A Thursday in Kenya
Thursday October 11th, 2007
Nairobi, Kenya
I’m writing what happened on Thursday, Saturday morning. The last two days in Kenya have been inconceivable. We’ve seen so much and visited many places. Please let me share what has happened to me as I experienced a Thursday in Kenya.
We had the chance to sleep in a bit on Thursday morning. We were going to visit the Faraja Project in Nairobi, but were going to make a few tourist stops along the way. Nema came to the Methodist Guest House on Oloitokitok Road to pick us up. We were excited about a new adventurous day in Nairobi. Where was she going to take us next? What doors would she open up for our eyes to see? What of Nairobi did she want us to understand and speak of when we returned home?
We took off from the MGH and traveled to the Ngong Hills of Africa. She mentioned that she had found a nail in her tire and had to take it to the repair shop. We drove down my favorite road in Nairobi. It’s a U. You fly down it and then curve back up to the top. Everyone floors it too and your stomach drops like you were on the Giant Dipper back home. I love it. It’s the best way to start off the day. While Nema left the car for repairs we took a walk. We left the service station and turned right. There were vendors to the left of us, selling arts and crafts on the side of the road. And then we made another right turn. We were on Karen Road. The district we were in was the Karen district, named after Karen Blixen or Isaac Dinesen. She wrote the story Out of Africa. It doesn’t look anything like it did from her book. So many people have come and settled around her home. Her home is now a museum. But the Karen District of Nairobi is one of the plusher of the neighborhood. It looks like the Monte Sereno homes in California but with much more land and many more plants. The average home sits on about 10 acres or so and they’re mansions. Nema said that they average estate in this area cost 100,000.000 to 300,000,000. KSH. This area also is near to the giraffe center and the elephant orphanage.
I felt like a puppy with my head out the rolled down window. I was seeing the grasses and trees that Karen Blixen wrote about. Apparently, there is a huge controversy over Karen Blixen. The non-kikuyu do not like her very much. I don’t know what all the details are to it, but we didn’t stop at the museum. It seemed to not be in everyone’s liking. I tried to see if I could go on my own, but time would not allow it. I just wanted to take a photograph of her home. I guess I’m fortunate enough to have stood on the land and see the home and breathe it all in.
Nema took us to Kazuri. It’s a glass bead factory in the Karen center. It’s spectacular. Everything is so green and the lush. It’s a hideaway in the middle of all the other areas of Nairobi. We got to the center and a man in white lab coat greeted us, and showed us how the clay beads were created. We saw the clay area. We saw a factory where the women would make the beads of clay and the dishes & cups. We then walked to the center where the women paint the clay. And then we walked into the gift shop.
In each room there were about 50 or so women comfortably sitting down and meticulously working on their beads. They were all so beautiful. Each woman had a different story. You could see it on their face. Someone perked themselves up for a photograph. Other women didn’t care because the thoughts going through their mind were occupying them. There were other women who looked at each mini sculpture with pride. Some women snickered as I walked by. I’m not sure why, but I think they were upset that I photographed their friends and not them.
Now you may think…why is Liz writing so much about a clay bead shop. Well, this is the cool thing about Kazuri. They are a fair trade business. Each of these women live in the slums of Kenya. For the women in the slums they’re the wealthiest. They are given transportation every day to and from work for free. They are paid $1 per hour. This is a great amount. The average person in the slum makes less than a dollar a day. They are given a long lunch break with two tea breaks in a day. And they are also given free medical services. They also are given a certain amount of sick leave & vacation days. They hope to open up another factory soon, to yet even employee more women. There other hope is to open up a day care center, w/ nurses too, so that the children can be taken care of while mommy works. All of these plans and ideas are incredible. Nema leaped every time she heard another great offer to these women. You see this all sounds normal and natural for us in North America. But this isn’t the case for the average woman working in Kenya. Kazuri is an excellent role model for Kenya to follow. If you have a chance to purchase something Kazuri I highly recommend that you do.
We left Kazuri and headed over to visit the people from the Faraja project. We were going to go first thing in the morning but the President of Kenya was coming into the area to make a visit. It’s in the middle of elections and so the President and tons of other politicians are frantically trying to live up to their promises of the last election so they don’t lose their chair. So it delayed everyone’s day. Josephine phoned, Nema and said that the President had left the building and we’re free to head down to the village.
When we drove up to the village there were people everywhere. I’ve never seen so many people in a village in my life. The main street had tons of shops signs. You couldn’t read them fast enough if you had tried. In front of the shops in building were the shops in the street. There were little stands selling fabric, furniture, fruit, food, and even car washes. And then there were the consumers. Everyone was out and about town. Oh the colors are incredible. There are so many places I just wanted to sit and watch the people go by. It’s no wonder so many photographs and art come out of Africa. You can’t take a bad photo or create a horrible painting if you tried. Africa is beautiful. It is.
We found the Faraja Center and walked in. Josephine and Alice immediately greeted us. The offices were a bit hectic because the president took up their time and they had to crunch to get the rest of their stuff done, but none the less they were very polite and welcoming. In the hallway there was a sick woman waiting to see the doctor, delivery men dropping off stuff, the phones ringing, two film makers sitting on chairs, food being brought in, etc. It was a whirlwind. Yet Josephine was on top of it all. We were ushered into the conference room in the back. There were a group of women sitting and waiting for us already. Nema told them in Swahili to mix it up. For each of us to sit next to a Kenyan, and for each Kenyan to sit around a North American. We then introduced ourselves to one another. There were about 14 women and 1 man. We talked for a while. We talked about very simple subjects like the weather and our families. Josephine came and sat with us and the formal introductions began.
The first woman stood up. She had small framed glasses on like Ben Franklin. She had a braid pattern for a hairstyle. She stood up tall and introduced herself. She said her name and that she loves Jesus. And it’s Jesus who has given her the strength even though she is HIV+…….she has lost her husband to HIV……she has children……….she is healthy because she has the ARV’s that she needs…..
The second woman stands up and says……my name is _______.....I have known that I’m HIV+ since 2002….. my husband has died…..this is my little girl she is 7 and is HIV+…….I have a little boy at home, he’s 2 and he’s HIV+…….
The third woman stands up…..I am HIV+ and have known since 200_
The fourth woman stands up……
The fifth……
The sixth…….
The seventh can’t stand up….she doesn’t feel well….she is running a fever
The eighth…
Nema is looking from far away and sees that I am about to cry. I pull out a hanky and pretend to blow my nose. In the meantime a 20 year old widow is sitting to my right. And another widow is sitting to my left. We also introduce ourselves. I’m sitting there trying to think what I could say. So I just stood up and was real. I told them my age, that I’m single. I’m close to my family….that help out in my church for my pastors and that I help make concerts in a christian coffee house. The woman applauded about that. Oh….a coffee house…and they clapped.
What was so amazing about these women, well there were several amazing factors about these women. They were all HIV+. But they weren’t dying with AIDS. They were living. Vibrant. Full of life and opportunities. They were craftswoman. They ran stands. They took care of their family. They volunteered with Faraja and were training other women how to be volunteers too. What does it mean to volunteer with Faraja? It’s a center that works on peer group counseling. The women form groups that are specific for the needs of their community, and support one another emotionally and physically. They help take care of one another’s children. The women were talking about the importance of community and how they depend on one another encouragement and prayers. And immediately I thought of Kristin and her desires for community at VFC. Women all across the world understand how important it is for community.
Josephine, the director of Faraja spoke after the women. She told us the history of Faraja and how one day the name/word came to her. She just kept repeating that word over and over and she decided that it would be the name of the organization. Faraja = means the COMFORT of the Holy Spirit. The comfort of the Holy Spirit over every person that walks into that building. The Comforter is welcome there.
I was so moved by the words that Josephine spoke that I asked to video interview her in private. She’s been running this center for well over 10 years. It successfully has now started a FARAJA for high school and college kids. Where they can talk about what it’s like to live with HIV. She’s also started a children’s group to break the stigma with kids in school living with HIV. She also has brought in a female doctor from the US to help her with testing and some of the more serious cases. She had a line of women outside of her office. There were many who weren’t feeling well, and they were hoping that the doctor could help them. I stood near them and prayed for them. Lifted each one of their souls up to my Father. That God would just…..
When I edit the video stuff…I’ll send you link. I don’t want to misquote anything she said.
I thought about so many of you back home. How I wish you could have been in that room. I wish you could have heard from their own lips and had experienced such a sacred moment. I’m no longer the same. Something inside of my being cracked. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully get put back together. God is in Africa. The church is not dead. His virtue shines. His compassion is so thick. His mercy is new every morning. He comforts. He Heals. He is good. He breaks down barriers. He tears down darkness. He destroys the evil one. He is a big and mighty God. He is bigger than HIV. He is bigger than AIDS. The people of Africa have not lost hope. They haven’t given up on Him.
When you read this blog, please take a moment right now to lift up Faraja. They do so much. All of them. Please also lift up Josephine and Alice. Please right now, close your eyes and just pray for them. They could use all of the prayers possible. Josephine is not stopping there; she has more plans for the women.
The women.
I noticed that most of what I have written is about the women of Kenya. Honestly, that is the majority of the gender that has surrounded themselves. There have been one or two men in each group that we’ve visited, but this has been mostly women. I don’t even think I could summarize what my thoughts are on this. But every woman I talked to had a halo of hopeful strength.
Nairobi, Kenya
I’m writing what happened on Thursday, Saturday morning. The last two days in Kenya have been inconceivable. We’ve seen so much and visited many places. Please let me share what has happened to me as I experienced a Thursday in Kenya.
We had the chance to sleep in a bit on Thursday morning. We were going to visit the Faraja Project in Nairobi, but were going to make a few tourist stops along the way. Nema came to the Methodist Guest House on Oloitokitok Road to pick us up. We were excited about a new adventurous day in Nairobi. Where was she going to take us next? What doors would she open up for our eyes to see? What of Nairobi did she want us to understand and speak of when we returned home?
We took off from the MGH and traveled to the Ngong Hills of Africa. She mentioned that she had found a nail in her tire and had to take it to the repair shop. We drove down my favorite road in Nairobi. It’s a U. You fly down it and then curve back up to the top. Everyone floors it too and your stomach drops like you were on the Giant Dipper back home. I love it. It’s the best way to start off the day. While Nema left the car for repairs we took a walk. We left the service station and turned right. There were vendors to the left of us, selling arts and crafts on the side of the road. And then we made another right turn. We were on Karen Road. The district we were in was the Karen district, named after Karen Blixen or Isaac Dinesen. She wrote the story Out of Africa. It doesn’t look anything like it did from her book. So many people have come and settled around her home. Her home is now a museum. But the Karen District of Nairobi is one of the plusher of the neighborhood. It looks like the Monte Sereno homes in California but with much more land and many more plants. The average home sits on about 10 acres or so and they’re mansions. Nema said that they average estate in this area cost 100,000.000 to 300,000,000. KSH. This area also is near to the giraffe center and the elephant orphanage.
I felt like a puppy with my head out the rolled down window. I was seeing the grasses and trees that Karen Blixen wrote about. Apparently, there is a huge controversy over Karen Blixen. The non-kikuyu do not like her very much. I don’t know what all the details are to it, but we didn’t stop at the museum. It seemed to not be in everyone’s liking. I tried to see if I could go on my own, but time would not allow it. I just wanted to take a photograph of her home. I guess I’m fortunate enough to have stood on the land and see the home and breathe it all in.
Nema took us to Kazuri. It’s a glass bead factory in the Karen center. It’s spectacular. Everything is so green and the lush. It’s a hideaway in the middle of all the other areas of Nairobi. We got to the center and a man in white lab coat greeted us, and showed us how the clay beads were created. We saw the clay area. We saw a factory where the women would make the beads of clay and the dishes & cups. We then walked to the center where the women paint the clay. And then we walked into the gift shop.
In each room there were about 50 or so women comfortably sitting down and meticulously working on their beads. They were all so beautiful. Each woman had a different story. You could see it on their face. Someone perked themselves up for a photograph. Other women didn’t care because the thoughts going through their mind were occupying them. There were other women who looked at each mini sculpture with pride. Some women snickered as I walked by. I’m not sure why, but I think they were upset that I photographed their friends and not them.
Now you may think…why is Liz writing so much about a clay bead shop. Well, this is the cool thing about Kazuri. They are a fair trade business. Each of these women live in the slums of Kenya. For the women in the slums they’re the wealthiest. They are given transportation every day to and from work for free. They are paid $1 per hour. This is a great amount. The average person in the slum makes less than a dollar a day. They are given a long lunch break with two tea breaks in a day. And they are also given free medical services. They also are given a certain amount of sick leave & vacation days. They hope to open up another factory soon, to yet even employee more women. There other hope is to open up a day care center, w/ nurses too, so that the children can be taken care of while mommy works. All of these plans and ideas are incredible. Nema leaped every time she heard another great offer to these women. You see this all sounds normal and natural for us in North America. But this isn’t the case for the average woman working in Kenya. Kazuri is an excellent role model for Kenya to follow. If you have a chance to purchase something Kazuri I highly recommend that you do.
We left Kazuri and headed over to visit the people from the Faraja project. We were going to go first thing in the morning but the President of Kenya was coming into the area to make a visit. It’s in the middle of elections and so the President and tons of other politicians are frantically trying to live up to their promises of the last election so they don’t lose their chair. So it delayed everyone’s day. Josephine phoned, Nema and said that the President had left the building and we’re free to head down to the village.
When we drove up to the village there were people everywhere. I’ve never seen so many people in a village in my life. The main street had tons of shops signs. You couldn’t read them fast enough if you had tried. In front of the shops in building were the shops in the street. There were little stands selling fabric, furniture, fruit, food, and even car washes. And then there were the consumers. Everyone was out and about town. Oh the colors are incredible. There are so many places I just wanted to sit and watch the people go by. It’s no wonder so many photographs and art come out of Africa. You can’t take a bad photo or create a horrible painting if you tried. Africa is beautiful. It is.
We found the Faraja Center and walked in. Josephine and Alice immediately greeted us. The offices were a bit hectic because the president took up their time and they had to crunch to get the rest of their stuff done, but none the less they were very polite and welcoming. In the hallway there was a sick woman waiting to see the doctor, delivery men dropping off stuff, the phones ringing, two film makers sitting on chairs, food being brought in, etc. It was a whirlwind. Yet Josephine was on top of it all. We were ushered into the conference room in the back. There were a group of women sitting and waiting for us already. Nema told them in Swahili to mix it up. For each of us to sit next to a Kenyan, and for each Kenyan to sit around a North American. We then introduced ourselves to one another. There were about 14 women and 1 man. We talked for a while. We talked about very simple subjects like the weather and our families. Josephine came and sat with us and the formal introductions began.
The first woman stood up. She had small framed glasses on like Ben Franklin. She had a braid pattern for a hairstyle. She stood up tall and introduced herself. She said her name and that she loves Jesus. And it’s Jesus who has given her the strength even though she is HIV+…….she has lost her husband to HIV……she has children……….she is healthy because she has the ARV’s that she needs…..
The second woman stands up and says……my name is _______.....I have known that I’m HIV+ since 2002….. my husband has died…..this is my little girl she is 7 and is HIV+…….I have a little boy at home, he’s 2 and he’s HIV+…….
The third woman stands up…..I am HIV+ and have known since 200_
The fourth woman stands up……
The fifth……
The sixth…….
The seventh can’t stand up….she doesn’t feel well….she is running a fever
The eighth…
Nema is looking from far away and sees that I am about to cry. I pull out a hanky and pretend to blow my nose. In the meantime a 20 year old widow is sitting to my right. And another widow is sitting to my left. We also introduce ourselves. I’m sitting there trying to think what I could say. So I just stood up and was real. I told them my age, that I’m single. I’m close to my family….that help out in my church for my pastors and that I help make concerts in a christian coffee house. The woman applauded about that. Oh….a coffee house…and they clapped.
What was so amazing about these women, well there were several amazing factors about these women. They were all HIV+. But they weren’t dying with AIDS. They were living. Vibrant. Full of life and opportunities. They were craftswoman. They ran stands. They took care of their family. They volunteered with Faraja and were training other women how to be volunteers too. What does it mean to volunteer with Faraja? It’s a center that works on peer group counseling. The women form groups that are specific for the needs of their community, and support one another emotionally and physically. They help take care of one another’s children. The women were talking about the importance of community and how they depend on one another encouragement and prayers. And immediately I thought of Kristin and her desires for community at VFC. Women all across the world understand how important it is for community.
Josephine, the director of Faraja spoke after the women. She told us the history of Faraja and how one day the name/word came to her. She just kept repeating that word over and over and she decided that it would be the name of the organization. Faraja = means the COMFORT of the Holy Spirit. The comfort of the Holy Spirit over every person that walks into that building. The Comforter is welcome there.
I was so moved by the words that Josephine spoke that I asked to video interview her in private. She’s been running this center for well over 10 years. It successfully has now started a FARAJA for high school and college kids. Where they can talk about what it’s like to live with HIV. She’s also started a children’s group to break the stigma with kids in school living with HIV. She also has brought in a female doctor from the US to help her with testing and some of the more serious cases. She had a line of women outside of her office. There were many who weren’t feeling well, and they were hoping that the doctor could help them. I stood near them and prayed for them. Lifted each one of their souls up to my Father. That God would just…..
When I edit the video stuff…I’ll send you link. I don’t want to misquote anything she said.
I thought about so many of you back home. How I wish you could have been in that room. I wish you could have heard from their own lips and had experienced such a sacred moment. I’m no longer the same. Something inside of my being cracked. I don’t know if I’ll ever fully get put back together. God is in Africa. The church is not dead. His virtue shines. His compassion is so thick. His mercy is new every morning. He comforts. He Heals. He is good. He breaks down barriers. He tears down darkness. He destroys the evil one. He is a big and mighty God. He is bigger than HIV. He is bigger than AIDS. The people of Africa have not lost hope. They haven’t given up on Him.
When you read this blog, please take a moment right now to lift up Faraja. They do so much. All of them. Please also lift up Josephine and Alice. Please right now, close your eyes and just pray for them. They could use all of the prayers possible. Josephine is not stopping there; she has more plans for the women.
The women.
I noticed that most of what I have written is about the women of Kenya. Honestly, that is the majority of the gender that has surrounded themselves. There have been one or two men in each group that we’ve visited, but this has been mostly women. I don’t even think I could summarize what my thoughts are on this. But every woman I talked to had a halo of hopeful strength.
Comments