Gideon's cloth
God may reveal His presence in many ways, but for us rainbow is always the amazing one.
Today Sunday May 5, 2013 a big surprise has brought peace, assurance and joy within our heart and mind amid the spiritual storm and struggle here in South Africa.
Early morning right after we woke up,
RAINBOW APPEAR RIGHT IN FRONT OUR BEDROOM DOOR
The night before I prayed and asked for His forgiveness if we have done wrong.
For the past few weeks we had been very bold and straight forward
with our value as Christian teacher.
We also had many disagreements and might cause discomfort to others.
We contemplate, pray and plead His assurance that He approves every decision we made.
This morning
how relieve we are ...oh... Lord Almighty
for with a piece of white cloth which we called Gideon's cloth
we caught the blessing of Thy assurance...
Oh Lord .... my Lord
We have everything in THEE our God
1 O Lord, You have searched me and known me.
And are acquainted with all my ways.
4 For there is not a word on my tongue,
And laid Your hand upon me.
It is high, I cannot attain it.
Or where can I flee from Your presence?
9 If I take the wings of the morning,
And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 Even there Your hand shall lead me,
And Your right hand shall hold me.
Even the night shall be light about me (Psalm 139:1-12)
Photo essays of boys sand collector
The tale of a swan princess:
Kenyan nature theater displays a Manadonese folk tale.
A folk tale from Manado tells a story about nine fairy princesses,
who came to Tumantenden in Airmadidi- a fresh and clear bubbling water spring.
In fact, Airmadidi means bubbling water.
As a native from Airmadidi - Manado I know the story very well.
The princesses came from heaven using a rainbow as their ladder.
Down to Tumatenden spring they plunged to enjoy the fresh bubbling water bath.
A peasant boy spotted them, and hid the clothes of the youngest prettiest one.
The princesses must go back before the rainbow disappeared.
But one could not make it, because she could not find her clothes.
However, she fell in love with the handsome peasant boy who came and gave her a shelter.
They lived happily until one day she found her clothes hidden in the rice box.
Excited, she put them on again.
The beautiful swan then flew up into the heaven through the evening rainbow,
leaving her only son behind.
Being half human and half deity, he then appeared as black swan.
Manadonese great grandmas believed that the deity swan must been playing with her son at the Tumatenden spring every time a rain bow appeared.
I spotted the swan princesses swimming at Naiberi creek in Kenya, a day after a beautiful rainbow appeared in front of our house in Baraton.
Though this might be naive, but my native folk tale became so real when I took the pictures.
I was like their son, meeting the fairy princesses of my own.
The missing beauty of my childhood and the nature which I could not find in my own home village was revealed again in front of my own eyes here in Africa.
The picture below shown the Manadonese beauties performing Tumatenden folk dance I took from
beritamanado.com/tag/tarian-tumatenden/
The tale of HIV- infected orphans
It was a holiday and we spent a day with HIV children at their orphanage
home. According to the African Inland Church (AIC) pastor who manages this orphanage
there are about forty of them, and the youngest of them are still very small
about three years old.
That day we brought them some little donation in form of dry food, soaps,
tooth pastes, clothes and some children’s sport & game items. We also spent
time to play with them in the afternoon. It was fun to see them happy. We
really enjoyed and forgot that they are HIV infected children. The caretaker
told us that these children must continually take regular medication and since
they all are orphans, their life actually very much depend on the sponsors and donors,
who provide them with financial help, and the volunteers who provide them care.
According to him it is more expensive and more difficult to take care of the
HIV-infected orphans compare to the normal orphans. He was grateful that there
are people who care and want to donate and spare some of their time with these
children.
On one occasion I captured photos of three little boys jumping,bouncing and doing somersault on the trampoline. As children, they started boasting in action when they
realized I was taking pictures. They looked like normal children, so innocent,
so ignorance and seemed to enjoy each other while playing.
Probably the angels are also watching us jumping and bouncing our life
despite our spiritual HIV, so ignorance of our sinful condition. Unless
somebody take us and put us refuge in the orphanage of Christ’s salvation, and continually
remind us to take our regular spiritual medication, we also will act like these
little kids.
Life is really so vulnerable and
fragile for all of us, the spiritual HIV-infected beings, and there are many
more who have not realized that they need to be in the Orphanage of Christ’s
salvation.
House under three trees
It was early morning in Rwanda and I decided to go up, off the hotel back gate to see what I could get with the camera from the village life out there.
The morning dusk still covered the hills with fog.
And,
I saw two young men coming out of the small house which was built under three trees.
They seemed to disappear beyond the green bushes.
Following their wet tracks I went down curiously to find out, "What are they doing in this very early morning?"
The following photo essay explains a short story of the two young sand collectors I captured in Nyandungu hill, Kigali.
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| Life began with fresh misty morning in Rwanda |
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| and I spot these two young Rwandan boys heading down the hills |
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| Probably at this time work began too early for us but not for them |
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| There is no supervisor but themselves |
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| Very sure of their duty: separating sand from the soil, then fill the sack |
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| One sack value Rwf 500 or about $0.8 |
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| On the head and on the shoulder... up to the top of the hill |
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| Their office time starts at around 6:00 AM... and by nature the work place is not so beautiful |
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| Still they must leave the house under three trees before the sun caught them. |
I wonder how lucky I am, that despite all complaints and murmurs I often expressed about my life, my destiny did not allow the sun to command me to wake up too early to do my work.
On the other side, these two young sand collectors really showed me, that despite of their being young and poor, life still gives them opportunity to face their destiny with dignity.
Solemnly and respectfully without a murmur they greeted me as they passed, carrying the sand on their head and shoulder.
The old man songs
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| Morning songs |
This week lessons about worship and songs remind of our experiences in AIIAS church back in 1997-1999.
There was a couple of an almost blind man and a paralyzed wife on a wheel chair. They always came early to church. After settling in their seats, the man then would start singing, while the wife prayed. He sang and prayed loudly, and used that particular very short time before the other congregation came to perform his own worship.
The church was still empty and there were only few of us including me, my wife, my daughter, my son, the old man and his wife. My wife would always tell our young children to be quiet so we did not interrupt the old man while he was singing and praying, because as soon as more congregation came he would stop.
It was very solemn and the tune of his heart filled the church with reverent expression of his longing to be with his God on Sabbath. We could not understand most of his songs and prayers because he would do them in Tagalog, but we could sense the passion of this retired pastor to our God’s love and mercy in his songs and prayers.
This very early morning I watched the morning rays in our front yards, while I was reviewing the lesson, then I decided to write this short essay about the old man songs. I also captured some of the beautiful pictures to commemorate the feeling of worships through pictures. Although I am far away in Africa, but the worship experience of the old retired pastor in AIIAS has brought me again closer to our God.
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| Bara morning songs - chirping birds, wet grass, sun-rays, blossom poisentia, waving eucalyptus |
I heard many sermons and seminars about music and songs, I enjoyed many beautiful choir performances, but the short early worship experiences and the feeling of reverent atmosphere, we enjoyed from the out of tune songs sung solo by the almost blind pastor in AIIAS is a unique worship experience I will never forget.
The bible tells us about the song of Moses, probably God has given me a glimpse of Moses’ song through the old man songs, and I am longing to hear him singing again when I meet him in heaven.
For me graduation is not merely a time to confer degree, but more of a time to celebrate our relationship as well as the privileges of sharing love and life with young people whose lives have also impacted and transformed our lives.
Probably we will not meet them after they leave Bara, however there are part of their influence will always stay with us forever.
Sagoo probably was just a very silent Sikh-gentleman, but his manner will always mark his presence. He won't argue, but very confident of who he is and from the way he looked at you or from the way he smiled, he expressed his disagreement, and most of all Sagoo is always very clean and neat.
Hannis would be in class early and helped me fix the chairs or even clean the room, with those little actions she encouraged me not to complain when I found the classroom was messy and dirty.
Felix would just pop into my office and say, "How are you, Mwalimu?"... He is always happy and seemed to enjoy all the challenges. He would ask me to join Bizman program... we cleaned the fountain, did marketing research and be the first one to present their project or even complained his grades with laughter.
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| Smart and intelligent Sagoo was one of the Bizman officer, we learned good manner from him.. very clean and neat
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| A jolly good Felix..... diligent, creative and trustworthy Learned how to enjoy Bara challenges from him |
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| Ahmed.... calm, smart and patience Learn manner, respect and perseverance from Ahmed |
Many times Patrick would come and greet me when I passed the Students Finance office, where he was doing his attachment. During the graduation ceremony, I received a text message "Mwalimu, I made it because of you! Thank you!" From my seat I looked for him among the graduates who were sitting in front of us, and ... there he was, ... he waved his hand showed a big gratitude smile. Later the dean announced that this tall Catholic Rwandan gentleman graduated with Magna Cum Laude.
I am very sure for his academic achievement, he is one of my bests.
I am very sure for his academic achievement, he is one of my bests.
Rayler broke his arm and suffered from the pain, after three or four days the doctor must break his arm again and realign the fracture. We did not see him for a quite sometime, then we saw him again performed with the university chorale. During the Business research project presentation, his group made very good performance and he got an A.
My wife and I admired Rayler for his polite manner, very respectful and care. Before we marched for the commencement program, we - his teachers took pictures with Ray which my wife also posted in her Facebook.
These are only few from many beautiful experiences I have with my beloved African students, the very reason why I should celebrate my life here in our beautiful Bara.
My wife and I admired Rayler for his polite manner, very respectful and care. Before we marched for the commencement program, we - his teachers took pictures with Ray which my wife also posted in her Facebook.
These are only few from many beautiful experiences I have with my beloved African students, the very reason why I should celebrate my life here in our beautiful Bara.
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| Leader, sport-man and a Magna cum-laude Patrick Learned how to respect and appreciate others from Patrick |
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| Brave, calm and smart Ray He showed us how to respect, appreciate and care |
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| The high-achiever mothers Determination is what we learn from these mothers |
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| We cooked together, we ate together, and we shared our precious memories of beautiful Bara |
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| From Rwandan with love... mercy boucoup Dedication, determination and confidence |
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| All of them are very precious for us.. right-left-- Holden, Paul, Jaffet, Lenny, Joseph, Zungu, Eliud, Nixon, Mpatso, Allan, Ankur, and Jitesh. Jaina is front with Mrs. Nangoy and Prof. Role |
My room at the back of Baraton- Nairobi Extension Campus (Bara- NEC)
In this room I marked papers and prepared my teaching materials. By half past nine I will be in this room, after all MBA students have left. Sometimes I took a walk to Nakumatt for my late super, but most of the time I just prepared my own Super mie noodle.
This room reminds me of my young and single life while I was taking my MBA degree back in 1985-86.
An atmosphere that made the old feeling of sleeping in a boarding house come again, and it is really good to cherish the old life challenges which had brought me so far to this beautiful cool Africa.
This evening again after I finished my class I took time to write this short article in my room at Bara-NEC, just to appreciate what God has given to me .
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| Too many to mark.... assignments, reading reports, slides, projects, thesis inside the computer and final exams papers on the table. |
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| Two plastic chairs and a self-made table- a box covers with curtain |
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| Bed sheet divided into two becomes table cloth and cover for a shelve |
Laron
Laron is an Indonesian word for flying termites.
We just finished our worship from a wonderful week of prayer by Dr. Hyveth Williams, on that Wednesday evening. The rain was just stopped, so we hurried home because we did not bring umbrella and passed the light pole nearby the university fountain. The movement around the light captured my eyes. I saw so many flying termites flopping their wings around the neon light like little angels. The contrast of surrounding darkness and the flopping movement around the neon light gave me an impression of the angels and the coming of Christ. I should have taken my camera to capture those beautiful flying angels, however the rain prevented me from doing it, moreover cold rainy night tempted me to go bed early and enjoy a soothing evening slumber, after taking a hot bath.
Early Thursday morning on my way to class, I passed the same light pole and saw all the little angels lying helplessly on the wet floor. I returned home and took my camera, but what I captured actually a horrible scenery of the evil crows feasting on those little angels, not the beautiful picture of the angels and the coming of Christ.
Early Thursday morning on my way to class, I passed the same light pole and saw all the little angels lying helplessly on the wet floor. I returned home and took my camera, but what I captured actually a horrible scenery of the evil crows feasting on those little angels, not the beautiful picture of the angels and the coming of Christ.
I am a little bit disappointed, but I know this is a reality of life, a lesson which taught me, not to take this beautiful life for granted. It is very vulnerable for those who are innocent, delicate and attracted to the Light. Things might change in a flop of a night. We really need a Savior. Thanks God, our week of prayer is wonderful. He really sent her to speak to me: "Get out of the boat, before it's too late or the evil crows will eat you up"
I fell asleep and was wakened up when the van was badly shaken at a bumpy road on our way to Nairobi. We left our campus at around 4:00 a.m. to attend the opening ceremony of our new Nairobi extension campus, somehow after about thirty minutes most of us fell asleep. When the van took a turn on that bumpy road, I felt being awakened by light coming from my left-side of the window. The sun was coming up from the east and when I looked on the west which was on my right, there I saw the sign of His presence.
Two beautiful rainbows
I reached my coat pocket, took my digital camera and even the van kept on moving very fast, I was able to take several snapshots of the rare appearance of these two beautiful rainbows. It was so close, very clear, but the bow shaped was missing, instead they appeared like two small curves.
Very soon we have left the rainbows behind, but the glimpse of HIS presence stayed inside me. I put my camera inside the pocket and prayed:
Here, I am 'the only stranger among the African brethren, sitting at the back seat between two Black gentlemen on a fast moving van' on my sojourn way.
O Immanuel, It was like Thou have come and greeted me "good morning, My son".
Thanks for Thy constant assurance that Thou are with us always.
It was still another three hours for us to reach Nairobi, and inside my heart I could hear the echo of Robert Robinson song:
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing thy grace;
Stream of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me ever to adore Thee,
May I still Thy goodness prove
While the hope of endless glory
Fills my heart with joy and love.
Making the best out of the worst: The story of Soweto church, Kibera
It was really a good Sabbath we visited Kibera main church to attend the eight Kibera churches district meeting.
After enjoying our Sabbath school with the Kibera babies, toddlers and the eager beaver class, one of the church elders approached me if I could participate in the Divine worship service, taking the part of pastoral prayer, which I gladly accepted.
They conducted the worship in Kiswahili and since I only knew few of its vocabulary, I tried to make use all the expression, rhythm, and tune of the congregation joyfulness and laughter to enjoy the worship.
The church pastor made a quite long introduction when he introduced me, and the congregation often responded with smile, “amen” or even raised and waved their hands. At the beginning of his introduction, there was laughter when I greeted them. Later I realize that I wrongly greeted the congregation by saying “mzuri sana”- I am fine, which I must say “habari yako”- how are you? and they should be the one who responded “mzuri sana”.
One of the special items presented by a group in light blue shirts and black skirts uniform was quite impressive. They called their group “Soweto choir”. Hearing the word Soweto in Kibera really made me curious. The elder sat next to me said that this was the latest SDA church establishment in Kibera. Soweto located in South Africa has a reputation as the biggest and the worst slum in the world, while Kibera is the second, so having Soweto inside Kibera must be very special.
Sure, this one is special and was the worst in Kibera before, because here was the local brewery produced. Many of the Kibera young men would come, get drunk and sleep in this very spot, until the Kibera SDA church came, prayed, sang and converted this brewery spot into a church called “Soweto”.
Most of the times as university lecturer, I taught my students that in business “you must grab all the best available to succeed”, but that very day the lesson from Soweto church is ‘in real life we must always strive to “making the best out of the worst”,’ and I agree with them.
Who could ever think of good thing would come out of the worst slums in the world? Like the Bible says, “Is it possible to have anything good come out of Nazareth?”
Many things came into my mind after the Kibera visit. “Is it possible that my Savior was born in Kibera?” Is this what He said, “the least of my brothers, and what you did to them is what you did to Me?” Is this the true concept of discipleship, which I reluctantly embrace? Is this why He called me to Africa?
“It is not the position, not the money nor my degree but what I did to the least of my brothers that made me His disciple”.
Another life lesson God taught me that day and it made my Sabbath in Kibera even more meaningful and joyful.
I met the elders of Soweto church after the service, and we agreed to visit the community after lunch.
The result was the following pictures.
Family Rwanda: Children without the past
March 27, 2010 I was invited by Benyamin Bjiringiro - my former MBA student to meet his family after we enjoyed the Sabbath service in his Kanombe church at the Kigali suburb-Rwanda. There is something interesting about this family, Benjamin, Elevanie, Speciose are the sole survivor for the 1994 Rwanda genocide, all of their family members were killed. They have no blood relationship, but the genocide united them as a new family.
Benjamin’s father was a Seventh day Adventist pastor, and when all his family were taken and killed by the Hutus, the 11 years old Tutsi fled and hided in the jungle for one month until the French troops rescued him. He met Elevanie at a refugee camp built by the United Nation for the genocide orphanage victims. The older Elevanie took care of the young Benjamin and both developed a family bond like a true blood sister and brother. Speciose-Benjamin girl friend was too small to remember how she lost all her family, all she remembered was the time when she was in refugees camp. She is still living in ladies’ house- a boarding facility supported by an NGO for victims of the genocide.
Simeon- Elevanie’s husband was lucky, he survived with his mother, one of the oldest genocide survivors, she is 94 year old now.
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| After lunch the old grandma wanted to check if I am really full |
I found the family was so friendly and warm, the affection they shared won’t show that they have bitter past experiences. Elevanie and Simeon took the responsibility of parents who showed a great care to both Benjamin and Speciose and welcomed me also as part of their new family member. We enjoyed traditional Rwandan dishes for our lunch, the menu was sweet potatoes, corn, pumpkin, soy-bean sauces, banana, pine apple and sour millet drink. They also specially prepared rice for me. The simple meals and the joy we shared made our lunch so great and delicious.
That day I learned a precious lesson about family and life from my student who had lost all of his family, a life lesson which never been taught in the university. “We can never look back, it is too painful, we’ve lost our past and we must always look forward for our future and be prepared only to see our loved ones in heaven” said Benjamin.
