There Are So Many Orphans

December 12, 2008 by Steve Peifer

I like the word “yako.”

In Swahili, it means yours, but being a creative sort, I have found it has a myriad of uses. Unlike my wife, who has managed to become fairly fluent in Swahili, I have found that my breathtaking pace of learning one new word of Swahili a year was not equipping me to interact in the community like I needed to.dec12_1

I began a new way of learning language, and I believe that it may revolutionize the entire field. What I have done is utilize the words I have learned, and make the word mean whatever I want at the time.

For example, I greet almost every Kenya by saying, “You have no yako.” What does that mean? I’m usually not sure, but it has its intended effect, which is to make sure they switch to English when dealing with me.

But it has further uses. Margaret often asks me to pray for rain, and so I tell her, “You love yako so much.” She knows that it means rain. We are paying for Peris, a young Kenyan woman, to take a computer class, so I often remind her, “You must work hard on your yako.”

dec12_2I think I am on to something big.

The school was understaffed this year, which meant that most of us ended the year feeling pretty exhausted. Our superintendent had a party for the staff after the term was over and reminded us that there really wasn’t a way to have pulled off this term.

It really was a miracle.

The hardest scripture in the Bible says that He delights in being strong in our weakness. This has been a year of weakness, of failing, and having Him be strong in me in spite of it all. I’ve always hated looking like a failure, even when it was painfully obvious to all but me, but it has been a breakthrough year. I am weak, and I’m starting not to care who knows.dec12_3

As someone who has always had an answer for everything, especially when I didn’t have a clue, this has been the year of “I don’t know.” There have been so many issues in the community this year where I just didn’t have a clue as to what to do. It has been so humbling to start almost every conversation with “I don’t know,” but it has also been freeing and taught me to seek Him in a new way.

dec12_4He knows.

Nancy has started getting involved in a local orphanage for little girls, and we went over there the other day. To see how little they have and how happy they are can help you look at your life in a new way. They have 20 little girls, and they live in the simplest way you can imagine. The government is supposed to help them, but they haven’t quite gotten around to it yet. Edwin, the man in charge, told me, “There are so many orphans.”dec12_5

That was my cue to want to talk about all the need there is, and how this week, as headmasters called me and asked if we could add their schools, I was forced to say that no, I haven’t been able to raise the monies needed to add any schools this year. To hear grown men cry is as horrible as anything I can think of.

But Edwin said, “With what little we have, we are satisfied.”

dec12_6And for the first time, I realized that I could be grateful for what we could do, and not bemoan my failures. We ended the year with 18,300 children being fed lunch every school day. Virtually every school had huge increases in how they were rated in their zones, and the dropout rate flirted with 0%. We have 15 computer centers operational now, and Bruce Kinzer, the force of nature who builds them, has started to add shelves to the centers, so they can also function as a library.

2008 started with a riot. It ended with a celestial celebration, and a reminder of who is in charge. We are grateful to Him for all He has done through you all. You have made such a difference in these children’s lives.dec12_7

JT arrives here next week, and we are so excited to have him here. We hope that you have the chance to be with your loved ones this holiday.

Merry Christmas and a Yako New Year.

See?

It really does work.

Your pal,
Steve