Peace and travels...

A lot has happened in the last week, there have been political breakthroughs in Kenya, and some eye opening experiences for me.

The big news here is that the government has made a peace agreement; they have formed a coalition government and will seek to work together. They have a lot of work to do rebuilding the economy, tourist industry and rehousing all the displaced people across the country. At least 600,000 people have been displaced in Kenya, 30,000 of whom are encamped just outside Naivasha. For me the town has had an eerie feeling to it since I have been back - if you were unaware, you could easily pass through without the slightest idea that around forty people were murdered just five weeks ago. Now that we are hopeful of political stability, people may be able to come to terms with what has happened here in the last two months, and move on to a brighter future. My immediate response to the union now found within the government is one of relief and thanksgiving, but it is still true to say that right from the top corruption remains, as there have been recognised flaws in the election process. Most Kenyans seem resigned to the fact that corruption prevails in all areas of society, but because of that, the weak, vulnerable and poor continue to pay the price.

Most of the past week was spent in Mombasa. I drove to Mombasa on Tuesday 26th, accompanied by Joseph Chege, the son of Pastor Simon, the Director of the Sunshine Boys Project. We drove for almost 9 hours in Mission Care's landrover, my wheels for the next six months or so, and the car that Mission Care International will use as the work progresses here in East Africa. In fact, it was Joseph's company in Mombasa that organised the shipping of our container.

The purpose of the trip to Mombasa was to visit Timbwani: a school, orphanage and housing project on the edge of the city. It is run by an English couple called Glyn and Jane who have been living in Kenya for the past eight years. Footsteps International have been very involved with their work, and Martin and Mary Print of Footsteps joined me on this visit - there was a lot to see!

I never cease to be amazed when I can acknowledge transformation in people's lives - from despair to joy, from hopelessness to exciting potential and new prospects. At Sunshine I see this every day, to the extent that you can sometimes fail to notice it properly, but I saw this transformation a number of times in the past week. One great example would be in the case of Winnie, a 12-year-old disabled boy, who uses a hand-pedalled wheelchair that resembles a tricycle. Winnie has recently moved up several classes and school and now has increased mobility. He is very happy within the surrounds of Tumaini School and is an active member of the school community.

Timbwani includes the Tumaini School, which has 600 pupils, as well as an adjoining orphanage for 28 children, a feeding programme for the school children and an additional 200 children from another school nearby, and a housing project for people in the surrounding area. Mission Care International has been most involved with the housing project, building 8 houses and toilet facilities for extremely poor families living next to the school in 2006. One resident of the houses is Elaine, who is a young mother still studying at the school, who lives there with her grandmother.

While in Mombasa, I also visited another project supported by Footsteps. This was the Bombalulu Workshops and Cultural Centre and for me, the work going on there and the community that has been forged, was a clear indication of the Kingdom of God. The project is supported by APDK, the Association for the Physically Disabled of Kenya. There are two streams to the work here: to provide wheelchairs to those who require mobility aid across Kenya that are built on the premises, and to produce handcrafted jewellery, leather, textiles and wooden carvings. The amazing thing is that the project employs 170 people with disabilities to this. I was given an awe-inspiring tour of the project. In the wheelchair workshop, many of the staff were deaf and mute, and they produce tailor-made products for those in need of wheelchairs across Kenya. In the workshops I had conversations with many people as they skilfully made jewellery and textiles - some were blind, others had missing limbs and various disabilities, but within this community they were thriving. In fact, to me it felt that those we would term as fully able and those we would term as living with disabilities had integrated into an environment of such love, acceptance and empowerment that we rarely see in this world. For me, this is what mission is all about, empowering vulnerable people to achieve while forming a community that supports and enables each other.

I have been re-inspired by my visits this week to ensure that in all that Mission Care International does we will be seeking to bring forth God's Kingdom, bringing heaven to earth by supporting and facilitating trasnformation, empowering the weak and vulnerable to live fully integrated, both socially and economically, in true community.