Warning: This will not be a light-hearted update or an easy read… so if you’re looking for something to make you feel good, you probably shouldn’t continue.
There is simply no other way to truthfully share the things that I have seen and felt.
The first day I arrived here, I found it hard to connect with the people or the city. I think that there were so many new sights and sounds and smells, that my brain simply couldn’t process it all and allow me to feel at the same time. I felt almost apathetic, and that made me upset. I wanted to feel deeply. I wanted to be able to grasp the weight of the situation, but I couldn’t.
However, the second day was different. I had prayed that God would allow my heart to open up to the children and that I would be able to connect with them and feel with and for them. And well, in typical God fashion, He didn’t let me down.
I spent most of the morning taking videos of the children, asking them about what their life was like before they came to the school, and how the school changed their life. In doing this, I noticed several trends in their answers. First, when I would ask them about their past, their eyes would get cloudy and they would speak in low, soft voices. You could hear the pain.They would explain how they had no food and no school fees, and all that was left to do was to help their mother with housework and roam around looking for money from anyone who would give it to them.
When I asked the kids about how the school changed their lives, their eyes lit up and they began to rattle on and on about how, because of the school, they now understand more about their identity. Many of them were introduced to Jesus for the first time, and many of them accepted Him as their own Lord and Savior. They told me that now they understood that they define their problem, not the other way around.
But the coolest part of the interviews was that each and every kid knew exactly what they wanted to be and why.
Now pause for a second. If I was living in these conditions, I will be the first to admit that I would do everything I could to get out. I would want to go live somewhere else and secure a better life for myself and my immediate family. But not these kids. These kids have a passion for their people.
One boy wanted to be an engineer to bring electricity to the slums. Another girl wanted to be a judge so that she could have a place in solving the corruption in the government, because the poor are not getting the help they need. Another girl wanted to become a lawyer to help the rape victims in the slums. Still another girl wanted to be a journalist to take Africa’s stories to the world so that she could find help in securing clean water for the slums.
These stories of passion and resolve moved me to tears. I was inspired by their selflessness.
Later that day, we drove through the slums for the first time. I witnessed firsthand the conditions that my new friends lived in. They were without the most basic needs. They lack food and clean water, they have no way to keep warm when it gets cold, and there are families of 8 living in a shack the size of my bed.
And here I sat in this nice car, driving through the middle of their lives just… staring at them. This little 18 year old girl with more money than they have ever seen in their whole lives, just sitting there in disbelief. My heart shattered. I tried to hold back tears, but I couldn’t stand the idea that these people were hurting, and in that moment I could do absolutely nothing to help. I felt like my very presence in that place made them feel like a spectacle or less than human.
My heart aches for these people. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that my God is bigger than poverty. However, it is difficult to find where to start. So if you would, please join me in prayer for the people of Kenya. Pray that the gospel continues to spread like wildfire, burning away all of the hurt and despair that the devil has placed here. Pray that God would restore life to this country, and that the people would KNOW that He is in control.