Loopty Doopty

Time has literally been flying by here...I look at my calendar and realize that we only have a little more than 2 weeks in Kenya, and I cannot even believe it. Lots has happened in our time in Kijabe since coming back from the Masaai village. We are spending our time at the Kijabe Hospital, a local school, a nearby town, and the IDP camp. A little overview of them all:

-Hospital: I had the blessing of spending two days with two of the most incredible people I have ever met. Their names are Wilson and Veronica, a wonderful couple who was involved in a car accident with their family. Wilson was preparing for surgery when I was spending time with him and they were both there waiting for their 6 year old son, Daniel, to have surgery on his lungs, which were affected by the crash. I have never been in an accident and have no idea what it is like to see both yourself and your family injured and shaken as a result, but this family was so full of hope and joy...it was confusing in the greatest of ways. The amount of time we spent talking about each of our lives, passions, interests, etc. was such a blessing. They shared so much of their faith with me and I was encouraged in so many ways. I look at my time with them and just smile at the friendships we made. If anyone is trying to come to Kenya,Wilson and Veronica have (multiple times) offered up their home to friends :)
-School: One of my team members, Mariah, and I have been helping out with a 5th grade class at a nearby primary school. There are 7 students, 2 boys and 5 girls, and they are incredible! First of all, they are incredibly smart. We get to help them with their schoolwork, play with them outside, sing with them, la la la it is so wonderful. I love it there.
(Everything that I am trying to explain is a pathetic excuse for what I am actually experiencing, just so everyone is aware. I am sitting here thinking about how much I love all of these people and places and just cannot even begin to explain their impact on me, the stories we've shared, etc through a blog...but I sure will try. And then I can just tell more in person! Woot!)
-Kijabe town: This is a nearby town that we go to every Thursday. I love this most because it is about an hour hike to get there and it is absolutely gorgeous! Random little tidbit: my leaders were hiking it the other day and were definitely chased...yes, chased...by a family of baboons. Brett kicked one in the face out of self defense. In short, the wildlife is thriving.
-IDP camp: This is the same camp that we did our week-long medical mission. We spent time here going to different homes (some houses, some tents) and just listened to what the families had to share with us. If I haven't explained this before, the people here in Kenya are some of the most welcoming people I can imagine. If I saw a bunch of weird white people walk up to my door trying to talk, I would be skeptical...but these people treat us like family. We had the chance to speak with families and hear their stories about how they came to be in the camp. Their being there is as a result of the political elections that took place a couple years ago. A quick explanation: there are many tribes in Kenya and along with them comes a lot of conflict. The man that is currently the president is part of the Kukuyu (spelling?) tribe and many other tribes were upset at his being elected, and in turn began persecuting the Kukuyu people. There were families that we spoke with that had their homes burned to the ground, family members killed, jobs abandoned, all possessions lost. They are in these camps trying to rebuild their lives. Having lost everything, they are starting from nothing. It is so hard for me to understand being persecuted for who you were born to be...based on such things as tribe, race, gender, class, etc. I hear these stories and it just hurts. How do we shift the mindset to recognizing the differences between all of us, but seeing them as beautiful?

There is a lot here that is hard to see, hard to hear about. I see the pain and the confusion and it strikes me so deep. It is their lives and the way they live and what they've had to deal with...but it is their hope and their joy that continues to floor me. We have so much to learn from these people! I have so much to learn from these people! I have realized that it is so easy to pretend that poverty and oppression don't exist because we (I) am not directly affected by it. But at the same time, so many of us have so much power to enact change in so many ways. We can step out of our selfish bubble and recognize the potential we have to make things different...and in the same breath, the potential that these people have to change our hearts. We have to constantly be looking at service to one another as both giving and receiving...it can't be a superiority thing. I may have been born into a society where money and material possessions and access to healthcare and education, etc are right at my fingertips...and in those ways I can try to provide for people who are without in those areas. But in the same sense, the people who may not have shoes and a high school education can teach me more about the worth of life than I could have ever imagined. Sheesh...I don't even know. This place, this experience, these people...my world is being rocked.

Until next time...