Leah, Wilson, and John

Leah has been with RVA for 37 years working for many different families and now she's working for the Boeve's.  Having house help was not something we were looking forward to. To be honest, it is not something we felt we needed and we were a bit embarrassed to have Leah come on Mondays and Wednesdays and do things we should be doing for ourselves. Bootstraps and all that. A change in perspective changed everything. Wife, mother, grandmother, follower of Christ, this lady is amazing. She rides on the back of a piki (motorcycle) each day to work, bundled up in the early morning mountain air. She works 8 hour days and hires a piki for the trip home. She works each day humming songs with a smile on her face. Pretty impressive. Leah works hard, along with her husband, to help provide for her children and grandchildren.  Are we still uncomfortable at times with Leah doing our laundry, undies included? Yes! But if we can help support a family while someone else is doing our laundry, we'll  do it.

Wilson is our driver.  We do not own a car here in Kenya so either we rent out a staff vehicle to drive or we depend on someone else to get us from point A to point B.  Wilson is that someone else.  He  delivers us to where we want to be with great style and speed and he gets us there safely.  Three very important skills when navigating the roads of Kenya.  The traffic here is intense, the matatus (small buses) are dangerous, and we will never again complain about the pot holes in Michigan. Wilson did not graduate from high school.  One of his greatest desires is that his two young children will be able to attend high school and graduate thus giving them more opportunities in life than he was given.  Schools in Kenya are not free.  So Wilson drives and we pay.  Would Jeff like to be the one behind the wheel? Yes (style, speed and safety notwithstanding)!  But if we can help support Wilson and his dream of an education for his children by letting him drive, we'll do it.

John is the man who takes care of Kedong's outside needs.  The Kedong building, which we are a part of, houses 5 different girl dorms.  John keeps it looking good! He mows the lawns, trims the bushes, tends the flowers, sweeps the sidewalks, stacks the wood.  John is a quiet, gentle man.  One of the families that are dorm parents in Kedong have a 5 year old boy named Watson.  I often see Watson helping John with whatever chore needs to be done.  Watching this quiet, tall black man working side by side with this talkative, little white guy, I wonder - why can't we all just get along?  John travels over an hour each day to get to RVA, walking part of the way and taking the aforementioned dangerous matatu the rest of the way.  John has a family to support.  Would Jane like to get her hands dirty by digging in the flower garden?  Yes!  But if we can help John support his family by letting him get his hands dirty, we'll do it.

We followed God's lead, left our home in the US and headed to Kenya to help support missionary families by loving and taking care of their children.  We didn't need to leave our home here to discover more opportunities to help support others.  Makes me wonder how many opportunities to help we may have missed that were right in front of us because we weren't paying attention?  How about you?  Who's right in front of you?  Are you paying attention?