Saying Goodbye to Kenya Hard to Do (weeks 5/6)

HAPPENINGS DURING WEEKS 5 & 6:

- CJ came up with the incredible idea of making s’mores with the boarders who had never even heard of marshmallows and kept getting them confused with mash potatoes, before actually seeing & tasting them. It took some energy to find the ingredients and we had to substitute gram crackers for another type of cookie/cracker/biscuit thing, but as their faces ended up smeared with chocolate and marshmallow I judged it as a complete success. One boy held out his s’more to CJ and exclaimed, “CJ, you have created the sweetest place!”

- CJ and I hung out with Nip’s friend, Noel, and a couple of his art/rasta brothers. We made music together, discussed culture, justice, music, respect, art, peace and life, enjoyed Kenyan food together, laughed together A LOT, and mostly understood each other’s English.

- Keela, CJ, and I drew and colored A LOT of educational posters for the classrooms on everything from the human body to native plants and animals to the foods we eat to weather patterns.

- Keela and I made no bake cookies for the boaders. I will never forget immediately becoming teary eyed having learned the kids have never tasted chocolate chip cookies. With no access to an oven, no bakes were a delicious alternative that they thoroughly enjoyed and savored. Next time I come you can bet homemade chocolate chip cookies will be on the packing list.

- CJ and I continued talking with the kids about topics presented in the Bible including eternal life, fear, baptism, worry, the books of Psalms and Proverbs, etc.

- Keela and I purchased fabric and had dresses custom made representing the style in Kenya. CJ purchased fabric and had a shirt made. For all of our fabric plus the cost of having the clothes made by a tailor we spent less than $50 between the three of us!

- We took the kids to the field to play football on a Saturday when a crusade was going on. It was an incredible, unexpected surprise for me because I had been wanting to attend a crusade outside of a church and I thoroughly enjoyed it. At the beginning of the crusade a group of about dozen Kenyans stood in a circle holding hands and praying together. Later, a worship team sang and danced on a temporary stage built at the field specifically for the crusade. Many of the boarders and I energetically danced for what seemed like hours as the crowd grew and grew. It was probably the most fun I’ve ever had worshipping God!

- We devoted one day to shopping for goods to sell in America to support Jambo Jipya and a few souvenirs. That day also turned into a fun experience with multiple forms of transportation including walking, riding on pki-pkis (motorcycles), and riding in matatus and tuk tuks (3 passenger motorized tricycle things).

- As with the first month of the trip most of our time the last two weeks was spent with the kids, playing, talking, and teaching each other.

RANDOM:

RELIGION/CHRISTIANITY/BELIEFS –

In six weeks CJ and I attended three Church services, one crusade at the field, and discussed spirituality/religion/Christianity at length with a variety of Kenyans. By some we were labeled “bad” Christians for not attending Church more often. Our decision to not attend Church every Sunday did not come without much contemplation, prayer, and discussion. Among the many things we evaluated were whether discomfort at a Church service is an indicator of false teaching, whether discomfort can be an indicator of false teaching, how we can discern false teaching, whether false teaching is reason not to attend a certain Church, and whether attendance indicates support.

We arrived at two conclusions…

1) If you believe you can attend a certain Church one time and support the body of Christ and not their doctrine you should go. If you don’t think you can go even once without showing your support for the doctrine they are teaching then you shouldn’t go even once. If you think you can go 200 times and just show support for the body of Christ and never for their doctrines then you should do that. (This concept is something we had discussed in the past with one of the Pastors in Lake Placid who we respect very much, but which took on new challenges and meaning while in Kenya).

2) Together we decided that the question is not what is the value of your action. The question is are you acting? Taking action is what it means to be free in Christ. If you are free then you can stand for whatever you believe and it is right because you are standing…because you are taking action. You are not being lukewarm. You are not being idle. Everything belongs. So the people who are sitting on the roof on Sunday morning, instead of going to Church, because they don’t want to support something they don’t understand are right. They belong. The person who feels you have to go to Church to be a good Christian is right. That person belongs. The person who goes to Church out of respect for another person, even though she is bored and doesn’t agree with the teaching is right. That person belongs.

JAMBO JIPYA – Simply put I would be thrilled to send my kids to Jambo Jipya. If something happen to me I would have no problem with my kids moving into Jambo Jipya and growing up there.

SHARING/GIVING – I have never experienced giving and sharing like I have in Kenya. To watch the children sharing their food and clothing and anything else they have with one another is miraculous compared to the hording of personal possessions I am so accustomed to witnessing and doing myself. Two of the three Sunday’s I attended Church here two different woman let me wear one of their tailor made African outfits. Both women later gave me those outfits! I am so excited about how these last six weeks have bolstered my sharing and giving. I should arrive home with at least two less bracelets and one less pair of shoes and that is super cool!!

ASSUMPTIONS - I was reminded of how dangerous assumptions are. This reminder came both from assumptions I made about a few Kenyans and assumptions that a couple Kenyans made about me.

NONVIOLENCE/COMMUNITY-BUILDING – I read seven books, as well as many passages from the Bible, most of which discussed nonviolence and community. After much thinking and discussion about these topics I am seriously considering studying these subjects in greater depth in hopes of someday teaching these subjects as an adjunct professor.

RASTA – I realized parallels between the Rasta way of life and Christ’s teachings and decided that Rasta culture is something I want to learn much more about.