Praise the Lord! On December 1, 2006, the Turkana Bible Training Institute (TBTI) was pleased to celebrate its first ever graduation! Let me share some highlights....
We are amazed at the way everything worked out for the graduation to even happen. We are always thankful for rain in Turkana, and give thanks to God for a very abundant rainy season this October and November. However, rain also forces plans to change. For us, it disrupted our graduation plans in about three different ways.
First, our guest speaker, former missionary to Turkana and currently working with the Urban Poor in Nairobi, Keith Ham, and his son Jonathan (Patrick's friend), were flying up on Thursday and were forced to return to Nairobi due to dangerous storm clouds. They were able to reschedule a flight on Friday, and were due to arrive at 10AM, the same time graduation was scheduled to begin; we were grateful they could arrive at all.
Second, we had invited a Maasai man called James Sinkua, the principal of the Narok Bible Training Institute in Maasailand (a "sister" to TBTI) and chairman of the Kenya CCC churches, to come and represent the CCC churches. He was riding a bus up from Narok, a trip that might normally take 17 hours. It took him 41 hours, due to a washed out bridge and other delays due to rain. His bus took him to one side of the washout, they had to cross on foot, another bus picked them up on the other side. That bus was nearly to Lodwar when it ran out of gas! He finally arrived at 2:30 pm on Friday.
Third, of the 21 students graduating, half of them (from churches along the Kerio River) were riding a truck that got stuck-- very stuck-- in the mud. They left that truck, walked about 15 kilometers to a nearby village, where we were able to send out another truck to pick them up. They were supposed to arrive on Thursday night, but didn't get to town until about 1:30 pm on Friday.
As I mentioned above, the ceremony was supposed to begin at 10AM. On that day however, we were grateful to be working on African Time, and it finally kicked off at 2PM. No one seemed to mind. Those who were there on time spent the morning celebrating and worshipping God!
It was a celebration to remember! The graduates sat in front, in their caps and gowns. Church choirs came to sing. Cameras were flashing. The tent we'd borrowed was filled to capacity-- with people overflowing the edges-- at least 300 came to celebrate.
For me, there were two things that stood out that day. First, my heart was overjoyed to see so many of my friends from different areas in Turkana where we have lived. These women and men (and children) live out in the bush and many of them rarely (if ever) come in to town. But today, in spite of the rain and the hassles of mud, they were there, celebrating with the students.
Second, as each graduate came forward to receive his certificate, the members of the churches where they work would stand up and shout and whistle and clap. They were excited! The men who were graduating heard and saw their churches validate them with their excitement and their presence at the ceremony. For the churches, they were able to see their leaders validated by an "official" time of recognition of their studies and their leadership. This graduation was real. And it was important to enable the churches in Turkana to move forward in their identity and maturation.
Wow. It was a memorable time. After the ceremony, each graduate was surrounded by family, friends, church members. The guests hung shiny garlands around the graduates' necks (a Kenyan tradition). They brought gifts. They stood together, surrounding "their" graduate, for photos. People hugged each other (I don't often see this in Turkana).
I don't know if I have adequately conveyed the joy that was evident on Friday. But the air was thick with it. Thank you for so many of you who have prayed for this day, for those who have supported us, to allow us to be here in this work, for those who have directly supported the work of TBTI.
Photos of the day are posted on the ejoka.com website www.ejoka.com/tbtigraduation ---enjoy!
Joyfully serving Him,
Katy Lines for the Lines family
