back to the desert

“Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your work is not in vain.”

1 Corinthians 15:58

So we returned home to Marsabit from a week in Kargi (aka the desert) with the medical team. It was such a blessing to have the group of eleven join us in Kenya.  Today was a bit of a strange day in Africa. We bid a farewell to the medical team early this morning and spent the remainder of the day inside eating and watching movies. We watched three and a half movies (and I say “half” because we attempted to watch Oceans Eleven and it cut off right in the middle, prompting us to “insert disc 2” in which we did not have…like the saying goes…AWA (Africa wins again). That’s what we get for buying a bootleg in Africa I suppose haha) as a family and it really felt like home. We all agreed that we forgot that we were in Africa for a short time.

[The town of Kargi]

We all headed out to the desert Monday morning on “The Beast” (a huge safari vehicle). As soon as we arrived in Kargi we went out to set up the medical clinic and began to see patients. The people don’t have access to medical help-no doctors, hospitals, medicine, or any money to receive those things. If the people there are sick or become injured they either just live with the discomfort, become very ill, travel to Marsabit or Nairobi(if they have a mode of transportation), or just don’t make it. We had the opportunity to share the gospel with many people and they were very receptive. Rendille is the name of the people group that occupy Kargi. The Rendilles are some of the most friendly, welcoming people you will ever meet. They always have a smile on their faces even though they don’t seem like they have much to be smiling about. They are just naturally joyful people. One of my little friends I made walked around on rocks with bare feet half the time she was with me, but it never failed that she would look up at me with those big brown eyes, holding my hand so tightly, with the biggest, sweetest smile on her little face.

The children there are so sweet and they hung all over us. I went back to Kargi Primary Friday and taught an English and Social Studies class. I don’t really think the kids cared about the material I was trying to teach them, they were just getting a kick out of looking at a mzungu (a white person in Swahili) and listening to me talk! The first day I was there we went out the menyattas and informed the mamas about sanitation and water purification. We also shared “Creation to the Cross” with the women and children. I say women and children because the men of the villages are either out watching the camels and goats or sitting inside the menyattas. In the Rendille culture the women are expected to do all the work, caring for the children, cooking, fetching the water, building their menyattas…pretty much any work that is to be done is performed by the women. The men are highly honored in this culture and its kinda frustrating to see how backwards their way of living is…how unbiblical it is. This is just another indication of how their lack of knowledge of the love of Christ negatively affects their lives.

The trip was so great but very exhausting, as you can imagine, I was ready to get back to Shelby and Mary’s for some restful sleep and to be clean! Its basically impossible to be clean in Kargi because its so hot and dusty haha. When we got back to Marsabit yesterday we helped Mrs. Mary cook for the team…we made spaghetti, banana bread, and yellow cake with this amazing chocolate icing.

I can’t believe that I’ve been here for three weeks and I have only three more to go. In some ways it feels like I’ve been here so much longer but in others, it seems so short. I’ve experienced and learned so much that it’s almost too difficult to put it all into words. I do miss home, my family, and my close friends. But I’m thankful to have Shelby, Mary, and my teammates. They have made being thousands of miles away from home much easier than I could ever have imagined.

This is just a short overview of our week in Kargi. Stay tuned and I'll update more and hopefully with some pictures if the internet will cooperate! Continue to pray that God would move in the hearts of the Rendille people and that he would be preparing the hearts of those whom we will come in contact with this week.