The Story of Faith
My early excursions into Africa were connected to the field of architecture and hospital development. They were large projects and, except for some minor achievements, the dreams were not realized. Several years later an opportunity came to me from an individual in Africa who reached out to get my attention. I was not seeking a project and very nearly missed becoming involved.
A complex situation began very simply. Dr. Humberto Rasi was editor of an international journal whose purpose was to connect with Christian young people who were studying in universities around the world. He instituted a quarterly journal, Dialogue, published in four languages. The articles were broadly based in science and theology. In order to create a balance in the journal’s content, it was decided that each year one issue of the four would include an interview with an artist. Dr. Rasi invited me to be interviewed for the Spring 2005 issue and offered to include a portfolio of watercolor images to accompany the text.
When the interview was completed, Dr. Rasi suggested that it might be advantageous to provide my email address at the conclusion of the article. Perhaps it could lead to the sale of one of my watercolors. That didn’t happen. But I did receive about 100 requests for financial help. Not knowing which email requests were genuine, I proceeded to delete them all. Some I struggled with, wanting to believe the story that was presented as a dramatic and seemingly sincere request.
Almost four years later, on June 7, 2009 I received an email from a girl in Kenya:
“Greetings in the Lord’s name.
“I am called Faith Akoth, I am a seventh day Adventist young girl aged 12 years and an orphan, my parents died of AIDS in the year 2005. I am a member of pathfinder class and children's choir. I have longed to talk to you or to e-mail you. I know you might be wondering how I came to know you. Just know that I was referred to you by God.
“ I need to be your friend, I need you to accept me as part of your family, to let me be your daughter if it can be possible for I don't have a parent or anyone to care for me. … Since my parents died I have never gone back to school. I need an education. Please help me.
Your friend
Faith”
I could not easily delete this email. Yet I considered that perhaps the writer was a third-party scammer who knew enough about the Adventist Church and Pathfinders to create a plausible plea for money. I decided to respond but would ask questions for verification that might discourage anyone other than a twelve-year old orphan with genuine zeal. My wife Norene and I composed an email that requested the names, telephone numbers and email addresses of the Church pastor, Pathfinder leader and Choir Director. Answers to some of our questions came without delay, but the writer recommended that we contact an Aunt Lilly, of no relation. Our email to Lilly Ouma asked for particulars, and her response provided the details.
Faith was described as a bright twelve-year old girl with a burning desire to go back to school. Both parents had died of Aids within one month back in 2005. Lilly indicated that she had found Faith, who now lived with her in the village of Rapogi within the Luo culture of western Kenya. It soon became clear that Lilly and Faith were communicating as one. Norene and I were encouraged to become involved. Authenticity at this stage seemed reinforced by Lilly’s comment that Faith would be a prime prospect to be taken as a teenage bride in a community where polygamy was part of the Luo tribal culture.
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We wrote to Faith to indicate that we would assist in getting her back to school. Her excitement was expressed in the words:
“Wow! I am very happy I can’t believe it. May God bless you. I now believe that when God closes a door he opens another. Life has not been good for me, you know since I lost my parents sometimes going without food, no education. But today I am the happiest. May God bless you. …”
We heard of some difficult times. When Lilly had malaria, Faith carried her bag as they walked to the hospital. Later it was Faith’s turn and the bout with malaria was severe. Lilly brought food and slept under Faith’s hospital bed.
Lilly provided information on the availability of schools, recognizing that it was midway through the 2009 school year. St. Theresa Catholic School provided the highest available academic standard. There were limited places and the tuition was beyond the reach of most of the families. There was also mention of the local public school, two kilometers away and over-populated with more than 100 children in a classroom. I inquired if there was a public library in the town. With the payment of a monthly fee to St. Theresa school, we introduced Faith to the library option for the rest of the year. It gave us time to consider the possibility of having Faith attend an Adventist boarding school the next year.
Faith immediately followed through with daily visits to the library. She expressed thanks for the assistance given by a lady at the library and, in thanking us for paying the library fee, she wrote that she loved the library and read a lot of books. Further evidence came in an email written in response to one we sent to her while I was teaching watercolors on a European river cruise. I had mentioned the city of Vienna. She commented in her reply that she had found Vienna in an atlas, but this city was in Austria and she had read that the people there spoke German. She asked if we spoke German.
Given a natural tendency towards skepticism, there were times in the ensuing months when our minds questioned the reality of a genuine connection with the small town of Rapogi. There was an internet café of sorts, sometimes without power and often without internet connections. When operational, it provided the opportunity for email contact -- and we hoped our contact was with Faith and Lilly. Within a year from our initial conact the 'internet cafe' closed.
At a moment of some uncertainty I decided to read the full email texts of all correspondence from both Faith and Lilly. I was stopped in my tracks when I read in one of Lilly’s emails that she was 27 years of age. I was sure that I had read earlier that she had given her age as 24 years. Ah-ha! I thought, here is a mistake which could certainly be that of an internet worker who has creatively brought orphan, carer and Church into a scam. I went back to the search record. The age of 24 was in the first email from Lilly. It was written three years before, in April 2006, when she was studying in Kampala, Uganda. I reported my finding to Lilly, and she confirmed that she had written to me in 2005 and again later.
I was apparently interested enough to not delete the second message. But I still did not respond. Later, Faith had found Lilly’s printed copy of the Dialogue article, and it was Faith’s email that finally got through to me.
Norene and I, with Lilly, decided that Faith should attend an Adventist primary boarding school. Rangwee School was several hours and three bus journeys away. Faith showed incredible dedication to learning and she worked very hard in her studies at school.
Email correspondence from Faith was very infrequent but we looked forward to these communications. Her dedication to the Church, her sensitivity and concern for the needs of others was impressive for a young girl.
The following was written from Rapogi during a Term break:
“How are you Mama and Baba, I pray for you everyday. Tomorrow we will be in church the whole day, I will be singing with the children. I taught them a new song from the camp meeting. Then we also have songs to sing in our small group and in the pathfinders. So I have a lot to prepare and be ready for tomorrow and this is why I had to write to you early morning today friday.
“Below is a poem I wrote to you last night and dedicated to you. My humble request is can someone read you the poem and as you listen you can assume that it is me telling you the words…’
Here are a few sentences from the poem:
“…After my first Mama and Baba left me I knew it was the end of all, I cried and argued with my God and told him all my pain and grief, I told him I was lonely, I told him I needed someone to love and care for me, I told him I need a mama and baba. Praise God he heard my prayer.
“Today I am blessed and am happy, I am no longer lonely or in pain. I am so happy because I have a mama and baba who care for me. I will continue praising my God for answering my prayer as long as I live.”
. . . . . . .
Norene and I travelled to Egypt in December 2010, and we visited Kenya a week prior to our cruise on the Nile. What a joy to visit with Faith and Lilly!
We arrived at the Ouma family home in the village of Rapogi late in the afternoon. The buildings were located around a courtyard according to strict planning principles. In keeping with the Luo traditions, Lilly’s father has five wives and each has a house. The first wife’s house is directly opposite the entrance to the courtyard. Lilly’s mother is wife number three, and her home is to the right of the first wife’s house.
As soon as we arrived we were greeted and taken to comfortable chairs interspersed with low tables. This was the first of many experiences that made us feel welcome. We were told that we were the first white visitors to their home and all the family wanted to greet us. On many occasions the room was filled with adults and children. There were about 12 small children in the Ouma family and the home was shared with almost as many total orphans of no relation.
Lilly had organized two community meetings for one afternoon. The women met with Norene in the Church, and I joined the men in an open-air camp meeting space in the shade of trees and trellises. I asked what the men would like to discuss. The response was immediate. "We have a dream for a primary school. There are any orphans."
The men were convinced that we had come to Rapogi Lwanda to help them build a school. We did not know that Lilly had already gone to Nairobi to register a Rapogi Lwanda self-help community-based organization with the government office. She had also started to teach local children using a blackboard and chalk in the shade of a large tree. To the community the story of Faith was peripheral. They believed that our visit to their village and the meeting at 3 pm on December 27, 2010 was evidence that their dream to build a primary school had begun to be realized
Norene and I were convinced otherwise. We could assist Faith in her education, and she would be a leader to her community and culture. Our association with Rapogi was about Faith. Nothing more.
That changed on our return to Australia. The idea that we might be involved in an African school project came to the fore through unrelated circumstances. We decided to be involved.
Faith graduated with a Diploma of Music from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton in 2019 and is continuing to pursue a baccalaureate degree at Kabarak University. She is becoming a specialist in African and Western Music, preparing her for a career as a teacher in Kenya.
There is another faith, a dynamic belief put into practice, which the people of a village in western Kenya share. The original “Story of Faith” was about a special young woman. We have been privileged to be part of a story that became much larger as the villagers of Rapogi Lwanda continue to build their primary school.