In the summer of 2014 after the completion of my freshman year of college, I took the trip of a lifetime and spent 2 weeks of June doing mission work in Kijabe, Kenya, Africa. One of my best friends and I made the goal to go to Africa this past summer in the fall of 2013. Our shared dream of going to Africa began when we were only middle schoolers at church camps. We were exposed to pictures, videos, speakers, and even an African children's choir that showed us the deep need for help in Africa and gave birth to our vision to one day serve there. We had already been so blessed to attend various mission trips with our Sunday School class throughout our high school summers that prepared us for our adventure to Africa and that stirred a desire in us to continue serving locally, nationally, and abroad.
Once it was decided that we would spend a portion of our summer in Africa, we began to look and pray for the right opportunity, and after investigating several options, we happened upon an organization called Love Africa Mission by a simple google search. After prayerful consideration, we applied for the trip and continued to pray about Love Africa until we got the news that we were on the mission team to Kenya the first two weeks of June! We were so excited! We spent the next several months preparing, building anticipation (and some anxiety), fundraising, and praying for Africa.
The trip was the most incredible experience of my life. We worked in orphanages, schools, and hospitals as well as with several other ministries. We had the opportunity to worship with the people of the Maasai Tribe. We hiked a volcano and went on a safari. In all of these things we witnessed the Glory of God and saw His hand in Africa! But more importantly, we fell in love with the beautiful people of Kenya!
Since we returned home, I have had two problems. First, I simply want to be in Africa all the time. And secondly, I have struggled with the best way for me to convey my experiences to those around me. While I am patiently waiting to fix the first problem until my next trip, I have decided it is time to attempt to fix the the second problem.
Though I have shared some stories and pictures here and there, I know that I have yet to truly capture my trip in one place in order to share the impact it made on me. So I have decided that writing about the very most impactful experience I had on the trip might allow my family and friends to finally catch a taste of my experience in Kenya and the way it has affected my daily life and the way I view God.
So...it all started with me falling in love with this adorable boy.
I mean...look at this face...
Once it was decided that we would spend a portion of our summer in Africa, we began to look and pray for the right opportunity, and after investigating several options, we happened upon an organization called Love Africa Mission by a simple google search. After prayerful consideration, we applied for the trip and continued to pray about Love Africa until we got the news that we were on the mission team to Kenya the first two weeks of June! We were so excited! We spent the next several months preparing, building anticipation (and some anxiety), fundraising, and praying for Africa.
The trip was the most incredible experience of my life. We worked in orphanages, schools, and hospitals as well as with several other ministries. We had the opportunity to worship with the people of the Maasai Tribe. We hiked a volcano and went on a safari. In all of these things we witnessed the Glory of God and saw His hand in Africa! But more importantly, we fell in love with the beautiful people of Kenya!
Since we returned home, I have had two problems. First, I simply want to be in Africa all the time. And secondly, I have struggled with the best way for me to convey my experiences to those around me. While I am patiently waiting to fix the first problem until my next trip, I have decided it is time to attempt to fix the the second problem.
Though I have shared some stories and pictures here and there, I know that I have yet to truly capture my trip in one place in order to share the impact it made on me. So I have decided that writing about the very most impactful experience I had on the trip might allow my family and friends to finally catch a taste of my experience in Kenya and the way it has affected my daily life and the way I view God.
So...it all started with me falling in love with this adorable boy.
I mean...look at this face...
I met him on one of our very last days at an Internally Displaced Persons Camp (or IDP Camp), which is essentially a place for people in the country that have been removed from their property due to political and/or ethnic issues. These movements normally occur after presidential elections are made and can be temporary or can last years. The particular IDP camp that I visited was more permanent than most. It had a kind of "neighborhood" and a school, and partially because I am an elementary education major, the school really caught my attention. This was the first school that we had visited that had a feeding program in place. In other words, the children that attend this school are likely to only eat this one meal of a small plate of beans each day. Witnessing this feeding process was the first time that the hunger that I had heard occurred in Africa became so real and undeniable to me. I watched as the children ran excitedly to stand in line for their less than satisfactory-looking meal. When the children received their plate they could not eat fast enough. They were so eager, and some of the children even received an extra portion in a plastic bag. These children not only shoveled in both servings, but afterwards they sucked on the plastic bag in the hopes of decreasing their hunger.
This alone would have been enough to create a huge impact. Being able to view and put names and faces to the hunger that exists around the world would have been enough for me to be deeply impacted. However, then I met Buddy.
Though we met many, many children on our trip that all made their individual impressions on my heart, this boy was the single most influential person I met in Africa. I looked around as the children were eating, and I wandered around as I talked with and smiled at a few of them when I saw an adorable, 3 or 4 year old boy dressed in a red jacket. He seemed cute and sweet so I walked up and said hi and smiled at him. Though most Kenyans know English as well as Swahili, this boy was too young to know English and could not communicate with me. He could not even communicate the simple task of telling me his name. I figured our interaction would be short as I tried to talk to him without him understanding a word, when all of a sudden he surprised me as he grabbed my hand.
After a few minutes of him holding his plate in one hand and my hand in the other, I tried to break away so he could continue eating. However every time I let go of his hand, he would grab mine again. I realized then that he preferred to have the love I was offering him over the food on his plate. The fact that his starvation for love was greater than his physical starvation really made an impact on me. In an effort to get him to eat, I walked over to a place where we could sit down and he could finish eating. I sat down while he stood in front of me and I just scratched his back until he finished eating, and after he was done he came running back to sit in my lap. The rest of the lunch period, children were running and playing and laughing, but this one little boy sat silent in my lap for an hour, content with the love.
When other children came up to talk to me, he would become jealous, having claimed me as his person for the day. I asked all of these other children what the little boy's name was, but none of them could tell me. Even now I'm not sure what the little boy's real name was, but I dubbed him "Buddy", since he was my little buddy. It still is crazy to me that out of all of the children I connected with on this trip, I bonded with the little boy whose name I didn't even know by far the most. He needed me at that moment just to love on him some, and I think I really needed him to love on too. We sat like that for a long time, but eventually I had to send him away with a big hug and held back tears as I watched him return to the baby class.
This alone would have been enough to create a huge impact. Being able to view and put names and faces to the hunger that exists around the world would have been enough for me to be deeply impacted. However, then I met Buddy.
Though we met many, many children on our trip that all made their individual impressions on my heart, this boy was the single most influential person I met in Africa. I looked around as the children were eating, and I wandered around as I talked with and smiled at a few of them when I saw an adorable, 3 or 4 year old boy dressed in a red jacket. He seemed cute and sweet so I walked up and said hi and smiled at him. Though most Kenyans know English as well as Swahili, this boy was too young to know English and could not communicate with me. He could not even communicate the simple task of telling me his name. I figured our interaction would be short as I tried to talk to him without him understanding a word, when all of a sudden he surprised me as he grabbed my hand.
After a few minutes of him holding his plate in one hand and my hand in the other, I tried to break away so he could continue eating. However every time I let go of his hand, he would grab mine again. I realized then that he preferred to have the love I was offering him over the food on his plate. The fact that his starvation for love was greater than his physical starvation really made an impact on me. In an effort to get him to eat, I walked over to a place where we could sit down and he could finish eating. I sat down while he stood in front of me and I just scratched his back until he finished eating, and after he was done he came running back to sit in my lap. The rest of the lunch period, children were running and playing and laughing, but this one little boy sat silent in my lap for an hour, content with the love.
When other children came up to talk to me, he would become jealous, having claimed me as his person for the day. I asked all of these other children what the little boy's name was, but none of them could tell me. Even now I'm not sure what the little boy's real name was, but I dubbed him "Buddy", since he was my little buddy. It still is crazy to me that out of all of the children I connected with on this trip, I bonded with the little boy whose name I didn't even know by far the most. He needed me at that moment just to love on him some, and I think I really needed him to love on too. We sat like that for a long time, but eventually I had to send him away with a big hug and held back tears as I watched him return to the baby class.
So besides touching my heart, Buddy really demonstrated to me our innate, human desire to be loved, held, comforted, and secure in the arms of another. However, I believe that this perfectly shows our desperate condition and necessity for dependence on God. It made me think that we are all craving that connection with and attention from the One who is love. We are all deprived of that love, comfort, and security before we know God, but once we do know Him we know not to let go of his hand, to always run back into his arms, and to only be content when we are sitting like humble children at His feet. But Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these." |