What's Your Sign?
After the South African man reluctantly used his tow cable to pull us out of the mud in the game park, we went back to the cabin where the Conways were staying. By the time we arrived they were ready to leave for Eldoret which was the same place I needed to be. I hitched a ride with the Conways because the Mark and Ben had to stop at Chepkong’ony before going to Eldoret. It’s probably a good thing that we ended up driving back at the same time because that old American Isuzu with the steering wheel on the wrong side broke down three times on the way to town.
We arrived at the designated restaurant where I was to meet Chris and a campaign group from Texas right as they had finished eating. Chris and I were going to spend the next few days with this group from a church in Texas. Working in big groups like this can be a good way to get a lot done and it’s nice to be around other Americans who at least speak your own language. That’s usually the case at least, I think we got a lot done and they were Americans but this was a deaf campaign group. And I know about as much sign language as ancient Sanskrit.
When I was about 10 years old I remember the church in Colorado Springs had a deaf ministry. I learned a lot of sign language back then but now the only word I could remember was “airhead.” It’s an important word to know but as I’m trying to relate the love of Christ to the deaf people of Kenya I find it hard to integrate “airhead” into the conversation. It was great to work with and see the American deaf people interacting with the deaf Kenyans.
Fortunately there was a lot of work to be done in Eldoret that did not require me to use sign language to get accomplished. The church building at Langas was built about 10 years ago and needed some serious work done to it. It was built with roof to support tin but had a tile roof installed instead. Oops! So we spent most of one day removing all the heavy tiles that were causing to roof to collapse and the next day straightening the roof, reinforcing the walls that were about to cave out and putting a tin roof back on. It would have been a very sad thing if the roof had collapsed while there were people inside.
On Friday Chris and I drove back to Nairobi with the deaf campaign group. They were going to do a deaf workshop in for the deaf people from all around Kenya. Unfortunately we were not able to stick around for it because we were going to fly to Mozambique the next day. The Conways were nice enough to give us a place to stay again, this time at their home in Nairobi.
In the small amount of time we were in Nairobi we had the chance to visit an orphanage for AIDS babies. AIDS is a serious problem in Kenya and many of its victims die with young babies. The orphanage takes these babies and keeps them until they are three years old. A lot of the babies are HIV positive when they come to the orphanage and most of those test negative by the time they leave. One thing I have learned on this trip is that there are so many different types of ministry that are possible and needed. Just in the country of Kenya I have seen so many different works by different missionaries. Yet there is still so much that needs to be done.
We arrived at the designated restaurant where I was to meet Chris and a campaign group from Texas right as they had finished eating. Chris and I were going to spend the next few days with this group from a church in Texas. Working in big groups like this can be a good way to get a lot done and it’s nice to be around other Americans who at least speak your own language. That’s usually the case at least, I think we got a lot done and they were Americans but this was a deaf campaign group. And I know about as much sign language as ancient Sanskrit.
When I was about 10 years old I remember the church in Colorado Springs had a deaf ministry. I learned a lot of sign language back then but now the only word I could remember was “airhead.” It’s an important word to know but as I’m trying to relate the love of Christ to the deaf people of Kenya I find it hard to integrate “airhead” into the conversation. It was great to work with and see the American deaf people interacting with the deaf Kenyans.
Fortunately there was a lot of work to be done in Eldoret that did not require me to use sign language to get accomplished. The church building at Langas was built about 10 years ago and needed some serious work done to it. It was built with roof to support tin but had a tile roof installed instead. Oops! So we spent most of one day removing all the heavy tiles that were causing to roof to collapse and the next day straightening the roof, reinforcing the walls that were about to cave out and putting a tin roof back on. It would have been a very sad thing if the roof had collapsed while there were people inside.
On Friday Chris and I drove back to Nairobi with the deaf campaign group. They were going to do a deaf workshop in for the deaf people from all around Kenya. Unfortunately we were not able to stick around for it because we were going to fly to Mozambique the next day. The Conways were nice enough to give us a place to stay again, this time at their home in Nairobi.
In the small amount of time we were in Nairobi we had the chance to visit an orphanage for AIDS babies. AIDS is a serious problem in Kenya and many of its victims die with young babies. The orphanage takes these babies and keeps them until they are three years old. A lot of the babies are HIV positive when they come to the orphanage and most of those test negative by the time they leave. One thing I have learned on this trip is that there are so many different types of ministry that are possible and needed. Just in the country of Kenya I have seen so many different works by different missionaries. Yet there is still so much that needs to be done.