Today is Thursday afternoon, Oct. 15, and we are home. We landed yesterday afternoon (3:30 pm) at Logan airport and had a surprisingly easy time navigating the rush hour traffic back to NH. I was asked to "wrap up" this blog of our Kenya adventure 2009. It is an interesting assignment since I had yet to read any of the posts. (For several reasons, internet time on our trip was scarce.)
So here I sit at my daughter's dance class reading the posts and re-living our trip. I wonder if people are looking at me wondering why a grown man is staring at his laptop and wiping away tears. Oh, well... it is what it is. Emotions are still raw and sorting them out will take days, weeks, and months, maybe a lifetime.
Saturday saw us drive an hour outside of Nairobi to Joska, a boarding school openned by Mission of Hope for middle schools and (eventually) high school students. After moving up through the various Hope Center schools scattered throughout the Nairobi slums, children will have the opportunity to go out to Joska to live and further their education. Getting them out of the slums enables them to study in an enviornment more conducive to learning while protecting them from the dangers the slums hold for adolescents. In November, the first students educated by Mission of Hope schools will sit for the KCPE, an exam they must score well on to be accepted into high school. While at Joska we had a chance to lay hands on and pray for the 37 students who will take the exam next month. Each American committed to pray every day for the two students they laid hands on and prayed for. Joanne and Rose, I have not forgotten you. Do well.
Currently 609 students live and study at Joska. While there they hosted a talent show for us. Some students sang, others danced, some did acrobatics, and one girl juggled a soccer ball 133 times, in flip-flop type sandals. It was supposed to be a contest between her and me but in the end it was no contest; just a big piece of humble pie for yours truly. Our team from CrossWay performed a routine to the song "Arise My Love" using dowel rods. It was an amazing feeling to be doing this for God under the hot African sun in front of 609 students.
After lunch some of our team members taught the routine to a group of Joska students whose number kept growing throughout the instruction. I must say the students picked it up faster than we Americans. Another group of us spent time teaching the students how to use some creative Bible story techniques. It was a blast to stand back and watch our team in action. Saturday night we went to an Ethiopian restaurant, which was quite similar to the one our team went to in Boston during our trip preparation.
On Sunday morning we attended church in the Kosovo slum. We were surprised by a performance of "our" kids from Area 2. My how these children have captured our hearts. After church we headed out on a 6 hour van ride over some of the bumpiest roads on the planet, picking up White River's bush team on the way.
On Monday we had the thrill of participating in two animal drives in the Massai Mara. It truly is amazing to see these beautiful creatures in their natural habitat. One's appreciation for God's creative genius goes through the roof. We saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, gazelles, warthogs, hyennas, hippos, water buffalos, and much more. Perhaps the biggest treat was seeing lions, and lots of them. We even got to see some lionnesses finishing off a zebra breakfast. I think they were having ribs by the time we ran across them.
In between the drives we spent quite a bit of time debriefing our previous week with the full team (Nairobi and bush teams). It was great to hear the stories of how God had worked through us and in us, and how he was changing us as a result.
Tuesday morning consisted of a brief animal drive, followed by breakfast, and the long bumpy drive back to Nairobi for our flight home. To give you some perspective, our plane took off from Nairobi at 10 pm Tuesday night. 8 hours later we landed in Amsterdam at 5 am (Amsterdam time). After a 7 hour layover we boarded another plane for our 7.5 hour flight to Boston. It certainly makes for a long "day" of travel.
I went into this trip thrilled with our team. We prayed hard and prepared well. I knew we would do well, serving humbly in the love of Christ. I was not disappointed. Last year on the vision trip to Kenya I dreamed of this; bringing a team of Christ-centered, united, compassionate servants to the slums of the Mathare Valley. This team represented Christ and CrossWay so well. I could not be more proud of them.
We come home conflicted. We were glad to come home, yet sad to leave. We each left a piece of our hearts in Mathare Area 2.
We come home hope-filled. Experiencing a week in the slums of Nairobi can be emotionally overwhelming. You hear the sounds, see the sights, and smell the smells, and you might be tempted to wonder, "Is there any hope at all?" But hope abounds because Christ is our hope! As such, Hope is there in the presence of Mary and Wallace Kamau, dirctors of Missions of Hope. Hope is there in the presence of the teachers of Area 2. Hope is there in the presence of the CHE trainers and social workers. Hope is there in the presence of the children. Their songs and smiles remind us that hope is not dependent upon the size of our homes or the cleanliness of our clothes, but upon the One who lives in our hearts. That is hope driven from the inside out and it is the only kind of hope that can shine in the darkness of the Mathare Valley.
We come home changed. We are more broken. We are less enamoured with "things." We are more confident in Jesus and the power of the gospel to change a life. We are more dependent upon the Holy Spirit. We are more amazed by God. So yes, we come home changed... in ways we don't yet totally or fully understand. Perhaps we never will this side of heaven.
Maybe that's what Paul meant when he wrote:
20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. (Eph 3:20-21)
Bwana asifiwe (Praise the Lord),
Ron
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