A Few Differences

Internet and Phones

Internet here in Kenya is very different than in the states. There are a few providers, but the main two are Orange and Safaricom. You purchase modems (jump drives) and pre-pay for data with scratch cards that you can purchase just about anywhere. Internet speed is slow. Downloading large pictures, songs, videos, etc is not advised. Internet is great for doing basic social media, email, research, etc. 

 

Phones are all pre-paid. Smart phones work here but are expensive if you buy them here. Tasch and I brought our iPhone 4’s under the assumption that they were unlocked. They were not. We are still in the process of unlocking them. Anyway, for phones here, you buy a SIM card and then you put shillings on your account. You can then, go online and allocate how many shillings you want for airtime and how much you want for data. SMS counts as airtime. This is similar to the pay-as-you-go phones in the states. 

Water, Electricity and Laundry

Water here is not drinkable. Water must be filtered to brush your teeth, wash your fruits and vegetables, and to drink. You can filter it by boiling it, or by using a water filter. We did not have a water filter here when we arrived to WGM bought one for the house!

Our water filter. Thank you WGM

Electricity here in Kericho is not reliable. It goes off at least once a day (usually around dinner time) and can stay off 15min to a few hours! We have candles all over the house because when power goes out at night, it gets very dark!

Our backup generator.
The is how we spend our evenings

Laundry is a very time consuming activity. We do have a washer, but it is not like the ones in the states. After clothes are washed, we put them in a separate compartment for them to spin. We then put them back in the washer to rinse before putting them back in the spinner. Once the washing process is complete, we hang our clothes on our clothes line in the back yard to dry. 

Our washer. The left side is for wash/rinse cycle.
The right side is for the spin cycle.

Our dryer. We don't need electricity for it!

  

Jambo!

So, its been a week since we left Knoxville, Tennessee for Kenya. Most of this past week has been traveling so we really have not settled down just yet. We arrived in Kenya late Thursday night and stayed in Nairobi for a few days with Jon and Vera (WGM Africa Regional Directors). There we got phones and rested. Saturday we left Nairobi for Nakuru by way of the Great Rift Valley. You can see for miles and miles at the top of the valley. As we drove through it, we saw zebras, gazelle and of course cattle and donkeys. 

When we arrived in Nakuru, we had lunch with the WGM Kenya directors (Jim and Alice) and then they took us to the Africa Gospel Church Baby Centre to meet April and see where we will be serving starting in a few months. We both loved spending time there learning about the ministry and just loving on the kids! For more information about the AGC Baby Centre, you can visit our website - www.jeffandtaschafyke.com

Sunday, we went with Jim and Alice to Ngata AGC which is next door to the Baby Centre. For January, their theme is “Discipleship” and the youth pastor spoke and gave a wonderful message out of John 15. One thing that stuck out was a statement he made. “Many of us know ABOUT God, but do you KNOW God?” He went on to talk about how some know of God and go through the routine of church, but unless we are in His word and communicate regularly through prayer (abiding in Him), then we do not know God on a personal level. He went on to say that discipleship is as easy as touching someone (investing in them). He then touched someone and that person got up and touched someone else and pretty quick, the entire congregation was standing because they had been touched. It was a great illustration. After church we met the pastors and they are excited that we are coming in April for six months!

After church we went and had lunch at Java House (the Kenyan Starbucks) which was amazing! I had so missed Java House from my previous trip to Kenya in 2008. We then shopped at a local grocery store and went with Jim and Alice to the Lake Nakuru National Park where we saw buffalo and baboons. I got out of the car to get a closer look at some of the baboons and to take a few pictures on Tascha’s phone. After our visit, we went back to the house and I helped Alice start up her blog. She is going to be a pro in no time! After our blog session, Alice taught Tascha how to make pizza dough from scratch since we were having grilled pizza for dinner. It was really good! 

Monday Jim and Alice brought us from Nakuru to Kericho, where we presently are serving. We took Monday evening and Tuesday to get settled and to meet with our hosts, Pat and Kathie Greco. Pat is the Vice Chancellor of Kenya Highlands Evangelical University where we are staying. Wednesday, we met most of the staff at the college during tea time. Every day at 10am and 4pm, everyone stops for tea… and I love it! After lunch, Kathie took us to Immanuel Africa Gospel Church to meet Joyce (the senior pastor) and the rest of the pastoral staff there. We discussed ministry opportunities and it looks like they are going to keep us busy! I will be helping with improving the audio and visual technologies for the church, as well as helping with their website. Tascha will be helping with children’s ministries. 

Tomorrow we will be at a picnic Immanuel AGC is hosting for the youth, and Sunday we will be attending both church services at Immanuel. As this week draws to a close and we begin wrapping our heads around the ministry opportunities here, please pray with us that God would continue to lead and guide us as we serve Him in Kericho at Kenya Highlands Evangelical University and Immanuel AGC. 

SEND

We are all called to be a part of missions. Some of us are called to go. Those who are not called to go, are called to send! There are many ways to send. Here are just a few:

- Pray about a missions worker God might want you to encourage.

• If you would like to be on our prayer team, you can sign up on our website (www.jeffandtaschafyke.com) under the "support" tab

- Create a local sending group. Consider sending care packages.
- Encourage a missions worker by e-mail, Facebook, telephone or Skype webcam call.

• We are on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Twitter and Skype! Visit our website for links to all or our Social Media sites

- Share a meal, your professional skills, a car or guest room with a missions worker.
- Financially support a missionary or project.

• You can financially support us by going to www.wgm.org/fyke or by going to our website and clicking the support tab

- Plan a trip with your life group to visit missionaries where they serve.