Kenya - Day 3

Saturday - June 9

We returned to the Lutheran compound in the morning and had our first opportunity to really interact with kids. There were a handful of them hanging around trying to figure out what this strange group of white people were up to.  We learned immediately that the kids loved to be in pictures and then they loved to see their picture on the screen of the digital camera after it was taken.  I also learned that playing peek-a-boo is an ice breaker with bashful kids that spans cultures and countries.  During this time, I noticed something I would see on multiple occasions throughout the week - one of the little boys was wearing girls shoes and another was wearing jeans shorts with flowers that were also definitely made for girls.

On Saturday we took our first extended drive into a rural area. Throughout the trip, our group was amazed that wherever we went, we would see people walking - even in the most remote, middle-of-nowhere areas. The plots of land in Kenya are much smaller than they are in the rural Midwest. People worked with hoes and hands not with machines that tilled the land and harvested the crop so their corn and rice were planted on more of a garden scale than a farm spanning hundreds of acres. The smaller plots of land also meant that small houses and huts consistently dotted the landscape.  So during our drives we saw lots of people walking and lots of little homes and lots of cows, goats, and donkeys wandering around often without any human supervision. It was also common to see young children walking on their own without adults nearby indicating that some of the fears and dangers we live with in America (like theft of livestock and abuse of children) are not as prevalent in Kenya.  Small towns in rural areas of Kenya are also not what we would picture when we think small towns.  Most striking is the fact that there were people outside everywhere - standing in crowds or sitting in smaller groups.  When we drive through a Midwestern small town, it's rare to see anyone in a yard or in front of whatever business may still exist. But in each and every small community the corners and open spaces were congested with people. Small businesses also lined the streets and additional goods were laid out on blankets or set up in stalls between the buildings and the roads.

Our Saturday destination was a rural congregation where four children's Bible clubs from four different towns would meet for a competition. The idea for the Bible clubs began in the home of Pastor David Chuchu - our main guide for the trip.  The Chuchu's had a television that would draw many of their children's friends on Saturday mornings. Pastor Chuchu's young daughter decided this was a great opportunity to teach her friends about Jesus so they began to incorporate time in the Bible and Luther's Small Catechism whenever the kids would gather to watch TV. That has now grown and expanded and multiplied through the work of deaconesses and pastor into other communities.  Pastor Chuchu smiles what is almost a mischievous smile as he explains the strategy of inviting people who would not enter a Christian church into people's homes in order to teach them the very things that are taught in church. Many of the children are from non-Christian homes so the Gospel is heard by those who have not previously heard about who Jesus is and what He has done. Pastor Chuchu also sees this ministry as a way to prepare youth at an early age to deal with questions that come from other religions when they get to high school and eventually leave the home so that they can remain steadfast in their faith.  On Saturdays the groups meet and memorize sections of the Small Catechism and hear from the Bible. They learn songs and eat and laugh and have fun.  Then two times a year all of the groups come together for a competition.  This is what we witnessed. Each group presents what they have memorized and sing songs they have learned sharng both the truth and the joy of our faith. The kids try to outdo the other groups in creativity and how well they know the Catechism and how loudly and smoothly they present.  For the kids, this is one of the few chances they may get to travel to other communities and it is evident that they love the groups and the time when the groups all come together. Pastor Chuchu told us of a couple Muslim parents who prevented their children from going to the competition because they did not want them learning about Jesus from the Bible so the kids decided to go on a hunger strike refusing to eat their meals that day in protest.  Our group from America got an extra kick out of the introduction for each Bible club's presentation. One of the kids stepped forward to identify where they were from and to state that they were ready to present and then he/she invited us to "sit back, relax, and enjoy." And that we did!

After the presentations we had the opportunity to teach all of the groups a song and then I was called on unexpectedtly to teach about Communion.  That was my first experience of using a translator and luckily we were also teaching them a song - they probably had a lot more fun with that.  We were then fed as we were everywhere we went and then we had an unbelievably awesome night of hanging out with the local kids who did not have to board a bus and return home. We hit a volleyball around with them and did sack races and watched as some of them played soccer and then they began to group around us and ask us questions and talk about their lives and our lives and weather in the two different countries and all sorts of things. That eventually gave way to more singing. We asked them to teach us a song and then they wanted us to teach them a song and so standing in an open field as the sun slowly set we took turns singing back and forth. It was beyond words to take something as simple as This Little Light of Mine which the Kenyan kids did not know and to get lost in the joy in their voices and their eyes as they heard it and sang it for the first time. This was the first of many moments that we did not want to end.