...where to continue, yes the sewage in the middle of the street. There is no such thing as getting used to the smell, there is no such thing as ignoring it either. The sad part is that the people who live there are so used to it that they walk around barefoot and go on about their lives. What makes this pill even harder to swallow is that the children, most of them barefoot, play and frolic in these same streets. Some were even seen rummaging through an outlet of a waste line looking for coins. I asked my guide, whom was very open to not sugar coating anything, why isnt there any type of sanitation places or bathrooms. His response was shocking as there are restrooms but it costs 5 Kenyan Schillings to use the bathroom. In a place as poor as we were in , the most cost effective choice was not to use the outhouse, but go, outside the house.
We made our way though the mazes of small tin roofed shanties to the house of Elizabeth. Elizabeth was a shinning light in such bleak surroundings. Elizabeth had been apart of the classes that mission of hope had conducted and sponsored. Since successfully completing her training she has been able to send her children to the mission of hope school. As it stands she has one child in the process of going to college, and the other in the process of completing high school. The importance of Elizabeth's story shows that not only is mission of hope trying to help people better themselves, but giving those people the tools to better each other and others around them.
We made our way back to the mission of hope building for lunch, announcements and meetings. One of the main dishes in Kenyan culture is rice, which we had. And goat, which we had. The food is always very colorful and robust. A few things that we had to overcome, the flies that seemed to work as a team to land on our food and finding a bottle opener because every pop that was available was in the old school glass bottles.
After lunch we finished with out individual group meetings to discuss what we would actually be doing once our mission work starts on Monday We concluded our meetings with prayer, and jaunting ride through the streets of Nairobi back to our residence, which if i didn't mention before is called the Grace House Hotel. Not to leave out that our accommodations are great. The hospitality is something that you SHOULD expect at a 4 or 5 start hotel, but here it is from people who are actually sincere about their words.
We only had about an hour and a half of relaxing time after we got back from mission of hope, but it was just enough time to sit down, reflect and prepare our hearts and minds for what is ahead of use. Dinner was a buffet of chicken, beef, and fish culminated with salads and desserts to end an emotionally draining day. Breakfast tomorrow starts at 530am, we have not 1 but 2 church services tomorrow and we will be in a Joska which can be 1.5 to 2.5 hours of commuting! Yes!
Until tomorrow...
No comments:
Post a Comment