We had been at Faith House in Nairobi for almost a week. The routine was becoming normal. I was working on my computer, recording my notes and observations, when Leah suddenly entered the room.

“Mrs. Jane, come with me!” My usual response: “WHY?”

“You’ll see . . . Close your eyes . . . In fact, cover your eyes!”

She led me down the hall, out the door, and onto the porch. I worried about falling and wondered what this mischievous young woman had in mind. “NOW, open your eyes!”

And there, above the trees, hung a beautiful full moon! This photo doesn’t do it justice, but it’s the one I took!

Once again I was arrested by the fact that I was looking at the same moon I watch in Texas. The moon is God’s way of reminding me how connected I am to everyone in His world.

The whole time that we lived in Kenya the full moons reminded me of home. My family . . . my friends could see the same moon. And when we returned to Texas to live, the same moon reminded me, month after month, of those I had come to love in Kenya.

Somehow, the world seems smaller when I remember that on opposite sides of the world we see the same moon.

Zippy’s story is so much broader than her excellence in academics. She is a leader at her school. Early in her time at JKUAT, school officials came to her class, asking for someone to consider becoming their class representative. The other students all urged her to run. But Zippy saw that she could do so much more for the whole university community if she ran for student-wide office.

She ran for and was elected Academic and External Affairs Secretary, one of fourteen students in places of leadership who meet with the administration and department heads of the school to set direction for the school and advocate for the 5000 students.

Everyone at JKUAT, from gatekeepers and foodservice workers, to students, to the professors and the principal and the dean of the school, knows and loves Zippy.

On a recent trip to Nairobi and Faith House, we enjoyed a delightful lunch with Zippy at a near-by restaurant. Returning her to campus after lunch, we were stopped at the university gate by the campus guard.

We fumbled for the necessary documents to claim the right to enter, but at one glance into the back seat, the guard saw Zippy. His face lit up, he smiled and waved at her and passed us through. Zippy explained that she had worked hard to get to know all the campus staff and that they had been very helpful in her campaign.

She has used her office as a platform to discover the needs of the school and to do something about those needs. The school had no Christian Union so she wrote a proposal to the dean, which was accepted. Now more than 25 students plus some staff members are part of the Christian organization.

Students complained that there were no covered places to wait for buses, so Zippy wrote another proposal to the dean. Now there are benches and shelters at the bus stops on campus.

And she was in charge of “Community Week” on campus. Along with six committee members she developed a week of service projects following the theme, “Caring for the Environment.” Activities included planting trees, cleaning road ways, mentoring students in need of help, taking a group of students to Kibera (Nairobi’s largest slum, and one of the largest in the world) to help clean that community, and a sponsoring a blood drive that would reach into the private sector.

She said that the week was just the beginning of serving the campus and beyond. Her eyes twinkle as she talks of what might come next. Following graduation, Zippy may work as an actuary, but I fully believe that, wherever she is and what ever job she does, she will touch and change her world.

Over the next few weeks, we’ll be posting many of the insights and photos Jane gathered during their visit. Some of the stories we’re planning include the example of leadership from one of our senior students, an inside look at a typical Faith House day, an encounter with a rhino and her baby, and giving Noah a bath…

Here’s just as taste of the scenes they experienced during the visit. Click on any of the thumbnails to view larger images and captions, or click the link to just view the slideshow. Stay tuned for many more stories to come!

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Everyone had a great time, and we’re looking forward to many more anniversaries in the years to come! Here are some of the photos of the girls celebrating together.
 

 
 
The Clothesline Relay race (left to right: Pauline, Purity, Esther, Joyce, Liz). Purity was the main cheerleader the whole time!
 
 
 
 

 
The Human Knot (holding hands and then untwisting without letting go)!
 
 
 

 
 
 
The Human Pyramid, Kenya-style (Sheila on top, Beatrice & Teresa smiling).
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
Margaret W and Regina make their ideal men out of modeling clay!
 
 
 

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This year the celebration was a bit more familiar. They still adorn themselves with stars as they decorate the tree with stars and angels and sparkling balls. And they learn to roll out and cut Christmas star cookies, decorating them with icing, sampling the sweets as they work. Meals at Faith House are nutritious and delicious, but the Christmas feast surpasses all that they are used to– meat, vegetables, bread, soft drinks– such abundance!

Learning the spirit of giving, the girls draw names and each is given a small amount of money to shop for a special gift for her “secret pal.” Anticipation reigns as each girl waits to see how her selection will be received. Shrieks of excitement and laughter punctuate the opening of each present. Hugs and thank-you’s express the gratitude and sense of fun in the giving and receiving.

Central to the whole celebration, the day closes with the reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2. “And there were in the same country, shepherds, abiding in the fields, keeping watch over their flocks by night. And lo, an angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. And they were afraid. And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not! For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior which is Christ the Lord! And this shall be a sign unto you: you shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.’ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest! And on earth, peace, good will to men.’ And it came about that when the angels had gone away from them back into heaven that the shepherds said to one another, ‘Come, let us go and see this thing which has comet pass, which the Lord has made known to us!’ And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, lying in a manger.”

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However, when we went back to UMHB in early July, for Damaris to register for fall classes, we were told that indeed, she had not been admitted into the nursing school after all. We had misunderstood. I watched Dama’s face and saw what a crushing blow this was—I felt it too. And I knew that in that moment, she needed someone who would stand up for her. She needed an advocate. I told our story and explained what we had been told and made clear the time we had wasted while trusting those promises and planning for that school. My words seemed to wash over the dean, and leave her a bit distracted from the needs of the Kenyan student in front of her– or perhaps she was simply puzzled over how to solve the problem. Dama has an advocate in the international advisor who heard the same promises that we had heard, but she was out of town. And we believe that God sent an advocate in the person of a university vice president who saw us in a hallway and asked how he could help and promised to look into the situation. Such gentle compassion! I did so long for an effective advocate who could work effectively in this situation that looked impossible.

Two thoughts: First, on Sunday, as we studied Job 16: 19-21 (NIV), I was reminded that our Lord Jesus is our true advocate, “pleading with God as a man pleads for his friend.” I have felt like I held Damaris’s hand in one of mine and reached to hold my Lord’s hand with the other, drawing them together—few words, mostly clinging, hanging on. And I know that truly He is the One who hangs on more tightly that I can.

Second, sometimes God calls a person or persons to be advocates on the ground. I know how very many times I was an advocate for my children as they grew up, and I can’t even count the times that Gretchen is an advocate for our Faith House girls as they meet doors that are slammed shut and face challenges that we can’t imagine. And, early Tuesday morning, after a long holiday weekend, the international advisor called from Mary Hardin Baylor. She had explained to the dean of the nursing school exactly what we had all understood. The dean will honor that understanding and Damaris is accepted to begin nursing school at Mary Hardin Baylor in the fall! God provided the right person to be His advocate at the right moment.

When you pray for Faith House and for the girls and for Gretchen, you are part of that holding on, clinging prayer for His advocacy. And Gretchen, in the daily challenges in Nairobi, is a constant advocate for our Faith House girls.

In July 2011 Juliah graduated from Bunks Early Childhood Education College in Nairobi with a diploma in Montessori Early Childhood Education. She is currently interviewing for a job and hopes one day to take further courses in special education. During her training she was especially moved by a few children with cerebral palsy, and wants to focus her attention on helping children with those special needs.

Juliah was in the third class at Rafiki Girls’ Center. She was living with an aunt at the time, having suffered the loss of both her parents to AIDs. When asked what her goals were for her life, she replied, “I want to help orphans because I am one.” The death of her mom especially , and the fact that she had to live in a relative’s home, feeling little love, weighed heavily on her. She struggled with relationships at home and among friends through her vulnerable teenage years. As she struggled to find a place where she belonged, she changed high schools several times, finally graduating from Mountain View Academy.

God gave her the home for which she hungered with Hellen who was, at the time, our Faith House National Assistant. Juliah became a member of the Faith House family by extension. And after finishing high school, she found the calling that holds her heart.

We always knew that Juliah is truly gifted with children. She loves her younger siblings and her nieces and nephews. And during clinics and some training times we watched her joyfully playing with the little ones who needed attention. She truly lights up around children.

She smiled with a new radiant confidence as she showed her mock classroom and demonstrated the teaching tools she had created, explaining how she had used materials that were easily accessible because her teaching assignment might be “in a place where we can’t get paper and other supplies easily!” Juliah seems to have found her place.

Where Juliah would be if there had been no Faith House or no Hellen to stand behind her and encourage her when life seemed so dark?

This was an unforgettable experience for Faith House students who have worked so hard to achieve their goals. Here are just a few of the photos taken by the Faith House staff during the trip…

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