Re:Vive in Kenya 2026

As Claire mentioned in our previous blog post. Today we have split into two groups, the majority of us going to visit the Compassion project at the First Baptist Church, Serem. Josh #2, as I now appear to be known, reporting for duty. The drive was long, over 2 hours, our driver was playing a worship playlist and so we occupied ourselves joining in worship. Serem was packed full of people for market day. Sadly (or happily, depending on your point of view), we did not have any time to shop because we had to go straight to the church where we were greeted with a song and dance from the church community. We were introduced to the children and families who are sponsored by members of St James church. There was much rejoicing, and much praising the Lord. We were all given tinsel garlands (itchy), as visitors are honoured with colourful flowers, in place of real flowers they used tinsel. For those who are unaware, Compassion was not part of our original itinerary, as we were unsure if it wou...

 Today we separated into groups, with most going to visit a Compassion project, and bridget, esther and me (claire) going back to holiday club. Hopefully the Compassion group will post later.  We thoroughly enjoyed joining with holiday club again this morning before going over to the hospital next door for a very detailed tour by lovely hospital administration manager Margaret. Margaret also very gratefully received the two packed suitcases of knitting provided by our wonderful supporters back home - thank you if you did any knitting for us. The babies and families will really benefit. See photos below.  Overall we were really impressed by the hospitals facilities and equipment. The maternity ward was a bit of a shock as it had 14 women plus quite a lot of visitors all crammed into one fairly small ward. They do at least have a separate delivery suite. The neonatal unit was incredible. It was really well equipped and had premature babies from very early prematurity throug...

Hey guys me again (Esther), Today was our first day at kids holiday camp. It was a very chaotic day for us all. We are all getting super tired but pushing through, the strength of God is really getting us through the long days at the moment. Today we all split up into different age classes to do some craft and learning about Jesus being the light of the world. In our class we made some paper crowns, scratch art and beaded bracelets. We were also thrown in the deep end to teach a lesson on Jesus being the light of the world. Nearer the end of the day we all went outside to do various activities we all watched the very dark clouds start to come over us and we quickly went inside as the rain THREW IT DOWN. Then came thunder and lightning. When we arrived at our accommodation the power has been damaged and so we have had (and are still having) a blackout. So far during the blackout we had a three course meal by torchlight, did torchlight devotional and even sorted out our gift suitcases ag...

 Josh G (or now known as Josh 2 in kimilili) wrote the following overnight - its a timely reminder that God is in control Its been a hard day and I just feel the need to offer some encouragement before I go to sleep.  My mosquito net is a really funny shape and even though the four corners are pinned to the ceiling it seems as if it’s twisted into a really funny shape. I thought maybe I’d got it twisted 90 degrees out but I’ve followed the seams from the ceiling to the floor and they are straight. I was reminded of Isaiah 55:8-9  “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Today (Monday) has not gone how we would have planned it, our journey here was rough and the power going out on top of the rooms not being what we’d hoped but I sensed God saying “I’ve got you right where I want you” I pray also that once we’...

 hi all, its Claire on the blog again. I'll keep this short as its late. Its been a very busy day. Today we left the beautiful Resurrection Gardens to return to the airport for our flight to Kisumu. It took longer to get through security than the 1 hour flight. We even met an archbishop at the airport who was going on the same flight. Thankfully the other end was quicker and we were collected in a yellow school bus and we have been well looked after by Rachel, Naomi and Ruth.  We got a brief look at the ICFEM school and hospital and they look brilliant places. Looking forward to holiday club tomorrow. We experienced our first proper Kenyan power cut and ate dinner in the dark but power was back on by the time we finished eating.    

We’ve had a great day worshipping God this morning at Nairobi Chapel. The team joined the early morning service at 9am, some of us were invited to sit on the front row! There was even some dancing among the team (I will neither confirm nor deny the existence of video evidence). For the 11:30 service, we split up, with some of the team joining the youth service, others the young adults, while Bridget joined the 2 year olds and Claire joined the special needs room. I (Josh G) was speaking in the youth services for 14-18 year olds. The worship band were given a break so we had worship via DJ. Sadly the DJ kit failed in the morning service so the young people shared a few testimonies instead of sung worship. I must stress that the Kenyan teenagers were no more enthusiastic about sharing than our English teenagers would be! But the tech team prevailed for the second service and I had my first experience of DJ led worship. We also had a hype man teaching us dance moves (I will neither confir...

 Hey guys!! Luckily nobody woke up to monkeys in their room this morning ;)  Today we went to the Tunjuane community centre and it was amazing! We played lots of games with groups of children, served lunches to the children and listened to them tell us bible stories. Some other activities included face painting, races and water balloon games. The highlight of the day was doing lots of dancing with the group including teaching many children how to do the Macarena and other dances. I think today was so joyful and we all felt blessed to have had such a good day. The sun was not blazing which was another blessing as we were outside all day today so we enjoyed the small breeze. Tomorrow is Church, we (Jojo and Esther) are both looking forward to seeing how different church is here compared to our own ones back home. 

We were hoping to have had a good nights sleep and wake refreshed this morning, but it wasn’t to be-we were rudely awakened during the night by the local wildlife. Cat fights, dog howls and cheeky monkeys kept us awake, with the monkeys even making it into our hallway and one of our rooms!! Thankfully they scarpered before we saw them in person. As a result, we were bleary eyed and in need of sleep at the breakfast table but had funny stories to share from the night before!  This morning we had the privilege of visiting 3 family homes in the slum settlement of Kibera. This is the fourth largest slum in the world with hundreds and thousands of people living there (somewhere between 250,000-1,000,000 people).  This was such a humbling and moving experience. To be welcomed so warmly by families who are in extreme poverty, struggling to put food on their tables and to pay for their children to be in school, was such an honour. They shared their lives with us, complete strangers an...

  Hello, it's Grace, one of the people on the mission trip!  Today was an emotional day for us all. One thing that happened was that me and JoJo got our A level results (we really appreciated all the prayers, thank you) and we have both gotten into Exeter Uni!!! It was interesting to go straight from that into going into to the children's home called Real Hope as it gave to me some perspective on education and the privilege that it is, we went on a tour of the home led by the wonderful Samuel who clearly has such a love and care for the kids and such a heart for his work. We learned so much on the tour about what life is like for these kids. We were able to serve by playing with the kids and talking to the staff, and me and Jane helped to make Chapati (which was very tasty but probably not due to my involvement lol), we went to a field to play with the children and it was really great to see the games they enjoyed, some I knew, some I learned. They were very interested in my h...