The Wild Life

We've had a lot of wildlife since our last post on the intruding beetle that was stomping on our curtains. No big cats yet, sorry. Mostly just small critters.
We have a number of beetles that frequent our flat and we always try to peacefully let them leave after placing them outdoors. (we don't extend this kindness to cockroaches just so everyone is clear). We've seen a lot of these little beetles that I call thorn beetles... not sure exactly what they are, but their underside is bright green.

One night we were returning from the grocery store and upon opening the door Ian jumped backward in surprise. He thought that he had seen a very large centipede, but upon turning on the light we found this gecko on the wall.

We did our best to urge him out, but he was pretty firmly stuck in a corner of the ceiling so we decided to let him stay. Ian had guessed that a gecko had been roaming around the apartment as we had been cleaning the walls of little bits of 'dirt' every once in a while. We were happy to have a visit from the gecko as we desperately needed some mosquito control. Luckily we found a plug-in 'Moskiller' later in the week since we have not seen the gecko since and have a bit of a mosquito problem.

Another strange phenomena that happens here is getting swarmed by flying termites. At night if you leave your lights on and windows open flying termites will often find their way in. the body of the termite is only a couple centimeters long, but the wings are enormous and loud.
The other night our balcony was swarmed by these termites and we had to shove plastic bags along the bottom of the doorjam to keep them from climbing under the door! Flying termites are not the brightest of creatures, so after a long while of them bumping themselves up against the windows we were left with a huge amount of dead termites and termite wings on our balcony.
Gross! Needless to say, Ian went and bought a proper broom the next day.

Yet, in the morning as I was getting ready cleaning I swept all of our dead termites into a pile and was looking for some equivalent to a dust-pan when a couple of different birds started singing really loudly. I popped my head out to the balcony to find two bright yellow weavers eating a buffet of termites as a few other birds joined them. It was great to see them enjoying my swept up termites.

Next time I will get the zoom lens ready for the day after we have another termite attack!
B

World Vision Report - Week of May 8, 2010 - Skateistan

World Vision Report - Week of May 8, 2010 - Skateistan

I really enjoyed this report from World Vision Report and wanted to share it with you all. Sometimes it is hard to imagine how we as individuals can become agents of peace in an often very violent world. I thought this story about a skateboarding school in Kabul was fantastic and a creative way to build bridges between different people. This was exemplary of how we all can use our giftings, skills, talents and even our hobbies to become agents of peace and further reconciliation.
B

From the sketchbook

I thought I'd leave a little treat here today. We're working on our update letter this week so hopefully you'll be hearing from us soon. Still, I thought I'd post a page from my sketch book.
We have a great view from our current apartment looking our over the suburb that we live in. We also have a balcony that affords us some outdoor space 5 stories up which consequently is great for drawing and bird watching.
I don't usually post my scribbles, so please be gentle in viewing them... they're a little shy. This drawing was made sometime last month as I was noticing all of the interesting movement and life in Nairobi and enjoying it move along as the day passed slowly... which things take a looong time here.


Hopefully you can see it alright. If you click on it you can view a larger photo. It made me chuckle and I wanted to share it with you!
Thank you for being part of our story here in Nairobi!
B

Grace and Justice

Kenya is astoundingly different than our South Asia post. One of the most striking difference is that Kenya, for the most part, is a Christian nation. This makes it a lot more familiar and somewhat like home, though here church leaders are often also politicians and that causes all sort of problems. While I am grateful for the Christian base, the misunderstanding of God’s wrath causes problems in our work. In Kenya we do a lot of work with children and young persons who have been sexually assault by their neighbors. What often happens next is that someone reports to the parents that their child has been sexually assaulted and they go and confront their neighbor. The neighbor admits to his “sin” and ask for a Christian forgiveness. It is imperative for the neighbor to avoid having this matter reported to the police and him being tried because the sexual assault of a minor can mean life imprisonment. The parents, believing that Christ would forgive this man forgive him, and usually the assault continues.
There is a valid concern here about what Christ calls us to do. What does justice mean in this instance and how much grace can we give to a man/woman who rapes a child of God? I am reading a document prepared by UNDP and there are these two sentences “In traditional context, both society at large and the police may favor negotiation and compromise as the appropriate way to deal with SGBV (sexual gender based violence). This leads to situations in which men forgive men for violence committed against women.” In approaching these situations we have to ask: who has the man offended? Do the parents have a right to forgive him? If they don’t, does a 10 year old, who doesn’t understand how she has been defiled other than the pain, forgive him? A person who rapes another not only defiles that person but the very temple and image of the Lord. Grace is not a license to continue to keep on sinning but an opportunity to right ourselves before God. A man who begs forgiveness for rape may be given this grace and this opportunity but I don’t know that we, as Christians, have the right to stay his legal and earthly punishment