Kenya Kids Can!

We came back in the middle of July on a Wednesday and got to attend a convention in a beautiful resort starting on Thursday. The first night, we got to eat in the nicest restaurant I’ve ever eaten in. The problem was that we were so jet lagged, I would have drowned if they had served soup. So, I’m sure I made another GREAT impression.

After a few days in Dallas, we drove to Chicago to celebrate Nancy’s father’s 85th birthday. On the way, we got to stop in Kansas and see the coolest human on the planet and her baby. Elijah was born with acute hemophilia, and there were several times when they wondered if he would make it. It was such a treat to see him; he is a wonderful child.

We enjoyed the time in Chicago, but the clock was ticking. The twins and Matthew started school, and then it was soon time for JT to leave for college. The week before he left just flew by, and so many things that we wanted to do we didn’t because we ran out of time.

It was just he and I who drove out to Wake Forest, and he went to a pre-orientation for campus ministries. It was a great opportunity for him; to start college and know who the Christians on a campus are is a great thing, and he made many friends. They had a parent’s day on Friday, so I hung out in NC until that day. After the speeches and events, we went out to dinner. After dinner, they had requested the parents to leave. As I drove back to the campus, I started weeping in a way I don’t think I’ve ever cried before. I just had so many regrets of things I wished we had done and things I wished I had done better, but I think I wept for time more than anything.

My sister heard me cry and said `It’s good to have something that can make you cry like that.’ My good friend Tom told me that when his son went off to college, he realized that something had changed that would never come back, and it was hard.

It was a long trip home, but despite the sadness I’ve had a real excitement about JT and the next step. He is loving college, and we are proud of the young man he has become.

When I was in CA in June, I was filmed for a documentary. I haven’t seen it yet, but it is coming out soon. I got an email about it:

Our new documentary, “THE ANSWER To Absolutely Everything,” will be released worldwide on DVD October 15, following two weeks of private pre-release screenings in numerous cities.

Be sure to read a very heartwarming story and other production news on my latest blog update, at: http://www.gettheanswer.org.

Also, take a moment (if you haven’t already) to visit and join THE EXPANDING CIRCLE — our new online community. Visit: http://expandingcircle.net.

In addition, if you go to Youtube.com and type in Steve Peifer, you can see the work of Scott Thompson and a documentary he produced about our projects. He did a great job.

It has been interesting being back in the states, but we are so aware that the clock is ticking. Time is precious; I hope we get to see you or talk to you.

Your pal

The twins turned six and graduated from kindergarten, so there were all sorts of celebrations and excitement. Truthfully, when you have six year old twins, there is ALWAYS excitement, but this was scheduled excitement, which means you could fool yourself into thinking you could prepare for it. One of their teachers made them birthday hats:

We have almost completed three more centers. We have a new guy building them who is a force of nature, and his enthusiasm has rekindled the original excitement we had with them.

Transporting the fitted-out container to the school.

Painting and putting on the roof

Students gathering at the site where the center will go

The last time I was at this school, the kids just started jumping up and down with the excitement of it all. Perhaps their excitement was contagious, but I don’t remember jumping.

However, I turned over in my sleep, and managed to fracture my leg. I even had to get it x-rayed, which confirmed, in a great way, the joys of getting old. Using some fairly complex mathematics, I have determined that if I get the hiccups when I am 60, I will be in a full body cast.

High school graduation is a pretty complex thing at RVA. We have 23 countries represented on campus, and the kids get really really close. About ten days before grad, it starts to sink in that many of them will never see each other again. The night before graduation is Senior Night, and they do skits and reminisce. I believe that I have achieved immortality; I was rapped. I didn’t even KNOW you could rhyme Mr. Peifer with red hot Viper.

Graduation was a sweet time. Surprisingly, one of the traditions is an old Toto song called `Africa.’ You might remember the refrain: `I miss the rains down in Africa.’ To watch these seniors sing it was to hear the song like you’ve never heard it before. Afterwards, everyone gathered to take pictures, and JT got a surprise. The ladies who come to campus to sell vegetables have grown close to Nancy, and to honor her, they came in their Sunday best and gave JT presents and a song. As he started realizing that people with nothing were giving him gifts. He appreciated it, and I hope as he gets older he realizes what an honor and sacrifice it was for them.

Miriam, Martha and Theresia presenting JT a truly African shirt.

Margaret (one of the ladies who sells vegetables and Theresa, our beloved house helper.

When your oldest graduates from high school, and in a few months will be ten thousand miles from you, so much goes through your head. It was Jean Kerr who said: You lose not only your own youth but the youth of your children. And there is part of you, especially the knee area, where you know this is true.

JT’s coffee shop didn’t have running water, so every night when he closed up; he had to bring all the cups up to the house to wash them. So, every night, I would go down to help him carry the cups. Part of it was that he just needed the help, and part of it was to make sure I had some time with my overscheduled son. Some nights we didn’t talk; some nights were profound, but mostly, it was precious, because we knew it would end. And part of me will mourn the end of that kind of time together; the last walk up together was a sadness beyond tears for me.

But children are life’s greatest gift, and what Kerr misses is the excitement that you can sense in your child’s future. We will miss him so much, but the graduation felt great. It’s time.

We will be in the US for six months, and then we will return to Kijabe for 2.5 years. Nancy is the head of the language department, and will be taking some classes. Ben and Katie will start first grade, and Matthew will begin his sophomore year.

When we reflect on the past couple of years, we are so grateful to all of you for your support. There couldn’t be a less likely person to be successful in Africa than me, and somehow, He has delighted in being strong in my weakness. Thank you for what you have done. Ten thousand children fed and ten computer centers built; it’s amazing.

We are so grateful for what has happened, and so eager to do more.

Your pal

Every term I get to do a chapel for the 1st-6th graders aka the Titchies. I am not a pastor, but I believe the term that might be used for them would be `Tough Crowd.’ No one can tune you out faster than a little kid can.

I was sitting in the back of the room, trying to gather my thoughts, when the principal got up to make some announcements before I spoke. The first announcement got my attention: `Boys are only allowed to pee in the toilet. No peeing out the window.’

This got me thinking, because the windows are HIGH in the Titchie bathroom. You would have to be standing on TOP of a toilet, and have some arc, in order to accomplish this task. As I was contemplating how they accomplished this goal, or even WHY, I was called up to speak. I have learned that this is not appropriate meditation before delivering a sermon.

I had spoken a few halting words when a LARGE bee came straight at my head. I dodged it, as any rational person would have done, but unfortunately earned the only laugh I would receive during my talk. Because I couldn’t stay focused, it was then I realized an important rule about talking to young children:

SPEAKING TO SMALL CHILDREN + NO LAUGHS = DEATH.

I tried to brace myself and continue, when I received a phone call. It was from a fellow staff member, so I had the children shout `Hi Mr. Mitchell!’ which they did more loudly than I thought possible. Any train of thought went way off the track.

As I began to try again, a sweet little girl who is autistic started saying loudly `Mr. Peifer is wearing underwear.’ Underwear is a trigger word for the young set, and this brought gales of laughter that I couldn’t contain. As I closed by asking them to pray, the bee attacked again, and NOTHING is funnier to the small fry set than someone who is dodging and weaving during prayer.

I take comfort in the fact that it will be January before I get to do it again.

I was selected to speak at a conference in California, and several other opportunities opened up to make it a full trip. I left June 1st and spent five days on a tour of several Canadian universities. I fell in love with Toronto, and wondered why everyone wouldn’t live there. It is so big but so clean and so diverse and so full of life.

Then the temperature went from 90 to 40 in two hours. In June.

That is why everyone wouldn’t want to be there.

I went from there to California to attend a Christian college conference. I spoke about the fact that at our school the average debt for our students to attend a secular institution was 19k for four years; it was 58k to attend a Christian college. I challenged this as counterproductive and dangerous because the biggest sources of new missionaries are missionary kids; 65% of our kids return to the mission field. But they can’t with huge debt.

The response was encouragingly warm, and I’ve already had responses from several colleges who felt challenged to do more for missionary kids. It was a heartening start to an issue I hope I can continue to bring up with Christian colleges.

After this, I need to make a disclaimer. I am a pretty boring guy, but interesting things happen to me.

I went to a Target, and bought a CD by my new favorite group: a Hispanic brother and sister duo named Jesse and Joy. The young Hispanic man who was checking my stuff out asked:

Checkout guy: (looking at the cd) Are you Hispanic?
Me: Of course. How did you know?
CG: Who else would buy this CD? An old white guy?
Me: Actually…

I am the whitest human on the planet, so it was a thrill to know how multicultural I’ve become.

I stayed with some amazing people the whole trip, and at the end I stayed with a couple who have adopted two boys from Kenya. They were forces of nature, and they invited me to their church’s committee meeting on orphans.

The meeting was wonderfully encouraging because they are a big church with a big vision; I had tears in my eyes hearing their dreams of helping orphans. Afterwards, a few of us went out to lunch.

And I had lunch with Angelina Jolie’s brother, who is passionate about orphans and a born again Christian. He was a nice guy, but it was playing with my head that someone like me ate lunch with someone like that.

Then came my Beverly Hills moment. A nice guy was out here a few months ago taking footage to do a film we could show at churches. Some other people who are doing a documentary for PBS saw the rough footage and wondered if I would be interviewed for the show. I had one day before I left, and so they asked me to come to this hotel in Beverly Hills where they were filming. They said it might air in August; I will let you know when it is on.

I was done, and waiting for my ride. I was sitting on a bench outside the hotel with my jeans and t-shirt, and some guy came out of the hotel waiting for his car. He was wearing at least a four thousand dollar suit, and he asked me if I was going to the opening of some club that night. I told him no, but then I got thinking, maybe I SHOULD go so these LA lamers could see someone who could really fire on the groove.

So the next four people who came waiting for their cars (all weirdly good looking and dressed to the nines) I asked if they were going to the opening. When they said yes, I asked if perhaps I could attend WITH them.

I get lots of strange looks in Kenya, but perhaps nothing in the world come compare to the looks I got from those people. My guess is that my coolness overwhelmed them.

My last day in California was the most exciting. The admissions person at Westmont College had arranged for a pick up from the house I was staying at so I could spend the day at their campus. My flight would leave at 9pm, and they assured me they would get me there in plenty of time.

The kid who was going to pick me up was supposed to show up at 8am. He got lost and got there several hours late. Then he got lost and we didn’t get to campus until 3:30. It was still a thrill to see the campus, and then the Super Shuttle came to take me to the airport.

We were about half way to the airport when the shuttle broke down. The interesting man who drove the bus would perish if it caught fire, because it would probably take him two hours to do anything, so I decided to hitchhike.

52 year old males probably aren’t prime candidates for being picked up, because the sneers and rude honks indicated jealousy and resentment. I went back on the Super Shuttle and asked if anyone was going on an international flight. There was a young lady who was on my flight. She was 21 and extremely good looking.

She got out to hitchhike, and a car immediately slammed on the brakes. A very nice and certainly disappointed young man took both of us to the airport, and after one episode when my hitchhiking friend lost her passport, we made it onto the plane.

It was a great trip, and I’m so glad to be back.

We will complete three more centers before we leave, which will mean ten centers operational by July 15. What you all have done for these children is such a wonder to me.

God bless you, and we hope to hitchhike to see you back in America in three weeks. I am the slightly looking Hispanic guy.

Your pal

In the end, the plague touched us all…

These are called Nairobi Eyes; they are an insect that has covered everything in our area lately. The problem with them is not that they bite, but when you squish them, they secrete a chemical that causes really nasty burns on the skin. If one drops on you at night, you swat at it, and it can really leave a mark:

JT with a nasty scar on his neck

They are starting to go away, but it has resulted in dozens of students having burns all over, which in true MK fashion, has resulted in lots of posing and showing off. If it sounds funny and not disgusting, I’m not describing it correctly.

The above was taken on the annual band tour, which I got to be a chaperon on this year. My principal responsibility was to brush off ants from the chocolate chip cookies we had brought on the trip. Because you can’t buy chips out here, they are a coveted item and the team thought it was worth brushing off several hundred cookies. Again, if it sounds funny and not disgusting, I’m not describing it accurately.

In three days, the kids played seven concerts in seven different locations. The music director, besides being supremely talented, is also wise, so he booked one day with an evening performance at a country club and an afternoon date at a school for handicapped children.

Joytown was a hard place to go. Many Kenyans are horrified and ashamed if they have crippled children, and so they have a tendency to hide them, and so easily treated problems become life long disabilities. There were more sad cases than anyplace I’ve ever been.

Our kids performed, and then they said they wanted to sing a song for us. I settled in to be made more sad, if that was possible.

And then they started to sing.

I’ve heard beautiful choirs before, and Nancy and I went to the Symphony several times a year. I heard great music before. I’ve seen Neil Diamond in concert.

But honestly, I’ve never heard a choir that sang as wonderfully as the Joytown choir sang. And as I listened and marveled, I thought `I just don’t see the whole picture.’

I long to see more than what I see with my eyes. It was the reminder that His ways are so much greater than mine, and if we will only try, He will show us so much more.

Matthew eating with some students at Joytown

The road to Ewaso, a school we have provided food to for years, is not an easy one.

But if you hang in there, there are rewards. We saw giraffe, zebra and gazelle as we slowly and carefully drove to the school and got to tell the students that they would have a computer center.

It is such a poor school, and so remote, that many of the students didn’t know what a computer was. As I talked to some of them, the grins got bigger and bigger as they started to understand what would happen for them.

Sometimes, that is enough to make me happy. As I looked at the school, made of mud, I couldn’t stay glad.

The children love to eat, and there were long lines for the food that day.

A little girl wore a dress that was in such shambles that it made me angry. A little boy had a cough that was far worse than a bad cold, and there was no medicine. There is no power, no water, not enough desks, not enough teachers, and no books.

At times like that, I begin to rage inside for children who have to live like that. I rage for what could be, and never seems to change for little kids in this country. I RAGE.

Scripture says to be angry, and sin not.

I’ve got one part down pretty well.

Your pal

Long time readers may remember that when I went back to the states for a conference in October, Cheetos were stolen from my suitcase on my return. This was a disappointment to Ben, and it was the only thing he had asked me to bring back.

A nice person read the email and mailed a box with five bags of Cheetos to us in October.

We received them three days ago.

What was most interesting was that two of the bags were opened and inspected, and then sealed up with duct tape. They were MUCH lighter than the other bags. And, between you and me, I feel MUCH safer.

Matthew and Ben and duct tape Cheetos

JT made varsity rugby, and the big Blackrock tournament is this weekend. The varsity team has a tradition of shaving their heads before the big day. In the proud Peifer tradition of shaving heads, I present the before and after pictures:

They won the tournament, so there MUST be something to it

School started this week for the Kenyan children, and we were busy making sure the food was all delivered. I have discovered one great power I have in dealing with Kenyans:

The power of A.

As we were unloading the truck, all the men were speaking to each other in Swahili. I have found a way to enter into the conversations.

The power of A.

Driver: Hii ni zito. (This is heavy)
Helper 1: Ndiyo. Zito sana (Yes, very heavy)
Helper 2: Unanisaidia (Help me)
Me: A

In America, during a conversation we might say un-huh or yeah; in Kenya, you say A. I’ve found if I just throw in a few A’s, I fit in fine. Some might even call me eloquent.

The deliveries went well, and I am again grateful that I am too old to lift the bags anymore.

The children are always so happy to see the food come

I was sitting and talking to a group of little kids, and one of them said something that hit me so hard:

Little Girl: I am always so scared before the food arrives?

Me: Why are you scared?

LG: Because I am afraid of being hungry.

Scripture talks about Jesus’ offer to exchange our burdens for His. He tells us that His yoke is easy and His burden is light and that we can trade what is heavy for what is light.

I get to do lots of that in Africa.

Your pal