These three weeks in Kenya last month were filled with the usual excitement, adventure and emotional and spiritual challenges, but a number of questions were raised on this my fourth visit to Africa in five years.
The main reason for returning to Kenya was to teach at Pastors and Leaders Seminars and Conferences in Nairobi, Kisumu and Bungoma. The expectations were good. These men make a lot of effort to get together and expect a lot. With three one and a half hour sessions each day they always gave the impression that they wanted more. They even asked for an extra day which was not possible to do.
Being based that first week at the Nairobi East African School of Theology was a real bonus, meeting every night with students who just bombarded me with questions, and I learned a lot from them about how hard they had to work to finance a trimester in middle school. The university’s small campus is located about four miles east of downtown in a development district and is surrounded by supermarkets, banks, and Internet cafes.
Never before, in more than forty years of ordained ministry, had I spoken to such a group. I had been taken to Mathare in the north of Nairobi, one of the worst slums in Kenya. Nobody told me what it was like before I went there. About half a million people are crammed into this hideous shanty town. The dusty and rutted roads are narrow with drunken youths with the illicit bait they make by burning. Some were high and the driver had to take steps to avoid losing some.
I was visiting a project for the ‘homeless’. I don’t know what it means to be ‘homeless’ in that environment. Seeing the shacks in which thousands live, what does ‘homeless’ mean? Entering a small room, a group was busy embroidering, beading, and soap making, in a desperate effort to earn a little money.
The two pastors who work full time in this area then took me to a polytechnic where I spoke with 200 recovering alcoholics and rescued prostitutes.
I had a letter published in “The Standard” about Mathare. There are structures in place, with responsible leaders, who with a little extra financial help could do it much faster.
Even the herdsmen would not dare to go out alone in Mathare at night as they would be mugged and mobile phones, cash, watches would be taken. Even the victim’s shoes are removed and sold. If the neighbors witness this, the gang would be stoned. They seem to have their own justice. Police? They don’t enter Mathare after dark!
A visit to Kibos prison had been arranged. Having met and prayed with the Governor, himself a hard working orphan, I went to speak to 200 prisoners on ‘death row’. The chaplain was with me to act as interpreter, but these men have their own pastor, an inmate who is also serving a life sentence for murder.
Five prisoners dressed in pink ‘zebra’ suits to give part of their testimony. His words were genuinely moving. They too expected a message of at least an hour. A second ‘Service’ for those convicted of misdemeanors took place under the trees in the exercise yard. Armed guards kept watch intently, but these men seemed to have come to terms with their imprisonment.
Prisoners in Kenya receive neither toilet paper nor soap. I took boxes of soap explaining that the soap washes on the outside and the Blood of Jesus Christ washes on the inside. The men erupted in applause.
Like when ministering at Porterfield Prison in Inverness, Scotland, every week one always has to remember that there are victims out there.
Visiting Schools and Orphanages is another emotional pull. The children behave very well. They apply themselves and study hard under difficult conditions and teachers can never be sure of getting paid at the end of each month.
I then spent a week in Kisumu, on beautiful Lake Victoria, staying at the relatively safe Nyanza Club, an old colonial establishment, which still has that very visible former aura.
The journey northwest from Kisumu to Bungoma took much longer than planned. The matatu driver decided to take another route to avoid the potholes on the main road, but for miles the paved surface had been torn up and progress was slow as we wound down a dusty track.
On the return trip south, I suggested we try the main road. It was bad, but not as bad as described.
However, there were five police checkpoints where the driver was expected to give a little money to speed his way. I rolled down the window as we approached the first roadblock. “Good afternoon. Do the Kenyan police keep the roads safe? My son is a police sergeant in Scotland.” “Go on your way, sir. Enjoy Kenya.” At subsequent roadblocks, the voices in the back of the matatu whispered, “Pastor Sandy, roll down the window!” The driver told me that he had saved him five or six hundred shillings that day. I was later informed that the officers at the police station are expecting a share of the day’s earnings and that if it is less than a certain figure, these officers are delegated a different task the next morning.
I was wondering what the driver’s main reason was for taking the dustbin route.
Kenya experienced tribal and political turmoil earlier in the year. Thousands were killed.
Roads were badly damaged during what are called ‘skirmishes’ in January and February. Tires, placed on virtually every road, have been set on fire, melting the surface, and torrential rains have done the rest.
Businesses went bankrupt and many houses burned down. Downtown Kisumu, where many beautiful structures burned down, is still undergoing reconstruction.
How do these people live? Prices have risen dramatically in the last two years.
People earn around £3 a day ($5). Life is hard sitting in the equatorial sun for 12 hours trying to sell your wares. A pastor’s wife, who lives in the Kariobangi slum in Nairobi, works as a ‘caterer’, preparing meals at a primary school. She walks five kilometers and then takes two buses to get to school, reversing the night trip. Her salary is less than £3 ($5) a day.
The men who harvest sugarcane on the Mumias plantation near Bungoma work from 8am to 5pm under a scorching sun to earn just over £2 ($4) a day.
Listening to the excellent BBC World Service programs on Africa was very informative.
Africa is in crisis. An economic commentator commented that the severity of the financial crisis now being felt in the United States and Europe would affect businesses in Africa within three months. What could that mean?
The people in Nairn had given me money and I can report that that money came in the face of need, being left in the hands of those who could be trusted to use it responsibly.
This was a trip and adventure of the highest quality, with various dangers and risks, particularly when I was teaching in ‘the bush’, miles from any medical help I would have required, but during these three weeks I did not even need a paracetamol. . . I would do it again? Would I go one more time? Of course I would, if the conditions and circumstances were right!
Sandy Shaw.
