Well, our time in Kenya has come to a close and we have moved on to South Africa. In some ways, it feels like we have been in Kenya for such a long time because things were getting familiar and more comfortable. However, in other ways it feels like we just got there because there were friendships just blossoming and many many things that we had yet to experience.
On Sunday afternoon we had the opportunity to be shown around Kibera (the slum town). To see it from a distance is one thing, but to walk the streets, see inside the homes, smell the garbage and hear the people is an entirely different thing. I have seen a similar degree of poverty in San Fransisco and Seattle, but not even close to the magnitude of Kibera. There are about 1.5 million Kenyans living in this slum...and there is more than one slum. It is estimated that over half the population of Kenya lives below the poverty line. We were able to walk among the reality of this statistic. The houses are made of clay and dirt, sewage runs like streams throughout the town, trash is strewn everywhere, and yet there is life in Kibera. Businesses are everywhere and people are surviving. There may not be a hope for a better tomorrow in Kibera, but there is a hope for tomorrow. As our guide ran into people he knew, he would stop and introduce us and say that he was showing us how they were surviving. The constant repetition of this word stuck with me. In one way it lacks so much of the richness that life could be if one were thriving. But in another way is communicates that they have not given up on life; they are still pursuing life with everything that they have. I began to think that with all the businesses in Kibera, there must be a huge entrepreneurial spirit. People are willing to take a risk and try to sell something. With all this ingenuity, what would happen if they were given the resources to fully exercise their ideas.
Monday night we had dinner at Pastor Majid and his wife Jane's house. They showed us around our first night in Kenya and since welcomed us into their church. They opened up their house to us, showed us their wedding album and taught us how to cook Ugali. We stayed there for 5 hours, just soaking in what they could tell us about Kenyan culture. This couple has overcome the loss of parents, growing up unloved and unwanted, financial difficulties and many other hardships. Now they are about to start their own family with a baby on the way. It was a blessing to hear their story and see how much they love and trust in the Lord.
One thing I have noticed since being here is that people say that they are "born again", not "Christians" or "Believers". I don't know it there is any significance to the use of different terms, but I did think it was interested that they identify themselves as Christians by saying that they are "born again".
Well, Kenya has been quite the expereince and adventure, but now we are in South Africa preparing to jump straight into the businesses here.
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