Fuhomi...

This past week was a groundbreaking one for the Fuhomi Project, one of the projects with which Mission Care International is involved here in Naivasha. I haven't written very much about Fuhomi on my blog, but it's time I did - so let me fill you in!

You can find out more about the Fuhomi Project on the new Mission Care website, but the basics are that Fuhomi is a project for young people in and around the town of Naivasha. Much like anywhere else in the world, teenagers here are questioning their identity, trying to find where the fit, and often society, culture, the media and their churches and schools only make this process more difficult. Given the current circumstances, with the tribal clashes and ethnic cleansing taking place across the Rift Valley, young Kenyans (many of whom were involved in the violence) seem even more lost, hopeless and directionless, and many have a false sense of identity.

Fuhomi seeks to empower these young people to believe in themselves, to take pride in themselves and to enable them to encounter hope for a brighter future. Fuhomi seeks to impact the community through visiting secondary schools - educating, encouraging and equipping students before they make decisions that impact the course of their lives. The project also seeks to build relationships with young people who find themselves separated from normal society, who are broken, suffering and lacking support and guidance.

Currently, the main focus for the work with the second group of young people, are the young sex workers in Naivasha. While the Sunshine Centre works with boys who need support, there are also many girls who have been orphaned or who have no other choice but to go to the streets - and the girls too are segregated from the world. I cannot begin to describe every day life for these girls, but the suffering that they encounter on a daily basis is not only injust, but also inhuman. Fuhomi seeks to offer hope to these young girls and young women. During the past month eight of the young commerical sex workers, all in their teens, have been meeting with our four volunteers - the girls who are doing a gap-year working with the project. We praise God for the opportunities that this is bringing us to bring hope to these broken lives.

The groundbreaking step for Fuhomi this week was our first school visits. We are sending teams to spend time with a select group of students - boys and girls - who will both understand our message of hope, and also help to spread this message to their friends. The educational programme that we are using focuses on areas such as sexuality, HIV/AIDS, drugs, peer development, human rights and career choices. The teams are visiting each school for one year. The aim is that the young people will feel important, accepted, cared for and empowered to value, respect and love themselves.

Our first visits were inspiring and most importantly, the young people were all excited by what they will be taught and are looking forward to taking up the challenge of being ambassadors in their schools. It is very early days, but we are hopeful that we can inspire a generation of teenagers who can change their communities.

Hoping...

I have much to report after an inspirational visit from Andrew Scott, Mission Care's Group Architect. Andrew joined me for the last two weeks of May and during his time we visited each of the projects that Mission Care International is working with here in East Africa. As things continue to progress with these projects I will be posting new updates on each one so please visit back soon.


During the past month it is becoming clear to me that there is an increasing need for hope. Not just here in Africa, but everywhere. We all need hope. Without hope, what are we living for? What are we working for each day? And why would we go to bed planning to get up again the next day? I think it is because we all have a hope for a brighter tomorrow. Deep down inside we believe that we will experience joy, love and peace in the future. I don't know what is driving your life at present, but I do think that if you didn't have any hope, you would probably give up.


I am full of hope because I believe that in every situation lives can be improved. This is in spite of the fact that some of the things that I see on a daily basis and some of the lives that I encounter every day seem, at first glance, to be without hope. It could be easy to feel hopeless when speaking with people who have experienced loss, brokenness and devastation, or with children who have never received love from their families.


But I am full of hope, because I believe that God hasn't given up on this world, and doesn't plan to. My work here would be in vain without the hope to which I have been called and the belief that people can be made whole, can receive new life and can be changed. I am driven by the conviction that the unexpected can happen and that what the world may say is impossible, can be possible.


Resurrection is something that the "world" would declare is impossible. I don't think so. Resurrection gives me hope.


There are times when I find myself becoming cynical. I know that talking about hope and resurrection when we can see evidence of such suffering makes some people feel very cynical. Sometimes I wonder where the world is headed - will we see the world being healed of its brokenness and pain? My convictions and beliefs say "yes" but sometimes my thoughts and feelings say "no."


When thinking about the example of Kenya, the land in which I am living, we now see a country that has been battling since January with tribal violence, on the edge of civil war, and is currently, in my opinion, being run by men overly concerned with their own glory, power and wealth, rather than the needs of the people. Can the lives of the Kenyan people be changed? In another two years there will be re-elections - will people react by repeating a violent response if again their vote counts for nothing? My head may struggle to see hope, but my convictions disagree. I am convinced of the fact that real, pure, naked and fragile hope for a brighter tomorrow is a better way to live and this is the way that I have chosen to live.


Last week I visited an older people's nursing home in Mombasa that helped me to put this hope into reality.


Since there are six Mission Care Homes in the UK for older people, I was interested to see how older people are cared for here in Kenya. Having been to hospitals in Kenya and other developing nations I was apprehensive as to what I might see on this visit. Knowing that those who cannot act for themselves, such as children and older people, are often the most oppressed in any society, I will admit to having a moment of cynicism when preparing for this visit. But what I was to see was undeniable hope for those who in other circumstances would be alone, living in suffering, or even passed away.


The Sisters of the Poor Nursing Home cares for over fifty residents from impoverished backgrounds, who do not have families to care for them. The residents are cared for regardless of faith or tribal backgrounds. The staff strive for excellence in providing care that breaks social and cultural boundaries, in a country where older people in particular are often just forgotten. Mission Care knows the difficult situations faced by older people in the UK, and does its best to serve men and women in the final years of the lives to give them a quality of life beyond usual expectations. I was pleased to see that the Sisters of the Poor Home here in Kenya was built on the same principles and values as the Mission Care Homes in the UK. Considering the vast difference in resources, the Kenyan home is doing a wonderful job.


Looking at the bigger picture however, it is clear that care for the elderly in Kenya is grim. The Sisters of the Poor home is the only care home for older people in the whole of Mombasa, which is the second largest city in Kenya. Deep within my soul I hope for a brighter tomorrow for the thousands of other older men and women who require the sort of care that the home provides...

To know more about having hope in resurrection, listen to "Boasting will abound" by Rob Bell, a podcast from Mars Hill Bible Church downloadable for free from itunes.