Called to Serve | Travel Stories From Kiu, Kenya

Ndalani Welcome Ceremony, Water Tour & Tree Planting

After a very late arrival early the morning of October 5th, 2022, my missions team and I were up early after a few hours of sleep and on our way to the Kiu community. We made a stop by our guesthouse for the week to drop off our gear and then we were back on the road heading to Ndalani to spend the day at the primary school there. Once there we were met with a very warm and joyful welcome, as students, parents and community members lined the walkway with song and dancing. We were then ushered to seats on the school front porch and sat alongside the Leadership Council (LC), school faculty and other important community members and leaders. After introductions, the students had prepared several songs and dances for us. We heard from the grade 8, grade 6 and grade 3 students who showered us with song and dancing and even encouraged us to get up and dance with them, which brought many “banana smiles” to everyone’s faces.

After the program the missions team followed community leaders to the school “lunch house” where a HUGE pot of beans was cooking for the students and their families. Each missions team member was given an opportunity to serve lunch to the school children. For some this may be the only meal they are able to get today, so it was important that we were providing this to them. The team then retired to our van to eat our a lunch.

After lunch we were welcomed back to the community and over to the well and water hole that Church of the Nativity had been so involved in assisting with. We learned from community leaders the importance of this water not only in Ndalani but across all of Kiu. To see it’s impact we were taken on a tour to all the water containment locations to see where and how community members are able secure water for their families and animals. We saw several examples of homesteads where community members were working to create irrigation systems to better water their fields and crops.??Taking this tour really showed the team the importance of the water system in the Kiu community and the impact it has had on providing sustainability in Kiu. Community leaders and the Leadership Council have more plans for water in Kiu and our team heard about them while listening in on a Leadership Council meeting we were invited to. In addition to the impact water has had in Kiu, we heard about the impact of agriculture and small businesses that further help advance and sustain Kiu.

?Finally our team was able to assist with the planting of several new trees in the growing forest being built and cultivated in Ndalani. This forest provides clean air to the community and lush forestation which provides shade in the dry, arid heat. We then returned to their guest house where we rested, debriefed on the day and enjoyed dinner together with our 410 Bridge guide and leader Shadrack.

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The experience our team had today, left us feeling overwhelmed with love, joy, peace and grace. It was amusing to us that our friends in Ndalani, when choosing our Kenyan names, chose these same four virtues. Amy was given the name Mutano (joy), Karen was given the name Mwende (love), Stephen the name Muuo (peace) and finally Rita the name Mumo (grace). Each member of the Ndalani community expressed these four virtues today with us. We were overcome by the sheer appreciation the members of this community had for each other, for our missions team and for all the many blessings they have had and look forward to having. We saw the impact of the hard work they have put into this community and others in Kiu and it truly showed us that, “surely God is in this place.”