I’ve been back in Kenya for 1
week. Just one. That is hard for me to believe when I sit and reflect on
moments from the last 7 days.
I’d traveled for over 36
hours, slept maybe 3. Stood in line for almost 2 hours for my visa and then
finally made it out of the airport to start the 2.5 hour drive to Nakuru. I was
exhausted. I drifted in and out of consciousness as we drove. Finally we pulled
through our gate and around to the side of the house to unload at the door
closest to my room. All of the sudden my car door is flung open and one tiny
body is jumping on top of me while two others are simultaneously trying to pull
me out of the car while still buckled into my seatbelt. After I disentangle
myself from small bodies and seatbelts and go inside to my room. It’s been
cleaned with fresh sheets on my bed and flowers waiting for me. Hope has found my travel neck pillow and is
now wearing it on her head like a green lion mane. I make it down the hall to
the babies’ playroom and peek my head in. I’m greeted with delighted squeals,
Jabali, Sandra, Joy and Benji all yelling “nenny, nenny, nenny” and running
toward me. I remember why I am here.
I’m sitting on a hard wooden
bench in New Life preschool. It is nestled on top of a hill in a
neighborhood on the edge of Kyoto, Nakuru’s trash dump. From here you can’t see
it, but it isn’t very far. Each child & mom sitting in the room with us is
a resident of Kyoto. We listen as the
Pastor who has come to commission this new school talks of how aptly named the
school is. New life. New hope for these little ones, who come from a
neighborhood where hope is hard to find. He reminds us who the giver of new
life is, who it is that our hope comes from, that without God in this place,
our efforts are wasted. It is He that gives the hope of a better future to
come. One of the Mamas goes up to sing. Kenyan and American voices join as we
sing and it is beautiful and I remember why I am here.
My face is burning with the
heat from the large fire in our outside fire pit. I sit amidst a team from
California as they debrief their time here in Kenya. The air is cool, and the night is clear as
the stars twinkle brightly from above reminding me of how small we are in
comparison to the universe. How many millions of others have looked up at this
same sky over the last hundreds of years? I am in awe of the grandness of God’s
master plan taking place since time began and that even this tiny seemingly
insignificant moment was included in His perfect plan. I’m humbled by the
wisdom beyond their short years of some high schoolers as they share what
they’ve been learning. “ I don’t want to
get to the end of my life having completed my personal bucket list of things to
do. When I get to the end I want to know that I did and accomplished everything
God set out for me to do.” I wish I had learned that at such a young age, and I
remember why I’m here.
The sun is hot, the sky is
clear. There are 7 kids piled in the back of the Sammon’s Land Rover singing
hymns and worship songs as 6 adults and 1 baby are squeezed into the front. We
are on our way to visit our friends from Wednesday Bible Study, Chris and
Faith. Over the Christmas holidays they moved far out of the city to serve with
a project their church founded. They are now house parents to at least 20 boys.
We pull up in their driveway and there are several boys combatting a swarm of
bees with a burning rubber boot. Chris greets us warmly “Karibuni! Welcome!” We
get a tour, we meet the boys, we sit in their hall and listen and sing as one
boy leads us in worship. We move into Chris and Faith’s house for Chai and
snacks. There’s lots of talking and laughter. The kids go outside to play
soccer with the boys, the men outside to talk business, and the women stay
inside out of the searing hot sun. A wasp flies in. I run away from it back and
forth in and out of the house as everyone else is sitting calmly on the couch.
“ Hakuna Matata KaJenny.” Faith says. It is funny to me that this is the only
time I’ve ever heard anyone use that phrase in Kenya. Everyone comes back
inside and we pray for our sweet Kenyan friends and their daughter MaKenna. We
pray for them to have impact on these boys, that God would give them wisdom and
strength to help them. I remember why I am here.
So it is hard to believe I have
been back for just 1 week. Each of these moments could easily go on my top 10
moments of my time in Kenya so far, and I look forward to many more.
