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| Kibera Slums... |
What a day today! We woke up tired, missing home and know that we have a few more extremely packed days ahead. We went to Kibera this morning to stop by and see the ladies at the WEEP center. This is the center I visited last year, several times and where we did home visit's. We walked about 1/4 of a mile into the slums to get to the WEEP center, as the road has gotten so bad, the bus could not drive there any longer. The Kibera slums is hard to describe. I will do my best, but know that I will not be able to do it justice. Picture a bowl shape with rustic metal homes attached to each other and sharing walls. The WEEP center is in the center of the bowl, if you will. The poorest of poor, live in the center of the bowl and as you get more money, you can move up to the lip of the bowl. This is by far the saddest, most depressing thing I have ever seen in my life. Dirt roads, trash everywhere, everything brown, not a plant, tree, grass or flower at all, sad faces, no excitement, no smiles. At the Dandora slums, people smiled, they were happy to see you. Occasional bush or flower was seen. I had the sense people cared as they dressed up for church. But here at Kibera, there was an extreme sadness. A darkness that broke my heart. I did all I could to not break down, but smile, say hello and give my new friends strong loving hugs. This is their reality. Is this what their kids have to look forward to?
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| Thin, sad dogs. :( |
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| Laundry day for this mom |
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| Kids playing... |
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| Preparing for laundry day |
Of all the slums we have been to, Dandora, Ngong and now Kibera, this is the first place to have dogs. Even the dogs were sad. Usually when dogs see you, they get up and greet you, wag their tail, sniff you etc. Not these dogs, they laid there, pathetic, looked sad and lonely...almost like they were dead. The
sadness in the Kibera slums touches several senses. The smells of coal, urine and sewer water,
the site of trash being thrown anywhere and everywhere, so much where the dirt
has covered some of it and now makes the ground uneven to walk on. The sewer water runs throughout the streets like a river and the kids are playing in it, chickens are walking in it, pigs are drinking it, people are washing their hands and clothes in it. I kept wondering...How can anyone live like this? and then I thought, NO ONE should live like this. I envisioned my kids living in this and I lost my breath. This is, well, disturbing to say the least.
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| Right outside the WEEP center |
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| On the road of the slums |
As I walked in the slums, I saw about 6-8
kids all standing and looking at something. As I got closer, I saw a store, which was a shack with a window of 2ft
by 2ft opening that had a 13” black and white TV in it playing an old, old
cartoon like show. Some things don’t
change, kids memorized by TV. But
honestly, it broke my heart that the kids were all bunched around looking at
this small black and white TV for entertainment. It made me wonder if they ever see things
with the potential of color/hope? Do
they see that life can be different? Is
it too far to think there is a life outside of the slums? Why wouldn’t they work, think of or have the
drive to get out? Maybe they think this
is the best it’s going to get. Wow,
would we be ok with this logic for ourselves?
Our own kids? We always want more
for us, for them. Encourage them to
dream the impossible. Again, another
thing we take for granted. Most of us
have multiple TV’s. I’m not sure I know
anyone with a black and white TV and or a 13” TV! Maybe our computer is 13” and we complain we
need bigger, better and more. Ugh, I
don’t like that about myself.
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| Sara dancing away! |
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| My friend Beatrice |
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| Beautiful girls... |
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| Kids jumping rope... |
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| Another family doing laundry. The girl with the read flip flops is 12 yrs old! |
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| A day in the life of Kibera slums. |
We danced and sang with the ladies and could
only stay a little bit. I was able to
chat with them and see how they are doing.
It was great to see these mom’s who had changed my perspective in life
so much last year. I thanked them for
sharing their stories with me last year.
I told them I had gone home, shared their stories again and again. They were so appreciative. Everlyn, a friend I met last year, and I have
been emailing this past year. We
connected because she leads a bible study with a group of ladies each week,
just as I do. We shared stories,
encouraged one another and challenged each other to read books of the bible all
through email. Another thing I take for
granted…email. I can get on email
whenever I want, any hour I want and through my phone. Everlyn, however, has to pay to email me and
read my emails. I knew this and made
sure each email I sent her had encouraging, genuine stuff in it. Couldn’t send her fluff if she was paying for
it. Anyway, Everlyn and I read 1 & 2
Samuel and Joshua together this past year.
It was great to get her perspective.
I asked her and the other ladies if they have read Ester or Ruth. They had heard of these books and knew their
story but hadn’t read it fully. Sounds
fun to me!
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| The girls...Beatrice, Beatrice and Everlyn :) |
We had to leave Kibera and get to Ngong for
the women’s conference we were putting on.
It was tough for the team to walk out of the Kibera slums. In fact, a few team members cried and had a
hard time catching their breath because their heart was breaking for these
people. The severity hit us all as we
got on the bus. It was a quieter bus
ride with some sniffles.
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| The conference ladies :) |
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| All of these ladies in one room |
We got to Ngong and the ladies there super
excited to see us. It was really neat to
shower these ladies with an afternoon of love.
They never go to a conference to learn more about God or how to be
closer to Him. What a blessing to do
this for them. We brought them “goodie
bags” with various things in it. It was
fun to see their faces light up when they pulled out the Jesus Calling
devotional and homemade bookmarks.
Charmain shared on how to spend time with God daily. Sara shared on how to start a small group. The ladies were all ears! They could identify with what was
taught. A few of the ladies shared
afterwards and it was amazing to hear their stories. One lady shared with us all that she was a
prostitute, found out her HIV status and became very ill. She felt like she was worthless, she had labeled
herself as the worst of the worst. No
one would love her or help her because of her actions, yet through other
ladies/friends coming along side of her and spending time with God she has been
able to re-write her identity. To see
herself through Christ’s eyes, loveable, worthy, renewed, accepted…daughter of
the King! Wow! It made me think of how I do that. I label myself and start believing I’m not
worthy, not equipped and not loveable.
But when I spend time with God, I find that I’m right where He wants me,
fulfilling His purposes in His time on His plan. That I am worthy, that I have a choice to
change my attitude and that He will equip me in all that He asks me to do. Was I coming to bring these ladies hope? Or are they giving me hope? Really?
Think of a group of friends you’ve been with. I’m pretty sure your faults and how you
struggle are not the first things that you are sharing. I know I’m not. And here this mom was willing to share with
women she didn’t even know. Talk about
courage and a secure love for Christ! I’m wondering why these women in Africa
can be so open, share from their heart, true authenticity. Seems like we have it backwards, we hold
back, we don’t tell the whole truth for fear of judgement and we like to put up
walls before we show our true heart. But
God see’s our heart before anyone else.
He loves us for the authenticity of who we are. Why are we worried about others and what they
think? These women link arms in the
deepest moments of crisis. They are
literally on their deathbeds. They aren’t
concerned if their house is picked up, if they have food to offer the guest
coming over or a small gift to give.
They are in need of God’s love, support and grace. The same love, support and grace that we long
for. They seem to accept it freely and we
feel we need to do something to earn it. Hmm…
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| Charmain spoke wonderfully |
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| Sara spoke beautifully |
Later with the conference I shared with the
women about being the mom created you to be and Jeanne shared about trusting in
the Lord. She shared her personal story,
which was terrific and one lady, Elizabeth, accepted Christ. Yahoo!
It was a fabulous!
I asked a few of the ladies what their
favorite verses where…here is what they said.
Naomi: loves all proverbs and reads chapter a day. Jane: enjoys Psalms 70, 91, 117 and John
3:16. Agnes: Romans 8:38. Dorcus: Psalms 38. Everlyn: Psalms 91, 142, 139. Beatrice: Psalm 23, 116. Helen: Psalm 27, Philippians 4:4 Mary: Weep center coordinator, not HIV, but the one who organizes the ladies,
finds the sick, and helps them with their children and checks on them to
eventually get them in the center to learn a skill. What she said made me think… Her favorite book, Genesis and the story of
creation. Why? “Because when God made the world He said it
was good. I’m part of the world that God
created so He thinks I’m good. But we as
humans change that, we add stuff to the world and judge things and say it’s not
good.” Never heard that before! Loving it!
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| Mary and me |
Once again, a great day that has changed my
perspective on various things. I’m
incredibly thankful to see things differently. My constant prayer is that I can hear what God is asking of me. How can I make a difference? How can I SHINE for Him? I also know that a little bit will go a long way. I just hope I can hear what my little bit will be and have the courage to be obedient to what God asks of me.
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| The ladies making us lunch |
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| Yummy veggies :) |
