Friends of Kenya –

In preparation for next week’s community feeding, Pastor Steve has asked the women of his church help identify the families and children in Eburru who are not only isolated and starving without food, but have limited means to gather it anytime soon due to sickness, injury
or another reason. Imagine if your pastor asked the same of you.

Two examples to illustrate the reality of famine in Eburru right now:

—Two night ago, a single mother from Pastor Steve’s church approached him with a problem. She has been sick for a while, thus unable to work and buy food for herself and three children. Pastor Steve was shocked when she asked for help because in Kenyan society women rarely ask men for such things. “I knew then it was really bad,” he said. To me, the desperation on her face told the story. She needed food or her situation would go from worse … to something else.

Pastor Steve’s ministry is to serve the poorest of the poor. Since this family clearly fit the criteria, we didn’t hesitate to help with our limited resources. The woman’s desperation turned to gratitude as we bought her rice, flour and fat and helped carry the food to her house. Despite incredibly unpleasant circumstances, it was a pleasure to met her children, pray inside the family mud hut and leave enough money for the family to buy food for a few more days.

—Three days ago in the town square, Pastor Steve’s brother Jonathan spied what he had profiled as an orphan or destitute child. After talking with the little girl, his suspicions were confirmed. While living with a father and other, she was not in school, unbathed,
suffering from malnutrition, scowl on her face and refusal of any human touch. Jonathan soon unearthed the family’s story: four children (all about the same size – telltale sign of severe malnutrition), none in school and
vulnerable to a host of evils not worth mentioning in this message.

More probing by Jonathan uncovered the family’s story: Children had been living their their maternal grandmother attending school…father demanded they return home, promising the children would stay in school…mother agreed to the move… children came home…attended school for two weeks and abruptly stopped. Dad supplies no help. Mom is feeling God-knows-what — experiencing stress-related headaches
and depression. Kids, looking lost and angry, are stuck in an impossible situation.

Bless his heart, Jonathan decided to enroll the two youngest children in Pastor Steve’s daycare at no cost and in the past few days you can already see a difference in their behavior. Unfortunately, the older
two are still out in the cold. This morning when the older sister dropped off her younger siblings, she stood outside the school for at least an hour peering inside and listening to the young kids. As if God knew she needed a boost, later in the day while walking to another
destination, Pastor Steve and I stumbled upon the older sister and her brother hanging around the only food stand for miles around. We were able to give them some bread to serve as an encouragement and short-term fix. They beamed.

Please pray that the most needy men, women and children will attend the feast. Pray they are connected into Pastor Steve’s church community. Pray they can find rest and hope for the future in a really tough place.