| Kenya Trip 2: November 2007 |
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Report by Anna Pisani
This was my very first visit to Africa. I had not planned to go this year but the opportunity just came my way unexpectedly and I only had 3 weeks to prepare. I don't think that any longer amount of time would have adequately prepared me for the experience and the difference in the culture, the environment and the climate. However, I am sure that it was the right time for me to go and my heart certainly connected with the people and their situations. Thursday 22nd November Julie commenced the journey suffering from a heavy and streaming head cold, which was not an ideal start to our 9 hour 7 o'clock evening flight from Heathrow to Nairobi. Sleeping on the plane was not easy and I spent some of the night looking at the TV monitor, which was providing a destination progress. I was surprised that it only took about 3 hours to cross the southern half of Europe and the Mediterranean but it took about 6 hours to fly over Africa to Nairobi. It really brought home to me how vast Africa is. I did manage to get some sleep and I remember having a vivid dream of ploughed furrows in a field waiting to receive seed. Visually it was all very picturesque, plenty of sunshine and nearby there was a flowing river but the key feature of this dream was that I did not see sight of any laborers. I was reminded of Jesus words to the seventy he sent out two by two in Luke 10:1-2 that "The harvest truly is great, but the laborers are few; therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labo rers into His harvest” This seemed to tie in with something that Julie was burdened with later on in the week where she felt a need to reach out to the Christian pastors in the remote rural areas surrounding Kisumu and a need for them to study the Word of God. She has since organised a programme to ensure this happens and we bought course material. Friday 23rd November Once we landed in Nairobi we had to reclaim our baggage and transfer to a one hour's domestic flight to Kisumu. It was at this point that I lost my devotional Bible with cover and including my notes and that week's Breakthrough. It was a very novel way of sowing the Word! We were very warmly greeted at Kisumu Airport by James and Rose Osare, who brought with them Christopher a local pastor who was our translator for the first 3 days, Erick one of the older orphans who accompanied us throughout our stay, Nashon and Ruth, the pregnant Christian lady Julie had met the previous year and she introduced her baby (now 8 months old) whom she had named after Julie. Our trip to the New Victoria Hotel was an cosy experience which consisted of a car crammed with 9 people and a baby but we found out that would be the pattern for the rest of the week. The transport in Kenya is much to be desired, the majority of the vehicles don't really look particularly road worthy. We had just enough time to drop off our luggage at the hotel when we were whisked off by car to Siaya, a very rural district about an hour and half away from Kisumu to a small orphanage, which Julie visits each year. Siaya currently has about 60 children staying there. This year they had arranged for Julie to preach there on a 3 day Conference. On the way there, as we were driving through the main town of Kisumu, we had an extraordinary incident. Whilst Julie was praying for protection for our journey, no sooner she had said the word "protection" and our driver was overtaking a boda-boda (a taxi bicycle a cheap mode of public transport and a main part of the African culture) collided against our vehicle and crashed to the ground.The boda-boda was carrying a young lady with her new born baby. We were then thrown into a volatile situation when our car was completely surrounded by a mob of men making angry gestures against our vehicle and attempting to drag our driver out of the car and accusing him of causing the accident. The situation was eventually resolved with an exchange of a payment and us taking the girl and her baby to the local hospital as the girl had a small cut to her face, which required some treatment. It was a miracle that no one got seriously injured and quite incredibly the baby slept through the whole incident. We felt that the h and of God was on that situation and beyond a coincidence that Julie was lead to pray just prior to the incident occurring. The journey to Siaya seemed to take forever as the roads were poor but it was a journey we had to make 3 days in a row. Once in Siaya Julie had to immediately commence the first of the 3 day conferences where she focused her teaching on the person of Jesus in the Gospel John and the 7 Signs. In Africa I saw a new dimension in Julie's preaching that I hadn't really seen in the UK. It was like God was using her to shift a couple of gears and use her in a special way. All the conferences that I attended were powerful and a sense of the presence of the Holy Spirit. That first day there were about 25 people who came forward to give their lives to Jesus. Over the 3 days we had some amazing experiences at that orphanage. Julie concentrated on her conference whereas I mainly concentrated on being with and playing with the children. The children later sang for us – the harmonies were beautiful and their voices clear and full of joy.  We were introduced to a cute baby, Emma Hope, who had been abandoned by the nearby river and discovered by a local shepherd who had brought her to the orphanage. One lunchtime, we were given a great reminder that God is our great provider and he "gives us our daily bread". In helping to distribute the food (boiled meat and "ugali" which is a cross between bread and polenta), to the children, on that particular day were endless as it included the 60 from the orphanage plus at least a further 100 who had come from the local neighbourhood, we looked at the available food and then looked at the endless queue of children we were not at all hopeful that there would be enough for every child. However, we saw God stepping in and multiply the food as we saw the very last plate with it's full portion of food go to the very last child in the queue.
The conditions, in this orphanage, where the children sleep are crammed. There are 2 rooms each approximately 3m x 3m and each room had about 4 bunk beds, 4-6 children sleep per bunk bed. There was another room that was about 4m x 3m where the remaining children slept on mats on the floor. The orphanage is desperate for an offer of sponsorship for these children but it was heartbreaking to advise that we could not uphold such a promise. We were shown an area of land where there were plans to build extra accommodation for the children. Julie and I felt it right to personally support this project. Monday 26th November  We spent the whole day at Seme (about one hour journey from Kisumu) which is David's village where the new Life Church had been birthed last year when Julie went, and we were to dedicate their newly built mud hut church building. We took a 3 hour detour stopping off at various places to search for study books, taking an hours journey along a bumpy unmade road to see a eucalyptus tree which James had bought for building a roof at his orphanage and standing astride the point marked as the equator, where the planet divides the Northern and Southern Hemispheres. Kenya trips are full of detours! When we finally got to the village it was really worth the wait. The air was so much lighter, brighter and different here. There was a real peace. It was encouraging to see a small community of strong believers so hungry for the word of God and a good mix of both young and old. Julie opened Life Church did another conference.
 There was a powerful presence of the Holy Spirit and by God's grace we heard and also witnessed testimonies of healing. One elderly lady came up requesting healing for her painful joints but when she later testified she said that she was not feeling any pain in her joints any longer but she also said she could see clearly again, something that we had not prayed for. An elderly man who could barely walk came up and requested prayer for his legs, he immediately testified that he could feel his legs again and threw down his walking stick and started dancing and jumping for joy. We saw another lady who had a back problem and was bent over. She came up for prayer and we later heard her healing testimony and we witnessed that she had more freedom in her walking. Julie also gave words of knowledge to several people there
Tuesday 27th November  We spent the whole day at another village, Bodi (again about one hour journey from Kisumu) that was where Freedom Church was birthed last year. Again it was encouraging to see a small community of strong believers, led by a young lady called Ruth and a young man Benjamin. There is strong sense of worship at this church. Julie did another conference here and 8 people came forward and gave their lives to Jesus. Again we were witnesses to some amazing healings. One man came forward and requested prayer for a tumor on his neck and he was experiencing difficulty in swallowing. As we were praying for him we witnessed that his tumor was shrinking, and his testimony included him gulping down a whole mug of water (which he could not do before), and saying he was not feeling pain.
 Later that day when we got back to Kisumu where we got a glimpse of the heartbreaking sight of the "street children", many who are AIDS orphans or victims of abusive parents, who have been abandoned to live and roam around the streets with torn clothes, sniffing shoe glue from plastic bottles without homes or any hope for a future. James Osare arranged for 40 boys to have a very basic hot meal, which cost us a total of 1500 shillings (approx £12), the same amount we had paid to buy 3 footballs the previous day. We visited HOVIC, a feeding station for street boys which gives about 200 of them 2 meals a day (there are 2000 street children in Kisumu alone - so many more such stations are needed...)
Wednesday 28th November 
Julie’s annual women's conference of about 90 believers. Five women came forward for salvation and many for prayer. Margaret, the old lady who received healing for her back, abdomen problems and lack of sight's testimony was amazing. She was instantly healed of everything. She could see clearly (we witnessed her eyes going from cloudy to clear) and danced for joy. A believer for over 50 years she testified to hearing of the conference, and felt that God wanted her to come that day. Even though she lived nearby she didn’t know how she was going to make it.
Thursday 29th and Friday 30th November Two days were spent in Osare Orphanage and seeing the brand new playground which the children loved and really formed a ‘heart’ to the orphanage complex. Our Life men had done such a good job 3 weeks before. I spent time with the children and on one day James took me to a town called Chiga, to visit 2 widows (Consolata and Wilfred). Their grandchildren, 6 in total, are at the Osare orphanage. James agreed to have them about one year ago as these elderly ladies had lost their husbands and their children through AIDS and had been rejected by their town. They were left isolated, immobile and alone. He says that once a month he visits them and with any money that is left over he helps them buy some food. They really touched my heart. Even though they had lost everything they were humble ladies who knew the Lord and were prayer warriors. Meanwhile Julie taught in the Bible School to about 70 pastors and others. Both days many came forward for prayer for healing and there were numerous testimonies to God instantly healing people. There were 2 more people with very poor eyesight, who immediately saw clearly. There were a total of 5 people in all throughout the trip who received healing to their eyes. One thing Julie said she had specifically prayed at the beginning of the week was that eyesight might be restored. We serve an amazing God. It was such a special experience for me. It was great to see that as a church, our donations of time and energy are being put towards something that has eternal value and making such a difference to peoples’ lives. James and Rose have been given a special gift which is making a difference to 250 children's lives and touching them in love. It's amazing what the Lord can do through some humble and simple people. To Him be all the glory. Note from Julie Shimizu I was so blessed to have Anna with me as a companion on this rather hastily re arranged trip. She fitted in with whatever was happening, created her own role when the opportunity arose and supported and encouraged me whenever she could. She adjusted so well to the culture shock, sheer hard work, and the unexpected events that always occur on these trips! I am grateful to God for her part in making the mission what it was. . Thank you Anna. |
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© 2007 Life Community Baptist Church |