Kenya Kids Can!

My all time favorite commercial is from the 60′s. In it, an earnest looking middle aged woman boards a bookmobile and asks a question to an equally earnest looking librarian:

Earnest Middle Aged Woman:  Do you have any books on … biology?
Librarian:  Why, are you constipated?

The earnest middle aged woman agrees that she is, and the librarian gives her advice of her favorite choice of laxative. What I loved was the leap:  if you wanted a book on biology, what other reason could you want it for besides constipation help?

I honestly never expected to see a greater stretch, but look at this ad for cement in this week’s paper and I think you will agree that it rises to the level of greatness of my favorite ad. The first two sentences are CHOICE.

Kristy is a force of nature English teacher at RVA. She grew up here, and her mother was murdered in Sudan. It certainly hasn’t always been easy, but she has a wonderful husband and the cutest daughter. It was time for the next baby to be born, and suddenly we were getting news that it wasn’t going so well, and there were complications. We all breathed a sigh of relief when their son was born and everything was ok.

After about a week, complications arose for Kristy. There is a mission hospital near us with amazing doctors, but the technology they need to do sophisticated surgeries just isn’t in Kenya lots of the time. She suffered an infection, and then there was fear of kidney failure. The doctors finally told her:  you need surgery in the states that we just can’t do here. You need to go home immediately.

But she couldn’t. The baby didn’t have a passport, and they needed to get one. There are papers that need to be stamped, and they take a long time. They didn’t have a long time, and finally they were able to rush the passport and book their flights.

The mission had a nurse who would accompany them on the flight, and she would be able to administer the IV that Kristy needed to make sure the infection did not reoccur. They were all set to go, and then the airline said that she needed to be in seating that would allow her to lie down, and they hadn’t applied for that, and that would be another day. They were at the airport when they got that news. They called the doctors and the doctors told her:  just get on a flight and get back. You can’t waste any more time.

So they went to another airline and purchased tickets without the ability to lie down or use an IV. She had almost 30 hours of flying to do with a newborn.

They made it, but it was complicated.

Tabitha is a young Kenyan woman whom many of you have helped come to the United States to study. She had a great first year of school, with all A’s except for one B+. She is enjoying an amazing opportunity to study at Harvard this summer.

Tabitha’s mother died of AIDS in January. Tabitha has a little sister, and she came back here to become the legal guardian for Joy. Because Tabitha is now studying in America (and therefore rich), many previously silent and unhelpful kin have suddenly materialized to “help” Joy. They think  there is money in it. It brings out the very worst in people here. If Tabitha becomes legal guardian, she will try to bring Joy back to the states to care for her while she continues college. A lot for a 20 year old college sophomore.

It’s complicated.

We leave Africa in less than a month, and while I will have some more thoughts next month, I have been thinking about the last five years and how it has changed me.

For me, the last few years have been such a revelation. The longer that I am in Africa, the longer I realize that I get so much more than I could ever give. Africans have shown me a better way of relating to Jesus. They trust Him more than I do, and they handle the difficult issues of life with more wisdom and grace than I ever have. They have shown me by example that I needed saving out of my self satisfied suburban life as much as they need saving out of their poverty.

In my heart of hearts, I believe that Africa will lead the next wave of revival, and it will go deeper than any other revival because Africans have a deeper walk. I have gotten so much more than I could ever give. I’m so grateful that He has allowed us to be here. Our hope is to return to Kenya in August of 2011, and our dream is be here until 2019. In the end, we want to do what He wants us to do, whatever it is.

Nancy and I will be married for 25 years on June 29th. One of my best friends calls her Saint Nancy; you can probably imagine how interesting it must be to be married to me. If I didn’t know better, I would have thought that Nancy had developed a nervous tic when I pledged to be twice as hilarious in our next 25 years.

I mocked the cement ad, but my wife’s love has always been the most solid thing in my life.

Your pal,
Steve

Being in Kenya has taught me a new way to pray.

I walk across our campus and am surrounded by wonderful young people. Some are encouraged to pray for their safety. Some pray for their futures.

I pray that Jesus will give me a water balloon that I can throw at their heads.

And I pray it loudly.

I’ve found that nothing brings people together as when an old guy prays, “Lord Jesus, please give me a full water balloon that I can throw at Josh’s fat head.”

Students have asked why I do it, and I remind them that Scripture says to ask Him for ALL things.

I had a student tell me it wasn’t very nice. I responded by saying, “Lord Jesus, please make the water balloon I throw at her extra cold.”

And they say I can’t relate to young people.

This is a month that included a boomslang on a little kid’s backpack and had a senior getting a concussion from running into a gazelle on his motorcycle. There has been more illness, and more lingering illness, than any time in our 11 years. The whole place is exhausted, and we are all trying to hang in there until the end of the term.

So when the first African student in 104 years got accepted to MIT, I saw people who were so sick of bad news and so ready to rejoice that there was much jumping and yelling and crying. It is hard to explain what something like that means when you are an isolated school surrounded by baboons, but it is pretty great indeed.

Great news is always a wonder, and we received some of the greatest news ever. JT is engaged to the lovely Janelle, and they are planning to get married after he graduates in May of 2011. It is such an exciting stage of life, and we are so fortunate to have gotten to spend time with her last summer and really fell in love with her. Janelle invited Katie to be in the wedding, and I wished you could have seen her face when she got to look at the bridesmaid dress she will wear.

Three more computer centers were completed by the amazing Bruce Kinzer, and I was visiting a center at Karia. The children were working hard when I arrived, and I was visiting with the headmaster when Paul, the computer teacher, wanted to talk to me.

Paul wanted to tell me of a major problem he was having. I don’t know what you do when you’ve hit the limit of major problems you want to deal with, but the way I handled it was to let out a deep sigh. With a twinkle in his eye, he told me that after class was over, he would have to chase the children away from the center because they loved it so much they wanted to stay and keep learning.

Long-time readers might remember that back in 1999, we had a guy who worked in our yard named Fred. I was in charge of teaching computers to the 1st through 6th graders then and there was a drought, so I invited him to come to the lab with me. He was so afraid to touch a computer at first, but eventually he was doing replication and ghosting, and the school hired him to work full time in the lab.

He had asked to borrow a large sum of monies a few years ago, and we lent it to him. After years of paying on the loan, he just stopped paying and we stopped seeing him much. We’ve lent lots of money which has never been paid back, and we just assumed that this was another case in point.

Fred came by today and paid off the rest of the note, which was a large sum of money. He let us know that he had three kids, he was the data base manager for the hospital, and he had used his monies to buy rental property. He now owns his own home and the three rental properties free and clear. He is a deacon in his church, and he is doing well. It was such a reminder to me that when He directs you to invest in people, sometimes you get to see the wonder of God in ways that most people don’t get to see.

We are in the process of building three more computer centers, so we will leave for furlough with 20 centers and 20,000 kids receiving a lunch each day. We don’t say it enough but we are so grateful for what you have done. The schools can continue with no problems; we have the infrastructure in place to continue the food if the monies are there.

We didn’t know how we would provide food for next term, but we have seen so many miracles. JT and Janelle raised over $8,000 at an event they sponsored at Wake Forest. Our school in Texas raised more than $38,000 at their annual auction.

And God made it rain. There has been the biggest crop in years, and there is so much maize the prices have come down significantly. We aren’t there yet, but suddenly we see a chance that wasn’t there before.

I am ashamed to admit that I don’t like having faith; I’d much rather have the monies than to trust Him for it. I say that, but when you see Him move, and you know it is only Him, that is the sweetest sight on the earth.

Your pal,
Steve

P.S. We will arrive back in Texas on July 29th. If your Sunday School or small group would consider us to make a presentation, we would be so grateful. We will be in the states for a year, and hope we get to see you or at least say hi.

Kenya Kids Can is supported by the prayers and financial contributions of people like you, from all over the world.  If you are able, please make a donation today to either the “Peifer School Lunch Program – 000339″ or the “Peifer Computer Center Program – 000336.” Steve and Nancy raise their own funding; to support their family directly, make your contribution to “Peifer, Stephen C and Nancy J – Support 047930001.” Thanks in advance!

There started to be an unusual amount of illnesses, so the principal asked who could fill in for a sick home ec teacher. Nancy volunteered me, which for some mysterious reason received enormous laughter throughout the meeting. The principal sent out an email that night entitled “Save the Children,” which made the sad case of the horrors that the children would be exposed to if I taught the home ec class.

It turned out that what they had been exposed to was the H1N1 flu (aka Swine Flu), and there were so many people out that he was forced to call upon my skills in home ec. I am glad to report that there were no serious injuries, except to my pride when he sent out an email that night saying that there were three cases of food poisoning and would SOMEONE ELSE PLEASE teach home ec.

I had to do chapel this week, and so I realized that it was time for me to take a stand. I asked every student to go see the principal and ask him:  “Do you think you are being sensitive to Mr. Peifer’s feelings?” The killing blow was next; they were to wave their finger and say, “I don’t think you have been.”

And he thought I was just going to take it.

We have had over 100 cases of Swine Flu reported on a campus which holds 500 people. People are tired beyond tired. No one has had to be hospitalized, but people are pretty sick for a few days. We have tried to stay on campus because what would make many westerners sick might kill an African who has a weak immune system. Fortunately, the worst seems to have passed and things are settling down.

Before the illness hit, I was visiting a school and talking to the children. It was right after Christmas, and they were telling me about their holiday. I had RVA kids telling me about their feasts and new toys. In the same boasting spirit, a little boy came up to me and told me, “I have not been hungry in a whole week.”

That chills me. And we are only at 60% of what we need to feed all of the children for this term.  And I began to panic and try to think of the solutions to this. But He directed me to this scripture in Habakkuk:

I will stand at my watch
And station myself on the ramparts;
I will look to see what he will say to me,
And what answer I am to give to this complaint.

We’re still standing.

Your pal,
Steve

They say that humor is universal, but I struggle. It was a windy day, and I told a bunch of students that if they weren’t careful, they would take flight just like the Flying Nun. As they gave me puzzled blank looks, I made an urgent note to myself to UPDATE CULTURAL REFERENCES. As they stared at me, one of them said, “Nuns can fly?”

We had over thirty colleges visit in the past ten days, which is both thrilling and exhausting. Most RVA kids will never see a college before they show up, so being able to talk to reps is such an important opportunity for them. There were lots of eyes opened and lots of good conversations, but it is always nice to throw in a miracle.

Our musical for the term was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. The guy that is our director is one talented person, and it was pretty spectacular. (Matthew was one of the brothers.) I was sitting next to the rep from a Christian college in Illinois who is African American, and when the sisters came on stage, she gasped. There were two African sisters and one Korean sister, and she whispered to me, “This isn’t stunt casting; this is just how it is here!” The grin didn’t leave her face the whole evening.

The miracle was this. Joel is a senior from RVA, and he had applied to St. Mary’s in California. St. Mary’s wasn’t here, but a rep from Messiah College was here, and they are best friends. The Messiah rep contacted the St. Mary’s rep and said, “You have GOT to take this kid; he stole the show!” And a college that was going to go to committee on Joel because he didn’t look strong enough has accepted him in the fall. Figuring out the odds of this happening would probably bust a Cray.

Two weeks ago, I visited a school that we work with. The kids know me well at this school; when I drive up, they all yell “Peifer” and greet me. I didn’t realize the extent of my fame, and how isolated they are, when another car pulled up a few weeks ago, and they ran towards the car and yelled “Not-Peifer!” The kids are thriving, our computer teacher is good, and they had a final in Excel that I don’t think I would have passed, but they did great on it.

They were full of life, and as I left there I thought the thing I never communicate is how fun this can be. The kids love to laugh, and I walked away thinking: “This is working. I get to be part of something that helps little kids.”

It is hard to explain how exhilarating it can be to do this work. It fills holes that are deep inside of you. There is a Scripture that says “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me” that I always figured was for holy people, but it even works for people like me.

And then there are weeks where everything is stripped bare, and stuff you’ve seen a million times hit you like you have never seen it before.

I had the video camera and I thought it would be fun to film students talking about what they were thankful for. Some of it was funny and some of it was touching, but then a little boy dressed in rags came up and told me that he was thankful for his clothes.

Usually I can hold it together until I drive off; I couldn’t that day. I had tears running down my face as I thought of how much I have and how much he didn’t have. I ran off like a fool full of crazy sorrow. I thought of how much need there was, and how little we could do, and I felt like giving up.

Sometimes it just gets you sad.

Your pal,
Steve

Kenya Kids Can is supported by the prayers and financial contributions of people like you, from all over the world.  If you are able, please make a donation today to either the “Peifer School Lunch Program – 000339″ or the “Peifer Computer Center Program – 000336.” Steve and Nancy raise their own funding; to support their family directly, make your contribution to “Peifer, Stephen C and Nancy J – Support 047930001.” Thanks in advance!

This just in from the Chuck Baker School of Management. Kids who get out of line can earn a detention on Saturday mornings. The biggest punishment is having to get up at 8am on a Saturday, although I famously led one that involved picking up trash on campus and singing Neil Diamond songs. For some mysterious reason, I have never been asked to lead detention again.

When Pinewood Derby occurs, Chuck counts on those students in detention to do chores and errands on the big day. Since there were only two students having to serve detention, Chuck had an innovative way of staffing Pinewood Derby.

He called it Detention Credits. The concept was pretty simple. Assign a kid detention for the weekend under the assumption that he or she will probably get a detention at some point, and they could bank the credit they had because they had always served it during Pinewood Derby. This was not embraced by administration, but my limited knowledge of educational reform seems to indicate that progressive ideas take time to implement.

We had multi-cultural day at RVA last week, and Nancy was one of the ones who were in charge of it. It was a wonderful day full of skits and songs, and the most emotional part of the day is when each of the 25 different countries represented on the campus this year are represented by a student holding their home flag as they walked up to the stage.

I looked at these kids, and the thing that struck me was how brave they are. They leave their parents at such young ages and live on a campus without heat or air conditioning, sharing rooms with strangers on a campus so remote there are baboons and monkeys about.

It is an honor to be around them. Remind me of that the next time I want to harm one of them.

I was at one of the lunch program schools recently, and out of a thousand students, three hundred were not receiving lunch. I asked the headmaster why, and he said that he did not charge for the food, but he charged 15 shillings a month (about 21 cents) to pay for the cook, the firewood and the water it took to cook the food.

At first I was angry, but the more I thought about it, I thought:  I have given an unfunded mandate. I’ve told them they can’t charge for food, but I don’t provide the other stuff they need to provide the food. I pondered this a long time.

What was really great was that before I could do anything, the other headmasters met with him and explained how he could use part of his operating budget to pay for firewood and water. They explained to him the value of the program, and I suspect they let him know what a jerk he would be if he messed up and I got cranky.

But the deeper you get in, the more complex it gets. Helping without hurting while being cultural sensitive is a lot harder than it looks.

But the hardest thing of all was thinking about three hundred kids who couldn’t afford 21 cents a month. I know how tough the economy is in the United States right now, but can you imagine not being able to come up with 21 cents a month?

Three hundred kids, about a third of that school, can imagine it very well.

Your pal,
Steve

P.S.  RVA REALLY needs a French teacher and a Spanish teacher next year. Let us know if you are interested.

P.P.S.  Kenya Kids Can is supported by the prayers and financial contributions of people like you, from all over the world.  If you are able, please make a donation today to either the “Peifer School Lunch Program – 000339″ or the “Peifer Computer Center Program – 000336.” Steve and Nancy raise their own funding; to support their family directly, make your contribution to “Peifer, Stephen C and Nancy J – Support 047930001.” Thanks in advance!

After my family, the short list of my favorite people to spend time with would have to include Chuck Baker, the shop teacher at RVA. Long time readers might remember that I’ve written about him several times before (see the post titled “21 Years and Four Months“). Chuck came to RVA after the death of his wife when he was in his 60′s and became our head shop teacher. He is a man full of the love of the Lord and good cheer. It feels very strange to be a man in his 50′s writing about a man in his 70′s, but he may be the most lovable person I’ve ever met.

But all that pales in comparison to his unique ability to lead a meeting. The Chuck Baker School of Management produces meetings that this former corporate pig could never conceive of. Chuck is in charge of our Pinewood Derby and his meetings regarding it are legendary. It would be hard to put into words how truly amazing they are, but in lieu of a video, highlights include:

1. The meetings begin at 6:03, not six. According to the Chuck Baker School of Management, if you start a meeting at 6, it is just another meeting. If you start at 6:03, you get people’s attention. This concept gets a little funnier every year.
2. It is VERY important to have an agenda, but also a time scheme that goes with it. It then becomes more important to constantly reference the time in relation to the agenda. “Ok, it is 6:41 and we are on agenda item 17 and we should really be on agenda item 22, so we really need to pick it up here.”
3. Stories that have nothing to do with pinewood derby, cars, woodshop or anything that isn’t 7 degrees away become VITAL in the meeting. Somehow, every year, a Volkswagen ad that ran in Life magazine in the 60′s gets mentioned.
4. All meetings MUST include the phrase “I’m busier than a one armed paper hanger … with an itch.”

There is nothing better than a Chuck Baker meeting. I would write more, but I’m supposed to be on my second point right now so I really have to pick up the pace.

We saw God use you all to produce a miracle last month. We received enough monies to completely provide food for almost 20,000 students at 34 schools. We just made it; every gift was critical. We are grateful beyond what we can say. For many students, it is about the only food they are getting right now. Thank you so much. All monies collected now go towards the beginning of the school year in January.

I was getting ready to run to the states for a two-week trip to speak at a conference and visit some colleges. Tabitha’s mother came by my office right before I was scheduled to leave. She is very ill with full blown AIDS and just getting to my office was a huge effort. She brought with her the smallest box of tea you could buy so I could bring it to her daughter.

It’s almost impossible to understand, unless you live here, how much that box of tea represented. You might compare it to buying someone a car when you were out of work, but that doesn’t even get there. I’m sure there were missed meals and extra work found to somehow pay for that tea. I can’t quite imagine the sacrifice involved.

I held that smallest box of tea and I knew for the first time what the Scripture meant about how the widow’s mite was the most significant gift of all.

Your pal,
Steve

P.S. Kenya Kids Can is supported by the prayers and financial contributions of people like you, from all over the world.  If you are able, please make a donation today. Thanks in advance!