Kenya Day 1&2

Meeting up with Julie and the team was so much fun! I haven't been on a mission team like that in years and the joy of community and common purpose was wonderful. On our first day we took a walk around Kijabe, visiting the Rift Valley Academy. RVA is a boarding school for missionary kids and although I've known of it's existence for years, I had no idea it was in Kijabe. It was a beautiful school and I've no doubt a blessing to missionary families all over Africa. 

Next we went to Maai Mahui and then to Naomi's Village, a home for 50+ children founded and directed by a couple from The Village Church in Fort Worth. The two experiences could not have been more different. Naomi's Village felt very familiar to me as it is so much like the work we did at the Lighthouse Children's Centre our first 4 years in South Africa. But Maai Mahui was a completely different world. We first saw the church yard and Bible Study classroom and met a few ladies who attend Rift Valley Fellowship, but then we walked toward the truck stop across the street to find some of the street boys. 

These are the words from journal regarding my first 2 days:

Kenya - it's been so long since I've traveled outside my comfort zone. I never imagined South Africa, with all it's challenges and uncertainties would ever become my comfort zone! I find myself experiencing Kenya not just as an American but as a South African as well. Every bit of information seems to be filtering through my two colliding worlds and I finally understand the reality of being a 3rd culture person. It's not a bad thing, but a little heavy on my heart and more to process in my brain at times. 

The people are beautiful, kind, and friendly. Waiting for Julie and the team at the Nairobi airport, while a bit uncomfortable in my grey metal chair (for 7 hours), was actually an incredible introduction to the nation. So many biracial families walking in and out. So much love crossing cultural lines! And so much hugging and laughter. The people were so open with their emotions of joy to see one another. South Africa doesn't reveal all of that to me and I now realise I've painted all of Africa with the same brush where this is concerned. No one seems to care about race here, just people. Warmth, love, and acceptance of diversity resonated in Nairobi and washed over my heart like a healing balm. 

Now after 1 day in Kijabe I'm at a loss to understand the people of this area. At our guesthouse everyone is smiling, happy, and warm. In Maai Mahui the situation is bleak to say the least. LAWLESSNESS is the best word to describe it. It feels to me like what the wild west might have felt like. I'm anxious today to meet the believers of RVF. Those we met in Maai Mahui yesterday glowed, while the lost seemed to be swallowed alive by sin and wickedness. Watching small children walk out of porn houses in the middle of the day made me physically ill. Some of the street boys could barely communicate past their haze of drug use. The way the men leered and the women openly stared with disdain was unnerving. Walking between trucks where at night the prostitutes are employed out in the open was crushing to my heart. This community is 98% HIV positive and the relatively small T-junction has over 600 sex trade workers to earn money to feed their families. The people of Maai Mahui experience severe daily struggle. The ladies and I stopped to pray in the street while the men spoke with men from the town and I found myself stretched in a way I haven't for a while. I didn't know how to cry out to God in this place. How must the people feel? Do they even think of God at all or do they simply live day by day to meet their basic needs. In South Africa and America, where most of society claims Christianity and yet still live for their own desires I don't often see this stark difference of light and dark. Part of me was glad to see a people living without disguise. But, with the absence of the mask, the pain and bondage was overwhelming. 

Rift Valley Fellowship is in an amazing position to share the love of Christ with the city of Maai Mahui. After spending the week with it's leadership and community members, the struggles are no less simplified and yet... I feel a deep, earnest hope for God's love and light to rule there. I feel such promise upon the church and God's favour upon the people to reveal the love of Christ and to change lives through sharing Jesus with the community.

Lord God, capture the hearts of this city. Heal the brokenness. I pray the hearts of the people will soften to your love and truth. I pray the porn houses will disappear and that the street boys will find safety and refuge with you. Please deliver them from evil and bring them into the light. I pray the women on the street will find employment away from selling their bodies to feed their babies. Please heal their pain and bring relief to their daily struggle. Bless them Lord. Provide for them. Draw them to you and love them Lord. I pray their hearts will feel your tender nurturing in ways they cannot ignore and will never run away from. Thank you for Maai Mahui and all it's people. May your truth and light reign there. May it become a testimony to your love and compassion and never ending pursuit of mankind.  Thank you Father. Amen.