Kenya bound

I will be returning to Kenya.

December 27, 2024 - January 10, 2025

I will be going with Take Heart Africa.

We will be heading a team meeting in August, so will know more information after that.

One thing I do know is the trip cost is approximately $4500.00.

photos and videos

PHOTOS:

https://barbracrabtree.smugmug.com/Operation-Christmas-Child/2024-Kenya-Vision-Trip

VIDEOS:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLTBhooelI9jJepMbEwtyZW-7w3i5cAelI&si=OlJIiKJQCJCDFDAr

One week later, Kenya still in my mind

During the month of June, Barbra Crabtree had the opportunity to go to Nairobi, Kenya with Operation Christmas Child (OCC), a project of Samaritan’s Purse.  Barbra has volunteered in various capacities with OCC since 2004 where she serves as the Logistics Coordinator for Hillsborough County for the past five years.  

During this Vision Trip to Nairobi she had the opportunity to see first hand the ministry of OCC.  It took 3 flights over a two day period to go from Tampa to Nairobi and once on the ground the trip was jam packed with ministry.  Day 1 was all about getting oriented and going on an outreach event.  Day 2 was an outreach event and witnessing The Greatest Journey discipleship program.  Day 3 was worshiping at a local church and onto our last outreach event.  Day 4 was for experiencing a local cultural event and beginning the travel journey back home.

On day one we went to the Precious Talents Top School where 300 children were in attendance.  The school actually has 800 students, however, the students chosen for this event needed to see an extra dose of hope.  In 2019, a portion of the school collapsed and killed seven of the children.  The collapse was a result of poor construction of the school due to cutting corners.  

Taken from https://nairobinews.nation.africa/tag/precious-talent-top-school/

The students gathered together on the morning of June 14, 2024 to hear a gospel presentation of the hope of the greatest gift, Jesus Christ.  After this, they were presented with a tangible gift that had been packed by individuals within the United States.  These gifts are filled with school supplies, toys and hygiene items and are a tool used in the local church to reach out to the children.

Patiently waiting to open the gift.

Overcome with extreme gratitude for a gift.

Loving the harmonics and soccer balls.

The children must remain patient until everyone receives a box, then a countdown takes place and the mayhem of excitement ensues.  The children are screaming and yelling, laughing, crying.  The emotions run wild as they cannot believe that someone on the other side of the world has packed a shoebox gift just for them.  Many times, this is the first gift a child has ever received in their entire life.  

The children are so happy to receive the gifts, the gratitude exudes from the smiles, the thank you and the hugs.  

Many of the places that we visited on this trip are in areas that are extremely poor, drugs are readily available, children live in single parent homes, prostitution on every corner, and witchcraft was evident.

One blessing while sitting and chatting with the children was that one wants to be an engineer, a lawyer and a neurosurgeon.  These kids have high goals to get out of the poverty that they live within.  I believe that these young ladies will one day reach those goals and be making a difference in their community.

A piece of my heart was left in Kenya when I had to return home on June 17, 2024.  But, I have hope still as I am partnering with a store in Lakeland, Take Heart Africa who have a scholarship program for children within a remote area of Kenya.  In September I will be participating in their annual 5K that will be raising money for educational endeavors for Kenyan youth.

Special Links

Operation Christmas Child - https://samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

Take Heart Africa - https://takeheartafrica.org/

Barbra’s Trip Information

www.barbracrabtree.com

Photo Gallery - https://barbracrabtree.smugmug.com/Operation-Christmas-Child/2024-Kenya-Vision-Trip

YouTube Channel: @BarbraCrabtree1 - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaKk5hdtsT_Fo2mw7D8NGcg

down day and cultural event

Wrapping up our time in Kenya.  What a whirlwind of a trip.  Our time was packed full of reaching children with the gospel.  

To wrap up the trip in just a few words is difficult, but will try.  One word that I come away with is CONSISTENCY.  No matter where we went, the message was the same.  All teachers have been equipped to teach The Greatest Gift and The Greatest Journey in a way that the children understand. 

At each event, the children are taken through the concepts of Creation to the resurrection of Jesus.  After this presentation the children have the opportunity to participate in the 12 lesson discipleship program.  It is interesting to know that the children have no idea about the shoebox gift.  See, the gift is a tool for the local church to bring people in and to reach out to others in their communities.  When the children come to an event, they are coming to hear the gospel message and the gift is a BONUS.  

The discipleship journey focuses on:

Lesson 1: The Great Creator

Lesson 2: The Greatest Problem

Lesson 3: The Great Savior

Lesson 4: The Greatest Friend

Lesson 5: Zacchaeus

Lesson 6: Children

Lesson 7: David

Lesson 8: God's people

Lesson 9: Help Others

Lesson 10: Love others

Lesson 11: Hope in Heaven

Lesson 12: Tell Others

The consistency of the message was very impressive to me, at each event the message was the same.  The hand motions may have been a bit different, but the message was the same.  The children learn about sin.  Sin is ANYTHING that you DO, SAY or THINK is AGAINST God.  

To wrap up the few days, we had the opportunity to go shopping to purchase items that could assist us in presenting what we learned during our time in Kenya and to purchase souvenirs.  The shopping experience for me was just God kisses.  One of the vendors was Edith and another Janet.  I felt like my Sunday School class was with me not just on this day, but throughout this trip.  

Cultural Experience

Our cultural experience was going to the Giraffe Center where we learned about the Giraffes in Kenya and we had the opportunity to feed them.  This was a cool experience.  The Giraffes tongue is very rough and we were told very anticeptic.  The Giraffes we are use to here in the US are Retriculated.  The Giraffe's in Kenya are low in number.  They breed Giraffe's and when they turn 2 years old they are released to the wild to help grow the population.

Traveling Home

I was NOT ready to leave.  I felt like I had just gotten there and it was time to leave.  Going to the airport was an experience in Kenya.  The security is taken very seriously with 5 security checkpoints before even getting on the plane.  At one point, when you get to your gate, you better be ready to sit, as you cannot leave the gate, unlike in the US and Paris where you can walk around the airport prior to needing to be at your gate.  Yes, we could walk around the airport, but when you go to your gate, you had to go thru a security checkpoint, which you could not leave once passed through.

I left a piece of my heart in Kenya and will need to go back one day, maybe to stay.  I can say I will return at some point.