Even though we had been in touch with the couple (from Texas, younger than me!) who started Mattaw and I had spent evenings last summer looking at the faces on the Mattaw website trying to get a sense for what I was going to experience while in Kenya, I really did not know what to imagine. The pictures in my head that I usually create before going somewhere new or meeting a new face were very fuzzy as I set my heart and mind on spending almost two weeks in Africa.
Before we arrived, I had no idea the wonderful picture of family life that I would encounter and find for children who had once been surrounded by darkness, abused, and forsaken. Bud & Kimberly, who started Mattaw, had a vision to create homes for the children they rescued. They refer to it as a Children's Village, not an orphanage, but it's even more than that.
The houses you see below each represent a "family" at Mattaw. Each house is numbered and has a name (Love, Joy, Peace, Patience). African married couples live in each of the houses and are the parents of the children who have been brought into their individual houses. While all of the children at Mattaw (all 60+ of them!) view each other as brothers and sisters and respect all of the parents as their own Mom and Dad (including Bud and Kim), the "family" that they belong to is the one they actually live with in their house. More here about the family structure and vision of Mattaw.
In the picture above, you see House 3, 4, 5, and 6 (right to left). Houses 1 & 2 are cut off on the right side of the photo. While we were there (and when this picture was taken), Houses 5 & 6 were in the process of being completed. The very first house was opened in August of 2008, and here almost 5 years later, they are ready to welcome home another family to House 5. In addition to the houses, a church, school house, and guest house are some of the other buildings that have been built in the last few years or are in the process of being completed.
The buildings at Mattaw are made with the blocks pictured below. The structure of a house can actually be completed in only 7 days. Amazing. These interlocking blocks make the buildings sturdy and the process fast.
Now here's where God's plan and His hand on our lives is mind blowing.
Never would I have ever imagined how God would piece together His plan for a couple who left their home in Williamsburg, Virginia back in the early 90s to live in Ghana to help build rain catchment systems for clean drinking water and interweave their lives with mine 20 years later as God opened the doors for us to travel together to Kenya.
This couple later realized a need as they worked in the villages of Ghana that led to the development of the block machine. The interlocking blocks above are created using a block machine that was created by our team leaders, Arnold & Gerri Polk.
It was a blessing for me to travel with Arnold & Gerri to Kenya, not only because of the comfort they provided having lived in Africa for many years, but also because I was able to see the fruit of this ministry that God gave them years ago. I was overwhelmed by the wonderful families that have been created at Mattaw for the children and the homes that that were built with love using the blocks. I was humbled and honored to be a small part of this ministry and to see God's hand at work.
The Polks have taken the block machine to multiple countries besides Kenya and Ghana including Sierra Leone, Mali, and Haiti where they have trained the locals to make the blocks and build with them. More information here on their ministry.
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