Nairobi 2010

I finally have been able to actually sit down and write about my trip. Truth is, I wrote this when I got home, but just now was ready to post it. I hope you enjoy reading a little bit about my trip. I don't have any plans to return this year as we have had a pretty rough couple of months since I got home. I will write about that as well. I need to be with my family for a while and take care of them. My focus for a while has been all about Nairobi and I want to focus on my family. My youngest has informed me that he wants to know when he will be old enough/able to go with Mike and I to see Doreen(our sponsored child) and help the children in Mathare. I told him, as soon as I feel you can handle it. He would be so good.... I hope you enjoy my reminiscence.
As I sit here and type my thoughts down, I can’t help but think about the changes compared from last year to this year. I think that is what I want to focus on in this letter. When Mike and I toured the Mathare slums last year, we were devastated. It was nothing like we had ever seen before. Even though our team was prepared wonderfully, the smell was something you could never prepare enough for. It was like nothing I had ever smelled. The same for the sights. I knew what to expect, but I was still amazed at how poor the conditions really were. It was the first time I had ever seen something like that in person. Sure, I saw it on television, but to see it in person is something totally different. This year, I was so incredibly excited to return. I couldn’t wait. I wanted to see the progress made in one year. When we first walked through Area 1, Pangani, I noticed right away that there was a difference already. To me, it looked “cleaner” than last time. Garbage was getting moved to a central area. This time, I could look at the people of Mathare. I was not looking at the area and how unsanitary it was, I was focusing on the men, women and children of Mathare. Their spiritual and physical health was more of a focus for me this time.

In Area 2, our sponsored child’s area and the area where we worked, the changes were amazing. We were greeted by gorgeous, smiling children singing and dancing with us. Last year, this wasn’t even a thought. The children had only been in the school for a week the last time we were there. They barely knew their names and any english. What a difference a year makes! Singing, smiling, talking, dancing, calling out the team member’s names, all in one year. I cried. As I walked into the school, the first change I noticed was the guard shack. They have to have a guard shack incase any outsiders try to get in. This is common. As I walked in, there was a new kitchen, and two new classrooms. This other picture is of me with our sponsored girl, Doreen. She is beautiful. She would run up to me every time she saw me and pinch me yelling “Jenn!” It was so neat. This is a child who a year ago didn’t know her name.
Anyway, we spent our time doing a medical clinic on Monday and then on Tuesday through Friday, we did a vacation bible school in the mornings. In the afternoon, we either did “Bring in the Light” or “Healthy Homes”. “Bring in the Light” was when we put plexiglass into the dark homes and shared the gospel message as well as talk to them about how important light is to them and just talking to them about the way they should keep their homes. “Healthy Homes” was about HIV/AIDS and explaining to them, as we looked around their homes, different ways that they could keep their homes “clean”. We taught them about sanitizing water, which they can do with a plastic bottle and sun as well as how they should not keep stagnant water in their homes and how cooking in their home is so dangerous and should be done outside. One grandmother told us that she has trouble cooking outside because she is afraid that if she does, someone will come up to her home and steal all the stuff she is using to cook. So sad.
I could talk about so much more, but needless to say, I will stop here. Mathare Valley in Nairobi Kenya has a piece of my heart and always will. It was an amazing trip and I am hoping to go back sometime in the near future. Let me leave you with this: 1John 3:16-17
“This is how we know what love is, Jesus Christ laid down His life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters . If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Let us not love with words or speech but with action and in truth.”
Thank you in the name of Christ,
Jenn Buczynski