Tag: Jesus

Kenya, Summer 2023

~ I. Graham Smith ~ Leave a comment

Proverbs 14:31 (NIV)
“He who oppresses the poor shows contempt for their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors God.”

Luke 14:13-14 (NIV)
“But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

This morning I was thinking about a trip my wife and I took to Kenya a couple of years ago. I realize that I spend a lot of time thinking about things but not a lot of time writing about them, and I am inspired by others who bring more personal notes into their writing. As a result, this is my short account of the trip, its background, and a couple of pictures I took from this amazing experience.

Overall, one reason I love travel because of the way my eyes are opened every time I experience another culture. It has happened every time, from Scotland to France, and other places. Without experience, we tend to view the world through narrow vision. I feel like it is easy to see ourselves as the center of the world where we are always right and God loves us more. Perspective is a good thing.

During a Sunday morning service in late October 2022, our pastor announced that Hydrating Humanity wanted to send three teams to Kenya in 2023. The main focus of these trips would be to repair and build Hydrating Humanity infrastructure. My wife was working in the children’s class that day and didn’t see the announcement, but I felt like this was possibly something that God would have me do. After the service I added my name to the contact list to gain more information. I will add that the desire to go was not something I was expecting, and I feel like it was God-given. Growing up as a missionary kid, I am generally not drawn to mission trips, so it came as a bit of a surprise to me.

I spoke to my wife after the service and let her know that I had inquired about the trip. She also said that she was interested in going. We had never discussed anything like this before. Within the following months, it became clear that we were on the list and that God was confirming that we should go together.

I had an expired passport with my middle and last name only, so I began the process of applying for a new passport with my full name on it. The first application was submitted on November 8th 2022. The passport was approved in around 5 months. I think the major delay was simply that the passport offices were inundated with requests in the post-covid travel environment.

I’ll admit that during that time, I was concerned a bit. There were several steps that we had to take in faith. For instance, we bought the air tickets before I had a passport and before we had even saved the money to pay for those tickets. The whole time, I felt a sense of peace about the trip, and I kept telling God that I trusted Him. I figured, if He wanted us to go, he would provide.

I’m listing these milestones because they remind me (and hopefully others) that God is a loving and generous Father. He doesn’t ask and then not make a way. Here are some of the ways He provided.
* God provided peace and confirmation that we should go. This greatly increased my faith.
* God provided my passport in time.
* God provided finances during a time when we had spent most of our personal finances on moving to and settling into our new home.
* Though we did not solicit help, He provided a few donations from people that knew we were going. These are very meaningful and remind me that the kingdom of God is filled end to end with those who are sowing and reaping.
* I received an unexpected bonus from my employer.
* The Lord provided a bigger tax return than I had expected (usually I pay!)
* He kept us safe in a country that had ongoing political protests as well as plenty of diseases such as yellow fever, hepatitis A, and malaria.

Our travel was smooth. We were blessed in every way while we were there, giving our best to the Lord. We met a bunch of amazing people and made friends that I hope are will last for the rest of our lives. The people in Africa are

What was accomplished:
The team built a roughly 16’x42’ storage building for Hydrating Humanity well drilling equipment. Working with Hydrating Humanity staff, we poured concrete, welded, manufactured, and assembled (a lot of manual labor.) We painted and repaired the mission house on the property which I think is about 70 years old. We also lowered the property’s well-head and built a concrete box around it so that vehicles can park there without damaging the well.

Why did this all happen? Because God loves people.
Africans drink from rivers, puddles, runoff streams, and rainwater collectors, all of which are also used for washing, feeding livestock, and other things. All of these are contaminated with disease, and so many people die from a simple lack of clean water.

We visited the site of a water project and spoke to Hellen Ndere, who is the school principal. St. Celestino Nyangubo Girl’s Secondary school is on the side of a hill in Migori county Kenya. The girls there are one of many examples of how much God loves the poor, the downtrodden, the widows and orphans. His love is practical and He calls His children to be His hands and feet. At this school, they collected water from their rooftops as much as possible, but that water is never enough. The girls walk to the river every day to get water for washing and drinking. This situation exposes them to unclean water with all of its related health issues and to human predators that lure them away from safety and abuse them. It also eats up their available time for studies.

Hydrating Humanity partnered with the school to drill a well. A small plot of land was purchased at the bottom of the hill, roughly 300 meters away. The well was drilled, and a tank was installed that brought and stored the water up the hill, inside the school grounds. The school raised additional funds to add a return pipe that allowed excess water to be given to the surrounding village every day – their heart was to share God’s blessings with their neighbors. Ms. Hellen said that the water changed the life of the kids as well as the surrounding community. The girls are safer, can focus on studies, and as a result, the school’s test scores skyrocketed, and its growth has been astronomical – growing from 15 students in 2015 to around 1100 students in 2023. These are real effects of something as simple as clean water, something that we take for granted.

On our way back up the hill from the well, we visited a classroom. The level of hope and joy that was evident in these girls was so astounding that some of us were in tears when we left. God loves people, and His heart beats with a love that is no less for these poor and downtrodden Africans than it is for us in the western world. It is by His hand and in His name that these life-changing projects are initiated.

The organization we went with is Hydrating Humanity.
They partner with regular people and anyone else to bring clean water, hygiene education, and the love of Jesus to the poor and needy in Africa. See their website, hydratinghumanity.org for more information about how God began this work and how His love is being poured out on Africa. This group has completed over 1100 clean water projects, usually finishing 2-3 a week with four drilling teams. All of their wells are always maintained and repaired by Hydrating Humanity for free.

The Great Rift Valley west of Nairobi.

Tea fields on the outskirts of Nairobi

Helene, One Year Later

~ I. Graham Smith ~ Leave a comment

Last week I put my life on pause and went to Western North Carolina to help with restoration. It was the fall of 2024 that Hurricane Helene dumped incredible amounts of rain and wind on the mountains of North Carolina and Tennessee. The result was significant damage and loss of life. I’m told around 260 people died, mostly on the western side of the continental divide where Interstate 40 crosses the border into Tennessee.

Where I visited, the town of Chimney Rock was completely demolished. Fast moving landslides threw tons of rocks, trees, and water down the valleys. Everything there converged on the town and wiped out everything in the way. This area is rural and remote, and one of many places still suffering a year later.

Driving in, the roads were still collapsed and limited to one lane with sharp drops toward the river. Houses hung on the river’s edge, their insides spilling out. Twisted vehicles lay upside down completely embedded with mud. Many houses were just gone while others floated downstream and became lodged amongst the trees.

I volunteered with Spokes of Hope.

They are volunteer driven and have rebuilt the town of Chimney Rock and are continuing to coordinate, build and repair far beyond this town in the name of Jesus. Hordes of Amish have volunteered along with many churches, companies, and individuals both religious and nonreligious.

I came with a few people from church. It was good to have a break from the stress of the desk job, get some manual labor under my belt, and serve God and fellow mankind. Monday, we went to work on a house, one of about ten that were washed away in a small stretch of the rural countryside. This is a solid 35 minutes from Chimney Rock and past Lake Lure (which is still being dredged every day for whatever was washed there).

One day it was raining, so we went into a Spokes of Hope warehouse that needs to be up fitted for future use. It had also gone through the ringer and water ruined everything that was previously inside it and the warehouse next door. We moved contaminated dirt, moved pallets of donated furniture, demoed inside, built walls, painted, installed insulation, windows, and doors, among various other tasks.

Another day we worked on an old house that had about five feet of water run through it, one of many such houses in the area. We replaced floor beams, created drainage, and installed underlayment. There are so many people still waiting for volunteers to slowly rebuild their houses for free. I’m sure many are still paying mortgages on their old houses as well.

I spent days with people that drive from far away every week or two and continue to serve. I come back knowing that the effort is larger than its parts, that God moves when people sacrifice in His name, and that the American culture of uniting on common ground is still alive and well despite the division that desperately tries to tear us apart.

Long past when the media moved on to all of the Next Thing, this area still needs a lot of help. Help and money are dwindling, and there is much to do.

This isn’t a call to action, its just a reminder.

We have pizza with the fire chief of Bat Cave, NC, Steve Freeman. He told us some amazing stories and so I’m including the videos below to provide those here as well.