Looking back a couple weeks

In the first week of September my co-worker John and I were privileged to join the AGC missions department for a trip to one of their fields. We went to the Silango church in Marigat district. This area of Kenya has been among those stricken by drought throughout this year. The missions department was going there to distribute food to the people living in the area. John and I went along to see the distribution and film for a short video on famine relief.

The area was so barren it had a strange beauty to it, they had bushes not much taller than myself which must have grown up in a time when there was rain and they were now waiting for the rains to return, but there was no grass, the ground was all just dust and rocks. Though the sun was bright and hot, you didn't feel sweaty. My theory on this phenomenon is that the air was so dry it would soak up and absorb your sweat as soon as it was available. One of the men who greeted us told me that the only good thing about this place was that building materials are readily available. At first I didn't know what he meant, but when I looked at their houses they are formed out of sticks, rocks, and mud, and that's about all there is in the landscape.

One of the most striking events of the day was when David Mutai, the mission’s director, was giving food to the first couple people. They started with some of the oldest women in the community and when David had measured out 5 large cans of maize (corn) for the very first woman he shook her hand and said thank you. This old woman very enthusiastically shook his hand and said "Asante kwa Mungu! (Thanks be to God!)" Then she surprised everyone by giving David a hug and I was told later that in that moment she told him that if it had not been for the last gift of food that was sent by AGC missions through the church here in Kericho (Immanuel AGC) back in March, she would be dead today. She was so thankful for the past donation and this one she could not contain herself, and it really touched David to see some direct fruit of his labor.

The gift of maize that we took to these people in Silango came through various donors. The maize did not magically appear in David's office but people in other AGC churches and even some in the US who are connected to WGM provided funds to buy 50 bags of Maize and bring it out to this very rural community and those gifts are saving lives. Remember that next time there's a food drive at your church.