Community in Kenya is beautiful and vital.  Maybe it’s that way in every developing country. People do not have the option of “doing it yourself.”  Everyone struggles: there is sickness, there is death, there is hunger, there are abandoned children…the list goes on and on. And there are no readily available resources to handle the need.  But as the people in Laikipia County encounter these struggles, their neighbors, family, and friends step up to the plate.  They offer what they have and sometimes more than they can comfortably give to help their neighbors in the time of need.  They offer their homes and their time.

The Americans who were working on the ground to start Promise Springs Rescue Center were advised by the people who worked with them, pastors, and the chief of the area, to become a part of the community.  These respected advisors said that if they wanted the community to accept what they were envisioning, they had to become a part of the community.  

This does not come naturally to Americans.  We are accustomed to finding a way.  Why?   Because we have too many resources, we are too proud, or because we don’t want to bother our friends and our neighbors.  Oh, what we are missing out on!  The friendships that grow from hurting and struggling together are amazing! And they are tremendous blessings that embody the love of God.  The Americans learn so much from the Kenyans in this particular area.

Promise Springs Rescue Center had to have a sustainable water source to be able to have children at the center.  We learned from a well-established organization, Water Mission International, to offer clean drinking water to the community.  They came in and set up the water project, taught how it was to be handled and turned it over to be run and maintained by the community.  

When Two Burning Candles takes teams to Kenya, we serve at the center but most of the projects are in the community.  Homes have been refurbished from almost falling down structures to iron sheet clad homes that stand erect and strong.  Medical camps provide free medicines to people who would otherwise go without.  The word of God is shared in vacation bible schools, youth rallies, and churches.  Homes are visited and prayers are said together.  Team members make friends who lose children to accidents and they help to pay the funeral costs.  The truth is, this is not a gift to the community half so much as a gift to those who get to immerse themselves in the community. 

Take the opportunity to travel with Two Burning Candles and witness this firsthand.  You will be able to go into peoples’ homes to see the living conditions.  It will change your view of the life you live here and give you a new respect for the lives they live daily.