A Trip to Visit Reunited Families

As I wrote back in June (see The 4R's - Reintegrate), a big component of Agape's mission is to eventually reunite former street boys with their families throughout Kenya (and sometimes into Uganda and Tanzania).  This reunification of families is facilitated by a team of pastors that make up Agape's Reintegration Team.  Yesterday, I had the privilege to travel with John, the manager of the team, and Ted, on of the other pastors, as they went to visit the former Agape boys in their homes and to meet with their families.  On average the team visits around 50 families per week to ensure that the boys are doing well and are being properly cared for.

We left early on Monday morning to travel 90 kilometers (that's about 56 miles to you Americans) west to a small village called Usengi with the goal of visiting six reintegrated boys.  The road out to Usengi was in pretty good shape, but it still took us about two hours to drive the 90 kilometers.  Here are a few photos of the trip along the way:

There are some incredible rock formations on the drive to Usengi.  That is a house on the right side of the picture to give you a sense of scale on how big these rocks are.  It's incredible to look at these rocks and think, "God put these here."  It reminds me of Romans 1:20, "For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made.  So they are without excuse."  Praise the Lord!

This rock formation is known as Kit Mikayi, which is Luo for "Stone of the First Wife."  Polygamy is still somewhat commonplace in Kenya, especially in rural areas.  John told me a Luo joke that when a man has one wife, he will have a heart attack when someone tells him that his wife has passed away, but when a man has two or more wives, his response will be, "It is okay, I have another wife."  Needless to say, polygamy leads to some major issues in Kenya, the generation of more street children just being one of the issues.  

Just head north on this dirt road about 8 kilometers, and you will arrive in Kogelo.  What is special about Kogelo, you might ask . . . this is the hometown of the father of the 44th President of the US . . . Mr. Barack Obama (we'll meet Obama later in this post; well, not quite).

Upon arrival in Usengi, we went to the home of Humphrey, who happened to be at school at the time.  Because Humphrey was not home, John and Ted proceeded to share the Gospel with Humphrey's aunt and uncle, Rose and Boniface.  Here's a clip of John Mwalo preaching to Rose, Boniface, and their firstborn little girl, God's Will (yes, that is her name).  John is speaking in the local tribal tongue, Luo.

During the time with this family, another family member joined the discussion, as well.  At the conclusion of our time with the family, all three family members made a profession of faith in Jesus Christ!  Praise the Lord!  The challenge now will be to find a way to disciple these new believers, being that there are no good churches in the area.  Please be in prayer that we can find a way to continue to teach these newest members of the body of Christ.  

After our meeting, our hosts offered us some freshly caught (and deeply fried) Tilapia and Nile Perch.

We continued on to the next boy's house, Frederick.  Frederick's family had a large plot of land right on the shore of Lake Victoria where they had a "plantation" which primarily grew tomatoes and a little sukuma wiki (kale).  During this visit, three more Kenyans made an initial profession of faith in Jesus Christ; pretty amazing!

Here's a quick video discussing how Patrick's home is constructed:

After this visit, we conducted two more home visits, and then conducted a last visit to a boy's house named Samora.  Samora's mother died of AIDS, which is why he ended up on the street.  Agape reintegrated Samora with his maternal grandmother.  Samora lives in a very rural area, and a few of the small children were terrified of me when they first saw me.  I was probably the first mzungu (white person) that they had ever seen.  Here are a few photos of the visit with Samora's family:

Some of Samora's Cousins

Kitana (sp?)

Milicent & Kitana

Obama . . . I told you that you'd meet him later.  Kenyans don't pay much attention to whether their children wear girls or boys clothes.  I thought Obama was a girl at first; you can probably understand my mistake.

Obama is a ham, but was terrified of me when I first arrived.

Samora's Cousins

Kitana and Obama

Samora's aunt, grandmother, and another aunt.

Pascal & Samora

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention a pretty amazing fact.  The Reintegration Team at Agape has taken over 200 children home to their families over the past year!  Praise the Lord!  Please be in prayer for the following:

• That the Lord will move in the hearts of the boys' families, and that they will come to know Jesus as their Savior.
• That the boys will stay home once reintegrated.  Thus far, the recidivism rate is pretty low, but some boys still go back to the street.
• That the Lord will provide enough food at home for these children.

Thanks for joining me on my first trip to the field with the Reintegration Team!