Merry Christmas and Good night!

Well, we have been back on this side for almost a week now. Sweet reunions with family...and meeting one new member, Maverick!

Lots of Ultimate Frisbee, too.

During a layover in Johannesburg, we got to see Nelson Mandela's house in Soweto the day after his burial. Our travel was a bit longer than scheduled, but no major problems.


From Karen:

Some of my favorite things about our first day back in the States:

- warm shower and comfy bed (obviously), 

- coffee, orange juice, smoothie, Taco Bell, Dr. Pepper,

- Ultimate Frisbee, good weather, driving our car, washing machine & dryer

- Russ and Ann, texting with friends

I love Africa, but it's so nice to be home!


From Mark:

Back in Texas! So thankful for my parents Russ and Ann . They decided to "pamper" us and I when we got back from Kenya last night-we had Franklin BBQ for dinner last night, followed by Blue Bell Cookies and Cream ice cream! 


Also, Im really loving the weather in Austin right now. It was a crisp and fresh 39 degrees (4 celsius) this morning and it felt wonderful. Since Austin is so far south, many of the trees here still have leaves on them! It's just wonderful. Karen and I are feeling very blessed right now.

Our 58 hour time of traveling from Ah-Gah-Pay Mercy Children's Centre Kenya to my home in Round Rock was the longest trip Karen or I have ever taken. Everything went well until we got to America. Our flight to D.C. was 1.5 hours late, which made us 20 minutes late our connecting flight to Austin. We weren't upset about missing that flight until we took the next flight (3.5 hours later) and then sat in the plane for 45 minutes waiting for "other passengers" to arrive. Why didn't the first plane wait for Karen and I but this plane waited? If anyone has industry knowledge about this I would greatly appreciate it, this phenomenon is maddening to me (especially at the end of 55 hours of traveling).

The tour of Jo'burg was fantastic. Saw the location of the Soweto Uprising of 1976, as well as the former homes of Nelson Mandela and Desmond TuTu. Powerful stuff, can't believe the atrocities of apartheid happened so recently. Although, the current conflicts in Syria, Congo, and CAR remind me that humanity still has a long way to go.




Now we're in Roswell!

Thank you for your support during our recent Africa travels. We look forward to talking to many of you about our experiences. The blog will be dormant for awhile until we have some other noteworthy news or announcements. Please continue to follow amcckenya.org and keep us posted by emailing zambiakaren@gmail.com or markjadawson@gmail.com.

Life at AMCC

We have been meeting individually with the children at AMCC to hear how they are doing, take suggestions, and pray for them. It was a really neat time to get to know them better and to listen to them. We were really surprised by some of them - at their level of English and what they're hoping to do. 

Recently, we went to meet the chief of this area, and he spoke so highly of Rev. John and AMCC. We've also appreciated getting to know the new accountant and have him explain some things to us. We went with the children to the field at their primary school and had a good football (soccer) match; the younger kids got really good at throwing and catching frisbees!

It's raining a lot here, especially in the afternoons and evenings. It's mostly cool but not unpleasantly so. I have to take a picture of some of the younger kids all bundled up with their awesome hats on! We eat beans a lot - beans with rice, with maize, and with ugali (maize meal). We also drink a lot of sweet chai, tea grown locally! And enjoying fresh fruits like bananas, mangos and pineapples. 

It's a bit intense to be living so closely in very different situation than we're accustomed to, but it is really special, too. We appreciate prayers for patience, wisdom, and humility during the last few days here.

Thursday is Kenya's 50th anniversary of independence and Friday we are having our Christmas party!

Leaving AMCC

Wow, being at AMCC really has felt like a mission trip this time! It’s been really hard and really good. As a “team,” we’ve had our moments of tension and also of feeling like we’re doing really good. We both feel content and spiritually enlivened after our time here. It will be hard to say goodbye to the children, but we have many good memories to take with us, like the Christmas party yesterday! And playing soccer and Frisbee in the field at the local elementary school. And teaching the children a lot of different songs. (The theme song is “Prince of Peace” with the men’s’ and women’s separate parts.) But we are also quite ready for some comforts of home like warm showers and not having to go for a long walk in the night, unlocking a door and going downstairs outside, if I need to use the loo. We are both satisfied with what’s been accomplished during the three weeks we’ve been here. Praise God! (Amazing how I can have a conversation with a grandmother that includes only “Thank you”, “Praise the Lord”, and “Amen”.) J

We leave tomorrow (Sunday) from Nairobi, will have a 12 hour layover in Johannesburg (going out to see the city), then to DC, then Austin, arriving on Tuesday a bit before noon. Can’t wait to see family!

Mark with an AMCC student, Simon, who graduated last year

We love AMCC!

Wrote this Nov 19

Praise God! We have arrived at Ah-Gah-Pay Mercy Children’s Centre (AMCC) in Kenya. It is another home to us, and we are with the AMCC staff, our brothers and sisters, and Rev. John’s parents are also our parents here. God has really blessed this place since we were last here, and we are so thankful! A few of the improvements:

- The kitchen has ventilation and a lot of new utensils.

- The location is safe and secure (we have been assured by three different local politicians).

- The children do not have to pull water from the well twice a day but there are holding tanks filled by the rain and a tap/faucet.

- There is electricity that seems to be reliable – no more walking 20 minutes to a friend’s shop to charge phones!

- Now, we have five staff members looking after 29 kids when they are all home. This is a much better ratio than 2:40.

We rejoice to be here and to have this pace of life for a few weeks. An example: at about 11:30, we went to greet our “parents” and we stayed until 2:30. Although we hadn’t made plans with them to visit, they fed us lunch, got and peeled sugar cane for us to chew, and told us about life in Kenya before independence. (We will be here over the 50^th independence celebration Dec 12.)

We slept very well last night and are enjoying our friends here and Kenyan chai. Trying to figure out our plans for heading to Uganda at the end of the week.

East Africa Adventures - nothing like the bus

It's been a couple of busy weeks since leaving South Africa! We spent a few days at AMCC and enjoyed being with the kids and getting to know them again. The new AMCC (at the converted chicken house) is great, and there have been so many improvements, such as electricity, tanks to catch water, and porcelain squatty potties. We drank lots of tea and were happy to fellowship with the staff and children. I almost know all their names!

Quick rendezvous with friends in Nairobi.

Then we took the bus to Kampala - that was an adventure in itself. There was a wreck ahead of us that caused a 6 hour stop in traffic, making our 14 hour trip into 20 hours. So upon arrival in Kampala, we grabbed dinner and rode "boda bodas" to the craziest bus station that I've ever been to! And got on another bus to Mbarara, Uganda, where we met up with good friends Micah and Betsy DeKorne, who now live there, and David and Kristen Okada, who flew in to visit and celebrate Thanksgiving. We had an incredible time together with some really good conversations. And we had a great Thanksgiving meal, too.

Now back in Nairobi before heading to AMCC tomorrow. But now I need to head to bed.