lesotho, part 1

while i was in lesotho a couple months ago (difficult to believe it was a that long ago), we met three men serving as "winter missionaries" serving in a remote area of the kingdom.

john, drew and therron spent their summer living in a village in the mountains. they went with a commission: "be jesus in that place."

no electricity, no running water and very cold nights. they spent their days working in the fields with the men, playing with children from the village, helping build gardens. at night drank tea and hot chocolate, reading the saints by candlelight: merton and tozer and lewis and all of the rest.

the guys lived in the small house next to the local baptist church.

drew, wrapped in a sleeping bag and several blankets, sleeps on the floor of the small shack. on sunday mornings, the guys sleep in, reading and enjoying some down time before church.

the guys share morning coffee and reading on a very cold sunday morning.


the guys hike up a mountain early one morning to spend time with the shepherds who stay there.


drew and john make their way back down the mountain

more tomorrow. (maybe.)

Please Call Me By My True Names
Thich Nhat Hanh

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow --
even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving
to be a bud on a Spring branch,
to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings,
learning to sing in my new nest,
to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower,
to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry,
to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death
of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing
on the surface of the river.
And I am the bird
that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily
in the clear water of a pond.
And I am the grass-snake
that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones,
my legs as thin as bamboo sticks.
And I am the arms merchant,
selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl,
refugee on a small boat,
who throws herself into the ocean
after being raped by a sea pirate.
And I am the pirate,
my heart not yet capable
of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo,
with plenty of power in my hands.
And I am the man who has to pay
his "debt of blood" to my people
dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm
it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth.
My pain is like a river of tears,
so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once,
so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names,
so I can wake up,
and so the door of my heart
can be left open,
the door of compassion.

MY LORD GOD, I have no idea where I am going.
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.
And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.
And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it.
Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.
I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.

- Thomas Merton, "Thoughts in Solitude"

a letter, from my friend eunice.

Dear friends,

My names are Eunice Ng'ang'a and am a volunteer with Colours of the Cross-Nairobi Street Kids Ministry. We basically make an effort to try and reach out to the street children.
I would like to introduce to you the late Antony Maina aka Maish.
Maish met his death on 23/07/2009 at Riverside(a back street nairobi downtown) at around 11am after he was hit by a matatu (minibus) that was trying to overtake while standing on the side of the road. he died while being rushed to hospital.His body is lying at they city mortuary. i went over to see him this afternoon-it was very hard!this may not be new to some of us on the conditions of city mortuaty and would not want to go into details of what a saw.We are trying to reach his parents and relatives and i wish we could move his body to chiromo as we venture into this,the conditions are much better there. Maish ran away from home at least 6yrs ago after his mother died and his father remarried.his step mom was however not so nice to him and he ran way.after being on the street for sometime he realised life was harder there and decided to go back home but the reception he got made him think otherwise and he opted to be on the street.Before he met his death we had a chance of hanging out with him and his friends every day for one week for atleast 2-3hrs in the company of his friends.when we(my friend Kristen and i) interved him on friday 17/07/2009 he expressed his wish to go back home ask for his parents forgiveness and hopefully go back to school(std 6). Maish has had a lot of shortcomings as well as making many wrong decisions in life but if you had a chance to interact with him he was agreat kid!there is so much to say about him.however at a tender age( about 17yrs) he never got the chance to correct his mistakes but he was sorry about it all!as we give him a decent send off please remember the at least 20 young boys(between 10-18yrs) and 1 girl(13yrs) at the base where he stayed(riverside).this not mentioning all the other countless street kids all over this country and the world at large.

If you feel compelled to join us as we purpose to give Maish a decent send off please write back (eunice_ngng@yahoo.com) or call me on 0723 741 704.

In Christ,
Eunice.

(facebook link)

eunice shares with with antony and massai one morning last week.

antony poses for a photo at riverside, where the boys stay.

nairobi, kenya

this is peter, called massai. someone was trying to take his glue, and
they pushed him into the fire. he burnt his bare feet, and was lying,
doubled over, screaming "why, why, why". the government official came
and beat him with a stick, because he wouldnt be quiet. here, one of
the other boys is trying to comfort him.


all my hope is in this:
jesus christ has not forgotten peter.
jesus christ loves peter.

binghampton, memphis

marquianna and qui qui practice a dance in the front yard.

new baby ken-- naps on the bed while his older brothers and sister play outside.

keneshia yells at God, "God, you bring on the rain! just bring it on!"

tay tay drinks water from the hose on a hot summer day.

you should at times go out

you should at times go out
from where the faithful kneel,
visit the slums of doubt
and feel what the lost feel;

you should at times walk on,
away from your friends' ways,
go where the scorned have gone,
pass beyond blame and praise;

and at times you should quit
(ah yes) your sunny home,
sadly awhile should sit,
even, in wrong's dark room,

or ever, suddenly,
by simple bliss betrayed,
you shall be forced to flee,
unloved, alone, afraid.

elizabeth daryush