Pokot Adventure

Kapsowar is beautiful they say.... but we arrived there after dark on Friday night and hit the sack at about 11, rising up at 5:30 and heading out to the Pokot Tribal village in the bush some 4 plus hours away. Kyle had arrarnged this medical trip with a group of 18 of us. The road was steep and rough and very dusty. We arrived in the village called Lodengo where we were greeted by many people who were so excited to see the whole team. Kyle had been given the name Losilicol which is a bull with brown and white spots. Kyle is valuable to them since he is white and works with brown people, a means of saying they honor him. They kept saying he was their brother and he was a man of promise, as he brought his family to see them as well. The temperature had risen from us wearing light jackets when we left Kapsowar to now close to 110 degrees. What do you do when you are hot? The Pokots say medicine for being hot is to drink something hot! So we had Chai (hot tea with milk and sugar), then out came the boiled goat meat, fried bread, boiled cabbage and ugoli. We were treated as honored guests and thanked over and over by the pastor, regional pastor, some of the locals and the Chief. They told us over and over “thank you so much for coming to our community to offer help to our people both medically and spiritually.”

We set up the clinic and then all the people were gathered together and introductions were made, Kyle (Losilicol) shared a mesage with the people and invited them to invite Jesus into their life. He told them he had been raising money for a local clinic for them but wanted them to help so that it would be a shared project. They clapped often as he spoke. The clinic was then opened for those that had needs and it went on all afternoon. The men of the village went under a big tree and talked about how they could make some better decisions as leaders in their village. Kyle came over for a little while and really challanged them to step up to the plate as leaders in the clinic project. When I came over they gave me the seat of honor as I was the oldest person in their village. They even asked me to speak to the men. I shared the story of Nehemiah and how he had lead his people in a big project and God blessed it because he was a man of prayer . I encouraged them to become men of prayer. Two hours later the chief told them it was a lot to take in and that they were ready for a break. Don't know what that meant because it contined for several more hours. One of the pastors told me they had taken it to heart to embrace the project and were talking about how they could help. This is rare in Africa as the men are not normally leaders in the village other than taking 2-3 wives. One of the men told me that it makes them feel young with a young wife. Most of the men in the village have more than one wife. The Christian men do not normally take more than one wife.

After dark we gathered back to eat some more goat meat, ugoli and this time some rice. We were totally exausted and sought out places to sleep. Kyle and the team set up some tents for the men and women workers to sleep in, with some small pads to sleep on the ground. Since Marlene and I were the oldest people in the village, we were given a small room in the house. Rest went quickly and the roosters were going to it at probably 4 in the morning. Morning chai and then Kyle brought some goat spray for villagers and so they fashioned a pen with cut branches and we began spraying close to 500 goats. Some brought their camels and we sprayed them as well. The spray helps to keep the ticks off the animals and is a much needed value to these people. They are so thankful for Losilicol and thanked him over and over every time we got together. After spraying the animals we gathered for breakfast – yes you guested it goat, rice, ugali and cabbage. As the oldest member of their village now, they gave me a gift – the liver of the goat. I was taken back and said oh that is alright I did not need to take that, but again as the Kuka (grandfather of the village ) they wanted me to have it as the honored one. I did eat some and then one of the men offered to cut it up into some smaller pieces. It was like about the size of a large patato. I enjoyed sharing my gift with some of the men of the village and also some of the women that helped cook our meals. For some reason our team did not take much of my gift. It was really pretty good and it was fun to see the expressions on the faces of those I shared it with. I felt honored and I believe that it came as a result of their great love for our son and his heart of ministry to these people. They honored Marlene as well as the grandmother of the village and called her Guga. They were always making sure she got enough to eat and wanted to give her a better place to rest for the evening. We felt really blesed to be a part of their community.

After breakfast we had a call to worship and it was wonderful to hear their singing, praying and testimonies of God's blessings to them and especially through the work that Losilicol had done for their village. I was introduced as the grandfather of the village and preached a message to them. I spoke on what the Christian life is all about. I gave them 4 short statements when added together make one sentence. The life of Christ, reproduced in the beliver's life, by the power of the Holy Spirit, in obedience to the Word. The service lasted a full two hours, and yes I only spoke for 30 minutes including giving a clear gospel message. It was a beautiful time and a great time of worship together.

We headed back to Kapsowar through the rough and dusty roads the next 4 hours. We stopped at a school in another small village where Kyle and Vanessa have sponsored a 9^th grade orphan in a semester of school. His name is Justin and he was delighted to see his guardians. He is loving school and growing in his faith.

We got back to Kapsowar just before sunset and oh was the dinner that Vanessa made delightful. We are looking forward to a great couple of weeks working with Kyle in the hospital and the community.

Just a side note, while we were in Nairobi we knocked off the computer from the desk and broke it so we are without a computer here in Kenya. We will be borrowing others to make updates.

Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.