GOING BACK IN TIME (1)

FIFTY ODD YEARS AGO, in 1969, but before Testimony Faith Homes was even dreamed about, this photo was taken with two good friends that often joined me in sharing the Gospel - Elija Akhahenda on the left, and Everlyn Etchenje  on the right, both to be teachers.  And yes, that IS me in the middle with beard and tache.    It was taken during a weekend Retreat deep in the countryside around Maseno.  I had been in Kenya about six months working with Trinity Fellowship, a work of faith in God reaching out to School and College students across the Country.

I was from England, but my heart began to reach out to Africa in Denmark, when I was helping Marinus Lund with Evangelistic Meetings on the island of Fyn, in a small town called Ejby.   I was staying with Eva Vosegaard and her parents on their farm, known as 'Vosegaard'.     I will always remember that visit, and I will always remember the loving welcome from Eva's Mum and Dad, who were then quite elderly.  They knew no English and I knew no Danish - but it did not seem to make a difference to fellowship we enjoyed.    Eva had previously been Secretary to the Principle at I.B.T.I in Burgess Hill, Sussex, England all the time I studied Bible there from 1966.     We are still in touch although she now lives in Middlefart.    I came across a photo of  'Vosegaard' just this afternoon whilst looking for something else - I had no idea I had it.   It was just the right place for me to seek the Lord, surrounded by fields and woods, and within walking distance to the sea.    I will always remember my stay there, that year, and I know that there I laid down my will to do whatever God had for me to do for Him...     In December I had arrived in Kenya.

IN THE MONTH OF MARCH 1969, I had written in my Diary the following - (remember I had not yet received from the Lord the full purpose for me to be in Kenya!    I was just a preacher, and at that time more of a clerk, and still not very sure about living by faith - I was from the beginning unsalaried and unsupported in Kenya. Many days were filled with Meetings, and sometimes far afield.)

'March 12th,1969  - Elijah and I had just finished days Meetings in a Boys Secondary School some miles from Maseno where I live. Sundays are difficult for transportation if you don't have a car of your own, but sometimes you can get lucky and pick up a fast Peugeot taxi (matatu) on the road.   These vehicles are quite roomy and can often be filled with many more than the recommended number of passengers plus luggage.  They are often driven quite recklessly if not also drunkenly!   (But the fare was cheap in those days. I could travel almost four hundred kilometres for Twenty Kenya Shillings - just under a Sterling Pound in those days)   On this occasion we were able to wave one down before having to stand too long in the dusty heat of the late afternoon.   We both got in, my  friend in front with the driver, and me in the boot almost!  There were already three passengers in the seat in front of me.    The road was tarmac, but with quite a lot of wear out of it.    There were many people about, and a fair amount of traffic.

A few miles on we stopped to pick up a young African family of three; husband, wife, and child.  Again we set off, and gathered speed along the straight road,   Suddenly the young husband of this family began to cry out, and struggle in his seat, and it became apparent that he was drunk.   His wife tried to calm him, but to no avail, and he began to hit out, and then grabbed the collar of the driver, who was in front of him, as if to choke him.   The car, now overloaded began to swerve all over the road, but the driver managed to keep control , and at last brought it over to the side of the road, and 
stopped.    He quickly turned in his seat, and pushed the young attacker from him, and he now began to weep with contrition loudly, and to beg the driver for forgiveness.   But the driver was in no mood for such things, and hauled the man, his wife, and small child, out of the car.  There they all stood trying to get back in.    Slamming and locking the doors, we drove off, and looking back, I saw the young man stagger back into the road amid the oncoming traffic, his wife hysterically striving to bring him to the verge.   Their child stood by, screaming in cold terror.   Then I remembered my own childhood, and how I too had stood by and watched, my helpless mother wrestle with her violent and drunken husband.    Sundays can be very bad here.   Bars ( in 1969) are open most of the day and night (a lot of them illicit establishments), liquor, of one kind or another, is cheap and plentiful.  Drunkenness is rife everywhere, and at most social levels.   Recently, at the gate of Maseno Mission Hospital a man was attacked, and cut to bits with knives, and not much further away from there a girl was raped by her own School Teacher.   Both assailants were drunk.   Alcohol is eating into many hearts, and lives, to the injury of many souls.   One African Poet has written -

"If only you knew the horror that is wine,

You would curse it.

you sway, you fall  on your face,

You are covered with dirt."

'''''''''''''''''''''''''''''' 

Writing in a Newsletter for March that same year I had shared -

'Since my first letter, the Lord has so arranged it that I am now doing the work of Chaplain at the Siriba Teacher's College here in Maseno, and also at the Maseno Mission Hospital run by the Anglican Church of Kenya.   I had a large parish of countless student teachers and staff, plus patients, and also more than 40 student nurses to look after in the Word.      Last Saturday afternoon more than 15 came to enquire after Christ, and offered their lives to His Service.'

My 40x2-ft mud cottage was just inside the gate of the Hospital.    All around me was a quite densely populated society of a semi rural. and very needy and materially, poor nature.    When I had first arrived in Maseno in December 1968 I had found myself sharing a substantial and secluded rental house with another brother in Christ.     We had a cook and a house man to take care of us.  I was uncomfortable in it, feeling very set apart from the community around me.      After about a month I had found myself visiting the hospital, just to acquaint myself with how it was.    As I was leaving I noticed a small mud and wattle hut standing empty.   I walked over to it and found a young white man unlocking the front door.    I greeted him.   He had just arrived from Canada to spend a little time as the doctor for the Hospital - he was also looking it all over.    We chatted.    The place had not been lived in for a while.   It was just mud daubed around the poles and twigs of  Wattle trees.  Just as many of our own British Medieval 'mud and wattle' houses had been made.    The internal walls divided the interior into living space accommodating three bedrooms, a living room, and bathroom (a place where one could throw cold water over oneself )- and outside a kitchen and toilet.

There was no ceiling, and the rafters and tin roofing were exposed to view.   The windows had no glass, only wooden shutters.    A very simple little house.    But it DID have electricity, and running water.     Just the place for me, I had thought.        I asked the doctor if I could rent it.   He had looked astonished at my question, and asked if I was serious.    'Yes, of  course' I had replied.   'Then you can have it for free!" he said.      And that day I moved into it.        After a week of scrubbing, painting and repairs it look quite inviting, and it WAS very homely - apart from snakes, rats and bats.   We managed to keep them at bey, learnt not to even bother much about them.      After I left Maseno it continued to be used - at least until 2008, and by  then it had been allowed to run down.   Although still occupied the roof had rusted and fallen in, and whole exterior looked as if it had been repainted with mud and dirt.   A very sad picture.  Whatever we allow to be neglected, in ourselves, or in our possessions will surely decay and fall apart!!!

I will now break off.     I hope to bring some memories as the weeks go by, but perhaps not every week.   I do not travel much on public transport these days.    But on the whole there is not a lot of change.   Modernisation?  Yes, I suppose so.   More good roads, improved laws to ensure safety on the road, and good maintenance of all vehicles using them ( though one can still come across some very ill maintained cars and buses.)     Drunkenness?   Oh yes,  I think it maybe worse.    AND it costs more to travel today.    My Ksh. 20/= trip  would today cost about Ksh,1,500/- or about Eleven Pounds Sterling.
Oh, and Matatus DO still get overloaded at times, as you will observe from the photo below.  There will probably be as many as 16+ INSIDE and four or five more hanging on outside!!   And you are right to imagine the RISK and DANGER in taking a ride in one, AND to assume that many DO die in them



I  will conclude with a photo of me when nine years old, living in Wimbledon, England.   I was of course in Primary School at the time - my 5th!!    My dog was a faithful friend all his life.  Amazing to see myself then, and consider where I am now.     God was my helper even then, though I knew so very little about His Love for me.   But I know, looking back, that it was His Hand that guided, protected, and assured the salvation of myself, AND my adopted parents.    Bill Green came to Christ through the Salvation Army before he passed away, and my mum, Edie Green came to Christ in 1987 then in her late seventies.    They are both with the Lord I believe.     During my childhood I watched the hurt and abuse given to one another through  unfaithfulness and booze.    I watched them separate and seek solace in other ways, with others they met, never finding it.     I saw them come back together, and I saw them separate again - BUT finally each separately found JESUS, and peace and mercy, at last.    GOD IS Merciful, Compassionate and Longuffering, and HE will do His best to help us find Eternal Life.

GOD is Blessing US here in the sunshine.     He is answering prayers.    I will be sharing more.
Till then dear brother sisters, tighten your belts, secure your readiness to GO, for HE may very soon snatch us from yet more evil.      I have a NEW Slogan for my self, which I think is very much in line with God's own Advice.   It is, simply  'Don't be SAD,    Be GLAD!!    No matter what we might face, if we acknowledge HIM in our lives, He is with us -  and HE will bring us through with a song on our lips.

Love to you all in His Name.

John, Esther and Daryl Green