A Different World...

Wow...today was a day full of new experiences. Some good, some funny, and some just really horrible. We started our day at 7:30 am with breakfast in the dining room. I don't know if I've really described the Mayfield for you before...it's almost like a bed & breakfast run by Kenyans, and they do all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, reception, everything. And all the staff are men! There are lots of different people who stay here from lots of different missions...some are new like us, some are just passing through Nairobi for a day or two, some are on holiday. Anyway, after breakfast our short-term team got together with Lesa to have a Bible Study and share our testimonies.
We then got a security briefing by Sharon Brown, a missionary who has lived in Africa for many years. That was kind of scary, just hearing how incredibly careful we have to be, and all the things that can and do happen, but it was also really good to be more prepared and get educated on how to live safely and smartly. At 11:00 am we had our first Kiswahili lesson with a Kenyan man named Ndalegwa. That was a lot of fun!! He's a really funny guy, and also really helped us to start learning basic Swahili! So if I say to you "Hamjambo!" then you respond with "hatujambo!", which is basically me just saying hello to a group, and the group saying hello back! If I just want to address one person, I would say "Hujambo" and you would respond with "Sijambo"! So...that's just a taste of what we learned...we'll get the hang of it sooner or later!! We have two more lessons this week, one of which Ndalegwa want to take us to the Masai Market to practice! Scary, but I think we'll make it!
After lunch, James Muyela took us out for Matatu (mini bus taxi) lessons! I've been really nervous for this, but it was actually kind of fun! I still don't quite get the hang of it, but we have another lesson tomorrow. Basically you have to know which number on the buses goes where, and you also have to know where it is you want to go, something that I still haven't mastered as I don't know my way around at all! One of the matatus we got on had insanely loud music, a TV showing Mr. Bean...we all just looked at each other and had to laugh! All the matatus are really, really full of people, and the drivers all drive, well, like they do here in Nairobi!! I'm still scared to have to take these when we don't have a teacher as capable as James, but I guess that's all part of the process and experience!!
We picked up Wycliffe, a young man who used to live in the Kibera Slum, and he and James took us to Kibera. That was where the horrible part came in. I can't even begin to describe for you what we saw. It is the biggest slum in Kenya, and James was saying now it is the biggest in all of Africa, with over 1 million people living there. It's a city built on garbage, literally. When you look down over the slum, there are tin shacks and garbage as far as the eye can see. We walked down into it, and walked through the streets...the smell is so overpowering, a mix of garbage, pigs, chickens, sewer, sweat...this is where people live!! This is where kids grow up! You have to really watch your step, there is literally garbage, mud, and anything else you can imagine everywhere. I just had this lump in my throat the entire time we were there...my mind didn't want to comprehend the awfulness of it. And I kept thinking back to a few months ago, when the violence was so bad after the elections, and remembering all the stories I heard about on the news...so much of it happened right there. We walked past a couple of little shacks that were burnt right down to the ground, and that happened on Saturday. But...there was encouragement in all of this. We went to the Kibera Church of God, where James attends and helps out. It's a compound in the middle of the slum, and they have a Church, a school, a small orphanage, a clinic, and they also handle 300 sponser children through Compassion International! What an amazing place!! God is working in a huge way!!! We met a young man, Boniface, who is a sponser child, and he is really thriving and doing well! We hope to keep in touch with him. We also met with the Pastors who are in charge, and it was really neat to talk with them, and hear about what God is doing there. They also talked about the election violence, and how it affected them firsthand, and how awful things were at that time. But they are hopeful, and they are confident that God is good...all the time. We were so blessed to see them, as well as all the school kids. Walking through the slums is interesting, though. We, as mzungus (white people), are in the center of attention, to the point where you know that every eye is on you! And the kids, it's so funny, the kids are all taught to say "how are you" when they see a white person, except to them it's spelled, literally "hawayu", and so as we walked by kids as little as two or three years old, we heard "hawayu", and then so much laughter!!! Or you hear a bunch of Kiswahili, and then "mzungu!" and they'll all look and laugh! There was a lady with a little boy at her feet, and when she saw us, I heard her say to her son "hawayu" and point to us, and she did this consistantly until he turned around and saw us, and then repeated the phrase!! When I smiled and waved, I think her smile was bigger than his was!
So...it's been a really overwhelming day, and I think that will probably continue into the rest of the week, but it was good at the same time. I've really enjoyed getting out into Nairobi, and seeing the people, and seeing what's really happening.
Please continue to pray for direction for us, and specifically direction for me as I pray about what it is I'm going to be involved in. Working in the Kibera Slum is definitely something I'm interested in, but I'll have to wait and talk to Murray, and see if that is an option right now. So...I think that's it for today. Please feel free to comment, or email us! We'd love to hear from you!!!!
~A