Back from Kenya

Gosh. What a whale of a time. As Desmond put it, the whole week was a heart-stopper. Especially the road accident. Really amazing how God preserved us - we didn't lose a single hair, even though it was a real stunner.

Reflections:
The Accident
Depending on God's grace is so important, no matter how big or small each task is. As Ronald confessed on behalf of the team, when we were praying after the accident, we took His grace for granted, not asking Him for safe journey mercies the first time round. And God allowed a drunk driver to literally overturn our plans... so we were humbled and remembered how much we must depend on the Lord for each step we take.

Prov 16:9
"In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."

But let's not talk so much about the road accident. As Eugene wisely pointed out, it's not the only thing that happened during the trip.

There were so many other things that happened...

Slum Ride
Like our slum visit, where our driver, Fred (he's a local), took a detour through an extremely narrow mud road - which happened to be jam-packed with angry market-sellers who were pushed out of the way. They were so close to the van, that it was like standing right next to them. Lisa commented later that we were very, very, very fortunate that they didn't rob us or burn our van there and then. 'Cos the slum dwellers have even burnt ministers' cars before - how much more a van full of Chinese-looking tourists.

We felt a palpable sense of fear throughout the slum ride. And as we were reflecting about that later on, Eugene (our team coordinator) told us that God could be using this feeling of fear that we had experienced to tell us how the Kenyans are feeling.

Fear, isolation... because of the mistrust that has built up among the different tribes, and not only tribes, but also classes. Middle-class, lower-class, upper-class neighbourhoods... there is a very obvious sense of walling-off between the neighbourhoods.

But! There were such beautiful moments too. The safari walk, and the walk through the countryside and the mountain climb... I'll just post photos there. They're so beautiful.

Harassed and Helpless
And as I rode through the countryside, I prayed, asking God for a word regarding the people. And I think He impressed strongly on my heart that He really loves this land. He has great compassion for the people of Kenya.
Matthew 9:36-38 came to mind:
36When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. 38Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field."

And it's so true. Whether rich or poor, the people there are harassed and helpless, exploited by greedy politicians and pastors alike. Yes, you read it right. There are some pastors who become pastors, not because it's a calling, but because, to them, it's a career. And that has caused not a few Kenyan Christians to be increasingly cynical/disillusioned/disappointed with the churches.

And I read in the Kenyan news on Sunday one of the headlines - "Churches indicted in inciting recent ethnic clashes"... it was so sad. The salt in Kenya is losing its saltiness.

Children - a New Hope
But thank God truly for the children. Kenyan children are a fortunate bunch indeed. Kenya has one of the best education systems in Africa - "8-4-4": 8 years of primary, 4 years of secondary and 4 years of university. Powerful indeed.

But the education system is something like the Singapore system of the seventies - sit down, study and shut up. :P So yes, Kenya gets very educated graduates, but they sometimes lack initiative to speak up and offer new ideas. (A problem with our own education system too.)

But, one good thing is that the children are very disciplined and obedient. Hee. Just a word from a teacher, and the children will obey immediately.

Anyway, the orphanage visit was very nice. We threw a birthday party for the orphans. I've taken a video clip - will post it up asap.

And during the mountain climb, while we were huffing and puffing our way up, dozens of Kenyan schoolchildren dressed in no more than their uniforms - the girls in full pinafore no less, with ankle-length skirts - scampered uphill excitedly past us.

Well! When I reached the summmit, I took video clips of the children. They were all very curious about the Strange Object I was holding in my hand, so I flipped my LCD and let them see themselves on video. Whoa. They instantly swarmed around me, buzzing excitedly like bees in a hive, until the teacher stepped in. (Thank God for teachers...)

So let them peep through the video camera. They were all so so excited. The teacher explained to me that they were all from a school in the rural areas. Most of them had never seen a video camera in their lives before (until a blur tourist showed them).

While they were all taking turns, I spied out of the corner of my eye a girl standing all alone by herself. What made her stand out even more was the huge orange polka-dotted sash that she was wearing around her waist, over her uniform. I wondered why she was standing there all alone, so I went over to her to say hi. At first, she looked away shyly, and didn't say anything in reply to my hello. So I asked her, "You want to take a look through the camera?"

A smile started on her face, and she happily nodded. I passed her the camera, and she peeped through it... and after she was done, she looked at me, and shyly said in clear English, "Thank you."

I was very surprised - and touched. 'Cos all the other kids hadn't said thank you, but this girl, all alone by herself, said thank you. And I was reminded of the one healed leper who ran back to thank Jesus, while the other nine didn't give thanks to Him. I had a small glimpse of how the Lord must feel when, out of all the billions of people he blesses daily, one or two of them stop and pause and run back to thank Him for blessing them.

So many more to share. Well, all in good time... I'm super-jet-lagged now. Pray for me and the rest of the team to recover from the muscle injuries that we got from the accident, and from the jet-lag.

God bless.