Hello all! It's been a while since I posted to this space. We didn't send a team to Kenya this November, but we are gearing up for our next mission trip, which will be from May 24-June 3, 2018. We expect to be working in Nairobi again, possibly at some of the smaller church plants that we have served through our clinics in the past, such as Waithaka or Pipeline. We would like to continue to help these small, but vibrant, churches grow. Those details are still being worked out with our Kenyan friends. As always, we will go where we can do the most good, both in terms of the needs of the people for vision care and in regard to our primary purpose of evangelism. If you are interested in more info about this mission trip, please email kevin.westergren@redeemer.net or me at dave@mrpcaustin.com and we'll send you detailed information.
After going to Kenya 17 times since 2009, I've fallen in love with the country and its people. I've also gone from being a snapshot taker to a serious wildlife photographer and have been on over 30 photo safaris to various national and private game parks throughout Kenya. In the past year, I started my own photography business, Photo Art by Dave and have a web site that I am constantly adding to and tweaking. It's at www.photoartbydave.com. You can view my nature photos from Kenya, Texas and other places for free and everything is also available for sale as canvas prints, prints, downloads, mouse pads, coffee mugs, t-shirts, blankets, etc. If you want something and it isn't offered, I can probably get it for you from another vendor.
I bring up the photography business because I am in the planning stages of arranging for several photo safaris to take place during the week after the mission trip. The successful wildlife photographers that I know and admire are either working for National Geographic (the odds of that for me are about the same as me getting drafted by the NBA!), already have built multi-media empires or they are operating photo safaris. I already have the groundwork laid for the safari business since I have our good friend Catherine Wangari and her Mission Opportunities travel agency in my corner and we have a stable of the best wildlife and birding drivers/guides around. I stayed over for 3 extra days in November of 2016 and got over 5,000 pictures, mostly of birds, as this was my primary focus at the time. Out of a possible nearly 1200 possible species in East Africa, we identified nearly 500, which is a home run, when you consider that many birds migrate and are not available in one area all year round. Of course, we got lots of pictures of lions, giraffes, zebras, crocodiles and all of the other usual suspects. I'll have more information by the first of the year, since it's important to book travel early to get the best prices on airfare. If you would like to be added to an email list of prospective participants in these photo safaris, please email me at info@photoartbydave.com.
It's still amazing to me all of the good things that have come from doing the Lord's work over the years in Kenya. I've made lifelong friends, we've seen sight being given to the blind, little children healed from congenital diseases and thousands of people coming to a saving faith in Christ. God has always blessed both the giver and the receiver in my experience. Many times, the giver is really the receiver and vice versa!
More to follow as more details emerge about both the mission trip and my safari opportunity.
Finally, please look through the blog posts from previous mission trips. There are links to hundreds of pictures of our travel, what we do in the clinics, where we stay, the sights we see, etc.