KAKUMA
By Pastor Peter Muli: Kakuma Base Manager
December 2006

Pastor Peter Muli has been the Kakuma Base Manager since January 2006 until now. In an interview with ACMI media department, he narrates his role and experiences in Kakuma. He lives in Kakuma with his wife, Ruth Kewi and three children

There is plenty that goes on in Kakuma ranging from discipleship, children’s ministry, school projects, relief distribution and training of leaders and missionaries.

We also have a children’s ministry better known as the Ephraim ministry that has been running under Tressi Kibe who is currently on a one sabbatical leave. Land was purchased with the intention of constructing an orphanage that will host a full time program for the children. We currently constructed toilets and we also got a shallow borehole which can only give water during the rainy seasons. Last year there was a vain attempt at drilling water. However, plans are still underway to drill another section and see if we’ll find better luck. We are also working out the construction of a house for residential purposes for whoever will be taking care of the children. There are a lot of challenges due to lack of water. We don’t have water there. So we have to purchase water at 20shillings for every 20litres. That is a lot of money for construction but we are trying to do the best that we can. With the little money we get we can only afford to take one step at a time. Right now we are just building the blocks.

One of the recent projects that ACMI has undertaken is setting up a school deep in the village of Lochereng. It’s a village that the government has not reached because there is nothing there. There’s no clinic, no dispensary, no school, nothing. The villagers there trek for close to 30kms to Kakuma town to look for water. ACMI recently began a primary school there. As the base manager, I oversee the operations of the school. And have to know the required steps to implement the projects. Fortunately I had taken up leadership training in Nairobi’s Leadership Training Institute (LTI) in 2004. This has really helped me in planning, goal-setting, decision-making, leadership and interpersonal skills.

We have three semi-permanent classrooms there. One of the visitors who came to Kakuma last year donated money for construction of toilets and purchase of uniforms for the children. We have a brother, Elias, who was previously in Ghana, whom we sent to the region. We gave him some food to give to those who would participate in the construction of the toilets, including the digging and block making. We employ a food for work approach. There is now need there for about two new classrooms, a kitchen. The teachers in Lochereng are mostly locals that we source from the town in Kakuma. They are not really skilled since they have not gone through teacher-training but they are doing well.

Pastor Maziri who was in the Church Planting School is now teaching the diploma class in the refugee camp. The plan is to go to Mozambique but while preparing for that, he is there as a volunteer. He did a degree course at Kitale ICM, so he’s a good teacher. Esther Njue who is a Turkana is teaching the certificate. She has been through ISOM. Since I am also a student at CBI, I can also teach the diploma and certificate classes when there is need; that is when there are not sufficient teachers. I am pursuing a diploma in Pastoral Theology. We have also Ekitala, A Turkana who has also gone through ISOM. He is working with the orphans. The locals that we have like him are very resourceful especially when it comes to something like Translation because most of them do not know English or Swahili. We also have Jacqueline who has been on leave undergoing treatment. She got sick some time ago and has not recovered enough to come back. We also have John Kibe and his wife Tressi who are also on a one year leave. We also had Irene who was working with the Ephraim kids. She is very good and I wouldn’t mind having her here but she left the base sometime ago and is unwilling to return. Those are the main people we have there.

However, we still have a shortage of workers in Kakuma. If we take the Ephraim kids for example, we only have Ekitala working with them. He alone is not enough especially because they treat him as their own brother. He is a youth like them since most of them are now teenagers and he is also a local like them. It makes it hard for him to be authoritative on them. They need someone much older who they will easily obey. So when I came here I talked to the office and I suggested that they take up my wife because I know she has a heart for children. She was actually a nursery school teacher before we left Mwingi; that is before she stopped working. She has been doing that for ten years, since before our marriage. The office did give that some serious thought and agreed to engage her in the responsibility. So my wife will now be working with the kids.

Our vision is to have a school beginning with the elementary classes we call nursery school. We are looking forward to start in January 2007. We are targeting the orphans and intend to use a semi-permanent building that we have in the Ephraim compound. We are actually intending to shift all operations related to children to the orphanage center that we are constructing.

Language barrier has been an obvious challenge in Kakuma. I desire so much to hear what the locals are saying but most of the time I can’t. I have been there for about seven months now. By and by I have been able to pick up words here and there. That helps me to connect statements and so I’ll sometimes have an idea what it is they are talking about. When people come to me for assistance, especially the local mama’s (women), they will sometimes do so at their own convenience. This means that I will not always be prepared with an interpreter. But when I see a local passing by and I know they are conversant with both languages (local and Swahili), I will beckon them and have them interpret for me what it is that the women are saying. It’ll take a bit of time for me to learn the language unlike for my wife. She was brought up in Isiolo town where the father worked as a policeman. There were few Turkana’s there and she had managed to interact with them and learn the language. So she’s more conversant in the language than I am. My son is also quite fast with languages and has grasped more than I have. He sometimes does the interpretation.

Being that we are a mission base, we do not have our own church in Kakuma and thus are interdenominational. We thereby work with the various churches that are there. On this basis we also train the leaders and especially those that are youth. So we have Kakuma Interdenominational School of Missions (KAISOM), the equivalent of ISOM. The school that has existed for the last four years is run at the ACMI Kakuma base. Jacqueline and Kibe had been running it but since they have both been away, it has been on halt. We are planning to revive it again come next year January. Hopefully by then Jacky or Kibe will have returned.

We also preach to the churches around Kakuma, both in the villages and in the town and also at the refugee camp. We normally get a lot of invitations and so we have someone to send out several of us every Sunday to the different churches. Being interdenominational has enabled us to reach out to more groups because we do not take sides. I preach in a different church every Sunday. The Sunday services also serve as a good forum for learning the language. As the interpreter does his job it’s easy to pick up words because they refer to what you have already spoken.

The climatic condition is also another challenge. There’s a lot of adverse wind and sun in the region. Sometimes the wind blows so hard that people practically shut the doors and keep indoors until it subsides. It can blow so hard and carry away stuff. And if you are caught riding against the wind, woe to you because it could topple you over. Another challenge is of the spiders and scorpions. I have heard that they have bitten some people and caused death. This is a challenge but a good one too because it causes me to think. With three kids in such a place as that you are left with not much but to scratch your head real hard until you get as solution. It gets scary when the night settles in and the kids still want to run around. The scorpions and spiders normally come out in the night and our house is sort of dark unlike in the base. Someone offered to install a solar lighting system in the base some time ago but the rest of us who live outside the base have to make do with lamps, candles and torches.

So when the night settles in, I can tell you as a parent that I am not very comfortable. Here are the kids, they don’t know what you know and they want to joke and run outside and play in the night. They are very innocent yet I know that danger looms. Our second son for instance had a nasty incidence some time in January when I was away for the ACMI retreat. He was beaten by a scorpion. Someone called me when I was in Kitale on my way back to Kakuma to inform me. I was supposed to spend the night in Kitale and continue with the journey the next morning. However, I was so restless that I had to wake up and go look for a night vehicle. So those are some of my main challenges.

The climatic condition is also a huge challenge and threat. There is an outbreak of TB in Kakuma and also Measles. Things that have already been dealt with here (Nairobi/Thika) are a challenge to us there. It’s an issue to trust God for because like our children need to and will interact with other children. Like our firstborn is in school, Standard one. He was in a public school called Arid Zone Primary School but I recently (in July) transferred him to a private one. It’s a new school under the Full Gospel Churches of Kenya.

Interacting with the locals is not a problem for me. I also don’t like to give much attention to the challenges because those will always be there no matter where you are. One person said that “it does not matter what happens outside but what happens inside.” I have a duty to serve God and ACMI there the best way possible. As for how long I will be there, there’s no telling. I also believe that “what you are doing at the moment will determine where you will be tomorrow.” I am determined not to spare any energy. I am prepared to serve wholeheartedly for as long as God wants me to. I know that I am only here for a time. I believe that I am sowing for tomorrow from right here. I have some dreams especially when it comes to ministry but what matters most to me is what I am doing at the moment. For example I was a pastor for some time and I did not think of ever being with ACMI. I believe in doing the best I can today and God will take care of my tomorrow. So that is why I cannot tell how long I will serve in Kakuma. I leave that to God. I was telling God that it’s you I have a contract with. You know we usually sign contracts with employers, and for me a one year contact is what it is, but what matters more is the contract with God. I like to do service knowing that God is watching every moment of it.

Joys: When it comes to ministry generally, it’s my delight to do ministry regardless of what it is. It’s a natural joy to serve other people. My joy is when I see what I do is benefiting other people. “mimi hufurahia kuona watu wengine wanainuka.” For example when we are giving food, as they come to receive food I feel delighted to see them receive and to see what God can do. “kuona watu wengine wakifanikiwa.” Some refugees who been resettled to Australia, Canada and America will sometimes get in touch with us and tell us how they benefited form the training they went through. Some are doing ministry because of what they got either from the training or other interactions. I also know that whether we get the report from them or not, the report is still there. It’s not easy for me to get tired or discouraged because I know that someone somewhere will benefit from what we are doing.

Typical day: Usually I have to do some planning especially in advance. I don’t stay in the camp, I stay outside the camp. So over the weekend I have to know what will be done on Monday and Tuesday. I have to talk to these leaders. If it is the teachers I have to know what challenges they are getting. I also have to know about those running the orphanage, how they are doing. So I get reports from the various departments and get to know what their needs are. So on Mondays I have to supervise the work all round. Then on Tuesdays we don’t do so much of physical (manual) activities since it is our prayer day. When we are doing some construction, I delight in working with the fundi’s. I used to do that even when I was Pastoring. But working in the field or in a mission station (base) is different. It’s flexible. You have to plan for what is there. Sometimes I shift my attention to the teaching, other times to the orphanage and other times I will go deeper in the village. I’ll spend like two-three days with the teachers to see what they are doing in the village. I also take advantage of such an opportunity to do evangelism in the village. It’s a kind of flexible day to day program.

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