So let me first begin by introducing ourselves and telling you just what this blog is all about!

My name is David Brown and I now live with my amazing wife Janine in Isebania, Kenya.  We are here working with Nuru International (Nuru).  The goal of Nuru International is to End Poverty in Remote, and Rural Areas.  The model Nuru uses is something totally new and different; we never give a handout, we work beside our Kenyan staff to train community members with knowledge and tools that allow them to have a choice to determine their future.  There really is nothing else like Nuru International and we fully believe in and support the goal and methodology, so we decided to give our lives, our time, and our expertise. And here we are!

I named our blog "Turning the World Upside Down" based on one of the charges against early Christian's recorded in Acts 17:6.  Janine and I hope to live in a way that we too are accused of that.  We hate the evil, death, and destruction that we see in the world, and we will continue to invest our lives in the Upside Down Kingdom, the Kingdom of God.  Nuru International is not a religious organization.  But we feel like they do the kind of work that God is involved in; redeeming, restoring, and totally changing people's lives.  We get to partner with people and turn their world upside down.

Janine is familiar with the circumstances we find ourselves in; this her fourth trip here.  She has been with Nuru since the beginning (Sept 2008).  I'm a first timer here in Kenya.  I've spent some time Africa before this, but I've never been this embedded in a community here before.  Part of Nuru's ideals, is that we become part of the community, so we live as closely as possible to how the people around us.  This isn't the norm with many African NGOs.  So we do simple actions like walk everywhere, or take motorcycles taxis (bodas) to our meetings or field visits, as opposed to having a big white Land Rover.  

The land here is beautiful and bountiful.  Most everyone is a farmer.  Here is a typical view in our area.  A maize field on rolling hills, with boulder outcroppings scattered around. BEAUTIFUL!

Nuru started by teaching farmers how to employee better farming techniques, and giving input loans of seed and fertilizer.  After the first growing season most farmers had doubled or even tripled the amount of maize per acre.  This enabled the farmers to pay back their input loans, have enough food to eat for the rest of the year, and for some to sell excess maize so they could invest in farming tools, like a plow cow or pay school fees for their children. Nuru's model is holistic and we have a foundation of servant leadership that grounds and upholds all our other program areas - Healthcare (for which Janine works), Water and Sanitation, Education, Community Economic Development, Agriculture, and Monitoring and Evaluation (making sure we are making an impact in all our program areas - this is my position while I'm here.)

So this is part of the story of Nuru, and now part of our lives.  Next, we will tell you more about why we decided to be here, what out life looks like, and maybe some of what we can can expect in the months to come.

Thanks for reading! Love and miss you all!