“Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has given you the autumn rains in righteousness. He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.” – Joel 2:23
IJM Field Work Update
Kenya generally has two rainy seasons: the “short rains” which take place in late-October through November, and the “long rains” which take place from March through May. We are now in the short rains and the showers have brought new life to the city in the form of greener grasses and the budding of new flora all around us. Along with getting to enjoy the natural beauty which the rain showers have brought, we at IJM Kenya have experienced abundant showers of blessing in the sense of some significant breakthroughs in a couple of our cases.
When you last heard from me, things were looking grim for Daisy. To reset her story, she is an 8 year-old girl who was sexually abused by a police officer in a police station where she had been taken, presumably for her protection. Five officers were on duty the nights she was held at the police station and we do not know which officer abused her (Daisy had difficulty identifying him in a lineup, as well). We thought we had solid evidence in her clothing, as at least one article of her clothing had physical evidence in it from the abuse she underwent at the hands of the officer. My last update came on the heels of a report from the government chemist which said that what we thought was physical evidence of the abuse was, in fact, just dirt. This was a terrible blow to the case.
Well, just this past week we got a wonderful break in the case, thanks to the prayers of you and others! The judge in the case is determined to see that Daisy gets justice (an answer to prayer in itself!) and three weeks ago ordered that Daisy’s clothing be taken to a private laboratory to be tested for DNA. We got the private lab's results this past week and the technician found physical evidence on BOTH articles of clothing to support the fact that Daisy was abused! This is a huge breakthrough in the case, as it means that there is now evidence to link Daisy’s abuser to the crime. The next step in the case is for the judge to order that the five officers who were on duty the nights that Daisy was held at the police station to submit blood samples so that the private lab can see which one (if any) match the physical evidence found on the articles of Daisy’s clothes. The one whose DNA matches that found on Daisy’s clothing is very likely the one who sexually abused her. This will not conclude the battle for justice, however, as there will be several legal wranglings in court over the admissibility of a private laboratory’s test results. So, please keep praying for: the judge to order all five officers to submit blood samples, that the officers would do so, that at least one would match, and that we would get the results admitted into the court proceedings.
Next, just this week some folks in our office met with some high-level people in the country’s Police Commissioner’s Office to talk about our work and to seek their help with some long-standing issues we have faced within the public justice system in prosecuting sexual assault cases. In short, the meeting went better than any of us expected it would: we got assurances of assistance in some of our tougher cases as well as some real hope for movement on the issue which has been one of the biggest hurdles to justice for many of our clients over the past several years. Praise God for the favor He has granted us within the Office of the Commissioner of Police!
Finally, a Kenyan IJM colleague and I monthly go into a local prison to talk with clients and/or potential clients about their cases. Over the past three months, we have befriended one of the prison guards. The last time we were in the prison, my Kenyan colleague told the guard specifically what we do at IJM Kenya and that if he (the guard) suspected that any of the men being held there were innocent that he should call us and let us know. Well, not a week later the guard called us about a man he thought we should talk with. We will go and interview the man later this week. How cool is it that we are now getting referrals for potential illegal detention clients from prison guards!
All in all, it has been a very exciting couple weeks at IJM Kenya. Thank you so much for your prayers. Keep them coming!!
Culture Shock!
Well, we’ve reached the 3-month point of our time in Nairobi. They say that people tend to experience culture shock anywhere from 3 to 6 months into moving overseas. Both Anna and I have had our days of starting to feel it. I felt it acutely one day two weeks ago. On that particular day, I got in a wreck . . . with a parked car . . . in my own apartment complex parking lot. Lovely. I think I was already feeling a bit overwhelmed with things that morning, and the frustration of hitting a neighbor’s parked car had me in the dumps. Two hours later, a policeman flagged me down for going the wrong way on a street. The only problem was, the street I was on was a 2-way street for the 2 miles I was on it up to that point, there was no clear marking that anything had changed, and there were still two clearly marked lanes separated by a bright yellow line. Nevertheless, I had apparently broken the law. Mercifully, the officer gave me a warning (I think I must have looked pitiful at this point) and he sent me on my way. While these are only two incidents in one day, the cumulative effect was devastating and I went into a tailspin for the rest of the day. It was an awful, awful day.
But, the next day I awoke with a verse in my head: “This is the day the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.” – Psalm 118:24. It’s amazing how much a changed perspective can impact a day. Thank goodness, I have only had a couple more dark days like the one described above since. The fact that I have had years of ministry and missions training give me no illusions that I am beyond feeling the effects of culture shock.
Anna’s Birthday
We celebrated Anna’s birthday since our last update. We loaded up the car and went out to the Elephant Orphanage, which is a “shelter” in the Nairobi National Park where baby elephants are brought from all over Kenya that have been orphaned due to the drought or other reasons. The kids had a ball seeing elephants as young as 6 weeks old (which were the height of Caleb & Abigail), and one even head-butted Caleb when he wasn’t looking (he wasn’t hurt – in fact, he said later it was his favorite part of the day!). As an added bonus, a baby rhino wandered through the area while we were gawking at the baby elephants. You can see a video of the Elephant Orphanage at
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2009/11/15/mckenzie.elephant.orphanage.cnn. After this, we went to the Nairobi National Park Animal Orphanage, where we saw cheetahs, lions, baboons, monkeys, African buffalo, and many other local animals. Very cool! The next night, we continued the celebration of Anna with an Italian dinner from a local restaurant, chocolate cake, presents, and birthday words from home for Anna.
Two Cultures Clash
Something funny about experiencing a new culture…One of my Kenyan co-workers invited the staff over for a baby shower a few weekends ago. We are very happy for this couple and their new baby girl. The shindig “started” at 1pm, he said, with lunch being served. Predictably, the prompt (and hungry?) North Americans (the two other interns, Anna, and two of our kids – I was at home with a sick Luke) showed up just after 1pm and were the first ones to arrive. They laughed at us [Anna speaking] and commented that we were the only ones there on time. The Kenyans showed up about 2:30pm and lunch was served about 3:15pm. Lesson learned -- next time we’ll make sure to show up on Kenyan time. :-)
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Pictures - a group of school girls we talked with at the Animal Orphanage, a baby elephant at the Elephant Orphanage, and Anna and the kids at the Elephant Orphanage.}
Send Us Your Questions!
Have you had any questions for us that have popped up while reading our updates/blog? We'd love to hear them! Please send them along to us either by e-mail or by commenting on the blog. We think it would be fun for our next update to include our answers to a collection of the questions we receive from you. So, whether you've been wondering about our life here, our typical day, my work, Kenyan culture, food, people, etc., the security situation, what our church or social community is like, or anything else, please ask away!
How You Can Pray...
Thank you so much for partnering with us both in prayer and financially. Especially in this season of Thanksgiving and as we talk with the kids about being thankful, we are reminded of how many of you are making it possible for us to be here. Again, thank you. Finally, please pray for:
- Physical Health – We have battled various forms of sickness for two months now and we are sick of it! Rashes in the kids, colds, etc., enough! Please pray for health for everyone.
- Emotional Health – We are experiencing culture shock, and covet your prayers to see all things (ourselves, each other, circumstances, peoples, etc.) from God’s perspective.
- Lane’s work – We have had great successes the past couple weeks and we are praying that these successes will continue. Please pray for Daisy’s case, for fruits from our meeting with the Police Commissioner’s office, and for sustained faith that God is greater than any enemy that we face.
Thank you so much!
Lane, for the Kenya Mears
Dear Family & Friends, 
On Thursday, Lane headed with everyone from the office to all-staff overnight retreat and will be back on Friday for dinner. Kenyans don't have Thanksgiving, ha! (Oh, yeah right, it is just an American holiday!)
