Out of Canada, Into Kenya - Shawn's Journal

Cheppema Children's Home

We just returned from a wonderful weekend with the Felkners in Nakuru. Of our entire trip so far, of which today marks seven weeks, I would have to say that this weekend has been the highlight.

We had the opportunity to meet William and Miriam Kotut, the couple who started Cheppema Children’s Home. There are orphanages spread all throughout Kenya, we’ve been to several different ones. Cheppema was quite different, however.

William and Miriam have dedicated their lives and everything they have to helping children in need. They started in 1982 by taking in 4 boys. Now, 22 years later, they have 45 children and an amazing ministry. Unlike many other orphanages we visited, Cheppema is run entirely by Kenyans. While they rely on support from friends and Churches in North America, their ministry is not controlled nor dictated by their supporters. An example of this is a clinic that they are currently completing the construction of. William shared that a group from Pennsylvania came and helped build the clinic, however it was William himself that sketched out the plans for the building. He was asking Marcia (who is an RN) how he did with the design and layout of the clinic. He instead could have relied on the group coming from the U.S. to come up with the plan for it, or spent money hiring somebody else to design it. They realize, however, that when they struggle to buy enough corn every month to feed 58 (the number of children and staff who live on-site) and they desperately need a clinic, anything will be better than nothing. It met Marcia’s seal of approval, by the way.

William had his post-secondary education paid for by the former President of Kenya, Moi, who was a personal friend. Many people who start out with such blessings as a paid-for education take it for granted and begin to rely on the aid of others for everything. We have witnessed this in many of the orphanages and other ministries that we have visited. Cheppema is different, however. William and Miriam have given up everything for these children. Even though they receive so much financial support, the money goes straight to caring for the children. There isn’t even a stove on the property - they cook outside over an open pit - here’s a photo of Miriam preparing our lunch.

One of the neatest things was to see the excitement of Marcia and Dennis Felkner, who we’ve been staying with in Nairobi. They absolutely loved Cheppema and are already planning their next trip up there. It was awesome to realize that we were able to facilitate (more like God was able to) the connection between these two families serving in very different capacities within the same country. We were blessed to have visited Cheppema. Look forward to more photos and stories from the weekend.

We leave in a couple hours to head up north with WorldVision. I think I’ve mentioned it before, but we’ll be working at the Doldol Area Development Program doing photography and writing a few articles on the work that is going on there. We’re excited, but a little nervous, as we have no idea what to expect. We were told that we’d be staying in a hotel, but in Kenya that doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot. I’m sure that everything will be fine and the the experience will be amazing, however. Keep us in your prayers. Most likely we won’t be able to update anything until next weekend - see you then!

Posted by slvrfrg at July 25, 2004 12:27 PM