Habari!

The weeks are starting to fly by. This week the team spent Monday and Thursday working on the construction site and Tuesday and Wednesday teaching in Kibera. I have been teaching class 4 English and class 5 social studies. This week’s English lesson was on prepositions and how they can be used in reference to time (ex. I have been in Kenya since May 28), but the jokes on them. I barely know what a preposition is and I’ve never been that good at grammar. The social studies lessons I’ve been teaching deal with Kenyan geography, so I’ve been learning the lessons the night before. Despite not being the most qualified teacher in the world, I have been having a great time with the kids. It is such a blessing to be able to invest in the lives of these children. Many of them are clinging to their education as a way out of the slum. They realize that not getting an education means not having a steady job and therefore being stuck in Kibera.

Yesterday Jacob and I went on a run down a dirt road close to our compound. As we were running we came across one of the Kenyans that we are working with at the construction site. He lives about a mile from the compound. It was really cool to be able to meet his family. He has a family of about 8 people all living in a one-room shack. He is also one of the happiest people I’ve ever met. He is the same guy that asked me last week what “swagger” means.

Last Sunday, something happened that will forever stick in my mind. Just before pastor Inbumi started to give his sermon, a 10-year-old boy started crying for no explained reason. He then ran out of the church. Pastor Inbumi left the pulpit to go see what was wrong. A few minutes later pastor returned holding the child. Pastor calmed him down. It wasn’t until after church that I learned why the child started crying. He had not eaten since lunch on Friday; it was then 12pm on Sunday afternoon. The hunger pains were hurting him so badly that he began to cry just before the sermon at church. Here I was sitting with a bag of peanuts in my backpack just incase we had a “late” lunch. The child attends the school at the church during the week. The church provides a lunch for all the children while they are at school. This is his only meal everyday. This is the reality of the slum outside the protection of the church. Children are starving, people are dying of AIDS, single mothers are trying to feed their children without a source of income, and wild pigs are eating the sludge and filth in the middle of the allies. I will never get used to the unimaginable poverty and I will never cease to be humbled by the great joy and faith that the Christians of the slum demonstrate. Their faith isn’t just an hour on Sunday, a few half-sung worship songs, a bible verse once a week, and an occasional prayer before a meal. Please pray for the starving children, the people dying of AIDS, and the students trying to obtain an education.

Also, last Sunday was our first time in the slum after it rained. It was a very “slushy” experience to say the least. I also gave my testimony to the church using a Swahili translator. It was an exhilarating experience.

The cokes here use natural sugar instead of corn syrup, making them a lot better (or actually drinkable since I usual prefer Pepsi).

Last Saturday we went out to eat at an Ethiopian restaurant with a couple that graduated from Auburn University (War Eagle). They have been in Nairobi for two years and are about to move to a remote area in Uganda for five years. Pray for their preparation. Also, Ethiopian food is very different from Kenyan food.

My favorite Kenyan meal is Chapati and kidney beans. Imagine a Kenyan Joey from Moe’s. It is delicious.

I’ve been reading through the New Testament since April. This week I read a verse in 1 John that stuck with me.

“This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” – 1 John 1:5

Kibera is such a dark place, but God’s light is shining through Kibera Reformed Presbyterian Church. Continue to pray for our team, pastor Inbumi, and all of the teachers at the school.

Mungu akubariki sona!

“He must increase, i must decrease” –John 3:30