LAST LESSONS #101 – KENYA

 “Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” Psalm 2:8

I could hardly believe my ears when BSF said they would give me as a retirement gift enough money to build an orphanage and operate it for five years. That was in 1999. At that time there were five countries where Rafiki had missionaries teaching BSF classes and one of them was Kenya. I remember immediately calling Steve Kranz who, with his wife Carol, were teaching BSF classes in Nairobi. I asked Steve if he would like to start an orphanage in Nairobi and, without skipping a beat, he said yes! At that time Steve was teaching street kids woodworking.

Steve began looking into the cost of caring for an orphan—information that would be necessary for us. With that information, we were able to hire an architect in San Antonio to prepare a “fly-thru” showing viewers what an orphanage in Africa would look like. As I showed this video to BSF classes, money began to pour in, to the point that we had enough to build several orphanages!

In the meantime, Steve and Carol began to look for property in Kenya. Although three Rafiki countries (Ghana, Nigeria, and Uganda) were able to meet the requirements for us to build orphanages before Kenya was, Steve’s research was necessary wherever we had orphans.

In Kenya Steve found a piece of property in Limuru—about 20 miles from Nairobi—for sale and we considered it, but it wasn’t perfect. However, since it was the only available place we had found, we made an offer on it. But God had a better plan! He knew the perfect place for us and was about to tell us.

Here’s what happened: Carol Kranz taught an evening BSF class in Nairobi and the daughter of the first president of Kenya, Jomo Kenyatta, attended the class. Her name is Kristina Kenyatta Pratt. One evening at class Carol mentioned the need for property for an orphanage. Kristina talked to Carol after class and said she might know of a place—the Kenyatta family farm in Kasarani just outside Nairobi proper. As Steve spoke to Kristina later about giving the farm to Rafiki, she said that Kenyans never give land to Kenyans and certainly they don’t give to Mzungus (foreigners)! But God would not let Kristina sleep. He was working on her heart. She then got her sister Nyokabi, and her brother Uhuru together to meet with us on the Kenyatta farm. At that meeting we discovered that their mother Mama N’gina Kenyatta wanted the property to be used to take care of children, so they offered Rafiki the property. Since we had already made an offer on the land in Limuru we didn’t know what to say to the Kenyatta family. At the suggestion of my daughter Kathy who was with us, I asked Uhuru (now the President of Kenya) if Nairobi had a music conservatory. He said no. I asked if there was a conservatory anywhere in Kenya and he said no. So, I suggested that maybe the Kenyatta’s would like to use their family farm for a conservatory since Rafiki had an offer on the Limuru property.

Kristina said she wanted a private meeting with just Carol Kranz and me the next day. We went to her office, and she informed us that the Kenyatta family had decided that if we could extricate ourselves from the Limuru contract that they wanted the Kenyatta farm to be given to Rafiki for an orphanage AND that they would give us property in downtown Nairobi for a conservatory!

By God’s grace, Rafiki was able to cancel the contract on the Limuru property and on our next trip to Kenya, all the paperwork was finalized with a 49-year lease on the Kenyatta 24-acre farm with an option to extend another 25 years. Only God could do that!

Steve and Carol took over the renovation of the three-story mansion that was on the farm. It had not been lived in for 25 years and was full of bats, rats, and leaks! Steve and Carol moved into the second floor and turned the first floor into a meeting/dining and office space. My husband Bob and I renovated the smaller third floor for an apartment where we could stay when we were in Nairobi. There were several other buildings on the site and Steve made them all usable. What would we have ever done without Steve Kranz! Later Mama N’gina gave another 4 acres to make sure that there would be enough room for schools for her orphans.

When the renovations were all done, the village was dedicated by Mama N’gina and me on January 16, 2004. At that dedication, Mama N’gina told us that she had had many offers to buy this property but that she had held onto it for 20 years because she knew that God had something special for this place. She wanted it to be used for children and she realized that God had sent Rafiki to honor her desire.

As time went on, the Kenyattas and Jensens became good friends. Mama N’gina, Kristina and her husband visited us in San Antonio and stayed in our home there. Mama N’gina loved our house so much that she insisted that we give her the plans for it so that she could build one for herself in Kenya. We did! We also took her to Lynden B. Johnson’s Presidential Library and Johnson City so that she might consider a way to memorialize her husband Jomo Kenyatta in Kenya. We even took her shopping! But that’s another story!

What needs to be said here is that Kristina Pratt is now a Rafiki Kenya Board member, and the Rafiki Village has flourished. David and Julie Pedersen arrived as missionaries (25 years with us now!) and to this day they see to it that the Village has good orphan care, full schools, and a complete RICE complex. God bless the Pedersens!

A conservatory was never given for Rafiki to operate but God gave us something better! Part of the RICE complex is a whole building dedicated to music. In the Rafiki Institute of Music (RIM) building our music major missionary teaches local choir directors to read music and she teaches music classes to RICE students as well as private string and piano lessons. There are 70 primary students taking piano lessons and secondary students perform with stringed instruments. You can be sure that their music reaches the ears of their Lord.

I would never have imagined in a million years that God would put missionaries together with national leaders in such an intricate way to accomplish his purpose, but that’s what he did when he raised up Rafiki in Kenya. I am learning every day that God wants us to see his amazing works so that we can praise him. In order to see them, we must do what he tells us to do each day (including cleaning out bat droppings!) and then watch him work!