not to navel gaze....I spelt it naval gaze at first, so um I will send of a few prayers into the blue yonder with a warning hoot from the ship.

Have a great rest of the month that is left and here's to a good April!Gareth

”If you want to make a song more hummy, add a few tiddely poms.”

― Winnie the Pooh

More Than A Survivor

Karibu!

 

So after leaving South Africa for Kenya last Monday, there is a rumour that I am still alive. Yes, if the news has not trickled down via social media pages, MJ or other assorted people, it is indeed the truth. My apologies if this news is only coming through now! I am alive, have arrived safely, party sorted out my place where I am living, and I am now involved at St. Catherine’s School in an area that is much deeper inside the Kiberan slums than where I was in the previous 2 years.

My first 2 weeks here have been mixed with difficulties and good old fashioned stress. I am one that still does not like change (surprise!), and when it happens it sends me down the “freaking out pathway” to the” I wish I was with my friends and family plaza.” It has been difficult due to me being short of my start off funds needed to kick start me in Kenya and plain old adjusting. I had to use some of what I had raised, to organize my medical insurance for the year, and upon arriving in Kenya I found I had very low funds. Through this God has shown me He is still there even if I sometimes tried to work out in rational terms if He was or not. After a panicked message to my brother, he awesomely leant me the money to pay for my first month’s rent (+ 1 month’s rent in advance) and as the end of the month arrives I will be able to pay him fully back. I managed to get a bed and mattress, and my sleeping bag is my best friend at this point. My kitchen has at this point has a smoothie maker Rachel/Dean gave me, that managed to make it all the way through to Kenya without it being lost, a bowl, spoon, knife, weetbix and peanut butter/marg and bread. Thank you to all who put in extra this month and to the one off sponsors to help me get on my feet. So much more appreciated than you will know. Thank you all for being on board for another exciting adventurous crazy God filled year. Your monthly support is huge huge huge to me and I would not be here if it was not for all of you.

My major food at this moment til month ends is 1. Smoothies and 2. A local sit down place. Mangos at R2/R2.50 each and bananas at R1 each are brilliant for a smoothie. Add some yoghurt for R4, some water and that is supper folks. Very healthy I must admit. And I cannot say how much I love mangos , or as my nephews are taught…really really like J (loving someone to loving food?) 2. The local sit down place starts off with food from R10, being rice – beans – local spinach – chick peas. I do not have this every day but when I do it fills me, but am thinking I should get some herbs or something to add some flavor. Maybe I should ask the Vally’s for some of Brendan’s famous chilli blend. But I do not want to complain. My breakfast is my mainstay, and one that I would struggle to change. Good ol Weetbix or as is know here, Weetabix or Sunnybix. I could go into the difference, but all I need to know is that Sunnybix is close to the original and added to boxed milk and sugar, a banana -  it works for me. As some may know, I really enjoy 

Cornflakes but at R50 a box that in SA cost R25 or less I think good ol Weetbix will suffice. 

So food and money aside, the biggest thing is that I am working in St Catherine’s school – have a look at their official website @ -, a school inside the slum that takes 120 children and has a home for around 20 orphans. As you know, I have wanted to start studying teaching this year (if money allows) and especially in the field of Life Skills aiming towards teaching the 8yr to 9yr old class. Exciting amazing news is this – I am officially a Life Skills teacher here at St Catherine’s for Class 4 (24 students) which is for the pupils between 8 and 9 years! Say what?! God is definitely watching out for me and has made a way for me to do what I have wanted to do already. The children have yet to know what is coming – a crazy Umzugu with some wacky lesson plans J Oh, from next week I am teaching Class 5’s too! I have only been with them a short time, but bonds are already forming and I thank God hugely for putting this into place. Yup, He loves me – and yes, love always wins!!

So that is me in a mango skin (ok that creates a really weird picture, unless you are in the fashion business or have watched the movie Zoolander) and yes even though it is a tighter month, God has provided hugely and I know I will not go hungry or have to sleep on the streets thanks to Him,  to you my sponsors and 3 kick-start donors. I will be back in touch month end, but you know the drill by now; email, whattsap, skype, whale talk (aka Dory in Find Nemo) me whenever with a one liner or a full book. I really love hearing from you guys, and never underestimate anything you send; hearing from you picks me up and keeps me going especially in this time when I start off getting used to being back in Kenya. Being the only umzungu in the whole area is definitely culture shock to say the least! 

I love you guys, you all mean so much to me and know that we are all in this together – missioning to see God’s heaven come to earth. Here in Kibera, Kenya and wherever you are in the world. He is here, He is wanting to see all of the bad and the nastiness gone in this world – we are here to help see that happen.

Love you all, I hope you are all doing well and know one thing…. Love Always Wins.

Gareth 

Kenya 2014!!

Hi all you amazing people!

I am aware that many of you are still coming back from holidays, or settling in slowly into the impact of the first week of work. So I thought I would update you on the exciting news for this year, and then I will be in touch with everyone personally. :)

So as the subject subtly says, yes I am going back to Kenya!! And here is the really exciting part - I have been given a Class E, Missionary Work Permit which basically means I have a one year permit, (yes no more short term visas!) which is renewable every year! And it is only for amazing price of R400 :) This means I can volunteer in Faith Based Organisations (FBO) which opens up new chapter for me. I have prayed into this, and before all of this happened I had spent a lot of time with God asking Him what are my plans for this year. I asked Him to open up doors so clearly that I would know I should go back to Kenya, specifically the Kiberan slums. The passion and love for Kenya, Kibera especially and the amazing people that I have always been in touch with.

As you will know last year ended with 2 months in Uganda. I spent time there seeing if that was where I could pour my heart into, and for many reasons I realised it was not right for me. I came back in December feeling unsure as to where I should be this year. At that point I had no way of getting a permit to be in Kenya without a huge amount of moolah passing hands(which, yes, I chose not to do!) So I prayed into where I should be, and with a permit now organised I can now go back to where I believe strongly that God wants me in. Serving, loving, living out God to the children and families.

So how did this permit come through so quickly. Well, honestly God could have only made that happen! It was organised through a bishop heading up a section of Kibera, who runs a school and children's home. And there was also help there too, a young lady called Millicent. I worked with her last year, and God has really placed her on my heart that she could be the person for my future. So it's something amazing that God has an extra joy for me in Kenya (why am I still surprised that God can use our situations for something more?)

I have many options to be placed in, due to Haki (the previous organisation I was with) not being a FBO. My heart at this point is to be going to St Catherine's, a school and home to orphans in the area of Kibera, to be involved there and see how I can be of good use. They are working on buying a plot of land to become self sustainable in food for the children, school needs etc. This really excites me, and I have had experience with this in Uganda. http://stcgreenhouse.com/Home.html There are a few other organisations that want me, which are also based in Kibera, so I am not in want of places that I can aid their impact with the Kiberan community. This is an exciting time for me, and as you will know next to South Africa, Kenya is such a big part in my life, and I am really really looking forward to going back and seeing all "my" children from last year, and friends I accumulated from just being where God placed me.

I have saved enough money for a plane ticket, medical insurance and the likes. I am basically ready to leave! Literally give me a week and I am on my way :) I am also making plans to study teaching through Unisa from this year.This is also really exciting and is one step closer to me being self sustainable in the future.

Will you partner with me again this year and continue your awesome sponsorship for me over 2014? To continue being the intrepid umzungu missioning to welcome Heaven to Kibera, impacting the people, children and families and allowing me to continue what God has made me to do and where God is continuing to call me to.

Love'ya all!

Gareth, aka Beanie, aka the Intrepid Umzungu

Goodbye Kenya, Hello Uganda!

 

"I hear the drums echoing tonight 
But she hears only whispers of some quiet conversation 
She's coming in 12:30 flight 
The moonlit wings reflect the stars that guide me towards salvation 
I stopped an old man along the way, 
Hoping to find some old forgotten words or ancient melodies 
He turned to me as if to say, Hurry boy, It's waiting there for you 

CHORUS: 
It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you 
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do 
I bless the rains down in Africa 
Gonna take some time to do the things we never have 

The wild dogs cry out in the night 
As they grow restless longing for some solitary company 
I know that I must do what's right 
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises like Olympus above the Serengeti 
I seek to cure what's deep inside, frightened of this thing that I've become 

Hurry boy, she's waiting there for you 

It's gonna take a lot to take me away from you 
There's nothing that a hundred men or more could ever do 
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa 
I bless the rains down in Africa, I bless the rains down in Africa 
I bless the rains down in Africa 
Gonna take some time to do the things we never have"
(Toto - Africa)

So yes, I am getting nostalgic as I have one more sleep until I leave my beautiful Kenya and head into the slightly unknown country of Uganda. This is my next chapter into what God wants for me, and I appreciate every one of you, helping me be a part of Kenya for the time I was given. So as I head off tomorrow night (Sunday 29th Sep), I will miss Kenya. This country has made a deep impact on my life. I love the people, their beautiful smiles, their caring hearts and blessings such as Kibera slums. I have loved being immersed in there, from the colourful people and their stories we talk about, to the smells, to the dirt and grime, the hurt and the healed. This year abd last year has been a time of blessings to being able to impact people and wonderful children in Kibera. I thank Haki Group for having me and God has been able to use me in so many ways. I will miss Haki, but I do feel it is the right time to move on. Do I have a full answer in Uganda? Nope, but I do know I need to follow where the door is wide open and this is it! I am spending the last months of this year to experience the organistion of New Hope Uganda. To meet the children and visit their school. To immerse myself in Uganda and the beautiful children there. To meet the boss man and see if they want me there next year. 

Many have asked about the Westgate attack here; I was not near there. The repercussions tho are quite heavy tho. You always feel like you are living on the edge, watching people on the bus, only going to the local mall if you have to, fear lurks around, But after being at a church planned memorial (which I think is excellent, churches stepping up) I realised that God is still around. Just no answers as to why. But in life, things may not get answers. So basically, I am alright and thank you for so much interest in me and if I was ok. I felt real special and loved :)

So, I pack down my laptop down for the last time in Kenya and thank you all for your constant love and support for what I am called to do. I love you all (and that's true, not a pop star "I love you all" nonsense) and I will send out a newsletter when I have settled in Uganda. And then only a few more months and I will be back for a visit. I pray you are all well, and know I am praying for the ones I know of who are in need of it. Stay away from electric eels and never play soccer with a hedgehog.

May God's grace and peace rule over Kenya 

Night all

G-man. The intrepid umzungu missioning to see God's Kingdom come to earth. One life at a time, one country at  a time :)

P.S. I finished my final project for Haki Group - have a look at it. This is leaving a legacy from all of us!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIgxeiiHZKA

The Permit (almost like a movie but really a newsletter)

Greetings one and all :)

I hope you have all managed to get through the winter period. Here, well the cold drop has come and we have lows of 13. Yes, that is right. Extra cold ;) I think I shocked my friends at Haki when I arrived at work wearing my jeans and a jacket. Even tho yes, its not 2 or 3 degrees. Anyhoodle, weather aside, let's move on :)

So things between our last newsletters have changed slightly, in one main sense. Is this the house I am supposed to be inviting people over to? The question arises out of the question; why did the umzungu cross the road so many times? Answer; to try and get to a permit to stay in Kenya. This has been an ongoing procedure since last year, and I have been trying other ways or different types of permits to stay and sadly I have reached dead ends with all my attempts. That is unless someone feels like giving R20,000 every year for me to be here....anyone? Kenyan immigration has moved the volunteer permit underneath one work permit because it seems that people have used the original volunteer permit to get into the country and then either worked or stayed illegally. So this a no go.

So what does this mean for this umzungu who has been hit from side to side of the road? I am seeing this as a "what next God?" time, and I feel that he is calling me to stay in East Africa and to make more impact with the children in Africa He has placed on my heart. I love Kenya, love the people and the environment but for whatever reasons a new avenue must be taken. Things have been going well with Haki, but it also feels it will be the right timing when I move on. I have worked well with them, loved Kibera (of which I will miss so much, Kibera will always be a part of me, the people, the environment, the place) and ofcourse will really miss the children (that over the past month sadly have been less involved in the plans due to finances, and other reasons.) . In the sadness, I am excited about the future, scared about it, but all in all looking forward to a new chapter in my life that you have all so graciously allowed me to live. I was speaking to my mom a few days ago and I said to her that I am one of the luckiest/blessed people around, because I can go to African countries and touch other people's lives, meet amazing children, keeping on praying to see God's Kingdom come to wherever I am, and all of this solely because people like all of you believe in God's calling on my life. And you are a amazing in doing this. Thank You!

So, logistics. Basically I am exploring opportunities. I have to leave Kenya by the 8th of October, but I plan on leaving slightly earlier to give me some space between border crossings. There is a thing called a transit visa that Kenya will let me come back on to catch my plane, which is booked for December. So I am aiming to explore other organisations that I believe are right, and to place myself in one of them (October to December +-)  until I come back to see you all at the year end with the knowledge that I will be coming back to the new organisation by end of January. So its all exciting things happening over here. And if anyone wants to see Haki, the work we do in Kibera and the amazing place it is, I will be here til end of next month :) I will still have my couch free til then so please come over if you want. Otherwise next year there will be somewhere fresh and exciting and God planned for you to support me in and to come and visit.

I will keep you all up to date once I am more aware. I know this does not give a lot of news from the past month but I felt this was probably the biggest news to share. Please please keep me in your prayers as I pray into my next direction, and all I know is (in the words of Jesus Culture....I felt this was God to me while I was away this past weekend on a retreat praying into this next direction of life) -

"I have a plan for you, it's gonna be wild, it's gonna be great, it's gonna be full of me!" 

God has only begun his plans for all of us here in East Africa; stay tuned for the next step we will all embrace and get huge excitement from.

Love you all!!!!

Gareth
(The intrepid umzungu missioning to see God's Kingdom come to earth)

JUNE 2013 - The firefly and the house You built

This month has already gone so quickly and I have not managed to sent out a newsletter up til now. The one big reason was I was held up around a week ago while walking up to the main road,  just a few minutes away from where I stay. I have never had a gun waved in my face, and I would not recommend it. Its a bit surreal, time slows down and you just stand there with hands waving in the air like you just dont care. It's an invasion of space, dignity and plain old robbery of my way of living. Thankfully I only had my house keys on me, so the thugs left with a bit of anger that I did not have anything as the european they thought I was. So after some counselling and time off from work, I am doing much better. Having to be home by 7 is a bit of lockdown, but then again life is worth more than a dark road with a torch bobbing up and down. I must look like a drunk firefly...

When I was here in Kibera last year I met a wonderful girl and her mother, the child who has cerebal palsy. We (Haki and you, my sponsors) managed to send Judy to have her hearing tested and finding out she was not deaf at all, this was an amazing thing that we can speak about for years to come! We are now into phase 2, which is trying to get her into a good school and to allow her mother less stress of having Judy at home. I went with her mom and the OVC head to a school about 30mins away from Kibera and it is a lovely school, great specialised workers and a hostel there too. So, if Judy's mom goes once a week to a training class on how to work with Judy, by year end she will be allowed to have Judy into the school and to stay in hostel with a home visit between terms. Judy's mother, Mama Mtundi looked so relieved after we left the meeting and if all goes well, she will be in the new school by beginning of 2014.

Another exciting thing we did in July was based around the Sharpeville attacks of July 16th. It is comemorated as Day of African Child, and its all based towards the needs, rights and love for the children. We planned a full day of events for the kids, as well as a great amount of food and t-shirts thanks to our main sponsor. We did things such as puppet shows, dance competitions, drumming entertainment and edutainment. Very rewarding seeing over 500 children!! This is an all time high for us, and it was really exciting seeing the children's excitement :) It was also a great opportunity for me to tell staff about what the original day was about.

I spent some time with Sean Callaghan about a week ago when he did he a quick stop in Nairobi. It was really awesome seeing him and spending some time with him. Amongst topics, he told me about a couple he knew who were away 6 months of the year and they would leave their house key with a friend for missionaries, volunteers, friends, family and other travelling weary people ;) They would use the house as if it was their own, and their was a piggy bank for people to put in some form of donation towards the water, power etc. So this gave me the great idea to do that here. Altho I am not planning in leaving for 6 months and let people use my/MJ place. So here is is; if you ever are in the area of Nairobi be it on business, pleasure or just a need for a place to stay for a night or two, my place is officially open to all. Even yoyur friends. Well, debrief me on them just so I know that they wont eat all my noodles and then kidnap me for R100. The great thing is that there is a full set of plates etc. as well as cutlery and cups, and gas to cook with so basically there is no reason not to come. And hey, I will be here :) The piggy bank will be somewhere for a shilling or two, but there is no pressure at all for money. Just come! And you can see Kibera, be immersed in it all. And I still do make for good company

So there it is people, my past month albeit 2 weeks late. Thank you all for your timely sponsorship, and for still remembering me up here. I always remember you all, especially the scary parts and my email door is always open :) MJ is always part of me no matter where I am, and you all are awesome!! Keep loving and laughing in the good that is around us, even tho the bad tries to munch it. I am learning more and more, God's light is way brighter than the evil that tries to bring me down.

Finally, more news to follow but a quick update - thanks to all of you I have been able to upgrade where I am staying into a liveable place for visitors. From plates to crockery to even a movie or two, (I will hopefully get a spare bed month end) - my place is your place. Come on over!! Your friends are welcome too. Grace and Peace to you all lovely people!! (I so love that blessing - may you all find God's Grace and Peace throughout this month.) As D-dawg might say....for shizzle :)

Kwaheru

Gareth the Intrepid Umzungu :)