The Saddest Cry
February 8, 2007
Missionaries are always going through transitions, and while adults get
used to it, our little ones are spinning thinking about going to
Ben: Dad, the bad dream is not going away.
Me: What is the matter buddy?
Ben: Dad, when we go back to the states, will we ever eat at McDonalds?
Me: I’m sure we will sometime.
Ben: Do you think that I should order a cheeseburger happy meal or a
McNugget happy meal?
Me: It depends on what you want to eat when you order.
Ben: (Sitting Up) That is the problem! I just can’t make up my
mind!
Me: Daddy thinks this would be LOTS more fun to talk about at lunch
time, not at 4am.
Ben and Kate are so excited to start swimming again that the next few
months will be interesting, especially at 4am.
(Kate and Ben getting a head start on swimming during Titchie Field
Day—this is our homemade waterslide)
All the food has been delivered, and I was anxious to start going out
and visiting locations for the next computer centers. The first school I
visited was Kiambogo, which is a fair distance away. I was driving down the
final stretch, and the road just collapsed under my car.
I wasn’t sure what to do. I was suddenly at a 45 degree angle,
and I was 20 miles away from help. The saying in
The
But the men that came to help me couldn’t have been nicer, and we
were on our way in ten minutes.
Kiambogo is poor, and since I hadn’t been out to the school in
several months, it struck me more than usual.
Then I saw some children playing tag, and during the tag one child
pulled another child sweater and tore it. The little girl cried the saddest cry
I have ever heard in my life. I was concerned that she was hurt, and I asked
the headmaster. He told me that she wasn’t hurt, but she tore the only
clothes she had and she knew there were no more.
I thought and prayed about this for a long time. I came to some hard
conclusions. I wish I could provide clothing for all the children but we just
don’t have the means. Our mission is to create a chance for that little
girl to buy clothes for herself someday. I don’t want to just react to
sad things; I want to be proactive to provide education that will be the means
for children not to be poor. Good nutrition is essential, and computers can
take them to the next level. I want children to know that this was provided by
Jesus because He loves them and has a wonderful plan for their lives. Anything
else is putting a bandage on a cancer.
Today I went to Namuncha, the poorest school of all of them. It is a Masai
school that had 170 children until we began providing food. They have 450
students today, because as a chief once told me `I do not believe in educating
my children, but I do believe in free food.’
The thing is this: I’m sick of reacting
to problems. I want to help solve
a problem. If we can get a generation through high school with proper nutrition
and they have learned computer technology, they won’t have to be poor.
We announced we would build a center there, and Abraham, the little boy
above, told me he wanted to learn computers with all his heart.
And if we let him, we can truly change the world.
Your pal
Steve and Nancy Peifer
Stateside Address: AIM
Home Number: 011-254-20-3246-458
Office Number: 011-254-20-3246-170
Steve's Cell: 011-254-0734-124292
Website: http://peifer.kijabe.org/index.html?intro.html&1
Foundation: http://www.solutionbeaconfoundation.org/programs.htm
Webcam: http://www.kijabe.org/longocam/