NOVEMBER 2022

In keeping with tradition and in light of some last minute stress, we are grateful to be writing this update from the UK. If you have been following us you know that we always seem to encounter drama and difficulty when we travel. The Kenya Airways strike action was brought to an end just a few days before we were due to travel and although there was a reduced service for a number of days as they got things back to normal, we were relieved that our flight went ahead as scheduled. The kids all did well on the flight and Anna charmed her way through her first long haul flight. The boys just stared at screens for 8 hours...

It has been so lovely catching up with friends and family. It really is wonderful to be able to connect and catch up with so many people, particularly as Omicron didn't allow for that last year. We look forward to seeing more of you over the next few weeks before we head back to Kenya at the end of December.

We have noticed a subtle shift being here. When we visited the UK last Christmas it very much felt like we were coming home for a break. This time Kenya feels more like home and that we are visiting the UK for a break. It is a small but significant shift. Something else we have noticed this time is the contrast between the two places we call home. Although the cost of living crisis is very real in both places, the desperate need is much more apparent in one place than the other. In Kenya, the worst drought in a generation has compounded the situation. Before we left a friend shared how difficult the situation was for her and her neighbours, who usually share the food that they grow between them. In James 2 it says "Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead." We couldn't do nothing. We are so grateful to be in a position that we were able to drive our friend in to town and buy food packages for her and a number of her neighbours. We then arranged for her to deliver the food later that day. The next morning she reported that an elderly gentleman had finished the last of his flour the previous day and all that he had left was a single cabbage. He had spent the afternoon praying for God to provide and it was that evening that our friend turned up with a food package. It's difficult to marry the reality of food insecurity in our local community in Kenya and enjoying eating out with friends here in the UK. We live in two worlds and despite many similarities, they can be completely different.