December 22nd Thursday Christmas weekend will soon be here even without all the decorated trees, colored lights and neatly wrapped gifts with bows on top. The all night prayer service scheduled on Christmas Eve will not stop the Sunday morning service. The morning service open the day will be special songs, dancing and plays put on by the children.
Decorations and Christmas trees are not seen within the homes nor are they missed. It is a daily struggle to feed the family and a chicken served for dinner becomes a great treat for so many on Christmas day. So many will go without. Perhaps if one can afford the extra they will buy some cookies and a soda for their children but no one expects more.
One pastor said, “I wanted to give you a gift and I looked to my left and I had nothing. So I looked to my right and I had nothing. I have nothing that I can give you except prayer.”
Christmas this year will be spent in the slums of Nairobi. The bus leaves western Kenya early in the morning and almost 9 hours later it arrives in Nairobi. As I find my seat and settle in I open the daily newspaper. The headlines are in big bold letters. Nairobi is on high alert because of terror threats over the Christmas season. Rescue helicopters, hospitals and other emergency services were on standby.
There is visible increase of security on the city streets of Nairobi. Soldiers, police officers and specially trained security officers are guarding the streets and buildings of concern. There is now round the clock security surveillance.
Even though there is an alert, it is still Christmas. Here in the midst of bumper to bumper cars, buses, matatus and wall to wall people there is one very out of place camel! He is being led down the sidewalk with a red blanket over his back and a red hat on his head. It is Christmas in Nairobi!!
Before going to bed I checked the on line news to see if everything was peaceful in Nairobi. The updated report alerted all Kenyans that the fast killing and highly contagious Ebola virus was expected to be the cause for the death of a 29 year old woman early today here in Nairobi. Some had been quarantined already and specialist had been called in.
December 23rd Friday
One of the leaders of the church met me at the compound and we traveled together into the slums. It was good to be back into an area that I knew so well. Japheth’s Bible had been stolen from him and he had longed for another. He is full of questions and has such a desire to learn more. He held his new Bible in his hands and began to express his thanks. With his eyes on the Bible he thanked me many times for his gift. What he has wanted for so long he has received. There is no doubt in my mind that the pages of this Bible will be read over and over again. Thank you everyone for making this gift and so many like it possible.
There were many homes to visit and so many in need of prayer. Door after door was opened to us. There is such suffering and rejection here that a just a short visit along with prayer and words of encouragement can make them sing all day.
It was so good to be able to visit with Jackie in her home. She has been a dear friend of mine for many years. She radiates the love of Jesus even though living in the slums of Nairobi brings many struggles and hardships into her life.
We sat together in Fred’s home and met his wife and sister. They were preparing the staple meal that most Kenyan’s love “ugali” or corn meal. They were hungry but Fred was hungry for more than physical food and before we left his home he asked Jesus into his heart!
The sun was hot and the streets of the slums were dusty. The smells from the piles of garbage and the running brooks of raw sewage intensify under the rising temperature of hot sun of Africa.
Our eyes are scanning the crowds of people is search of the Pastor. He has returned from the hospital and is free to join us now. His brother in law was robbed and beaten up at the bus station. He has a broken leg, cuts and bruises but is expected to recover.
Pastor Chris himself is also recovery from an overnight stay in the hospital as he had a very serious attack of malaria.
Life here is full of struggles and challenges in an atmosphere of defeat. As so many from the church will say, “We live in the slum but the slum is not in us.”
The sun has started to weaken although it is still very hot but we know that night will soon enter the land. It is time for me to leave.
Before the night was over I would learn that around noon time the Kenyan government released a notice that they had ruled out Ebola as the cause of death for the 29 year old woman who died here in Nairobi Thursday morning.
December 25, 2011 Sunday
The overcrowded busy roads of Nairobi are quiet today. It is even takes us longer to find a matatu to take us to the entrance of the slums. We walk through the area known as the Congo area, a place of much home brew. The road way here has gotten smaller as the garbage is taking over the walk way. It is not uncommon to see someone sleeping on the ground in the midst of the smells and waste of a forgotten land.
Children run to us and many hands are outstretched to greet us along the way. The church area is fenced off with mixed matched pieces of metal sheets. They are uneven, ragged and the opening here and there gives access for the children to view what is happening on the other side.
The women have already started preparing the Christmas lunch that will be served today after the service. There will be rice with small pieces of beef in tomato sauce to put on top, greens and Irish potatoes. It will be a meal that all will enjoy. The children will have an extra treat of cookies and orange punch. It is something that they don’t have unless it is a very special celebration.
The children quickly find their seat as they are excited about the new chairs bought just for them and the school children taught in the church building during the week.
The women work all morning. They carry in jugs of water for cooking and washing. Cans of charcoal have to be bought in order to cook the rice and meat. Then there is the struggle to keep everything warm while the one little charcoal burner is used to cook something else.
Everyone welcomed in Christmas with much praise and singing. A tambourine from the USA was seen raised high in the air as Jackie praised her God. The microphones squealed as the volume went higher and higher. It was time to celebrate and give thanks.
Quietness took over as I began to speak, I even put the microphone aside so that the words I spoke would be clearer and easier to understand. As I looked into the eyes of those that were before me I could see them waiting for the next word that I would speak. The hunger here for more is huge. Two men came forward at the end of the service and asked Jesus into their heart. We thank God for giving us exactly what we need, His son, Jesus.
A wonderful hot meal was ready and served to us while we watched the Jesus movie in the afternoon. We had found a small TV and a DVD player and carried it into church. It was placed on a high stand so that all could see it. Today no one would go home without food in their stomach; no one would go to sleep hungry tonight.
December 28th, Wednesday
Christmas night ushered in more rains into the Nairobi area. They have continued throughout the night and even into today’s early hours. With the rains come power outages and it has been out since Christmas night.
Our plans changed with the wet weather but we continued on with the goal of getting some orphan babies off the floor and into a crib. Evelyn lives in the slums and has a very big heart. Her room might be small but it is full of babies that need love and care. Some have been sleeping on mats on the floor. Soon there will be another crib to set beside the two she already has. It will give nine more babies a comfortable and safe place to sleep.
Pastor Joseph, Gladys and their daughter Grace also came and spent some time with me at the compound. We have worked together ministering to the street boys and girls. They just recently baptized 12 street boys!
Juma a man that has grown up on the streets of Nairobi now houses those that want to change their life style. Last time I was here I visited with Juma and those living with him. Twelve of them accepted Jesus into their heart. I’m told that this group has grown strong and is doing well. They have now left and stepped out on their own and new street kids have come. Juma is working with his second group now in a small one room house with a dirt floor in the ghetto.
So I entered Nairobi with the bad news of terror alerts and Ebola confronting me but today I leave with my heart full of good news of how Jesus Christ changes the hearts of men and women.
As the bus rolls towards the mountains of the western Kenya I gaze at the beauty before me. Zebras run beside the bus, groups of gazelles fill the open fields, baboons line up beside the road and of course we slow down now and then for the cows, sheep and goats that want to cross in front of us.
A special thank you to all who help us meet the many needs of the people here in Africa. May God bless you.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Kenyan hotels, malls on alert over terror strike fears
http://www.nation.co.ke/News/Kenyan+hotels+malls+on+alert+over+terror+strike+fears++/-/1056/1293732/-/j6pdxoz/-/index.html
Ebola fear strikes Kenya
http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000048812&catid=4&a=1
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