Cross-Cultural Ministry in Kenya, Part One


© Jim McCoy (Kisumu, Kenya)
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Aug 22, 2001


A frequent e-mail correspondent, Dave Walker, forwarded this series of articles from a missionary in Kenya. All are rather lengthy and, not wanting anyone to lose the flavor of this ministry, I have decided to run these as "extra" columns on Wednesdays in addition to the normal Friday installments. I hope you enjoy these reports as much as I have. Thanks to Dave for forwarding them to me and thanks to Jim McCoy for sharing his experiences with Dave, myself, and all you readers. You may also want to read Pam Tacquard's experiences in Kenya.

I have been living in Kisumu, Kenya for the past 9 weeks. I wanted you to have a glimpse into my experience so that you can see for yourself what life is like for these beautiful Kenyan people. Thanks to Zion Lutheran Church, Portland, OR, and members of the Daystar community for making this mission trip possible for me. I was accompanied on this trip by my 13 year old son, Sean, and another young woman, Jamie Stanley, from my home congregation. Members of Faith Lutheran Church in North Palm Beach supported the two young people's trip.

We have been the guests of Rev. David O. Chuchu. He is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Kenya. He is from the Luo tribe and we are living in what they call Luo Land near Lake Victoria in western Kenya. We have lived in David's city home in the city of Kisumu for most of the time but we lived in the rural for a week in mud and stick huts.

The situation in Kenya is horrific. In Pastor Chuchu's home village (who I will refer to as David from now on) there are 200 households and every single one of them is raising orphans. Most can't go to school because education is not free and the grandparents can't afford the fees.

Because their children are dead and they have no one to care for them, many elderly people are starving to death because they cannot get or prepare food. Others are incontinent and sleeping in urine soaked beds and their homes have leaky grass thatched roofs. When it rains, the water pours into their homes.

There is no way I can turn my back on them and return to life as usual in the USA. What that means for my future waits to be seen, but I must do something.

   

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Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: View all related messages
2.   Aug 25, 2001 6:13 AM
In response to message posted by ears4u:

That's easy to do. I'll do it right away. ~john ...

-- posted by H2O
1.   Aug 24, 2001 7:51 AM
This note I received from Jim McCoy.

Thanks for getting my reports posted. Is there any chance that at the end there could be a sentence that says something like "For more information on ways to ...

-- posted by ears4u



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