Our Stars

Saturday I travelled to Sindo with a friend to watch some of our former students from CGA competing in their zonal secondary school tournament. Three of our former players (from CGA and from the Suba Lakers) were playing for Moi Girls Secondary and they managed to win 6-0 with our girls scoring 4 of the goals. Irine Achieng was playing on the left wing and Mourine Akinyi on the right wing, crossing it back and forth to each other. They went on to win the zonal championship rather easily. Three former CGA boys were also in action competing with Bishop Mugendi Secondary School. They also "squeezed out" a 6-0 win in the match we saw with two of our boys (Evance Odhiambo and Lukas Okumu) anchoring the defense. Like the girls they went on toe take the zonal championship. Both teams will be coming to Mbita in a couple of weeks to play in the district championship.

They will be competing there against Mbita High School. We watched them win their zonal championships on Sunday afternoon in Mbita. It was bitter sweet as the losing school was captained by Festus Okeyoh, another former CGA student. He missed the final penalty kick that ultimately decided the championship. Denis Omondi, Caltex Omollo and Obadiah Ogega all played key roles for Mbita High School.

It was fun to spend the weekend watching "our stars" shine for their various high schools. At the same time I was also getting reports from various other tournaments around the province of the successes of other CGA students at Asumbi Girls and Magare Girls.

The Worst Surprise

I didn't include the following story in my last e-mail update, but it was something that triggered many of those thoughts about all of the pregnancies of primary schools girls in our district. In fact I found out on Friday that out of all the girls that begin 1st grade in the district, only 60% will finish primary school (most of those that do finish will fail their national exams) and only 30% will actually finish secondary school. Those odds don't bode well for girls in this area.

The childhood pregnancies hit me very close to home when I discovered that one of the girls in our football club was pregnant. The reason the club started was to use football as a means to impact the lives of these girls in different areas (academically, spiritually, etc.) We want to help them avoid those things and make wise decisions that will help to build their futures. There are over 40 girls associated with the club, but this one incident brought me to tears.

I have coached "Christina" for over three years and she absolutely loves to play football. She has boundless energy on and off the field and eats and breathes football. She is one of the few players that knows all of the top players in the world, follows certain clubs like Man U, and watches games on TV. She never missed a training session, game or tournament. She was always the first one on the field. During our matches, people would accuse her of being a boy (I convinced her that was a great compliment). In fact in January we named her one of our team captains. Along with her great ability and work ethic, she was also very disciplined, respectful and honest.

This year several of us noticed she was gaining weight, but we just thought it was a normal 14 year old going through puberty. Her energy level went way down and she wasn't playing the same way she used to. Then one time in April she didn't show up for a tournament and then missed a training weekend without calling. I guess I am naive but I never in a million years would have thought she was pregnant. She is only 14 and has always been such a good girl. She was the last one in the club that I would have expected. But when one of her teammates came and told me they suspected it, then I put all the pieces together. Heartbreaking.

So during half-term break this week at CGA, I was able to travel by boat taxi to Mfangano Island to visit her home. After a 2.5 hour boat ride and a 1.5 hour hike up a mountain and then back down into a valley, we arrived at their home and found her widowed mother cooking lunch for her 7 children. Christina saw us and smiled and ran to greet us (which was a relief because I was afraid she might run away when she saw us). Another club official and I went into the tiny mud hut and she came and talked with us as the others prepared some tea and roasted maize to serve us. Christina was visibly pregnant, but insisted she was not and those were just rumors going around. She made up many stories and even stood up and allowed me to feel her stomach (which is very uncultural), but it was obvious the stomach was very swollen. She made up stories of being sick, even though the clinic couldn't diagnose the problem which forced them to to the traditional healers (medicine men).

I was dumbstruck because she was totally denying being pregnant and I didn't know what to say. Fortunately, the mother came in and confirmed that she was pregnant. After the cat was out of the bag, Christina opened up and shared how it happened. Her aunt had been sick on another part of the island and so the mother sent Christina to live with the Aunt for around 8 months to help fetch water from the lake and to cook for her. The aunt's condition got worse and she went to Nairobi to the hospital so Christina was left there but there wasn't really any concerned adults around and she got involved with a boy from her school. The reason she was lying and hiding from it was because she felt so bad that she let us down and she knew we had trusted her so much and put a lot of confidence in her when we named her a captain earlier this year. Her mother even said Christina has been talking about committing suicide and that the girl has been so depressed for the past 3 months.

We had a good counselling session with her and let her know that God's love never changes for us and that our club officials still love her the same as we used to. We discussed God's grace and how all of us are sinners which is why Jesus gave his life on the cross. We looked at several scriptures and prayed together. After talking she just seemed like the old Christina that we all love so much. I think it was very good for her and for us. She has a long road ahead as she gives birth in Aug/Sep and then will try to return to school and finish her primary school education in the next couple of years. She needs a lot of prayers.

May/June Update

I am continually reminded of the challenges young girls face in this area. Less than 25% of them are able to finish primary school with passing grades. There are so many obstacles they face daily, starting with poverty and, in many cases, being orphaned. Many girls drop out of school before finishing 8th grade because of pregnancies, marriage and child labour. Of the girls that reach the end of primary school, most do not perform well on their exams because so much of their time and energy was spent working in the home. Most families don’t invest much into the education of the girls in their families because once the girls get married, they will leave the home. Just this past week reports came out in the Kenyan newspaper about two primary schools in our district. A school on Mfangano Island has had 11 girls in 7th and 8th grade get pregnant in the last few months. Another school in Rusinga had 6 girls get pregnant. Most of these are young girls between the ages of 13 and 16. Their life is now forever changed.

Because of these trends, the success of the girls at CGA stands out in the region. Every year our girls shine academically. Forty-two of the forty-eight girls (88%) that have entered 8th grade at CGA have reached the pass mark on their national exams and all 48 are still working on their education (47 are in secondary school and 1 is in technical school). Every year at least one of our girls has placed in the top ten girls in the district, including one year when we had two of the top three girls in the district. This year is no exception. In our 8th grade class we have three of the top girls in the district competing for some of the few chances at a National School. Even with our outstanding success, in the fourteen years since CGA began, we have also had around five of our students get pregnant. Each time, it is very agonizing to our staff. We work hard to instill Biblical principles in each of our students and advise them on how to make wise decisions to build their future. In the end, God has left all of us to make our own decisions each day. No one can force us to make any decision. We have worked hard with each of these girls to show them grace and mercy and support them through this difficult time in their life. A few of them have been able to resume their education after giving birth. I was pleased this month to get positive reports from two of these girls who gave birth last year. Both of them have gotten serious about their education and are working very hard in their first year of secondary school to try to make something of their lives. One of them finished as the top girl in her school and the other one managed to finish in the top half of her class at a high achieving school.

These negative influences are one of the main reasons we started a girls football (soccer) club for the primary schools in our district. I love it because it is a chance to step outside the walls of CGA and help others in the community. The club provides a source of hope and joy to these girls who participate. They are able to travel to Mbita one weekend a month for training and so much more. They have time to interact with girls from other schools and learn from each other. Along with their football training, they also hear from special guest speakers about a range of topics such as relationships, health issues, academic s and other areas. Most importantly, they hear the Gospel and are given a chance to respond to God’s great love. We hope and pray that as they develop their God-given abilities in football, they will learn and grow in other areas and be able to avoid the pitfalls that so many girls in this area face.

Today was a holiday here in Kenya as we celebrated 47 years of independence. During my “day off” from school I went out into the interior parts of the community to visit the homes of some of the girls we were inviting to join the football club. One of them has a similar story to many. We found out that “Carolyne” had given birth at the age of 14. Unlike most of the girls, after delivering and then nursing for a few months, she was able to return to school to try and finish her education as her widowed mother agreed to take care of the child. Two years later, Carolyne is now in 8th grade and will be sitting her national exams in November. She is so excited to join the club where she can develop her talents, interact with girls from all around and get the opportunity to travel and compete in some tournaments. We hope that the club will be able to help her stand strong against other cultural pressures and make good decisions to build her future.

Prayer Requests:

1) Pray for God’s protection around the girls of CGA, the Suba Lakers Football Club and others in this community.

2) Pray for the girls to stand strong against temptations and make wise decisions that will help to build their future

3) Pray for me to be able to sell my old vehicle (it is a long story, but I have written about it on my blog)

A Day With The Police

Since buying a used Landcruiser last August, I have really struggled to sell my old Mitsubishi Pajero. Several people showed interest last year, but none were able to come up with the money needed. In December someone was ready to buy it but was advised by his mechanic that the turbo should be replaced. We offered to reduce the price so that he could purchase it and then fix it himself, but he refused. So we took it to a mechanic to fix the turbo. The mechanic really liked the vehicle and decided he wanted to buy it. After fixing the turbo, he decided to do some more work on the engine which I never authorized. When I travelled to Nairobi around Christmas I was planning on collecting the vehicle and bringing it back to Mbita where someone was ready to pay cash for it, but I was surprised to find the entire engine sitting in the backseat. We had some heated words with the mechanic and he said not to worry because he would buy it. He kept promising payment, but never delivered it. Finally in February he sent me a post-dated check for the full amount, along with a sales agreement. He asked me to send him the transfer forms signed so that he could change the ownership and then the bank would agree to give him a loan for the full amount. After seeking professional opinions I agreed and sent the forms, but took the vehicle away from him until the transfer was complete and money in my account.

He changed the ownership into his name, but, unfortunately, the check bounced. Luckily I never paid him for any of the work he did on the vehicle. He failed to get the loan and continued to make promises weekly that he never fulfilled. Eventually he was forced to close down his garage (I can’t imagine why) and is trying to open another one in another location. It forced me to make a couple of unexpected journeys to Nairobi to sort out the situation (or at least try). I was getting lots of promises but no money and I couldn’t even get him to sign the transfer forms back over to me. Throughout the process we have kept the vehicle somewhere so he didn’t have access to it. At the beginning of May (3 months after the check bounced) he actually deposited 10% of the sale price in my account but it was too little too late. Finally, after months of struggling I took the advice of a lawyer and I travelled to Nairobi to have him arrested for check fraud and breach of contract.

It was quite an interesting day. I went to the Kilimani police station in Nairobi. I was nervous after hearing so many stories of corruption among the police force and not really understanding how all of these things work in Kenya. I was sent from one office to another until I finally landed at the office of the Divisional Criminal Investigations Officer (DCIO). I was greeted there by a warm smile and a big hug. The DCIO there was a Christian who used to serve in Mbita. He didn’t know my name but recognized me as the one who brought bibles and food to the internally displaced people that were camping at the police station in Mbita after being chased from their homes during the post-election violence. No one else knew what I had done except for this policeman, and maybe one or two others, yet God set it up and now he was the one I was going to for help. What an amazing God we serve! The DCIO assigned another one of his officers to handle our case.

I had to wait a couple of hours as the officer went to another station to get a vehicle and fill it with fuel. Then we set off with six of us in a little Toyota Corolla to find the man. We found his old mechanic shop that was closed. I offered a few suggestions on how to get the man, but they didn’t seem to think I knew anything that could help them. After struggling for about 1.5 hours, they finally went with my idea. They called him and pretended to need some help with their car and the mechanic agreed to meet them somewhere. I can’t go into every detail, but let’s just say the policeman wasn’t very friendly to the man once they found him (and actually he wasn’t very friendly to me either). We rode back to the police station with seven of us now stuffed in a small vehicle designed to hold five (Is that illegal?). The mechanic kept on talking and looking at me asking “Why?” It wasn’t a very fun experience for either of us. To make a long story short, by the next day I had the ownership book and transfer papers signed by him and am now able to put the vehicle back in my name and put it on the market again. The mechanic continues to make promises and still wants to purchase the vehicle, but at least now I have some control over it since I am able to sell it to someone else if he doesn’t come through soon.

God really saw me through that difficult time. If it wasn’t for the connection with an “old friend” in the police station I don’t think I would have received much help. I was able to get their assistance without giving them even a penny for a bribe.

Please pray that I would be able to sell the vehicle soon and without many more hassles.

Strongest and Fastest

CGA girls emerged as the fastest and strongest amongst the 100 primary schools in Mbita district. Violet Akinyi from 7th grade has swept through all of the shot put events from the base level, zone level, divisional level and now district level. She finished in 1st place once again at the district athletics competition. Likewise, Syprose Akoth from 6th grade, has won the 100 meter and 200 meter races at each of those levels. Today she finished in 4th place in the 200 meter race, but once again won the 100 meter in an exhilarating race. She also anchored the winning 4 x 100 meter relay team for Mbita division. They will be proceeding to the regional level on Friday to represent Mbita District. We are proud of them.