Friday, December 25, 2009
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Kenya Trip
By Dean….and Phyllis
Days 1-3: Getting There
The long months of preparation were finally over. The day of departure had arrived. With our 11 checked pieces of luggage and numerous carry-ons, we boarded AA2375 for Chicago.
The tests and challenges began before we ever left Dallas. The big 777 was spacious, but mechanically-challenged this particular day. We left over two hours late, which meant we had 15 minutes for our connection to London Heathrow in Chicago. Once we landed at L8, I called the Executive Platinum line and they contacted K12 directly to ensure they knew we were coming and needed to make the flight to make our connection at Heathrow.
Despite this, they chose to close the door 5 minutes before departure (and then let the plane set at the gate for 10 minutes, with us staring at it). Clearly, American Airlines had violated my loyalty.
Over the next one hour and 15 minutes, I helped them make reparations, while maintaining my composure and respect for the employees. At the end of it, we had $400 in future trip credit, two first class upgrades to London, and meal vouchers in Chicago and London. We were re-booked on the 10p departure, arriving in London at 11:30a. Our missed flight would have a plus…we would have a few hours to walk around London, something that we had never done before!
That arrival time meant we missed the 10:00a departure on British Airways from London to Nairobi, but this had been accounted for in my previously-mentioned K12 time with the two levels of AA supervisors. Upon arrival at Heathrow, we quickly cleared customs, purchased our Tube (subway) tickets, and went to Virgin Atlantic Airlines to ensure our seat assignments were secure for the re-routed trip to Nairobi on this non-partner airline.
Over an hour later, this detail was secured and our baggage was also re-routed. We now were out on our London adventure. The 42 minute ride on the Tube (Piccadilly Line) included the phrase we came to love at every stop….”Mind the Gap.” This reference to the distance between the subway and the platform is so famous that it is on shirts, hats, and buttons throughout London tourist shops.
We disembarked at the stop nearest the AstraZeneca global headquarters in London, which would be the place to store our carry-on bags. We did this and enjoyed a brief visit to Buckingham Palace and central London. Jacob was the only person in London that day with shorts on Quickly, we boarded the Tube back to Heathrow, cleared security, and prepared to board our flight on to Nairobi.
Having an Admiral’s Club membership usually provides the opportunity for a place to shower; however, this club had shower facilities under renovation. We had showered the night previous at the Chicago club, but were desperately in need of a clean-up. So, we resigned ourselves to subsistence-level clean-up in the bathroom of the club. Little did we know that this was just preparation for our time in Ukunda.
Our Nairobi flight was complete with a mentally-challenged man of great stature and a cultural sea that rivaled the United Nations. The flight crew was also the most detail-oriented and legalistic I have ever seen. Nonetheless, we settled into our seats, watched “Angels and Demons” and got as much sleep as possible on the overnight flight to Nairobi. Yes, this was our second night in a row on public transportation.
Upon arriving in the capital city of Nairobi with its 6 million people, we cleared Kenyan security (very minimal) and carried our luggage to the domestic departure area for check-in onward to Mombasa that evening. We were exhausted and in great need of a shower. I had emailed the missionary center that we were to stay in the night before and let them know that we had missed our flight. I emailed them in London and asked if we could spend the day there…but we were doubtful that they would have time to receive our message and act on it. Just as we had decided that we would spend any amount for a shower and a place to rest, we looked up and saw our name on a sign that was being held by an employee of the Mayfield Missionary Center. God was right on time! He showed up right before we all went into meltdown mode! The guide was very gracious and took us to an elephant orphanage and giraffe rescue facility. Then, we headed for the center, got much-needed sleep, and much-needed showers! Following dinner with missionaries in transit at the center, we went back to the Nairobi airport to meet the rest of our group upon their arrival from Dallas/Amsterdam.
Everyone made it in and the flight on Kenya Airways was professional and uneventful. They serve macadamia nuts and cashews as a snack, so they won me over immediately, and we arrived in Mombasa at around 11:30p, nearly 48 hours after we had left Dallas. Unlike the high-country of Nairobi, Mombasa is humid and largely without air conditioning. Walking off the plane resembled Houston in the dead of summer and after a rainstorm. The closest parallel I can draw is to imagine being in a sauna 24/7 while fully clothed.
We were met by Dennis and Allison Omondi, the Denton Bible SERVE missionaries. Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya, with about 3 million people, and is not safe at night. However, with our caravan of 3 vans and the car belonging to the Omondi family, we minimized our risk and made it safely to Ukunda, on the Kenyan South Coast.
Ukunda is the closest thing Kenya has to a resort city, set on the beautiful Indian Ocean. The camp took place at the Word of Life facility, which is set directly on a beachfront property, and is guarded 24 hours per day by private security. Kenya has lost the rule of law and the police force is largely corrupt and the entire system is fraught with bribes and a notoriously slow pace. Nothing happens fast in Africa. There is no 911 number to call for emergencies or an ambulance to take you to the hospital. If you are involved in an accident, you do the best that you can to work it out and figure out who is going to pay for the damage done. If no resolution can be reached…YOU drive to the police station. If there is an injury…those involved in the accident are responsible to get that person to the hospital.
Arriving at camp at around 1 AM Sunday, we began the process of unloading the luggage for 19 people and distributing it to the cabins. Additionally, we had hauled all of the supplies to put on the camp. The luggage volume was astounding.
Finally In Kenya
Later that morning, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise over the Indian Ocean and to monkeys and baboons surrounding our cabins. Phyllis and I had been given the only air-conditioned room (nice perk for leading the trip), so we were lulled into a false sense of comfort that was jolted back to reality when we left our room. That morning, we went to the church that Dennis Omondi pastors, which is also on the campus of Word of Life. The Swahili/English songs were wonderful, and afterwards, the team walked to lunch at an Italian restaurant. No restaurant in Ukunda has air conditioning or free refills on drinks, so there was little relief from the heat oppression.
The afternoon was filled with preparing for the camp and our first meeting with the Word of Life staff with whom we would serve all week. During this meeting, we learned that the camp would not start on Monday morning as we had planned, but rather the first events would be on Tuesday morning. This required us to shift the schedule and condense the content into four days vs five. As the leaders, we had stressed to the team that we had to be flexible, and we had our first exposure to a phrase we would use all week, “TIK.” TIK stands for “This Is Kenya.” We quickly retrofitted the schedule to fit the allotted time.
Sunday night we learned just how fragile security is in Kenya. The vast majority of hotels, business, homes, churches and apartments have walls and a security guard 24/7 due to the “thugs” that attack after the sun goes down. The Word of Life compound is surrounded by three walls, but is open on one side to the ocean where “beach boys” stand and watch you from the beach. Since there were more white people at the church service, local thieves who have informants attending the service postulated that the offering amount would be larger and decided to attempt to break into the church office at 1:30 AM. We awoke to a whistle and a guard yelling in Swahili. Dean bolted out of bed! We looked out our window to see someone running across the compound. They tied up the guard at the entry to the camp (guards cannot carry guns) and tried to open the office of the pastor, where they thought the offering from Sunday would be kept. They were unsuccessful, as the other two guards notified the Kenyan police (for what that was worth) and scared the thieves off. No one else among the campers except for Phyllis and I heard the loud whistle and shouts in Swahili which was, without question, God-ordained! We learned the next morning that there were actually 10 thieves that had come through the front entrance of the compound that night and none of the security guards were harmed. This is rarely the case. How we truly felt the prayers of all our friends and family at home.
After consulting with the Dennis Omondi, we elected not to tell the rest of the Texas team, as they would likely be alarmed beginning the week with the kids. Another security guard was added in view of the 78 kids coming in on Monday.
Most of the kids that attended camp attend the Word of Life School nearby and have been exposed to sound Biblical doctrine; however, there is a strong Muslim influence in Kenya. There are many students that attend the school that come from Muslim homes but send their child to a Christian school simply because of the academic rigor and reputation of the school. We were amazed but provided with great perspective on the environment that many of the kids that we would be with were coming from. Secondary education in Kenya is based on examination scores from Class 8 (similar to 8th grade in the US). The children go to school year round with a month break every three months. We also learned that they start school at age 2 and go to class from 7 AM to 7 PM six and sometimes seven days a week! The boys were quickly thankful for their Coram Deo Academy schedule!
With the schedule change, Monday was a more relaxed day until the meeting with the counselors at 3 PM. After the blessings and insight of many years of Precept Bible studies, we chose God, What is Your Name, by Precept Ministries (www.precept.org) as the curriculum. This curriculum teaches the 16 Hebrew names of God and reveals His character and who He is for ages 8-12 years. The English translations don’t do justice to the character of God that is revealed in the names listed in the original text. This curriculum was much more challenging than any the camp had ever used, so we quickly learned we would be educating the counselors and staff as well as the kids which was only a God ordained blessing. The content was also designed to teach the students to study the Bible inductively, using scripture to interpret scripture.
On Monday night, we finally were able to begin the work we came to do, as we were part of the introductory session for the campers. The content was framed around a detective search for the names of God as “God’s Secret Agents” or GSAs. The kids just looked at us!!! We were not sure how the week was going to go!
Dennis came in Tuesday morning and gave us a much needed word or encouragement, “You all are here to teach the kids about God and let the Kenyan counselors provide all the entertainment and excitement! Don’t let Satan defeat you!” We had divided our team into 6 groups and each group presented their chapter on stage each morning before we broke into smaller groups. We had deeper discussions in our small groups, game time and craft time. We had to be creative when we played “futbol” with them. We had them play with their hands behind their backs and on one foot…and they still beat us! We had a blast teaching them to play Frisbee football! We introduced them to the Oreo game that we had learned at Pine Cove family camp and they loved it! The McAlister’s took the oldest group of campers (Class 8, roughly 14-15 year olds), which afforded the greatest opportunity to have substantive discussion. The camp had not ever been done in this manner, with such depth of content and visual/tactile reinforcement…and the Kenyans seemed to enjoy and learn from each session. We were humbled to learn that the kids rarely have the materials to do any crafts and were excited to share the things that we brought for them. We made 16 page books for the kids and counselors to draw a picture of what each name of God meant to them so that they would have a visual reminder to go along with the 16 names of God. We pray that this will be a great reminder and comfort to them of the God that loves them so very much.
Tuesday morning brought a reminder that we do not know the number of the days that the Lord has ordained for us and that this world is not our home. Evans, a young 23-year-old man that Dennis had been mentoring, was tragically, senselessly murdered after a traffic accident. We were able to walk through this experience with the church congregation and many of the camp counselors, as they all knew and loved Evans. Just 4 months ago, the congregation buried the 10 month old son of a couple in their congregation. He was overdosed in the hospital from crying too much as he was healing from Malaria. Because this culture lives with the daily reminder of death and tragedy they have been forced to become calloused and immune to the reality of it. So many of the children, counselors and church members that we were with live with someone other than their parents because one or both had died from a similar tragedy,disease, AIDS, thugs, beatings and spousal abuse.
We daily learned perspective and what we take for granted in America. We were daily challenged to stop and ask ourselves what we pour our time and energy into in America and if it had an eternal purpose. At any given moment, we have the basic necessities of life or can leave our home and go get it. That is not the case in Kenya. Daily, the electricity went out with no explanation. It can be off for a few hours or for days. If the electricity is out…there is no water because the water pump is turned off. Dean took a shower with wipies and a water bottle one afternoon to prepare for his evening talks. If the electricity is out…so are all the fans that we learned to depend on for a small amount of circulating air in the evenings. During the day, we had the wonderful ocean breeze, but it disappeared when the sun went down.
After completing our lesson on Thursday morning, we celebrated Thanksgiving Kenyan style!! We went to a restaurant that had the most incredibly awesome view of the crystal clear, blue-green Indian Ocean! It was breathtaking! After lunch, we played on the white beaches, swam in the VERY salty Indian Ocean, collected seashells, rode the camels that are led along the beach and bargained with the shop owners. We didn’t have turkey and gravy…but we all decided that this experience was worth the sacrifice. The day that we introduced the kids to Elohim, we told them that all they had to do was open their eyes each morning and look out over the ocean and see God, their Creator (Elohim in the Hebrew).
On Thursday night, God decided it was time for us to truly experience life in Kenya. Our air conditioner went out and we had no fan! Dean and I were tempted to just sleep on the porch and pray that we would not contract Malaria since we would be out from the protection of our mosquito net! We surely sweat all the toxins and impurities out of our bodies during our time in Kenya
On Friday night, we had another round of excitement and a reminder of how fragile the rule of law is in Kenya. Just through the trees from our cabin in the neighboring apartment cottages, a mzungu (white man) was having quite an argument with his Kenyan girlfriend following an evening of drinking. We were awakened to crying and wailing from the woman, which was shortly followed by the sound of some type of switch or strap. The man was beating her or they were beating each other. We had been counseled NOT to leave our cabin, but we went on our second story porch and saw the camp security was aware and was monitoring the scene. Generally, if you go into such situations as a private citizen, the perpetrator will turn from his victim to you. Additionally, to complicate the situation, the woman had a broken glass bottle and was cutting herself with it in an apparent suicide attempt driven by her distraught condition. The arguing continued up the hillside from the beach, where the police finally came and the situation was subdued. Sadly, it is very commonplace to see a 60-70 year old (sometimes older) European male or female with a young Kenyan. There were also many that had their European spouse (partner) as well as their young Kenyan. It was very humbling to not be completely judgmental of the choices that these young Kenyans were making to feed their families as well as repeating the lifestyle that had been modeled for them from previous generations. On the other hand, it was a great reminder of the complete depravity of man without God!
Despite these security issues, the camp was a great success by all accounts, for which we are grateful and give all glory to God. The team was exhausted at the end of the week, but we all rested in knowing we had made an impact. We also feel that each experience that we had provided us with GREAT insight into how to truly pray for the missionaries that are serving there as well as the Kenyan people.
I was blessed to spend four of the evenings with Dennis and 40 local, not-for-profit leaders (pastors, school administrators, teachers, etc.,) conducting a “Front-Line Leadership” seminar. This meant there was little to no downtown from Tuesday – Friday; however, the adult Kenyans who attended the seminar were also grateful for the learning and I gained great insight into Kenyan culture. One man even gave me a Kenyan Elder walking stick as a token of his appreciation. I should keep this with me at all times, in case anyone doubts my wisdom….
The boys and I spent Saturday doing some shopping while Phyllis and the other ladies in our group attended the first Word of Life ladies retreat. I enjoyed bargaining for a mzungu shirt and getting Kenyan soccer jerseys. Additionally, we went to the market in a mutatu, which is Kenyan public transport. Picture it as this: a minivan filled to capacity with seats, unclean, people standing on sideboards, and the smell of body odor in the extreme heat and humidity. The only thing missing was live goats and chickens. The ladies had a wonderful time building relationships with new friends.
The day to start the long trek home came much too quickly. After attending church, we loaded up the vans and toured Mombasa before our flight. Upon arriving at the airport, Kenya Airways informed us that 14 people in the group had been a no-show on their assigned flight and their itineraries were now voided. Somehow, their records had been altered, and I spent the next two hours working the local aviation system to ensure everyone made it out of Kenya. Thankfully, God was merciful, and Kenya Airways added a bigger flight to allow all the passengers to make it Nairobi for connecting flights.
The trip home is about 30 hours, with stops for the McAlisters in Brussels and Chicago en route to Dallas. This mission trip has been the most rewarding of the four so far and we look forward to returning to Kenya sometime in the near future.
Thanks for your support and/or interest in our trip.
We look forward to 2010 and whatever is in store for us as a family, as we plan to continue our commitment to volunteer globally on an annual basis.
The McAlisters
McAlister's Christmas Letter
McAlister 2009 Update
Once again, I sit down to write out Christmas letter and cannot believe that another year has passed!! January brought our first trip to San Antonio to hear Josh and 3 other CDA students at the All State Band competition. Josh had a great time in spite of his lips being numb for days from hours of tuba playing! Jacob also qualified to play in the Jr. High All Region competition in April. Jonathan continued to learn his euphonium and played a solo in front of an audience of over 100 at a Coram Deo event.
We lived, ate, and breathed basketball for several months with all three playing and then we moved into track season with Josh. The boys all celebrated their birthdays and we became the parents of 10, 13 and 15 year old boys!! We too got a year older…of which the boys remind us of often.
We had our annual trip to the ER in April with Jonathan breaking “numerous” bones in his ankle…including his growth plate! It was a Sunday night and Dean had just headed to the airport and the boys were outside on the trampoline. I later learned that the two older ones were trying to bounce Jonathan up high enough to touch the trees that are up above the net around the trampoline. Josh came in carrying Jonathan telling me that he was pretty sure he needed to go to the ER. I was working on my computer and told them I would be right over to look at his ankle. There have been so many trips to the ER that I just don’t get excited anymore when I hear screaming!! Sure enough…his ankle had a tennis ball size bump on it and we headed to the ER. I had Jacob come along so that he could tell the doctor EXACTLY what happenedJ They x-rayed his ankle and told me that because of the swelling that they could not tell if it was broken, but they could see that his fibula was bent. I thought, “Good! That surely has to be better than a break!” Dean’s text messages and voice mail were full by the time he landed! There is never a dull moment with three boys! We headed to the pediatric orthopedic specialist on Tuesday morning. The x-ray revealed multiple breaks to his ankle bones (they could not tell me the exact number) and that his growth plate was broken as well. The bend in his bone…had happened several weeks ago. I had NO idea how that had happened!! He was on crutches for a week and I was told to keep him still! He figured that he could swing himself on his crutches and take fewer steps in a matter of two days. Once the crutches were gone…there was no stopping him. He played football, basketball, and anything else he could get away with! His cast was filthy by the time he got it off and the nurse that x-rayed his ankle angrily told him he was VERY “lucky” that his ankle had healed properly. God is merciful to our very active third child! We also learned 4 months later that there was no damage to his growth plate.
Dean and I were able to get away for a few days together in May to go to the AstraZeneca Circle of Excellence in Phoenix while mom and dad watched the boys. The boys finished 4th, 7th and 9th grades and all our sports commitments in May! The Denton Bible missionaries from around the world come in once every year and a half and we had the privilege of hosting the welcome dinner at our home at end of May. It was the first time we have ever had over 100 people at our house! Thankfully, God blessed us with an unusually cool, “mosquito free” night so that many could visit outside. Dean and Jonathan also spent some father/son time in San Diego at Legoland. Jonathan would LOVE to build/design Lego’s for a living someday!!
Jonathan attended his first week of camp away from us at Pine Cove in June in Tyler, TX, with many of his friends from CDA. Josh, Jacob, and I headed to Chattanooga, TN. Josh spent a week at a Teen Leadership Boot Camp at Precept Ministries while Jacob and I did genealogy research in East TN near Claiborne and Grainger County. We learned many things about the Hamiltons, my dad’s mom’s side of the family. They were some of the very first settlers in that area. We found the Hamilton Cemetery near an area called Hamilton’s Crossing and drove through the beautiful countryside that they owned in the early 1800s. I think that I enjoyed our trip much more than Jacob didJ On our way home, we stopped in Memphis and enjoyed dinner at BB King’s House of Blues and went on a tour of the Gibson Guitar factory. Josh was in heaven!!! When we returned home….he/we purchased his first Gibson guitar!!! He is learning the joy and commitment of “one year/no interest”!
We spent Week 7 at Pine Cove Crier Creek Family Camp in Columbus, TX, for the 8th year in a row. We had a wonderful time making new friends and catching up with the families that we started with in 2002. We cannot say enough about Pine Cove! The counselors and staff are incredible, Godly role models and every year we are challenged individually and as a family to model Christ in all we do. Next year, we will miss our Fabulous Family Fellowship counselor, Cha Cha as she marries her sweetheart in June!
I headed to Indiana in August for the 102nd Smith Family Reunion and to collect more information on mom’s side of the family. I so enjoy all the genealogy research, and wish I had more time to spend on it. But, I know that the day will come too soon that our house will be quiet and I will have LOTS of time.
The boys started 5th, 8th and 10th grade in August. We cannot believe that the time has passed so fast. I found myself being quite emotional as we dropped Josh off to take his PACT and PSAT tests…Josh thought I was crazy. Josh will be headed to college in 2 short years!!!
We challenged Josh this summer to pray for guidance about what God wants him to be spending his time and talents on. He chose to pursue his greatest passion of playing his guitar. He has been playing with the praise and worship team on Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights for the youth at church. He’s loving it!! Although, you would not know it from his facial expressions….a look that he tells me is a “bass guitarist” lookJ He also began taking Jazz guitar lessons on his new Gibson. We recently learned that Josh qualified for the All State Band again and we will be heading back to San Antonio in January. Josh is plowing through 10th grade and is currently taking driver’s education in anticipation of getting his license when he turns 16 in February. Thankfully, I know that Jacob will keep him straight on all the driving “rules” once he starts toting him aroundJ He is still a Sooner at heart and hopes to become one in 2012!
Jacob is plowing through 8th grade as well and pursuing his clarinet faithfully. He will be trying out for All-State Band as a 9th grader next year and plans to re-qualify for All-Region this year. He enjoyed going with Dean in October to see his Texas Tech Red Raiders lose to the Texas A&M Aggies… a very sad and humbling event! They are also headed to the Alamo Bowl on January 2nd to watch them trample Michigan State! Wreck’em Tech!
Jonathan is enjoying 5th grade, but would much rather be playing sportsJ He is the only one playing sports right now. He played flag football (I am still holding out on tackle football) in the fall and now we have moved into basketball. Practice once a week and a game on Saturday are much more manageable than the 7 days a week commitment we had when they all 3 played basketball! Jonathan is still pulling for the USC Trojans and says that is where he will attend college. It is really just picking a team that upsets his brothers! He also loves turtles. We have 4 desert box turtles and he spent the summer harvesting the baby red-ear sliders from the neighborhood pond. Thankfully, we only ended up with 3!!
I officially resigned from all my responsibilities at the boy’s school in August. It was very hard at first, but I am enjoying being back in a Bible study, working on repainting the inside of our house, scrapbooking, and genealogy research. We turned the game room upstairs into a study area for the boys and a space for all my scrapbooking and genealogy stuff. We all love our new work and study areas. Speaking of genealogy research, thanks to Ancestry.com I found a branch of the Roberts family in Ardmore, OK that we did not even know existed! It has been wonderful to get to know them.
Dean is in his 22nd year with AstraZeneca and continues as a Senior Director in the Managed Markets group. Last week, he was able to attend an AstraZeneca meeting at the corporate headquarters in London. We were all excited for him to have this opportunity! Maybe next time we can go with himJ
Without a doubt, the highlight of our year was having the awesome privilege of leading a children’s camp in Mombasa, Kenya with a group of 19 others from our church. I have attached the summary of our trip for you to read if we missed you. It was an amazing trip and we will never be the same because of it! You can view our pictures on Facebook or at this link http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40535&id=1527216118&l=8b77406283. This was our fourth mission trip, but this one has profoundly caused us to examine our lives and where we spend our time. We came back with a radically different perspective on life.
We thank our Heavenly Father for carrying us through another year and blessing us beyond our comprehension. Far, far too many times we fail to stop and thank Him and praise Him for that. It is so easy to believe in God in America. We have so much. God is usually called on when there is a trial or tragedy in our lives. In comparison to all the “stuff” that we have in America, those we met in Kenya have so little. But, they have FAR more!!! In many ways, they ONLY have God to provide for their every need. They do not have the ability to purchase their every want and desire, as we do in America. That is their gain! Far too many times, work, emails, Facebook, Xbox 360, iTunes, sports, scrapbooking, and genealogy research takes our eyes off Him and entangles us in ourselves and our abilities. Our sole purpose on this planet is to serve and worship Him and Him alone! Oh how we have messed up the perfect plan that God had for His creation. We are daily in awe of His incomprehensible, unfathomable love and mercy as He patiently waits for one more person to choose to follow Him. Oh how we pray that the precious gift of Jesus Christ will profoundly impact your life and the things that you invest your time in this coming year. God sent His Son so that the barrier between God and man would be ended. All that is required is accepting the free gift of eternal life provided by Jesus Christ's death on the cross.
Merry Christmas!!
Dean, Phyllis, Josh, Jacob and Jonathan