Instead of a study today, I’m giving you an update about Kenya. Some of you know that I went to Kenya earlier this year, right before things started shutting down because of COVID-19. I had a good visit with the church there and we made some decisions and agreements about how they can work with the deaf and what LDMS (Lutheran Deaf Mission Society) will do to help them.
You know that last Spring, COVID-19 hit the U.S. and the rest of the world. We all know how it shut us down and continues causing problems for meetings, work, school, etc. In other countries, they have a harder time. In Kenya, the government imposed a strict curfew and closed many small businesses. All schools closed from April through December. Many people have no work and therefore no income. The area I visited also had a lot of flooding, which destroyed crops, so food prices have increased a lot. That is not a good combination – many people are out of work and food is much more expensive.
Here in the U.S., the government has programs to help people – food stamps, SSI, stimulus packages, etc. Kenya doesn’t have that. Poor people must find whatever they can to help themselves or depend on family, friends, or the church. In hard times, people don’t have much to help each other.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya asked if we could give anything to help the deaf there. Word of God, Davenport, sent $500 in June to help deaf children and a few adults. These are some thank-you videos from two of the adults and a few pictures of people with the bags of food. I can’t tell you everything they say in the videos. Some people in Kenya use a lot of ASL signs, some people don’t. I don’t know all the KSL signs. Even if I knew the signs, when I’m not there, I forget them.
Anyway, the first two videos are of Titus. He says thank you, God bless you for giving me the bag with the soap, toothpaste, and some other things. Thank you and God bless you.
Then he introduces his friend Amon, whom he helps and brings to church.
The woman is Miriam. She remembers when I was there to visit, then she introduces herself and says the bishop gave her the bag with many good things. She is happy to say thank you to God for all the gifts. She and the other deaf there say thank you.
I’ll also put up some pictures of some of the deaf adults and children receiving their bags of gifts. Thank you for watching!
