Klauke June 2018

Dear friends and family,

Warm greetings and hujambo from a mild and temperate Kenya! School and sports are in full swing here, as it is currently the season for volleyball, netball, soccer, and racket sports. It turns out we have quite a few talented table tennis and badminton players. This is not the amiable badminton I (Paul) remember playing in our leafy Illinois backyard, mind you. These players are vicious! Those little birdies are flying back and forth in a furious fusillade on all four courts right outside our front door, where I just lost to thirteen-year-old Clint. Fun!

Sammy One of our day-student graduates, Sammy, died suddenly just two weeks ago. On Thursday he started feeling unwell and his roommates brought him to a local medical clinic. The medicine they gave him did not help and he checked into a hospital on Saturday. He died early Sunday morning as David and Julie were driving to see him.

Sammy was twenty-five and a great role model for everyone, young and old. With the help of a sponsor he had earned his diploma in Public Health from Mount Kenya University. He planned to further his education to the degree level, and so to earn tuition money he helped us in the Village by landscaping and doing maintenance work. For me, he fixed some drawers in the primary school and the bathroom sink in our home. 

He coached our girls’ soccer team, as well as many other teams in the community, for free. His real gift was mentoring, and coaching was his vehicle. During an evening of remembering Sammy’s life, one of the older girls, Catherine, shared that he would always entreat the girls to “Never give up!” Many in the room, including me, needed to hear those words.

…for such a time as this… Perhaps Sammy was meant to be with us in the Rafiki Village in Nairobi, Kenya “for such a time as this” (See Esther 4:14). Perhaps Sarah, one of our vibrant preschool teachers, is meant to be here for the likes of little Ledell; and vica versa.

This is the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. As we write this letter we can hear one of the five haunting daily calls to prayer moaning from a nearby speaker. It reminds us of why we are here.

Perhaps, just perhaps, you are meant to be supporting the work here, for such a time as this. As always we thank you and pray God’s richest blessings upon you!

”And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever”(Revelation 22:5).