Chatham, Massachusetts

AID TO Africa Action Group

Mission to Maseno

Kenya trip was moving, emotional

and a building block for the future

By Tim Weller
     “So how was the trip?  What was it like?”
     Straightforward questions asked by caring friends, family and neighbors. But for the three of us, questions to avoid on those first days back from Kenya.
     Call it rude. Call it self-absorbed. Call it what you want. We called it self-preservation.
      In our own personal ways, Brian, Jamie and I struggled when we returned from Kenya. Brian struggled to conduct services. Jamie struggled to hold back the tears.  I struggled with people and withdrew.
     “So how was the trip? What are your   thoughts?”                                                  
      It was inspirational. It was depressing. It was scary. It was exhausting, physically, mentally and emotionally. It was overwhelming. It was profound. Quite simply, it was life-changing.
     What did we take away from it?
     First, that your prayers, your money, your compassion are making a difference. In the face of staggering poverty and illness, St. Christopher’s matters -- one child, one meal, one weigh-in, one smile at a time.
     The people of Maseno are remarkable. They wage a desperate, daily battle for survival, but remain resilient and optimistic, hopeful for better days. It’s hard to understand, but perhaps they somehow know that St. Christopher’s, the AIA Committee, the Diocese’s Jubilee Committee won’t forget them. At least that’s what we like to think.
     One Saturday afternoon after attending the orphans’ feeding program, the three of us sat in a screened porch with Nan Hardison, kicking around what we had just witnessed. Nan, with her husband Jerry, run the feeding, medical and spiritual programs which make up the remarkable ministry called Maseno Missions.
     “How,” Brian asked, “do you stay optimistic and positive in the face of such overwhelming suffering?”
     “Through prayer,” Nan replied, and then went on to tell the story of a boy and the starfish.
     It seems that one day a huge ocean storm – think Noel – sprang up and washed ashore thousands of starfish. The starfish stretched along the water’s edge for as far as the eye could see. As the tide receded, they began to dry out and die.
     Along came a young boy who – one by one – picked up each starfish and threw it back into the water.
     A man watching from a nearby dune laughed at the boy and called out: “Boy, what are you doing?  You can’t possibly save all these starfish. This is folly! What difference will it make?”
     The boy picked up yet another starfish and threw it back into the ocean. “It makes a difference to this one,” he said.
     As the day for our departure approached, women from the Mothers’ Union, church elders, even children would walk up to us, shake our hands, and oh-so-politely plead:
     “You’ll come back to see us, yes?”
     “You won’t stay long in America, no, even if it’s so far away?”
      We tried to be reassuring. We weren’t very successful.
      Earlier, Nan Hardison described the impact our visit would have on the people of Khwiliba Parish.
      “What you must realize is that your visit will lift the spirits of these people for months and years to come,” she said. “It’s not so much the money; it’s the fact that you cared enough to come all this way to see them. You are showing them that they are not forgotten.”
      “So how was the trip? What comes next?”
      Maybe it’s just this: We keep helping. We keep doing whatever it takes. And somehow, some way, parishioners from St. Christopher’s will return. We won’t forget.

                    Memories from Maseno:

A Sensory & Spiritual Experience

 By Jamie Chalker
       Driving in the dark to our final destination, it was a smell so familiar, yet it took me a minute to reconnect to a childhood memory. The odor, so out of context, was burning trash, like the smell that greeted me when I went with my father to the dump on Saturdays. The smell was overwhelming, and although I tried to take shallow breaths, it would not leave my senses for all of our stay in Maseno.
      On that same drive, I also became aware of how dry my throat and eyes were.  It wasn’t until daylight - and our second trip in St. Philip’s “new” van - when I realized the dry, hard-packed, orangey-red dirt roads gave up a hazy-red film of dust that became part of you.
      I saw so many people on those roads -- adults, teenagers, very young ones, not together but separated, walking silently or riding bicycles, carrying loads of various sizes and shapes, appearing in our headlights and then fading to black.
     We quickly understood what a hard existence these Kenyan people endure, working endlessly to eke out a living from whatever is available. Roadside stands and lean-tos were common sights, some offering bananas, cabbages, mattresses, furniture and sometimes unidentifiable items. Although bottled water was sometimes available, many people, adult and children alike, carried heavy plastic buckets of water on their heads collected from the nearest river -- which was sometimes, perhaps often, not so near.
     And yet, these attacks on my senses, these foreign sights and smells, could not overshadow the incredible compassion I felt from all those I met, who so warmly and acceptingly greeted me with open arms. Handshakes of warm palms, rubbing cheeks, hugs, singing, clapping, praising -- it was so overwhelming. The affect of music on the soul is undeniable.
      The Mothers’ Union women were a force of will – bold, strong, proud. They were unforgettable. And the children; so many, so perfect, so innocent, so beautiful, so happy. So many.  There was no resentment, no expression of anger; only curiosity, wonder, perhaps slight apprehension for some, but an immediate flood of smiles and waves when they spotted us, and the greeting in perfect English, “How are you?”
      Mothers’ Union women graciously fed us abundant meals of food we had never before tasted, all eaten by hand. And always tea, with milk and raw sugar.  It was all a sign of great appreciation and gratitude for our presence there.
     It’s hard to convey to people the sum of all my emotions and feelings about such an experience. The trip took me half way around the world and deposited me in rural Kenya. I was submerged into a different culture that took over my senses and gave me a greater spiritual sense of the world we live in and the joyful spirits of fellow Christians who so unexpectedly can change our lives.

For more on the trip to Maseno, look for the December issue of Soundings.

In the News

AiA committee featured

in World AIDS Day story

St. Christopher's AIDS in Africa group and the launch of its AIDS in Africa Action Fund on World AIDS Day was the focus of a great feature story written by editor Tim Wood for the Cape Cod Chronicle. The Chronicle has allowed us to run a reprint of the the story. 

Efforts Increase

Aids in Africa group to feed

250 orphaned African children

St. Christopher’s – through its AIDS in Africa Committee – has found a partner parish in Kenya and will be able to feed 250 orphaned children each week.
    Khwiliba Parish, in Maseno North District, has not had any outside help for their orphan program. The AIDS in Africa Committee has made a five-year commitment to the parish.  In addition, efforts are underway to establish a relationship between Rector Brian McGurk and Khwiliba’s minister, the Rev. Amos Asoro.
    “You can do so much with so little,” says committee member Jane Harris. She added the committee will be looking for ways to raise an additional $1,000, which would provide medical care for these same children once a week.
    Under the program, a group of women in the Mother’s Union prepares and serves a balanced, nutritious meal to the children one day a week.
    The committee is considering staging various events throughout the year to raise awareness of the AIDS crisis sweeping Africa.

In the News

Church's AIDS in Africa group featured

in Chronicle's World AIDS Day story

St. Christopher's AIDS in Africa group and the launch of its AIDS in Africa Action Fund on World AIDS Day was the focus of a great feature story written by editor Tim Wood for the Cape Cod Chronicle. The Chronicle has allowed us to run a reprint of the the story. 

Update from Africa

Hardisons visit church to share news of efforts