for years I've felt like I'm living on the wrong side of the mirror. I'll look around this beautiful, beautiful town (seriously- I love Portland!) and everything feels upside-down, or at least backward.
my heart beats correctly in Nairobi (literally- but that's a different story). things are NOT easy there. they aren't convenient. don't get me wrong, Nairobi is fairly Westernised and you can get almost everything you want, and certainly everything you need- but it can still be really, really annoying.
the buses are always late, and slow, and prices change daily, and the potholes make me crazy. restaurants never have what they say they have, and the last time I went grocery shopping, the store was 'out' of rice. RICE. phone service is terrible, and expensive. internet is slow at best. the rains are late and crops are bad and employment is low and crime rates are high and people are hungry and tired. it's entirely imperfect.
but it's HOME.
I am moving home at the end of June. and when I say 'moving', I mean finally. moving. home. I've been waiting for this for almost a decade, and it's time.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Wednesday, February 8, 2012
ruin and treasure
where there is ruin, there is hope for a treasure. ~Rumi
I spend about half my time and energy thinking about how to get children out of the slums and into (as of yet non existent) homes on my land, and the other half of my time and energy worrying about myself: why does my back hurt? why am I so sad? why can't I buy more clothes?
there needs to be some balance, probably. and by 'balance', I mean, less of me, more of Him.
more Jesus.
more of the One who loves these children, knows their names, and has authority over the dust and dirt, the disease and the filth, the poverty and oppression. authority, even, over my whiny, selfish self.
I need to take my eyes off myself, because I can't fix myself anyway. I need to throw myself into this project, because as I love and serve others, and spend time with the One who loves them, I will begin to heal; I will begin to be healed.
the problem is that I don't know where to start. I feel very stuck. not with the general concept, but with the actual day-to-day tasks: I need money.
a lot of it.
but there is One who knows, and today I'm choosing to trust in Him.
Monday, December 19, 2011
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
Christmas shopping
if you want to give a love one a gift, but don't want to brave the Black Friday chaos, why not buy them something beautiful and meaningful- that benefits a local non profit and helps support orphaned children in Kenya?
we still have a few sling bags left (they are going FAST), and their pictures can be found here
and they can be payed for using paypal, here:
we also have a few VG t shirts remaining, for men and women.
new Africa shirts can be bought here
and our original, acacia tree shirts here (they are on sale!)
please consider supporting Visible Grace this year as you buy your gifts!
thank you,
Ashby Rauch
we still have a few sling bags left (they are going FAST), and their pictures can be found here
and they can be payed for using paypal, here:
we also have a few VG t shirts remaining, for men and women.
new Africa shirts can be bought here
and our original, acacia tree shirts here (they are on sale!)
please consider supporting Visible Grace this year as you buy your gifts!
thank you,
Ashby Rauch
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
more story: part two: unedited
(first part of the story here.)
said ten acres were acquired with a lot of tears, time and donations from generous people like you.
and several thousand cups of tea with various land owners and their lawyers. (ooh, book idea: drinking cups of tea in a foreign country while trying to build a school. it could work.)
Nairobi is unreal. combine the poorest of the poor (50% of the nation makes $2 a day or less) with the up-and-coming. combine, also, the grandmothers who don't speak English, who know how to knit and sew and farm and cut their own firewood, with the youth, the generation who speaks ONLY English, and poorly, who own cars and work downtown and move out before they get married.
combine, even, the fashion and trends from Europe with the colourful fabrics that one pictures when they think of Africa: wrapped around your waist, your shoulders, your head.
combine all of this with parasites and HIV and water you can't drink until it's boiled.
enter one naive college student who thinks she knows everything.
said ten acres were acquired with a lot of tears, time and donations from generous people like you.
and several thousand cups of tea with various land owners and their lawyers. (ooh, book idea: drinking cups of tea in a foreign country while trying to build a school. it could work.)
Nairobi is unreal. combine the poorest of the poor (50% of the nation makes $2 a day or less) with the up-and-coming. combine, also, the grandmothers who don't speak English, who know how to knit and sew and farm and cut their own firewood, with the youth, the generation who speaks ONLY English, and poorly, who own cars and work downtown and move out before they get married.
combine, even, the fashion and trends from Europe with the colourful fabrics that one pictures when they think of Africa: wrapped around your waist, your shoulders, your head.
combine all of this with parasites and HIV and water you can't drink until it's boiled.
enter one naive college student who thinks she knows everything.
Monday, September 26, 2011
FUNdraising
hey shoppers!
I have pretty, pretty things for sale:
we are actually building now (!!!!!!!) and so it's
a) much more motivating to beg people for money, knowing that every dollar gets us closer to finishing our building, and
b) much more important that we get money, SOON. those walls aren't gonna build themselves, guys.
so...introducing our new, pretty purses, direct from Kenya:
and our beautiful African jewelry:
and more details on purchasing them soon. (necklaces are $15, earrings $10, purses $25.)
we have a few of our new shirts left: buy them here
and even fewer of our old design, which are on SALE! (here)
in conclusion, has spending money every been this fun?
I have pretty, pretty things for sale:
we are actually building now (!!!!!!!) and so it's
a) much more motivating to beg people for money, knowing that every dollar gets us closer to finishing our building, and
b) much more important that we get money, SOON. those walls aren't gonna build themselves, guys.
so...introducing our new, pretty purses, direct from Kenya:
and our beautiful African jewelry:
and more details on purchasing them soon. (necklaces are $15, earrings $10, purses $25.)
we have a few of our new shirts left: buy them here
and even fewer of our old design, which are on SALE! (here)
in conclusion, has spending money every been this fun?
Monday, September 19, 2011
a start.
I started writing a story.
Carve a thin strip out of the jungle and throw down some tarmac. Add traffic: trucks, people, cars, animals. Cows, goats, donkeys. Monkeys who refuse to use the crosswalks and do not look both ways before crossing.
Toss four million people into houses on either side of the road. This is Nairobi.
There are four things I love unequivocally in this city. One is the giraffe center, where you can feed giraffe and stand right up next to their heads. They are peaceful, and beautiful.
Two: an American coffee house, complete with flushing toilets, drinkable water, wireless internet and polite wait staff. You can read there for hours undisturbed.
The third thing is the Ngong market when it is not market day. It is quiet and you can buy almost anything. Avocados the size of softballs. Papaya and mango. Flip flops and kitchen utensils. Fabric, used sweaters, pashminas and sugar cane. Eleven different kinds of beans.
Number four is the ten acres of land south of Kiserian registered under the name of Visible Grace.
Carve a thin strip out of the jungle and throw down some tarmac. Add traffic: trucks, people, cars, animals. Cows, goats, donkeys. Monkeys who refuse to use the crosswalks and do not look both ways before crossing.
Toss four million people into houses on either side of the road. This is Nairobi.
There are four things I love unequivocally in this city. One is the giraffe center, where you can feed giraffe and stand right up next to their heads. They are peaceful, and beautiful.
Two: an American coffee house, complete with flushing toilets, drinkable water, wireless internet and polite wait staff. You can read there for hours undisturbed.
The third thing is the Ngong market when it is not market day. It is quiet and you can buy almost anything. Avocados the size of softballs. Papaya and mango. Flip flops and kitchen utensils. Fabric, used sweaters, pashminas and sugar cane. Eleven different kinds of beans.
Number four is the ten acres of land south of Kiserian registered under the name of Visible Grace.
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