Mango Mama

Back in December 2011, I was cooking sweet potatoes in the pressure cooker when the lid of the cooker exploded, drenching me with scalding water and potatoes all over my head, face, arms and hands.

In Kenya, burns are a scary injury to have because the medical facilities that are available are not high quality and the risk of infection here is great.

About 3 weeks ago, I cut the tip side of my index finger off while I was using a paper-cutter. Yes, that is duct tape and gauze (Hi, Mom!). 

My husband is about to chain me to the porch so the only thing I have access to is a magazine and a chair.  He says this is enough for the year.

I kinda agree.

Recently, a newborn baby was brought into the care of Rehema In-Step Baby Home.  Baby Bonnie was being assessed while our Jua group was meeting for Bible Study.  They had seen many horrific things but had never experienced seeing a 4 pound, newborn rescued from a pit latrine.

Our family has battled various illnesses and injuries here, escaped close calls in traffic and has seen many various needs in town.

My point is, before we moved to Kenya, we had a lot of questions about the safety of moving here.  What if we are robbed, what if we get hurt or need surgery, what if our car breaks down in the bush…. etc. 

Things happen here, yes.  However, I am beginning to understand more of why these things happen.  All of these things are opportunities for God to show His goodness to us.

I’m thankful to serve a God that doesn’t force us to love Him.  I’m thankful that even in the really horrible things that happen to us or that we see here, we can take comfort in knowing He is right along side us, extending His hand to help us in hard times. 

In the stories I shared above, when the pressure cooker exploded, Alayna was standing at my feet, and Daniel and Priscillah were just a few feet away.  I was the ONLY one who was touched by scalding water and potatoes.  God protected Alayna, Daniel and Priscillah from being burned.  I also had no pain.  I had first and second degree burns covering my scalp, forehead, eyelids, under my eyes, and cheeks, as well as my right shoulder and arm and both forearms.  The scars that have been left behind on my body serve as an awesome reminder of God’s goodness to us.  Though they may be considered ugly now to people, they give me a chance to share of the miracle of God’s protection over us that day.  My eyes were protected from any harm, along with the precious people in the kitchen with me that day.

My finger, though a bit disfigured now, had no nerve damage and I seem to still have a good fingerprint  

Baby Bonnie is safely being snuggled in arms that love her oh-so-much and will grow knowing about the value her life has alongside her brothers and sisters.  She doesn’t know it yet, but her rescue impacted the lives of the mamas we work with so deeply that they are taking part of their savings from the beads they are making to help children in Kitale just like Bonnie.

We are all healthy.

There is so much to be thankful here and I know that no matter what, God IS in the tough stuff if we allow Him to be.

 One of the songs on my ipod playing right now is “This Little Light of Mine” by Addison Road.  It reminds me of the challenge of letting our lights shine brightly for Jesus here in Kenya, piercing the darkness that

Before our family left for Kenya, we were sent out by our church with a blessing to be “lighthouses”.  Coincidence?  NO WAY!

In our short time here in Kitale, we have found some pretty amazing Kenyan lighthouses
who are broken and weary but have a passion, a light, JUA to live a better life.  Let me introduce you to our lighthouses.  These women are broken, imperfect people, just like me.  They know they are dirty and do not pretend to be perfect or hide their shortcomings.  They are beautiful reminders of redemption and healing and hope that we can only have by knowing God.  I know deep in my heart that they are LIGHTHOUSES for the community of Kitale and each week they push the envelope to show more forgiveness, heal from their pasts and look forward with hope of a better life.

When we moved to Kitale, it was originally with the purpose to partner with Mattaw Childrens Village and be an addition to their growing ministry by assisting with sustainability projects and building a baby home.  I am a firm believer that God’s timing is always perfect.  Always.  We quickly found that God used Mattaw as a catalyst to bring our family to the Kitale area but had much different plan for us here.  It came with a ton of pain and stretch marks as our faith grew to trust God with all of our being.  We thought we had accomplished that by selling our things back in the USA and moving here, but God had more heart-work to do on us. 

Instead of rocking newborn abandoned babies, we found our arms full of children who were so severely malnourished because of several reasons and mamas who were in extreme need.  All the children we found had the common denominator of extreme poverty and parents who loved them but could not provide for them.

We are now fully emersed in new adventures here in Kitale that we are excited to share with you about.

TJ has taken on a new position with an organization just outside of Kitale called Ambassadors for Sustained Health.  He is working as the new In-Country Research Director helping their clinic become more sustainable and user-friendly to the 4 villages they serve.  TJ is kept extremely busy with this and is excited to be a part of it.

The next part will take a bit of explaining, so I will start like this:

November 19th, I was singing my daughter to sleep with the song “You Are My Sunshine”.  It is a song that we have sung to our children since they were babies.  In fact, I have found Collin singing the song to babies at a baby home that we have visited a time or two since moving here.  It is a song that has brought comfort to owies and lulled them to sleep.

This particular day I was wrestling so hard with God about why He had brought us to Kenya.  I was singing to her and I really felt like God gave me a gift.  Sunshine.  “Lindsay, I am the Light of the World”.  I remember feeling in the depths of my spirit.  I had been to Kipsongo many times and each time it became clear to me the darkness that was present there.  I remember feeling the internal fire in me that wanted to bust out and somehow give these moms hope.

Sunshine —-> Hope —–> Being Light in the Darknesss

I was chatting with a good friend of mine while this vision was blooming and she had asked what the Swahili word for Sunshine was. 

“Jua”, I said.

“Lindsay, go be Jua to the people I love so much,” I heard the Lord say during this conversation.

“Me?  Sobbing, broken, weak, little me?  I could hardly get out of bed each day…and you are asking me to bring HOPE to a very dark world here in Kitale?”

“Trust me, Lindsay.  All things are possible.”

So, let me fast forward a very long, miraculous story and introduce you to our new project we are working on here in Kitale called the Jua Project.

The Jua Project focuses on empowering women who live in the slum areas by helping them obtain vocational skills to support their family.  It also will assit in providing medical care to orphaned children.  We are starting here in Kitale with Priscillah taking the lead by facilitating two groups per week.  One for Bible Study and one for vocational skills and business training. 

We have partnerships with organizations back in the USA and in Kenya here to help launch Jua to be the best it can be.  With God ALL things are possible.  In the coming week, we will be launching our new website and show you ways that you can be involved.

We are so excited of the vision we feel God has given us.  We are moving forward with hope and joy.

Tomorrow, I will introduce you to the 5 mamas we have been working with for several weeks now, our first group of women of Jua Project.  They are beautiful, hard working, broken people just like us. 

Stay tuned!