Seeking God's Peace in Africa

Dear Friends and Family!

Thank you for your love and support, your emails and pictures, your prayers and blessings

What did I do today? I worked with bunnies…all day. Yup, that’s what I’ve been doing. And it’s been joyful and rewarding. First thing after breakfast I gathered up my tools, and hauled them over to the farm to work on building and repairing rabbit hutches. It doesn’t sound too glorious, it doesn’t seem to be the best application of 7 years of college, but that is where God has me right now, so let me tell some stories:

Sifuna is one of the men who works in the garden; from time to time he comes by with the same comment, “you are pressing ahead.” He stays to chat a few moments and helps pull nails out of boards and to straighten them on a block of wood. Both nails and boards are re-used—we are doing this re-furbishing job entirely with previously used materials—anything we can find on the farm. A gutter becomes a feed trough, old chain link is rewoven for a manger, discarded ceiling board becomes new walls, a Coca Cola crate becomes a nesting box.

Sifuna is a big guy, with hands so muscular they feel like he has eggs in his palms. He is also a man with a story. Two years ago he was a different person—an alcoholic who’s addiction and anger had driven his wife away leaving him at home with four young children to neglect. The house went unwashed, the money used for drink, the children abandoned in the dirt leaving their hands and feet infested with the jiggers—insects that burrow into the skin to lay their eggs, which later eat their way back out.

Sifuna tells the story with emotion, “I don’t know how she heard of me. But God sent her!” He speaks of a fellow ELI worker—someone living out God’s call on her life who heard of the pathetic child who sat in diarrhea and cried all day, who took action. Sifuna goes on, “She bathed my children, washed my home, and dug the jiggers out of my children’s hands and feet. It could not all be done in one day; she came back many times.” He goes on, “She made my children human again.” His voice cracks, “you know, I was not caring for them. I was drunk. We were like animals.”

Sifuna credits God, “I knew I had to change, I asked God for help. I came to ELI’s rehabilitation program and began my recovery from alcohol. I accepted the grace of Jesus and am a new person. My children are healthy and now I have work.” To read more of Sifuna’s story and to see more pictures click here.

So it was that repairing rabbit hutches was a chance to spend time with Sifuna, to hear his story, to encourage him, and to send some sausages home for his kids.

(Photos of Sifuna, his family after rehab, and the jiggers used courtesy of Adele Booysen.)

Sifuna is not the only alcoholic recovering on ELI’s compound. Currently we have 20 more men who are all engaged in the battle of fighting their addiction. They have come from all over with one goal. There is not a lot to do—they go to a morning session to learn another of the 12 steps, and then they “fight the Jones” all day together, “one day at a time.” There is not a lot of freedom—they have committed to stay on the campus for 30 dry days. The only way they leave is with an escort. So they sit. And talk. And watch the bunnies.

After lunch I went to sit with them for an hour. They wanted to know about bunnies, so I told them. I told them they are a gift—God’s gift to the poor. They multiply at remarkable speeds—capable of litters up to a dozen, able to conceive 27 out 28 days, giving birth 4-6 times per year and capable of being fertilized again the same day they deliver! Rabbits are one of few animals that can have “super-pregnancies” (being pregnant with two litters at the same time in different stages of development!!!)

So breeding is not a problem, nor is housing. Rabbits don’t need fancy houses, they’re highly adaptable to different situations, and can eat a variety of foods: weeds, grasses, tree leaves, and even food scraps like pineapple cores and mango peels. Best of all, they are delicious. The cheapest meat at the local butchery runs $1.80 a pound—a day’s wage for the casual laborer. But if you raise 5 rabbits—1 buck and 4 does, after 6 months a family can begin to enjoy 5-8 pounds of meat a week!

And so the fire is lit. Now the rehab guys sit around and talk about rabbits. They are keen to learn more, because it’s not simple. Rabbits die easily and have to be well managed to be productive; but already there is a lot of interest in my offer—“If you wish to raise rabbits I will lend you a couple—you can replace them with the next generation.” I have told them.

The AA guys are not the only ones learning about rabbits—I am still working at 5:00 PM when the “rabbit team” shows up—8 orphans who have agreed to be my apprentices for 3 months to learn the trade. They are all in 4^th and 5^th grade, 7 boys and Linda, the brave girl who is a little scared of the big rabbits, but who is courageous enough to insist that raising animals is not only for boys.

The kids’ side of the bargain is to bring 15 pounds of food (leaves, grass, weeds) daily, to feed the rabbits and to give them fresh water. In exchange they get to hold rabbits, work on hutches (they love to use the stapler), and in 3 months to take home one of their own bunnies. As soon as they arrive I explain something new—today it’s about nesting habits of kindling does. But it’s hard to pay attention with a bag of tools sitting out, so soon I relent, letting them pick through my tools and frantically trying to give them tasks before they think up their own.

It’s a full day with bunnies. Did I mention that Tovah and Lami always know where to find me? They come by about 3 or 4 times a day to pull bunnies out of their cages and hold them. Lami sings “Old McDonald” to them and Tovah feeds them (whether they are hungry or not.)

So thank you. Thank you for sending me to work with Sifuna on the farm, to teach orphans an empowering skill, to sit with recovering alcoholics and share about a hope. Thank you for equipping me to share God’s love.

And Jen? Well, she’s even busier then me. Homeschooling two active girls, keeping the family fed with delicious meals and home-made granola, visiting the mothers at the Children’s Home, and hosting the throng of orphans that show up to play in our house in the afternoon—today she even taught some of the older girls how to bake a chocolate cake!!! Delicious!

God Bless,