Visiting Kibera

It's been a while without a substantial post, and I will give you all the down-low on why! I (Bekah) have finally begun working with the foundation I was hoping to get to partner with and it has been super-duper busy. I have hardly gotten a moment to breathe! More on that later though....

The day before I jumped in to my current position I went on a visit to the Kibera slum with my friend Lesley who helps plant urban gardens. Lesley has a passion for nutrition and is working to educate women with HIV especially on the benefits that good nutrition can have for their quality of life. She is a lovely gal and we have been blessed to come in contact with her and her husband Michael and hope we get to spend some more time with them in the future!


I had been hoping to take a trip into Kibera with Lesley for a while and was excited to get the chance to see what she was up to and meet some of her friends and co-laborers in the gardening effort.
We began our journey into Kibera in Lesley's car bumping along some of the dirt paths down to the school where one of the gardens is located. We were supposed to meet Stella who is one of the most faithful volunteers for the gardens. In return for her efforts she gets the benefit of the produce.
Stella was still on her way to meet us so we journeyed ahead to the daycare where Stella's son stays while she is working. Stella is a young single mother living in the Kibera slum
and is the only one caring for her tiny son.

The daycare was mostly a room with dirt walls a cement floor and a tin roof filled with tiny children. The nice lady running the daycare welcomed us and gave us all hugs. She told us that many of the women whose children come to the daycare have a hard time paying the fee for a day's stay for their babies which is 20 shilings... equivalent to just under 25 cents USD. These women spend most days looking for work to make ends meet for their families.
The little ones were enamored with our cameras and had plenty of smiles and giggles at getting to see themselves on the screen. Many of these children are undernourished which will greatly effect their development, especially in these early years. Still, they are full of smiles once they get over the fact that there are scary white people (maybe the first some of them have seen) visiting them.
As we left we passed by one of the main water sources fr the area; a polluted creek. Clean water is one of the things most needed in area like this. Children and adults alike die from water-born illness and dysentery.

We then made our way to a little school near-by and had time to play with the kids and talk with the staff. Many of the staff had grown up in the same slum and had dreams of teaching.

They make due with what they have and many have worked hard to get books and desks for the school. Still, life is difficult in Kibera and many of the children will end up dropping out of school for lack of school fees or various other reasons. Due to the large amounts of rain we'd been having here a couple of the walls in the school had washed out, and the one in their 'kitchen' was completely gone.

The amount of positivity here is still overwhelming. Even though it was a short visit to Africa's largest slum, I was grateful to get a glimpse into the lives of many of the people I meet here. They are often struggling to make ends meet in often grim circumstances, but there are glimmers of hope.
Educators who know that and education will give the next generation a boost up in the world.

Women like Stella who are volunteering in urban gardens.

People like Lesley who have befriended people in Kibera and are working to improve their lives in sustainable ways. And of course, the enthusiasm of children who still play games, tell jokes, and laugh in the face of great adversity.
God Bless Kenya.
B

The Wild Life

We've had a lot of wildlife since our last post on the intruding beetle that was stomping on our curtains. No big cats yet, sorry. Mostly just small critters.
We have a number of beetles that frequent our flat and we always try to peacefully let them leave after placing them outdoors. (we don't extend this kindness to cockroaches just so everyone is clear). We've seen a lot of these little beetles that I call thorn beetles... not sure exactly what they are, but their underside is bright green.

One night we were returning from the grocery store and upon opening the door Ian jumped backward in surprise. He thought that he had seen a very large centipede, but upon turning on the light we found this gecko on the wall.

We did our best to urge him out, but he was pretty firmly stuck in a corner of the ceiling so we decided to let him stay. Ian had guessed that a gecko had been roaming around the apartment as we had been cleaning the walls of little bits of 'dirt' every once in a while. We were happy to have a visit from the gecko as we desperately needed some mosquito control. Luckily we found a plug-in 'Moskiller' later in the week since we have not seen the gecko since and have a bit of a mosquito problem.

Another strange phenomena that happens here is getting swarmed by flying termites. At night if you leave your lights on and windows open flying termites will often find their way in. the body of the termite is only a couple centimeters long, but the wings are enormous and loud.
The other night our balcony was swarmed by these termites and we had to shove plastic bags along the bottom of the doorjam to keep them from climbing under the door! Flying termites are not the brightest of creatures, so after a long while of them bumping themselves up against the windows we were left with a huge amount of dead termites and termite wings on our balcony.
Gross! Needless to say, Ian went and bought a proper broom the next day.

Yet, in the morning as I was getting ready cleaning I swept all of our dead termites into a pile and was looking for some equivalent to a dust-pan when a couple of different birds started singing really loudly. I popped my head out to the balcony to find two bright yellow weavers eating a buffet of termites as a few other birds joined them. It was great to see them enjoying my swept up termites.

Next time I will get the zoom lens ready for the day after we have another termite attack!
B

World Vision Report - Week of May 8, 2010 - Skateistan

World Vision Report - Week of May 8, 2010 - Skateistan

I really enjoyed this report from World Vision Report and wanted to share it with you all. Sometimes it is hard to imagine how we as individuals can become agents of peace in an often very violent world. I thought this story about a skateboarding school in Kabul was fantastic and a creative way to build bridges between different people. This was exemplary of how we all can use our giftings, skills, talents and even our hobbies to become agents of peace and further reconciliation.
B

From the sketchbook

I thought I'd leave a little treat here today. We're working on our update letter this week so hopefully you'll be hearing from us soon. Still, I thought I'd post a page from my sketch book.
We have a great view from our current apartment looking our over the suburb that we live in. We also have a balcony that affords us some outdoor space 5 stories up which consequently is great for drawing and bird watching.
I don't usually post my scribbles, so please be gentle in viewing them... they're a little shy. This drawing was made sometime last month as I was noticing all of the interesting movement and life in Nairobi and enjoying it move along as the day passed slowly... which things take a looong time here.


Hopefully you can see it alright. If you click on it you can view a larger photo. It made me chuckle and I wanted to share it with you!
Thank you for being part of our story here in Nairobi!
B

Grace and Justice

Kenya is astoundingly different than our South Asia post. One of the most striking difference is that Kenya, for the most part, is a Christian nation. This makes it a lot more familiar and somewhat like home, though here church leaders are often also politicians and that causes all sort of problems. While I am grateful for the Christian base, the misunderstanding of God’s wrath causes problems in our work. In Kenya we do a lot of work with children and young persons who have been sexually assault by their neighbors. What often happens next is that someone reports to the parents that their child has been sexually assaulted and they go and confront their neighbor. The neighbor admits to his “sin” and ask for a Christian forgiveness. It is imperative for the neighbor to avoid having this matter reported to the police and him being tried because the sexual assault of a minor can mean life imprisonment. The parents, believing that Christ would forgive this man forgive him, and usually the assault continues.
There is a valid concern here about what Christ calls us to do. What does justice mean in this instance and how much grace can we give to a man/woman who rapes a child of God? I am reading a document prepared by UNDP and there are these two sentences “In traditional context, both society at large and the police may favor negotiation and compromise as the appropriate way to deal with SGBV (sexual gender based violence). This leads to situations in which men forgive men for violence committed against women.” In approaching these situations we have to ask: who has the man offended? Do the parents have a right to forgive him? If they don’t, does a 10 year old, who doesn’t understand how she has been defiled other than the pain, forgive him? A person who rapes another not only defiles that person but the very temple and image of the Lord. Grace is not a license to continue to keep on sinning but an opportunity to right ourselves before God. A man who begs forgiveness for rape may be given this grace and this opportunity but I don’t know that we, as Christians, have the right to stay his legal and earthly punishment

Unwelcome guest

Excuse me sir... those are my curtains that you are stepping on.


I'm sorry, but if you aren't planning on paying rent, you will have to leave!

Luckily he went peacefully and without obvious complaint.
We seem to be getting a number of unwelcome and unexpected guests due to leaving our windows open during the day. Today we almost had a bird! Still, nothing too nasty.
B

Holler Indeed

"He is risen!"
"Holler!"
(quote from a DC friend's first response to the Easter morning liturgy having never heard it before. Awesome)

This past Sunday, Easter Sunday, was our first Sunday in Kenya. It's always difficult to adjust to a new place, but I think that sometimes holidays make it more poignant that you are, in fact, no longer in a familiar setting. Easter held just such an experience.

We set out Sunday morning in a taxi with a fellow IJMer to head to All-Saints Cathedral in Nairobi which is an Anglican congregation. As at most churches on Easter, there was quite a crowd gathering outside to head in to the next service and we were among them. The crowd comprised of an interesting mix of ethnicities and ages as we squished through the doors.

Disclaimer: I should probably just put it out in the open that I love church. I don't usually think of myself as particularly traditional, although I am not particularly non-traditional either... but just any given person I may meet in casual conversation at a party probably wouldn't assume that church-loving-ness about me straight off. So there it is.

I know I have a number of expectations and stereotypes stored away in my subconscious for what Kenya would be like and what our experiences would be. Some of these come courtesy of the big screen such as Lion King and The Constant Gardener, while other expectations are rooted in my previous experience in South Africa in 2001, while still others are the product of reading too many guidebooks and blogs about what to expect. I try to recognize those expectations and stereotypes when going to a new place in order to attempt a separation, or maybe more appropriately attempt to take inventory of truths or lies that are embedded in my preconceived notions.

In the case of Easter Sunday, I was expecting a lively time of worship and celebration with lots of color and 'African flare'. You know... the stereotypical unaccompanied choir and maybe some dancing. What I received was not exactly what I expected.

We began the service with a responsive reading and the traditional Easter call "He is risen!" which the congregation responds to with "He is risen indeed!" This has to be one of my more favorite Easter traditions (apart from Peeps and Easter bonnets of course *wink*). I get really excited before Easter services knowing it is coming and getting ready to reply with gusto. Needless to say with the combined personal excitement at this tradition and the expectations of a boisterous Easter Sunday Kenyan style, I was all ramped up for my response to the clergy's call.
Just as I expected, a ridiculously dark and adorable bishop got up and began the service "He is risen!"

I took a big breath and put my diaphragm behind my much anticipated response "He is risen INDEED!". And that is when it happened.

I suddenly realized that I was the only person in my general vicinity besides perhaps Ian who seemed to be super jazzed about responsive reading. (I guess I should be used to this as responsive readings aren't exactly the most exciting part of most people's church experience, but... it's Easter for crying out loud!) I got a somewhat startled half glance from the woman two seats down with the umbrella, and one of those trying-not-to-look-at-the-crazy-person grimace from the older couple in front of me. Yikes!

I calmed myself for a moment and tried to reign myself back in. I listened to a couple more responses and was surprised by the muddy mumbling all around me. Sure enough, I seemed to be the only crazy in the 5 or so pews on any given side of me. This was not one of those expectations that I was preparing to be dashed to pieces. Where was my happy African Sunday service!? What the heck is going on here?!?
So I flaked. I was in shock and frustrated, and as a rebellious move I decided not to stand up with the rest of the 'first time visitors' when asked by the provost. Who even likes doing that? As far as I know.... NOBODY.

It didn't take long for me to bounce back to full roaring-choir-kid volume and exuberance. One thing that continues to be difficult to learn as we transition from place to place is to not let a crushed expectation keep you from enjoying the moment as you had hoped. Sure, my fellow church-goers murmured through all of the responsive readings in the liturgy. That is no reason to join into the mumbling and let a few rumbly lines rain on my (Easter) parade.

Looking back, there are many reasons why the response could have been muddy: the architecture, lack of familiarity with the text (I mean it is Easter and lots of people show up on Easter who don't usually frequent church services), even low literacy rates could be part of the deal... and probably a couple church grumps thrown in. Not to mention that while I love Anglican services, I have to remember that the tradition is probably a little less charismatic than even my good 'ol Reformed background.

Either way, I belted my way through "Up From the Grave He Arose!" and a few more rousing celebratory hymns, laughed at the jokes of the wonderful Bishop who was preaching from Ezekiel about resurrection (brilliant! talk about throwing a curve ball to the usual text from the gospels), and shared The Peace with those around me.

Communion on Easter is always special since we are celebrating a fulfillment of the covenant and Christ's conquering death. Even though I didn't get my high-powered responsive reading, the procession up to the altar was great as we proceeded right through the cathedral's choir with the choir singing on either side as we reached the altar. That was awesome. Honestly, I love my teetotaling American Protestants at large and all of their weekly Welches grape juice, but there really is something about the heat of real wine going down your throat when observing Christ's blood shed for us that makes me feel connected historically.

All in all, Easter was great. Confusing, mildly disappointing in some ways, but in general a good beginning to our time here.

Our Easter celebrations didn't end there, of course. We walked around city center, through a park where I was almost run over by a camel while crossing a footbridge, in and quickly out of the Maasai market, into a grocery store to buy a man named David a bag of rice, and into a coffee shop for some of the best Masala tea I've had outside of Asia. A little after-noon nap helped soothe some of the jet-lagged feelings we're still getting and then we had a friend over for Garlic Chicken and some exciting rounds of Set and Nerts.

We're settling in and looking forward to new experiences and new friends during our time here in Africa

And finally....
He IS risen. Holler!
B