Missing Mwangi... and the rest of Kenya

This is a longer post, so bare with me. It’s all on my week in Kenya and future posts will not be this long. I promise :)

We’ve been in Tanzania for four days but before my mind is completely and totally captivated by Arusha and it’s people and the children of Sokoine One especially, I wanted to share a little bit of Kenya and the reasons I will miss being there.

The purpose of our time in Kenya was to refresh and prepare. Three out of the four of us have already been to various parts of Africa, so that’s what I mean by “refresh”. We wanted to get that taste back in our mouths again (although, I think I speak for everyone when I say it never really left), and take some time to just let ourselves remember and get all that is Africa back into our souls. We also wanted our time in Kenya to be fruitful and a time of preparing.  This is where the Snell’s come in. Greg and Deb were such a huge blessing to us and really opened up their lives, home and ministry to us unreservedly. We are forever grateful for them. 

After dinking around in Nairobi a little bit and getting “settled”, we headed to the mountains where the Snell’s ministry site is- about 45 minutes to an hour outside of the city. Eagles Wings is unfinished, but beyond beautiful... I’d have to agree with the unbiased couple that their lot has the best view of the plains, mountain sides and lake Naivasha. It’s just incredible. We slept in these tiny, quaint cottages owned by a couple from the UK who have been living in Green Park (just outside of Naivasha- where Eagles Wings is) for about 20 years. 

We’d eat breakfast most mornings over-looking the plains with game roaming and the mountains as a backdrop. Captivating. During the day, we would all pile in the Toyota (60% of the vehicles in Kenya are Toyota’s) and make our bumpy way down the mountain and into the local village, Lolida. We got to ask questions to the administration and the students of the primary and secondary schools there. We even had a meeting set up with the heads of a trust, which is located in the UK, that has been working to come along side this community and help these schools thrive. Although in slum, this non-government-dependent school is remarkably ranked third in it’s class over a huge list of schools that are supported by the government. In 2008, they were ranked first! It was so refreshing to see how a community with so little can have so much heart and passion to learn. 

Now that you have a basic understanding of what a typical day was like for us, I will continue on with some of my favorite moments and reasons why I’ll miss Kenya and how it will forever have a special place in my heart.

1. Golfing the third hole at the Great Rift Valley’s golf course in Green Park. I’ll remember this as the most beautiful view while golfing I’ve ever seen. The green aside, and at sunset- the view couldn’t have been more spectacular. And this was all for $7 US dollars, people. Not even kidding. On a side note, I will choose to forget how my team lost because my long game sucked and my partner’s short game blew..... ahem, Andrew. ;)

2. Seeing Kenya’s future... and that it’s so much brighter than I could have thought. We got the chance to ask and answer questions from kids in a secondary school which was so awesome. The thought-provoking questions were so sincere and rich. It was humbling to be able to give advice and share our stories with students whom I can honestly say I’ve never seen more driven and hungry for knowledge.

3. Laughing with new friends. Greg and Deb are so corky it’s hilarious. I can remember   so many instances in our cottages alone, enjoying the funny things one or the other said. Greg, he has these one-liners... “bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” he’d say when I’d ask how he was. The guy is so smart too. One night after dropping us off, Deb was backing up this hill surrounded by trees and she suddenly whipped it in reverse and smoked a tree behind her. “What was that?!” she cackled out of the window. On the second night we lovingly deemed them the names “Grell and Dell”. Gosh, I will really miss them and their home. God truly did show us beautiful people, living in a beautiful country, serving a beautiful King. 

4.Nights under a blanked canvas of twinkling stars in the mountains. Listening to some of the strangest sounds of God’s creation below and around me that were yet so lovely to me. My eyes and ears were so lucky then.

5. Freely being able to walk my way out to a wild giraffe with my friends. Frolicking towards it taking pictures like idiots until it gracefully runs away from the crazy muzungu’s. 

6. I will miss being taught fractions by the standard 8 class. They were so proud to show me how to do it. And I will confess, I knew less than they did. Africa:1 Jenna:0. 

7. Meeting Mwangi. I think this is what I will miss the most of Kenya. It’s funny how just a few short conversations can give me so much life. Mwangi and his family live with the Snell’s in Green Park and Mwangi is like their right hand man. I was so blessed to have the chance to sit and talk with him one night at a bonfire we had down on the plains. (On a side note, we made s’mores, African style: with African cookies, chocolate sauce and pink and white marshmallows). Anyways, Mwangi explained to me that he really wants to share the love of Christ with his friends and even random people he comes into contact with on a daily basis. He confessed he’s scared because most of them are educated and he is not. As we sat and chatted, I was able to encourage him with scripture and wisdom from my own walk. We exchanged contact info and I remember praying for him and his family that night; asking God to supply him with a confidence and boldness to follow his heart. 

Mwangi and his wife were diagnosed with AIDS a few years ago. They knew of Jesus and some of His teachings. While at someone’s house, a televangelist on t.v was saying that a couple watching and affected by AIDS should stand up and receive healing. With Mwangi’s small faith, they stood up and prayed with the man over the t.v. They went back to the doctor who was shocked to tell them that there was no trace of the disease in either of their bodies. Amen. They were healed by Jesus. 

As you can imagine, I wept at the telling of this story... and I remember asking God to never let me forget Mwangi’s kind of faith and in turn, Jesus’s big healing. In Matthew 17, Jesus’ disciples were unable to drive out a demon in a boy and asked Jesus why. He pointed to their lack of faith. It is the power of God, not our faith, that moves mountains, that heals someone with AIDS.... but faith, no matter how small, even as small as a mustard seed, must be present to do so. Even Mwangi’s small and underdeveloped faith was sufficient. This faith, I will pray for and more. Mwangi has forever inspired me.

LOVE to all back home...... more to come.....