June 23, 2012

Greetings

A week ago I received some sad news from Kenya.  One of the three farmers of the passion fruit orchards in Bulimbo has died.  Not only has he died but his wife too.  No one was left to attend to the orchard and it too is completely gone.  Stephan and his wife died in a traffic accident.  I am not sure if they were in a car, or were in a Matatu or just walking down the road.  I am still amazed on how many people are not killed every day on the roads especially at night.  I have told Bishop Hezron on many occasions driving at night that I can’t see anyone until we are right on them.  He tells me not to worry he can see them.  It doesn’t help when there are no lights except the cars headlights to illuminate the road, everyone is dark, and everyone seems to wear dark clothes.  To top it all off the people are literally inches from the car as we pass by.  Scary!!

I remember going to the plot with Pastor Robert and Bishop Hezron meeting with Stephan whom was attending to his beans.  After the beans were to be harvested Stephan was going to replace beans for passion fruit.  I remember we were in a hurry and could not stay very long because a major storm was rolling in.  Traveling on these isolated bush roads during a heavy rainstorm is not a very wise thing to do.  Even without rain it is an arduous journey back to a major road. 

This is the field of beans that was to be Stephans passion fruit orchard

I can’t even come close to knowing how many people I have met in both Kenya and Uganda during my visits.  I have really poor name recognition skills and many times I mix the name to the face (I even get members of my own family mixed up).  However if I remember Stephan properly then what I remember is that he did not look very old.  In his mid thirties if I remember correctly.  Death comes to us all.  Here in the states we can count our blessings that we live in a country where we can expect to enjoy a life span reaching into our eighty’s or beyond.  Sadly this is not the case for many of the people on this planet.   

Especially in Africa where there are many countries with life expectancies in the forties or fifties.  Fifty one percent of the population in Kenya is under fifteen years old compared to our seventeen percent under seventeen years old.  Granted we too have people that die to soon for a variety of reasons but for the vast majority of us we will live a full and healthy life well into our old age.  In East Africa and other parts of the world making it to age five is the first hurdle.  Malaria alone has killed millions of children under the age of five.  For most families that live in the bush losing a child before the age of five is not that uncommon.  Other diseases and lack of access to health care contribute to the low life expectancy at any age in East Africa and other parts of the world. 

This whole Africa thing is getting almost too much to digest sometimes.  How does one stay numb to the constant setbacks and knowing the conditions my friends have to contend with every day of their lives?  A few years back I told God that I would serve him however he saw fit.  It was difficult to let go of my life and follow but I did.  Soon afterwards I watched as my own life crumbled right before my eyes.  It was if God was saying “You want to work for me then maybe you need some humility in your life”.  “You have been blessed beyond your wildest dreams but for many of my children it has not”.  “This is your new life, enjoy”.  Even in my despair I am blessed far beyond those I desire to serve and I consider it a great honor to serve those far less fortunate then myself.  My prayer is that I can continue to strengthen my faith, endure my own personal struggles to help what little I can to bring hope and prosperity to those that have little to none. 

My prayers go out to Mr. Stephan, his wife, and family.  Thank you and God bless.

Dave