My Trip to Kenya

Africa. It is a long ways away – both in travel and sadly often in mind and heart.

Africa is a continent made up of 53 countries, each with their own government/dictator, culture, climates, language(s), geography, and challenges. Three entire continental United States could fit into the country of Africa. It is huge.

I went to Kenya for ten days with Heart for Africa, so understand my perspective is extremely limited. I saw one country and very few people. But here is what I found. (Granted, all that follows are generalizations, but bear with me, for with the vast majority of the people I interacted with, I found these to be true.)

There is much to celebrate. God is alive and moving within Africa. Kenya is considered a Christian country. Many of the people I met are not consumed with materialism, individualism, and consumerism. They see God as the source of what they have. They believe God answers their prayers. They give glory to Him. They know how to worship not only in Spirit but with voice and body and movement. They pray out of their dependence upon God to meet their needs. They are willing to go and give their lives for His sake. They have a vision to reach the world with the Gospel. They are not waiting for us to come to do it for them. They are relying on God. Some are giving their lives to spread the Gospel. Some have committed their lives to reach kids on the street and orphans. Some are leaving their families and countries to go and tell others what Jesus has done in their lives.

It was not hard for me to see the face of Jesus in the people I met in Kenya.

However, there is much to mourn. People really do die everyday (especially children) from the lack of food, water, and preventable/treatable diseases. The numbers of children who are orphaned is staggering and continues to grow. AIDS is destroying families, communities, entire generations, and even countries. (And if you think for one moment that AIDS is God’s judgment against immorality, then you are greatly misinformed. The majority of those who contract AIDS are innocent victims.) Kids (ages 5 – 17) live on the street and fend for themselves. Hundreds of thousands in Kenya alone. Millions in Africa. Too many churches have rejected the street kids as worthless and sub-human. Many women are seen as property and are expected to do the lion’s share of the work including caring for the children. Children often cannot afford to go to school and/or they have to stay home to work.

There is much I saw and experienced that breaks my heart and grieves the heart of Jesus.

You can make a difference. One person helping one person can make a difference. One person praying for another can make a difference. I saw the fruit of the labor of others.

For many in Africa, they cannot even reach the first rung of the ladder – the ladder of hope – the ladder to adequate food and clean water – the ladder to education – the ladder to self-sustainability and even economic growth. They live surviving day-to-day. Most days they have one meal (not at all nutritious but at least they eat something). Some days they do not. Most days their children get fresh water after walking for hours. Most days they are not beaten. Some days they are. Many have no source of income because Dad has died. Many children have no parents and live with Grandma because Mom and Dad have died. So they try and survive and the ladder is too high.

With help, they can reach the first rung of the ladder. And believe me, the people I met want to climb. They are not lazy. They will work. They will do whatever it takes to help their children and grandchildren. They just need a boost. Will you give them one? Will you help?

I saw the results of a little boost. I saw people thriving because someone helped them get a cow. I saw families lives changed because they received the gift of a water tank which collects rain water. I saw people climbing by themselves from one rung to the next because someone had planted a garden filled with nutritious, anti-oxidant filled vegetables. And what I saw that stood out the most to me was HOPE. There was hope for the future. There was hope for their children. There was the clear and abiding sense that tomorrow was going to be better than today.

And every single person who I saw experiencing this hope gave the glory to Jesus Christ. They believed He heard and answered their prayers. He was the source of the cow and the water tank and the garden and the HOPE. He provides everything we need. They didn’t say it because it is the right thing to say as Christians. They believed it with every ounce of their being and in the depths of their soul. Jesus Christ is the way. He is the truth. He is where life is found. There is always HOPE because of Him. They depend on Him.

I have a lot to learn from the people I met in Kenya. I was blessed to see Jesus in them.