Shoes
Dec 24, 2024
For years, we have been led ever so slowly to see that the problems with families and poverty in Kenya cannot be tackled just from one side, We have to see the whole picture. God has been pushing us ever so gently in this realization. He is a loving God and He knew how much we had to learn starting out just helping teenage moms and then including vulnerable girls. This leading started years ago when we were talking to some teenage boys who were working in a nursery where we had gone to get some agricultural information. They wanted to know what our purpose was in Kenya and we told them. They very nicely shared their views. They said that everyone wanted to help the girls but the boys needed help, too. They, themselves, would love to be able to further their education but their family financial situation would not let them. These boys were well spoken and obviously could go far in life, but there was no opportunity.
Shortly after that, we found a young man working on the farm at the center. He had been hired in our absence and was working there with his father. This young man was amazing. He, too, was proficient in English and he was willing to do anything asked of him. As we worked together, we knew that he had the potential for so much more. We spoke to him at length and he wanted to work in cyber security. He was passionate about it. Getting to know this young man and seeing that he could go far in life but he was stifled by poverty was heartbreaking. Helping him was one of the things that you just can't not do. We sent his father, who was a retired teacher, to research schools. He came back with three options for us and we sat with Vincent, the boy, and his father and decided that we should give Vincent this opportunity. He was so good at school. He placed out of the whole first year just by what he had learned on his own. He was top in his class and he had a future waiting for him. He needed help. He tried so hard not to ask for anything more than his tuition and a place to stay and then we were sent a picture of him. He was literally skin and bones because he had no money for food. His father had promised to provide that much for him, but had failed to honor that promise. We started paying for food, rent, and tuition and Vincent continued to be successful. We will never know the outcome of this because Vincent was killed in a car accident in Nairobi one year before he was to finish his college education. He was our next leading from God that boys here should not be overlooked. He would have been so active in helping boys and we would have welcomed him to counsel them.
Then we found four children in front of a tarp house. The oldest boy had such a heart to learn. He had no hope. He had no one to even care. He had no shoes. We took all four of the children. The girls were placed in children's homes and Promise Springs Rescue Center is their home when schools are closed, but the boys were declined placement over and over. No organization would take them. We let them stay at the center for as long as we could but we had to find a permanent answer for them. We were so happy when Florah, our manager, said they could live with her. The oldest boy, George, had been disrupted from school for over two years. He is now in a local boarding school where he started behind Florah's daughter, but in just 6 months he has surpassed her. We went to visit him and he is speaking English well and had only one request. He was out on the soccer field on a Sunday afternoon. He has never asked us for anything but he asked for a pair of spikes (cleats) so that he could have them like his friends. How could we resist?
This is Michael, in red, and George in green. Michael is Florah's biological son. They are like brothers, according to their teachers. What an awesome God. He provides family to those who have none and a bond that is a beautiful thing to see. On George's feet are the spikes he requested.
We think the story of George and his brother Kai was confirmation that we really needed to help boys. We just couldn't think about leaving them where we found them with no hope and no chance of a future.
Then came the time when God seemed to say, "How much more do you need to see?" It was the one we just couldn't walk away from. And it was all because of shoes. Several years ago, we were contacted by the local chief that there were three girls who needed a safe place to stay. Their mother had passed away. She left a letter in her belongings stating that in the event of her death, the girls should be found a safe place. One of the girls was a teenager and the other two were maybe 8 and 6. When we sent our social worker out, it was found that the older girl was sleeping in the bed with her elderly father. They worked every day to get aloe vera fluid which they sold at 120 shillings ($1.20) per litre. It could take several days to obtain a liter of the fluid and they had to walk a long distance to get the it. Because of the situation in which these children were found, the girls had to be taken immediately. The report we received says that as they were leaving the house with the girls the youngest boy followed them crying but there was no option but to leave him.
We learned that the other boy had been taken by another organization leaving the youngest boy at home. Our nanny, whose sister helps the old father the best she can, told us in September that there was a LOT of concern regarding this young boy. He is left at home, alone, and is very depressed because he doesn't understand why all the children have been taken but he has been left behind. We made it a point to go to the home of the old father and try to find this boy.
This is a picture of our social worker, Jackline, speaking to the father, with the help of a neighbor and one who helps the family as best she can.
We were told that the boy, Samuel, had gone to school. They had reported that he goes sometimes and sometimes not. So we went to the local school to inquire about him.
This is Samuel with the principal of the school.
We spoke with Samuel, the principal, and Samuel's teacher. They told us of the change in Samuel since all of his siblings have been taken away. Currently, a good Samaritan in the neighborhood has called Samuel to stay with their family. However, no one is paying school fees for him. The school is allowing that to happen for the time being but if the government finds out, he will have to be sent away. Also, the school is not demanding that he wear the mandatory uniform. They are all truly trying to help, but as the principal said, you never know how long the family will allow him to stay with them. He could be sent back home any day.
A picture is worth a thousand words.
Then we looked down. And what we saw was the thing that we knew we couldn't walk away from. It's strange how the small things can drive the situation through your heart and you know that you can't not help these boys.
Samuel had to have shoes to go to school. He had what he had. The sight was heartbreaking. Here was a boy, struggling with depression because organizations had taken all of his siblings except him. He was thrown a lifeline through a well-wisher in his community...something that let him see that he was seen, something that let him feel that he was not left behind totally. The well-wisher was doing what he/she could but they have children of their own. The school was doing what they could but they have rules to follow. Samuel was doing what he could. Did he, like George, look at the other kids' shoes and say, "If only I could have a pair of shoes?" Don't get us wrong, the shoes are the least of Samuel's long-term worries and we know that, but the state of his shoes seemed to speak to us of the state of his heart. His heart was worn out by struggle. He had holes from rejection and was barely holding together due to the poverty he had endured. But he was still there. What would we do? Will we turn another blind eye? How can we walk away?
A person asked us, what is your immediate need? It is the need of Samuel and the numerous other boys in his situation. It is the need for prayer. Our God, who sees all...all the Samuels, and George's and Kai's... who so desperately need hope, love, an opportunity , and to know Jesus, provided a way by sending a substantial donation to start a boys' rescue center. We need a clear way forward and much prayer for wisdom and guidance.
Shoes can tell you a lot. There are shoes on feet that have walked many miles and the feet and legs are tired. Their time on earth is almost over. There are shoes on the feet of people who have walked most of the miles of their life. They are blessed to be able to visit the young and the old and hear their stories and share their hurts. And there are shoes on the feet of people who are just starting out. They have many miles yet to walk and many lessons to learn. Will we turn a blind eye and a deaf ear? Will we walk away in our own shoes and not do everything in our power to give them a chance, to share Christ with them, to help them to go to school and enable them to have just a sliver of hope? We pray not and we ask for your prayers as we work toward helping boys who also are in desperate need.
We are very happy to report that as we are in Kenya now, an organization that we partner with has visited Samuel and will take him into their organization. He is one of many boys who need such a chance. This organization only takes in children once a year in January. We hope at least to have a place that can help these boys until other organizations can take them. The picture is not clear yet, but we know that God will show us the way.
Today, as I read this blog for the hundredth time it seems, it is Christmas Eve here in Kenya. The blog started as a thank you letter and it has stuck in our minds that we should share the story. Our church, Lakeside Baptist Church, has held a giving drive this Christmas for Promise Springs Rescue Center so that it may grow into a center that takes not only girls but boys also. We are so humbled and thankful for all the support, we wanted to share the plight of the children here in Kenya. Just as God broke into the world of darkness when he sent His son as our Savior, He is still breaking into darkness through the body of Christ and we stand in awe.
We are preparing to go and celebrate Christmas with the girls and staff at the center but we sit and wonder at what God has in store. We have been so blessed. We know that we can open the protective shelter of our organization now to include boys because of the love all of you have shown for these children. We also know that there are stumbling blocks in the way with many issues that have to be sorted out. We meet with a new children's officer on January 8 and we only ask for fervent prayer that the government will work with us toward this endeavor.
God has continued to remind us through the shoes of others that the race is not over. We must continue to serve as long as there is need. We must teach girls and also boys about the love of Christ and the way He has taught us to live. As you celebrate Christmas this year, give thanks for the gifts that we take for granted, pray for those who are in need, and give God the glory for His perfect will that we will only clearly understand when we are with Him in heaven.
Merry Christmas and many thanks from Kenya!
Isaiah 58:10-11 "if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail."
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- Give teenage mothers the opportunity to finish their education while learning the Word of God and how to be mothers
- Give babies a safe place in which to grow
- Remove vulnerable girls from dangerous conditions
- Sustain a farm which provides jobs and feeds the girls and babies
- Share the gospel in the local community
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