Freedom for a Captive...our January update!

“He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives 
and release from darkness for the prisoners.” Isaiah 61:1

Palmer* is a mentally disabled Kenyan man in his late-20s or early-30s. He finds things strewn along the road and picks them up as if they were treasures. One day, he found a suit coat lying on the ground and he picked it up and put it on — his newest treasure. However, a few days later, in August 2008, the police grabbed him and took him to jail. Palmer believed that the police arrested and charged him for the offense of picking up a coat off the ground (as if it were a crime). Palmer remained in prison from August 2008 until October 2009, awaiting his trial and thinking he had committed a crime for picking up the coat. In reality, he was charged with robbery with violence, a crime for which there is no bail and which carries a penalty of life in prison if convicted. It turns out the coat had been stolen (along with around $275 in cash) in a violent robbery a few weeks before the police arrested him. The person whose cash and coat were stolen knew Palmer was not involved with the robbery, and pled with the police and the prosecutor to have the charges dropped, to no avail. IJM Kenya heard about Palmer’s case in October 2009, and it did not take us long to discover that Palmer was innocent of the charges. Since then, we have made it our mission to see that justice is done and that Palmer goes free.

After two months of dealing with various levels of authorities in the justice system, his case finally came up for trial on New Year’s Eve, despite the efforts of the investigating officer to have the case adjourned once again. Once the magistrate judge heard the evidence and learned that the police lost the one piece of evidence that even remotely tied Palmer to the crime (the coat), the judge accepted the plea of the complainant (the guy whose money and coat were stolen) to have the charges against Palmer dropped. Thus, 16 months after he was jailed for a crime he did not commit, Palmer was free! Praise God that He allowed us to be His representatives in fulfilling Isaiah 61:1 in Palmer’s life. (Picture: Palmer eating his first meal as a free man with Benson, Director of Aftercare and Joe, Kenya Field Office Director)

Alongside this incredible high, we have also experienced a very tough low in our work here recently. Since I last wrote you, there have been some developments in Daisy’s* case. After much wrangling, four of the five police officers who were on duty the night she was abused have submitted DNA samples to the private lab. However, Daisy’s clothing that contains her abuser’s DNA has begun to mold as a result of poor storage. Unfortunately, the mold has made it difficult to extract sufficient DNA to match the samples given by the police officers. Bottom line, our great hope for a DNA match between Daisy’s clothes and the officer that abused her appears over. As you can imagine, this is a crushing blow for Daisy, for us as we pursue justice in her case, and for me, as the thought of the officer that abused her going free makes me angry. Please continue to pray for wisdom as we pursue alternative avenues to seeking a conviction in this case and for Daisy — she is a sweet girl.

Happy New Year from Nairobi! Obviously, this holiday season has been different from any other for us but we have enjoyed all the new experiences and the building of some new family traditions. Some of these new experiences include: shopping for gifts at the Maasai market (an open air market which entails some hard bargaining), video skyping with parents as we open presents, Anna making cinnamon rolls from scratch for Christmas morning (preparation time: 2+ hours!), having our Muslim neighbors cheerfully wish us a “merry Christmas,” explaining to our kids the true reason we celebrate, and lastly deeply missing our family and friends for our first Christmas away. But, we are so thankful to be here and do what we are doing. So, again, thank you for allowing us to do this.

We have recently begun attending a church here called Karen Vineyard Church and have loved getting to know people through a home group that meets each week and a men’s group that meets once a month. The congregation is a mix of Kenyans, Kenyan Cowboys (Brits who have lived here for decades), and Westerners from all over. As part of the advent season preparing for the birth of Christ, the church held an evening of outdoor Christmas caroling. Upon arriving at the caroling event, we saw  a sprawling green field right next to the Karen Blixen Museum and house in which parts of the movie “Out of Africa” were filmed. As we walked up to the festivities, I (Lane) glanced at the front porch of the house and recalled the scene in which Robert Redford (playing Denys Finch Hatton) is asleep on the same front porch as Meryl Streep (playing Karen Blixen) arrives home. We found a spot on the grass and enjoyed our picnic dinner. As the sun set, the candles that were dispersed to the crowd were lit. For the next hour, a group of two hundred or so sang Christmas carols in English and Kiswahili while holding the small, lit candles. Pretty stinkin’ cool.

In other news, we have our first visitors coming in less than a week, as Anna’s two sisters will spend 10 days with us. Anna, the kids, and I are all very excited as my sisters-in-law are awesome and it will give us a chance to show to people dear to us the life we are living. I feel that this visit will help pull us out of some of the culture shock doldrums as we will get to experience anew life here as seen through the eyes of those who have not yet experienced it. Please pray for safe travel for Anna’s sisters. (Picture: Our three kids Abigail, Caleb and Luke in the middle with friends David at the top and Ethan at the bottom of the slide)

Finally, many of you responded to my handsome plea to send us your questions about our life here. Over the next few updates, we will venture to answer some of those questions. The first installment is below. Enjoy.

Have you learned any Swahili?
I have not learned as much Kiswahili as I had hoped, but I’ve learned a little bit:

• “Habari yako” (“ha-BAR-ee YAH-ko”) essentially means “How are you?”
• “Mzuri sana” (“Missouri SAH-na”) means “I am very fine.”
• “Asante” (“ah-SAHN-tay”) means “thank you.”
• “Karibu” (“kah-REE-boo”) can mean “welcome” in the sense of “welcome to the party” or it can mean “you’re welcome” in response to asante.
• For you “Lion King” fans, “Simba” (“SEEM-bah”) actually means lion, and “Rafiki” (“rah-FEE-kee”) means friend.

Is there any cultural racism?

Very interesting question. While there is not very much cultural racism here in the sense of how it might be in the U.S., there is an exceptional amount of tribalism here. What I mean is that (as I am told by Kenyans) for Kenyans, your tribe largely defines your identity. Whether you are Kikuyu, Kalenjin, Luo, Luhya, etc., that tribal foundation has largely resulted in a “we” versus “them” mindset (certainly among the older generation here). In fact, there are not political parties in the sense that we have them in the U.S.; the political “parties” are based almost exclusively on tribal affiliation. This tribalism bore its ugly head on the heels of the 2007 Kenyan Presidential election. The election was very close between two men of different tribes, and because both sides distrusted each other and felt cheated in the process, there was extensive rioting. From what I can gather in reading the papers and talking to people, it seems that the tribal dissensions have not eased any since the 2007 election. The next election will be in 2012, and many fear even greater chaos and violence.

Which way does the water swirl in the potty (and bathtub)?
Counter-clockwise. We are 60 kilometers (about 38 miles) south of the equator.

Do you see anything that looks familiar?

As we drive around the city and live life here, about 90% of things look unfamiliar and about 10% of things look familiar. We live in the city, so there are lots of cars and people walking everywhere. When I (Anna) am in the grocery store, most of the labels are in English (which is nice), but most of them I didn’t recognize before I got here. Some of the familiar labels are Heinz Ketchup (but it tastes different), Hershey’s chocolate syrup, Betty Crocker cake mixes (only for about a month, now they are gone — ack!). Some of these things may be in the store one day and gone the next, so I try to grab 2-3 when I see them. There are lots of Westerners here, so you can find several familiar things around town such as a few modern coffee shops like Java House, a few movie theaters, and some shopping malls. Depending on your perspective and where you go, things can look reasonably familiar to home (Westgate, an upscale shopping mall) or radically foreign (Kibera, the largest slum in the world). (Picture: One of the main roads on Lane's walk to work each day.)

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen over there?

Wow, let’s see. Here are a few… we’ve seen lots of skinny cows grazing on grass right next to busy roads in the middle of Nairobi and often wandering into the road (there are no fences), men peeing in the bushes in residential neighborhoods and on the side of busy streets, a homeless woman following me like Glenn Close and asking me to be her husband, a baby elephant head-butting Caleb, baboons on the side of the road near the Nairobi National Park, incredibly frustrating roundabouts with traffic lights no one pays attention to, trucks ridiculously over-packed with goods (we should get a picture for you to see!), watching a matatu (public bus) slowing down, but not stopping, so a passenger can jump out, watching the trash collector guys climbing around in the trash and ripping open bags of trash with their bare hands while they are riding in the back of the truck in between stops. (Picture: Skinny cows grazing a few feet from our car in the middle of the city . I took this picture from the left window from the same spot while waiting in traffic as the picture above from the right window, ha!)

Thanks for asking these questions! We’ll answer more next time. Thank you again for your support and friendship. We are honored to be here serving God in Kenya. Thanks for walking with us in this journey.

Lane and Anna, for the Kenya Mears-kats

* Palmer and Daisy are pseudonyms