Kenya notes: Preacher training, drought fighting, gingerbread house building and roadside zebra spotting

Students at Made in the Streets’ Malindi center competed in a gingerbread house designing contest, using crackers and icing. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Blogging live from Nairobi, Kenya
It’s a warm and sunny afternoon in this East African capital. In just a few hours I’ll head for the Nairobi airport to begin the long journey back to cold and Christmasy Oklahoma.
It’s been a wonderful 10 days in Kenya, traveling alongside workers with Healing Hands International as they surveyed sustainable agriculture projects in rural Kenya.
We’ve traveled north to Lodwar, south, near the Tanzanian border, to Kajadio, and to the base of Mount Kenya, near the town of Timau. People in all three locations are linked by drought and famine. Healing Hands worker Ebenezer Udofia, a native of Nigeria, moved to Kenya in February and has conducted drip irrigation workshops in these villages. The farming method uses minimal water to grow crops.
I have a newfound respect for the Kenyan soil. I recognize its life-giving qualities when it receives much-needed water — and it’s ability to trap even four-wheel-drive vehicles when it gets too much water. (We were stuck in the mud for about three hours near Timau. A group of local Kenyans worked tirelessly to free our land rover — again and again and again — until we reached the main road.
We’ve also been blessed to see some of the works here in Nairobi, including the Nairobi Great Commission School, the Made in the Streets ministry for street children and the Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute, or KCITI. On Sunday we attended services at the Nairobi Church of Christ Eastleigh, which meets in the auditorium of KCITI. After worship, we attended a graduation of the school’s ministry program. It’s a one-year program that targets experienced preachers, giving them education in theology and ministry. The school itself has an impressive campus, and I was thrilled to get to meet in person Lydia Wanjiku, who has served at the institute’s director for the past year. Wanjiku came from humble beginnings and was the institute’s first student. (See our story about her from earlier this year.)
Here are a few photos from the trip.

A security guard at a Christian community center stands next to crops from a drip irrigation garden in Kajadio, Kenya. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Preachers line up for graduation at the Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute in Nairobi. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Tom Opondo, registrar for the Nairobi Great Commission School, talks about the water filters donated by Healing Hands International to the people of Kajadio, Kenya. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Sunday worship at the Nairobi Church of Christ Eastleigh. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Women in a village near Timau, Kenya, listen to visitors from Healing Hands International. The Christian women, many of them widows, have started a drip irrigation garden to feed and support themselves. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Crossing the equator on a road near Nyeri, Kenya. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Sunday worship at the Nairobi Church of Christ Eastleigh. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

My shoes after our visit to Timau, Kenya. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Lydia Wanjiku, director of the Kenya Christian Industrial Training Institute, and David Tonui, principal of the Nairobi Great Commission School, after worship at the Nairobi Church of Christ Eastleigh. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Darlene Coulston gives a prize to one of the winners of the gingerbread house contest at Made in the Streets’ Malindi campus near Nairobi. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

Roadside zebras in rural Kenya. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

After worship at the Nairobi Church of Christ Eastleigh, children from the church (wearing Wildcats uniforms) play soccer. (Photo by Erik Tryggestad)

• Feedback
  Great report. As you told of the little boy who offered you a cup of water earlier, my comment � That cup of water is quite a gift. May we all emulate the giver, and help HHI and other efforts to help our brothers and sisters have good water to drink, gardens to grow food, and our prayer for them in sharing Christ’s love with their neighbors! Thanks for helping us see we need to be investing in Heavenly coin. Lazarus is knocking at the door.

  Robert Grissom

  December, 8 2011

  good day everyone hope yous had a nice xmas and heres to the new year
  alf

  alfred beilin

  January, 2 2012