Name This Poem by Clicking on “Comments”

A creepy thought shook me as we four-wheeled our way
shillings paid, through stark safari
dust in Tsavo West Park. Why must you deride us,
recusant rock hyrax, perched high,
peering insouciantly, but not near our rainbowed
hopes, our tourist dreams invested
to roam as you, lilac-breasted rollers, clad full
in seven colors, as you comb
the air for prey, while we lugubriously see
only fleeing hides, dancing
derrieres, growing my despair that it’s really
not your creaturely fear is it?
But like teenage boys in the rear of the school bus,
this is just your chance to moon us.

Water and Praises Flow in the Makueni District

I can’t figure out a way to mute my emotions. Today was simply a highlight of my life. Sixty percent of Kenya’s population lives in rural areas and half of these citizens have no access to an improved water source. For this last-mile community, hidden in the high hills of the Makueni District, water flowed today. Their future is changed. At the commissioning of this water project hundreds from the community came; a celebration erupted, praising God with unrestrained exuberance and overwhelming thankfulness.

School children’s choir singing at Program.

Another thing I can’t figure out is how will I communicate to LWR supporters how much their support is appreciated!

Tomorrow, we take a day off. Kirk Betts and the LWR board will be happy to hear this. We go on a mini-safari in the Tsavo National Park among lions, baboons, antelope, rhinos, giraffes, hippos, monkeys and 450 species of birds.

Then Sunday, I preach at the Lutheran Cathedral on Uhuru Highway back in Nairoba.

A Lesson in Irrigation from Esther

Esther Mambua. If you look closely you can see
the black hoses applying drip irrigation.

I learned a water lesson today from Esther Mambua, a spinach and kale farmer, as we visited LWR’s partner, the Kyeemwea Irrigation Water Project. Of the two ways of getting water to a crop, drip irrigation is preferable to sprinkler irrigation. By applying the water directly toward the roots, the drip method minimizes wasted water and evaporation. Since drip irrigation is more targeted, troublesome weeds don’t indirectly benefit. Weeds seem to be truly a multicultural phenomenon. Did you know that sprinklers can spread diseases and pests from one plant to the next? Thanks, Esther, for the hydrological and horticultural instruction.

Esther’s home which is adjacent to her small farm.

Two Bishops, One Mission

In the same way that the LCMS and ELCA work cooperatively in the mission of LWR, so does the ELCK and the KELC. The headquarters of these two Kenyan Lutheran church bodies provide, predictably, space for administrative offices to support the focal mission of their churches, the promulgation of the Gospel and the care for their members. That’s pretty predictable.

KELC Bishop Zachariah Kahuthu in his woodwork shop

What might be as unpredictable as it commendable is the extent to which both of these leaders are venturing into a new world of entrepreneurial projects to employ members of their community and generate new money. The KELC owns and operates a woodworking shop on the grounds of their headquarters. Jesus was, after all, also a carpenter.

John and Archbishop Obare

ELCK archbishop, Walter Obare, is the visionary behind a major downtown business complex called Luther Plaza. This state-of-the-art center is near completion. It features a 100 bay parking garage, and more than 26 000 square feet. That’s my best calculation. Please let me know if I’m off on this, Rev. John Halakhe. The rental office space includes such tenants as the Molecular Medical Laboratory, the Pakistan High Commission, an educational institute, and a restaurant.

Standing Again with Annastasia

On the drive to the LWR office here there wasn’t much detectable to me that was still broken down from murderous election violence that rocked this nation just nine months ago. The Nairobi staff meeting convened with David Rotich and Grace Gachoki, and was courteously chaired by Annastasia Katunge Mulwa, LWR’s Kenya country program manager. Her first name derives from two Greek works, ana and stasis, meaning literally “resurrection,” or in the verb form, “to stand again.” Her eyes coruscate when she describes the accompaniment process. It’s the way she shines as she relates to local communities with “something brighter than pity for the wingless ones” (Derek Walcott), to stand with them in faith until they stand again.

Planting Hope

Not only does LWR Kenya develop people, we believe also in environmental development. Note the slopes pictured behind Annastasia. Our partners take seriously how this soil has become unusable because of deforestation. Tree roots bind soil. Capricious and careless tree removal leaves the bare soil exposed to wind and rain, causing erosion, leaving the livelihood pursuits of poor, agriculturally-based communities further eroded.

David Kitheka owns and manages a tree nursery with 69,780 seedlings ready for transplanting during the rainy season. His species include: eucalyptus, cypress, grevillea rivella, robusta, and the fruit trees, kei apple, mango and passion fruit. David’s trees plant hope here.

Speaking of trees, the lavender-livid jacarandas inspire me most of all.

Fortifying the Future

Like all Lutheran World Relief staff who must travel the world where we work, I sometimes hate being away so far and for so long, from family and from the office—though with Jeff Whisenant holding down the helm at LWR, we’re steered well.

The time away is redeemed, however, by the promise of fortifying our diakonic partnerships to serve the most vulnerable. For example, partnerships with churches will be one way to spread the information and interventions that will help to stamp out malaria as the number one killer of children globally. That promise, that children might have a future with dignity makes it all worthwhile. I really hope my own children read this entry.

Off to Kenya…

Through the Dust in Addis

My two days of participation in this consultation in Addis Ababa had that distinctive LWR worldwide feel. Occasional blog commentator from our partner Lutheran World Federation, Department of World Service, Eberhard Hitzler—assisted by St. George (smile)—provided me with surefooted hospitality. Presenters from the Global South, the Americas, and Europe gave papers and engaged in edifying dialogue about diakonia—which means in biblical Greek, “service,” and could be literally translated, “through the dust.” A good bit of theological dust was kicked up and practical implications worked through in our lively formal and informal conversation.

Three participants from the USA were (from left to right): Megan Bradfield, the new Associate Director for International Development, Global Mission, ELCA; Rev. Rafael Malpica-Padilla, LWR board member and the Executive Director for Global Mission, ELCA; Ruth Reko, Director for Social Ministry Organizations, Church and Society, ELCA. You can see there wasn’t much actual dust where we met at Red Cross International Training Center.

I invite you to reflect on this energetic definition suggested by an insightful professor from Diakonhjemmet University College in Oslo, Norway, Stephanie Dietrich: “Diakonia is the social care of the Church. It is the acting out of the Gospel and is expressed through love for fellow human beings, inclusive community, care for creation and fighting for justice.” A few considered that definition over-reaching and attempting too much. A few others suggested it critically omits erstwhile notions of “humble service.” What’s your opinion?

A Morning Choir

The day is gloriously alive as I rise in urban Addis Ababa, nothing like the Inner Harbor of urban Baltimore. Here, the morning welcomes me with a symphony of bass and tenor dogs barking, soprano and alto birds chirping, one regal rooster crowing for the sun and soaring melismatic calls to Islamic prayer.

The Church that Development Built

Why has this Lutheran-affiliated church body, Mekane Yesus, grown from 20 000 members in 1959 to nearly 6 million now? 6 percent growth would be a normal year. I asked the church body president Pastor Iteffa Gobena. He quickly cited three factors: (1) strong lay ministry; (2) spiritual revival; and, (3) service to the whole person, or, what we call at Lutheran World Relief, “development.” Such whole person mission, conducted with high technical excellence, is the subject of this Diakonia Consultation today and tomorrow.

An Impromptu Sunday

Photo from left to right:
John, Rev. Jira Dufera, Central Ethiopia Synod
Diakonia Coordinator, Demissie Legesse Karorsa

The assembly was electric in receiving us, and even more in receiving the Gospel teaching from Demissie Legesse Karorsa. When he’s not being a lay preacher, Demissie, according to his business card, is a project manager for USAID Ethiopia.

First, he spoke in this nation’s official language, Amharic, which then was translated into the most popular people’s language, Omoro. Beforehand, during my impromptu visitor’s remarks, representing Lutheran World Relief, but also Wolfgang Vogelmann, a German pastor, and Wanda Falk, a Polish churchworker, I mentioned that although we did not speak the same language we were united with them in Christ’s love as God’s children. Then quoting, more or less, from Psalm 133, I riffed: “How good and how pleasant it is when sisters and brothers come together, sing together and work together in unity.” What I did not know was that Psalm 133 was the basis of preacher’s pre-prepared message. I first suspected Demissie was merely being hospitable, saying this as some act of gentle ingratiation, by mentioning our common citation. But after the joyous service ended he showed me the manuscript with this text. Amazing, in light of the thousands either of us could have chosen! What a blessing to be among this community of faith, Entoto Mekane Yesus congregation, which, I learned, has been struggling to remain united, not because of decline, but due to its rapid growth.

What sometimes seems impromptu to us exhibits the best in timing.