Earlier this week, a couple of fellow new missionaries to Nairobi and I went on a tour of the city, which included my first real life glimpse of Kibera, the slum in which I will be spending the next month and a half teaching underprivileged children. By underprivileged, I mean in a way that is much deeper than I could have imagined before stepping off the plane that brought me to Kenya almost two weeks ago.
The families that live in Kibera do so in tight quarters, often with entire families sharing one small room, without any indoor plumbing or running water, and wouldn't even dare to dream of owning something almost every person over the age of 16 in Texas thinks of as a necessity: a car. Compound the high inflation rate here with the high level of unemployment, and it is easy to imagine that there are countless people living daily in these conditions. (I really do mean countless. There are various statistics that attempt to give a census of the population in Kibera, but it is virtually impossible to get an accurate count.) This journey through one of the largest slums in Africa was deeply saddening, but also inspiring as we were introduced to several ministries being used by the Lord to make a positive impact on the families here, despite the cyclical pattern of poverty and crime in effect throughout the city.
I find my heart breaking as I recall the sight of children in tattered clothing milling about the muddy, unpaved streets lined with endless rows of tiny shops as they play with toys fashioned from old milk cartons and water bottles; this is something I hope to never forget as I pray about my future with my fiance and how we will need God's help to raise up our future children in the land of milk and honey to be grateful for and generous with their blessings.
Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.
Proverbs 22:6
No comments:
Post a Comment