Nancy went to the States to help celebrate her father’s 90th birthday in July, and so it was the twins and I together for three weeks. There were no serious injuries, and while we missed her a lot, it was actually a lot of fun. When she came back, we had a trip to Masai Mara planned to see the migration. It was a lot of money, so we were grateful for a clear day. The bad news is that I had come down with bacterial dysentery. All I can say is that I didn’t go, I quite understand like never before how people used to die from this, and I lost six pounds in two days. If our next book is successful, I feel like I’ve got a diet book next.

When the term started, the country of Kenya had a teacher’s strike that was quite ugly, and it was safer to not visit schools while the strike was on. I was asked to go attend a counselor tour at Lafayette and Lehigh, which meant leaving on a Saturday night at midnight, arriving in PA at 1pm on Sunday, touring the campuses until Wednesday afternoon, and getting back to Kenya Thursday around midnight.

The highlight of the trip was the beginning. I went to security, and for the first time, they required that I remove my belt. When I did, my pants went down straight to the floor. There were two security guards; one was an older Kenyan woman who put her hands on her cheeks and screamed. The other security guard, a younger Kenyan man, pointed at me and laughed.

To this day, I’m not sure which was worse:  getting screamed at or laughed at.

It is hard to recommend a school you haven’t been to, and most of my students will never see a campus until they arrive, so when a college is nice enough to pick up my air fare, I’m happy to go. Two weeks later, I returned to the states to the big college conference in Denver, but I was able to go visit JT, Matthew and Janelle in VA before heading to Denver. Matthew had a choir concert Friday night, and I arrived nine minutes before the concert started. That was the good news; the bad news was that I had traveled thirty straight hours, and I kind of smelled pretty bad. I’m sure people changed seats to get a better view.

When I got to Denver, I desperately needed to do laundry, and I discovered the power of a college counselor. My hotel did not have laundry services, so they told me to go to the Hilton and maybe they could help me out. I get there, and the guy at the front desk loudly criticizes the intelligence of people at my hotel for suggesting such a stupid thing. He suddenly looks at my t-shirt, which is from the Big Dipper Ice Cream Shop in Missoula, MT. He tells me that he attended the University of Montana and, if I can tell him the specialty ice cream at the Big Dipper, he will let me do my laundry.

I look him in the eyes and say “Huckleberry” and he yells and jumps and I get to do my laundry.

College counselors have POWER.

Later in the week, I had received dozens of packages to take back to RVA. I realize I will need to buy another piece of luggage, so I find a TJ Maxx near the hotel and buy a really ugly bag. I’m walking back to the hotel and the light changed, so I put down my bag and waited for it to turn green.

I’m just standing there, with my ugly bag, and a guy walks up and gives me a quarter. He thought I was a homeless guy.

I made a GREAT impression in Denver.

I’m back now, and the strike is over, so I can begin to venture back to schools. I reflected on why we started the food program:  the dropout rate was 50%. At every school we have food, the dropout rate is less than 1%. Every school is ranked number one or two in their zone from the results of the annual national test. It really makes a difference, and the best part is that we get to share with the students that the food comes as a result of Americans who love Jesus and love them.

The computer centers came out of a despair of how ill-equipped Kenyan schools are to prepare students for the future. No power, no water, one textbook for every 14 students are just the tip of the myriad of issues students face. Our thought was that if students learned technology, they might have occupational options in a country with an official 58% unemployment rate and the average wage of about a dollar a day.

We’ve seen kids embrace technology and make huge strides in learning how to live in the 21st century. I was at a school last term where they were having a technology exam, and they begged me to take the test with them. I worked for a big tech firm in the US before I came to Africa.

I got the lowest grade on the test, and one of the students told me, “You did poor to make us feel good.” I replied that I wasn’t that kind of missionary; I wanted to CRUSH them, but they just did better than me. We have seen that learning how to use computers has given the students confidence and hope.

If we can get a generation through high school who have had proper nutrition and have learned technology, and know they have been given the opportunity because Jesus loves them, we think it will change the whole country.

I wanted to remind you of this because what you have done has been so powerful, and we need your help. I’m figuring that many of you are tapped out because of this horrific economy, but I wondered if you would consider making the lunch program or computer centers a Christmas project with your church or business or family. Our funds are drying up, and we need your help to continue. Our book comes out in April, and we are hoping that it might help increase donations again, but in the meantime, we really need your help to continue both programs.

Many of you have heard about The Tipping Point, the book that describes that point where things change.

Maybe you are the person that might be the tipping point. Would you consider praying about it?

Your pal,
Steve