Beauty From Ashes

Last week I posted about our first visit to the Kibera Slum. If you missed that post, go back and read it HERE.

No, seriously, go do it. It's pretty much imperative to this one. We will wait for you.

Caught up? Good. Here we go!

We toured Kibera, and amidst the desolation, within the pain and hopelessness of the slum, was a bright shining corner of the slum. In the middle of this:

we saw this sign:

And we started to turn the corner and head down a slight hill. It was actually brighter. It was immensely cleaner. It felt so much lighter. We found this:
This is the Saviour King's Academy. The school that our church helps support, the hope for the future for 270 of the children who call the Kibera Slum home. They knew we were coming, their special visitors, and they poured out to greet us.
And oh, it was amazing. I am tearing up just remembering. Indescribable.

We shook their hands, and they greeted us with the up most respect and manners.

Every single one of them wanted to shake the hand of every single one of us.

It was incredible.

These kids have joy. Pure joy.

The essence of Jesus shines from their innermost being and emanates from their souls.

By the way, August is winter in Kenya. It was about 65 and overcast, so they were bundled up in their winter gear. :)

Then they lined up to offer us a welcome that I will never forget for as long as I live.

They sang.

And they danced.

Oh, how these children can sing!

Songs in Swahili, songs in English, songs lifting praise to the One True God who gives them life and breath.

"I'm trading my sorrows, I'm trading my shame..."

:...I'm laying them down for the joy of the Lord! I say, yes Lord, yes, Lord, yes yes Lord!"

They gave us gifts, simple necklaces made from Christmas tree tinsel. They sang a song in Swahili and presented them to us. I think I will keep mine forever, it is so meaningful.

And they sang, and danced some more.

Then, we were called up to dance for them. We taught them a new song, and they loved it. They all went back to their classes and we got to tour the school.

This is the baby class, or the preschool by our standards. No books, no papers, no crayons or coloring books. Just children with a heart for learning and a total desire for an education.

A few projects on the wall, evidence that there is creativity that happens here.

Sweet faces.

And with the flash off, this is what the room looks like. No lights, just an open window allowing a bit of light in. This is pre-school. And in Kenya, this is a very good pre-school.

You don't need things to learn. You just need teachers who have the desire to teach, and children who have the desire to learn. That's all.

These teachers and the director are all highly educated. They could easily get jobs at any school in Kenya, but they want to be here, teaching the children of Kibera about the love of Jesus, and giving them the education they need to break the cycle of poverty and get out of the slum.

This is what would be Kindergarten by our school system. We counted fifty five children in this class.

Fifty five.

And not a single one complains.

They all had presentations for us, showing us what they are learning. We were blown away, these kids take this seriously. One of the things they recited included the line, "Parents, give us an education!" and they meant it. Every single child wants to be there every single day.

Neighborhood kids hang out outside the classroom doors. the school sits in a Muslim neighborhood of the slum, so although there are some Muslim students (and some former Muslim students whose families have come to know Christ through this school) many of the children are not allowed to attend because this is a Christian school that teaches about Christ Jesus, and many Muslim parents would rather not let their child get an education than to go to a Christian school. The kids want to go and learn, though so the teachers do some pretty amazing things.

The kids are welcomed in. They sit in the back, and the teachers keep a look out for the child's parents. If a parent comes looking for the child, the teachers will signal the child and he or she will crawl behind other kids and hide, then sneak out of the class and run home before the parent gets back.

What these teachers will do to give these kids a fighting chance is incredibly amazing. The lengths these teachers will go to to teach a child about Jesus is humbling.

And all we could do was say, "Wow."

A few of these students went up to the front to teach their peers. Every one started with "Hello, class, how are you?" The students replied, "We are fine, sir, thank you, sir." then the teaching student responded with, "Sit down."

Honestly, we all got the giggles. There was no please or thank you, it just isn't their culture. Cute adorable little children, saying, "sit down," in such a serious tone with their amazing accents was phenomenal. And hilarious. "Sit down."

Neighborhood kids, wanting to see what was going on.

Another class' chalkboard.

The next class was in a larger room, divided into three classes by plywood partitions. Each had a chalkboard and was filled to capacity. The school tries really hard not to turn children away, but they are out of space.

This class presented us with the AWANA pledge. If any of you are familiar with AWANA, the pledge is the same as it is in America. My children participate in AWANA. It was incredible to see the same pledge being done in Kenya.

When we finished touring the classes, we did a small medical clinic and brought de-worming pills to every child. We didn't realize it right away, but the children do not look sickly thin, but that is mostly due to bloat from malnutrition and worms distending their bellies. We were happy to be able to bring them some relief from the worms, and the knowledge that what little food they get will actually feed and nourish them and not the parasites that live within them.

They were so excited to get the pills. Anything is a gift, and they were thrilled with it.

This school is beauty residing in the ashes of Kibera. Tomorrow I will tell you about what we did next for these amazing children. Stay tuned, the experience for us was beyond incredible. And for the kids? Well, you will have to wait and see!

More photos from this day can be found HERE.

The Kibera Slum

I have been home from Africa for two weeks now. It has been hard to go through all the pictures, hard to recognize how truly amazing my life is and how incredibly wealthy I really am. It's a hard adjustment, coming home. And I think that's partially why it has taken so long to get these photos up for you all, although I know many of you have been waiting. Thank you for your patience.

We toured the Kibera slum with bodyguards, so we felt incredibly safe. However, many people are offended by having their photo taken, so I had my camera on the strap around my neck and shot from the hip, literally.

The Kibera slum is in Nairobi, Kenya. It is the second largest slum in the world, ten square miles of land housing one million people.

One million people.

The vast majority of the residents have no services at all. No electricity, no running water, no sewer system. Nothing. There are a few stores with electricity, providing cell phone charging stations and batteries.

Most of the residents live on less than a dollar a day. Their homes are about ten feet by twelve feet, or the size of a standard bedroom. The living conditions that these people have to endure are not even fit for animals.

Kibera is considered an illegal settlement, so it thrives despite Kenya's housing laws. Slumlords rent out spaces for rent much lower than can be found in legal housing, so many of the residents have no choice in the poverty that fills the area.

The streets are covered in trash. Garbage piled up everywhere, with nowhere for it to go.

A river runs through the streets, filled with rotting trash and human waste. Since there is no sewer system, this is where one would pee. Poop is another story, they have "flying toilets" where one would defecate into a plastic grocery bag and fling it over one's head and throw it. Wherever it lands, it stays.

Seriously.

No one in our group got hit with a flying toilet on our visit, but I heard it has happened before.

This is where the children play. They don't know any different.

The children have such joy. Swahili is their first language, but English is the official language of Kenya so most are taught at least some English. One thing they all seem to know is "How are you?" The children flocked to us, asking, "Howa YOU?"

The walls of the homes are corrugated tin or mud pulled from the streets. Anything that can be used to create a wall, is used.

Many of the walls of the homes were filled with garbage and flying toilets.
Roofs are constructed of tin, garbage bags, or trash. Anything that will keep the sun and elements out is fine.

This is the first school we passed. The children were amazing, we laughed with them with tears in our eyes, the joy that emanated from them was incredible.

Sweet, innocent voices chanting, almost a song, "Howa YOU? Howa YOU? Howa YOU? Howa YOU?"

Such joy in a place of such sorrow.

Parents working extremely hard to make something to sell in order to provide one meal a day for their families.

Not all succeed.
Sweet babies, just hanging out in the front yard.

Some family's front porch.

And everywhere you look, sweet children coming from everywhere to get a look at the mzungus (white people).

The lack of food is apparent everywhere. Dogs, lying in the streets, no energy from starvation. Some would pick through the food scraps in the streets, but anything edible has already been eaten. There is no waste.

There are storefronts, with every necessary ware available. The residents of Kibera who do not work outside the slum have no need to leave the slum, ever. Many of the children have never set foot outside the sum before, and have never seen that the world is not limited to what you see here.

Shoes, 80 Kenyan shillings each. About $0.86 in US dollars. And yet, many of the children go barefoot, as their families cannot afford shoes.

Vegetable stand/grocery store.

We rounded a corner and discovered this view. That's when it truly hit us that the ground was not covered in garbage, it was made of garbage.

The difference between Kibera and America is astounding. These pictures are hard, but the reality of it is harder. This isn't just some National Geographic spread where you can look at the photos and close the magazine. This is real. Yes, you can hit the little red X in the upper corner of your screen, but that will only take the image from your mind, it will not erase the reality. As I sit here and attempt to tell these stories from my comfy office chair, glass of clean, pure water beside me, with my belly full of food; this is still there. These children are still in the slum, right this second.

Next week I will tell you of a bright spot in the midst of the darkness of the slum. There is hope in the desolation. And it lies here.

I'm Baaaaack!!

I know, I know, it was another bloggy break. But honestly, I think I had a good excuse this time.

I was shopping, packing, prepping, planning,

and then,

I spent two weeks in Africa.

Lemma tell ya, it was an incredible trip.

I will be posting stories and photos in the weeks to come. Right now, I am tired, jet-lagged, and spending time cuddling my sweet kiddos.

But believe you me, have I got some stories to tell.

Stay tuned....