Today we took the morning flight from Nairobi to Kisumu to get ready for our medical camp at the Widows Center tomorrow. At the Kisumu airport we met Nancy Odwaro and drove to the city of Necatch, about an hour out of Kisumu. We were on our way to have lunch with our dear friends Dina and Leonard Ocholla and their daughter Eva. We have been friends since our early days in Kisumu in 1979. On the way Nancy gave us a sweet report from our last visit to the widows center 4 weeks ago.
You might remember that we gave each of the 120 widows at the center 1000 Kenya Schillings (12 U.S. Dollars). At their recent gathering all of the women showed up and many of them wanted to testify about what a blessing this money was to them. First of all, almost all of them had save the brown envelope that the money had come in, and they were now using it as a bible marker to remind them that God sends his blessings from heaven. Several of them said that they refused to buy food with the money and chose to buy something that would remind them of the wonderful day that we spent together when we gave them sowing machines and launched a vocational training ministry. Many of them said that the first thing they did was give their tithe to honor and thank the Lord for his goodness. These ladies are so incredibly sweet and they are truly pioneers in the art of supporting each other.
Another wonderful testimony that Nancy shared was that every member of her widows leadership team who we prayed for 4 weeks ago was healed.
Once we arrived at Dina Ocholla’s house we were expecting just to have a sumptuous meal and then drive up to Majengo where the widow’s center is. But as usual God had something wonderful planned for us. Just before we ate a widow showed up from just down the road. Then another and another! By the time we were finished eating we were sitting in the living room with 10 widows. It seems that Dina had shared with several women that we were coming with Nancy Odwaro. The widows first began to share with us how difficult their lives were because at this time of the year there is absolutely no water. Since they can’t afford to buy any, most of their day is looking for fresh water for the animals and their households. Many of them walk many miles and day and then walk back with 5 gallons of water in a plastic bucket on their heads.
From there the conversation moved onto the needs of widows and how those needs should be met. Val and I and Nancy began to share with them the need for widows to come together to pray, support one another, earn money together, buy and sell together and so forth. With each passing moment the atmosphere was more and more filled with the presence and power of God. By the time it was 4:30pm we launched into a powerful time of prayer. As we prepared to leave the widows began to share with us just how much our time together had met to them. They were so excited that they decided to have a meeting after we left to talk about forming a widows fellowship there in Necatch. Really my words just cannot do justice to the power of our time with these ladies. It was wonderful.
We left the Widows of Necatch smiling and drove up to our hotel in Majengo, just in time for a dinner debriefing with the Northwest University nurses. Tomorrow we will hold another medical camp at the widows center. We are expecting about 500 people.
Please pray that many are healed come to know Christ.
Blessings to you all
See you tomorrow.
Richard