"I'm No Longer the Same..."

...That was a phrase in a song that some of the teenage girls were singing the other day at our Bible club in Mitumba Slum.. “I’m no longer the same…” and this is true…

Last Saturday Trevor and I went to our first Bible club out at Mitumba. We had a really great (and tiring!!) time! It had been raining off and on all week, and Saturday morning it was pouring, and so we were prepared with an umbrella and rubber boots to battle the mud and rain!!
We walked to the Ngong road, and waited there for Pastor Shadrach to pick us up, and then went to Mitumba. The slum was even more mucky and muddy than last time…everything was so incredibly dirty…and yet the kids were happy and joyful with huge smiles on their faces…what a contrast..

We just sat in while Pastor Shadrach told the smallest kids (there were close to 100 of them) a Bible story, and they sang some songs. We were amazed at their singing, and how he just asked if they could sing a few songs for us, and one of them started them off, and they were all trying to compete in volume and expressiveness with each other! It was really cute!!

We waited till some of the youth showed up, and met with them for awhile. (There were about 15-20 youth.) It was a neat time of visiting and going through a short Bible study with them…but we do realize that it will take awhile before they completely trust us enough to really open up and have real discussions with us. That was why I was shocked when a few girls hung around after most of the youth had left, and asked Trevor and I a lot of questions…like “where did God come from?” and “Why doesn’t He always answer my prayers?” “…it was so awesome that they felt free enough to ask questions, especially after only the first time we had met! After we talked for awhile, then the girls started whispering amongst themselves, then whispered my name to get my attention…it turns out that they had SO many questions that needed answering, and wanted to ask with no boys around!! So we went to sit in a quiet corner, and they asked questions about life, relationships, boys, puberty, kids, HIV AIDS…the list goes on and on! I couldn’t even finish answering one question, then another girl would have another question…it was so awesome! I was so excited to be able to have this chance to interact and get to know them on a deeper level…already!! One of them asked if we would ever come back to Mitumba, and I told her that yes, we were planning on coming back most Saturdays…the girls all looked at each other, grinned, and the questions stopped! They realized that they did not need to get all their questions answered in such a hurry, but they would have time to ask me another day if not today…it was funny, and yet broke my heart at the same time…these teenage girls are in such need of role models, of women in their life who will be there for them, and give them Godly and Biblical answers to their very real struggles…and so many of the questions they had were so basic, and yet they did not know, because no one had ever taken the time to tell them. They blessed me so much just by their willingness to be open and honest with me, and I just pray that God will give me the answers to their questions, and the love that these girls need. A lot (or maybe even most) of them have made commitments to follow the Lord, and yet a lot of them don’t really know what this means, and struggle a lot with different issues…so please pray for these girls…
In the meantime, Trevor was meeting with the boys (we had not intended to split them up, but now see that it was really good that it happened), and they also had really good discussions about abuse (what to do if they or their family members are being abused), how to handle it when a friend wrongs them, and questions about if they will go to Heaven right away when they die if they are believers. They had really good, deep discussions, and a lot of questions, and Trevor was able to help, counsel and encourage them with God’s Word. It was so incredible how they opened up so soon, and are just hungry for advice and for someone to take the time to listen to them and their stories! These young men need a lot of prayer, as they are facing so many pressures and struggles…their lives have been so difficult.

Some of the beautiful children who live in Mitumba Slum.

A little history on Mitumba…the name that has previously been used for it is “Sodom and Gomorrah” because of all the immorality and sinful things that happened there… it’s people were viewed as cursed and demon possessed because of the slum’s appalling immorality. Parents would give their children alcohol to daze them, and would teach them crime…there was no law and order. Many, many other sad and awful things were normal in this place…but things have changed somewhat now…since Pastor Shadrach and his wife Violet felt the call of God to help these people six years ago, God has done GREAT things in Mitumba slum, and is changing lives, one by one!! They are counselling adults, and being able to influence the children through the school and Bible clubs…Pastor Shadrach says that now, as the children learn about morality in school, they will act as their guardians’ moral keepers, and not tolerate “misbehaviour” at home. There is still so much need, and so many lives that are still caught up in the bondage of sin, but we do know that God is in the business of changing lives, and that is what He is doing in Mitumba Slum!! All glory and honour goes to God!!