Lessons from Kenya - 25 years ago
Twenty-five years ago this summer I stepped off the plane. It was hot, muggy, and dark. The air was thick and mixed with the smell of dust and fuel. We had arrived in Nairobi, Kenya. It was my first time in sub-Saharan Africa and it would change my life.
At this point in my life I had been living in the United States for three years and was traveling with a church group from Minnesota. As we drove to our accommodations people were commenting on how strange and different everything was. I, on the other hand, found myself noticing how familiar and British it appeared. Different - yes, but also familiar. My first lesson - we’re not so different after all.
We were staying in a local university and on the first day there we joined the students for dinner. Our group wasted so much food that it was decided we would no longer eat with the students, but would be served western style food separately. I remember at the time how sad this made me feel, somehow we were too good to suck it up and eat food that was less familiar to our palates and contained more bones and fat that we would have liked. I thought of the words of my mother, “When you’re at a friend’s house you eat whatever is served to you.” Later in the trip I chewed my way through some of toughest, fattiest, goat meat I have ever had, but I wanted to honor my host. Lesson learned - listen to your mother and honor the hospitality of others.
Entering Mathare Valley, one of Africa’s largest slums, I visited a health clinic. The shelves were empty, there were no medications available, not even a bottle of aspirin. The staff were desperate for supplies and help and all I could do was listen. From there I walked a few hundred yards past kids playing and scavenging on piles of rubbish, to a school and community education center. The moment we entered through the barbed wire fence we were mobbed by children with big smiles and a deep sense of joy. There was a nutrition class being taught for young mothers. As I looked on a young boy, 5 years old, severely stunted, belly distended from malnutrition, came and stood by me. I knelt beside him, unlike the other kids, his face was expressionless. My heart broke. Lesson learned - “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.”
We traveled into rural Kenya for a night. On the way to our destination we stopped at Treetops Lodge where Queen Elizabeth was staying when her father died and she became the Queen of England. We spent the night with local families who were members of the Kikuyu tribe. My family told me that it was in a field just a short distance from the house that they murdered many British citizens at the start of the Mau Mau Rebellion. As the only British citizen in the group I didn’t sleep too well that night, I think I hid my passport! The next morning was Sunday and we all headed to worship. Lesson learned - “Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.”
We visited the Masai for a day. In the village we were told how they had converted to Christianity and the altar on which they used to sacrifice cattle to their god was now used for the church. The patriarch in the village had three wives, he was a Christian now. I know Christians are only supposed to have one wife, but he had married three before he became a Christian. Lesson learned - Pay attention to, and don’t judge cultural differences until you understand.
We ended our trip as many groups do, with a Safari. We boarded a small plane in Nairobi and flew out over the Rift Valley and onto the great Masai Mara. The views were amazing. Landing on a small rural landing strip we hopped into Land Rovers and headed to our lodge/resort. It was luxurious with abundant food and drink, the pineapple was sweet and dripping with juice. The water in the swimming pool was clean and refreshing, there were dancers to entertain us, and an early morning game drive with breakfast. It was a far cry from the slums I had been in a few days earlier. Lesson learned - I am one of the world’s richest people. It may not feel like it on a pastor’s and teacher’s salary, but I am. So what will I do with that knowledge?
When we returned from Kenya, Jenny and I started sponsoring a child through Compassion International. Today we continue to sponsor children through World Vision.
Since then I have also been able to travel to South Africa and Rwanda with World Vision and observe their work in those nations. I am on the board of Rural Health Care Initiative, an organization that works in rural Sierra Leone to combat one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world and have been there three times. The people we work with have gone from being strangers, to acquaintances, and are now dear friends.
A trip I took 25 years ago continues to mold and shape my life today.
