Another week of days of no electricity and poor
internet! It took hours, instead of
minutes today, to post an album of photos, which means this update will fly (or
creep) later than usual today through the internet never-never-land! As Jack brought me lunch as I worked, he asked if I could skip today’s photos. My answer:
No, I want to share a view of our lives, my attempt to make “Psalms 36
and 37 alive and active with views spotted on one afternoon in East Africa,
which included returning a group of Rift Valley Academy students to school
after their mid-term break in Nairobi.” RVA is the boarding school in the Great Rift
Valley attended by many of our missionary kids and where our son boarded for
grades 8-12 while we lived in Nakuru. We
are guardians for two families of kids from Tanzania and it is a three day
drive home for one girl, so she spent the break at our house. The photos are not great as most were taken
from the back seat of our car on Monday afternoon, but these give a great view
of our daily experiences – SO please take time to view “Your
love, LORD, reaches to...”
Another frustration this week was reminders of African
poverty found in a local news article. “Deacons
to quit Dar market after five-year loss” (Daily Nation, 2/13/12, p. 26) told of
a store closing in Tanzania due to their “target market – the middle to upper
income – being very small compared to other countries. Tanzania’s middle class, those earning
between $2 and $20 per day… just 12 percent of the total population, which is
smaller than Kenya’s 44.9 percent and Uganda’s 18.7 percent of the population” and
7% in Rwanda. Did you catch the part
about middle income including those living on $2 per day? I have been in the
Kenyan Deacon’s shops and I’m not sure how those on these salaries shop there
as most items are much more than $20! 
I thought the lower earning numbers defining middle class
was incorrect, but research proved it was not!
I found many quotes from those making the shilling equivalent of $2-$4
daily (50% of the middle class) sharing their frustrations of barely surviving
and lacking adequate food, housing and education! I looked for the percentages of those in
upper class and finally gave up, but I do know that it is estimated that more
than 50% of Kenyans live on less than $1 per day, with a greater percentage in
neighboring countries. Another “Why am I sharing this?” Because this is the world in need of our
Father’s love and salvation!
Now for some good news!
In last week’s photo album, “Activity,
Colour, Variety and Extremes,” I shared that our new church has lots of
college students and kids, but very few teens! Last Sunday, I discovered how
some older kids are finding their place by helping in the preschool class! I loved watching one young man retrieving
little ones roaming from their open-air class, his inspiring the little boys to
act-out the songs (photo above), and especially his trying not to laugh when the teacher told
the story of Jonah and asked, “What does it mean to obey?” One little one’s
reply: “You better obey your Mommy or God will send a big whale to eat you up!”
I will close this update with a thanks for
your obeying our Father and your involvement and support of His work in His
harvest field, BERT
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“Your
love, LORD, reaches to…” is at https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150775994625130.508717.685050129&type=3&l=407dcac196
2012
Prayer Nudges from East Africa –
http://easternafrica2012prayernudges.blogspot.com/
or find the Prayer Nudges and other updates from East Africa on Facebook – Bert
Yates (https://www.facebook.com/bert.yates) or become a Facebook Friend of Imb
EastAfrica ( https://www.facebook.com/Imb.East.Africa )
You can find last week’s at “Activity,
Colour, Variety and Extremes” – https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150754353430130.506490.685050129&type=1&l=4f5f0908c3
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