As White as I’ll Ever Be

Jambo! Habari? (“Hello, how are you” in Swahili). My team and I have been in Kenya for nine days now, and let me tell you, we have learned a heap ton already. When we arrived in Nairobi, Kenya late Wednesday night, we traveled to a hostel in three garis (cars), two of which were on empty according to the gas tank on the dashboard. Throughout the hour long drive to the hostel, the gas lever fell farther and farther below that infamous red E. Needless to say, I was praying constantly that God would get us there without breaking down, and thankfully He did.

We didn’t sleep that night at the hostel because we had to leave a few hours later to catch our ten hour bus ride to Busia. It’s funny to me now because before arriving in Africa, I didn’t think that I would experience very much culture shock. Let’s just say that I was dead wrong. I was quite surprised by all of the busyness and living things all around me. From the massive amounts of people either walking, bike riding, motorcycle riding, or driving on a single two-lane road without stop signs or traffic lights to the cows, goats, chickens, and stray dogs roaming about freely, it was a lot to take in all at once.

If you have ever desired to feel like a celebrity and have people constantly flocking to you, wanting to shake your hand and know your name, COME TO AFRICA. The term “mzungu” means “white person,” and I wish I had a five shilling coin for every time we have heard that word. It is not a derogative term whatsoever, but believe me when I say that we stand out big time. The cool thing about it is that people will consistently come up to us to shake our hands and say, “How are you? I am fine.” It never fails, and I love it.

The children are absolutely beautiful here. I am not a fan of boogers whatsoever; in fact I can’t stand them at all. However, it seems that every place we go, the children with the runniest noses decide to run straight towards me, and of course I just can’t say no. God has quite the sense of humor if He’s trying to help me get over my hatred/fear of mucus on this trip.

I have learned this past week that patience and compassion are two of the greatest qualities a human can possess in life. It has been revealed to me by my creator just how much room I have to grow in both of these areas, but He has seemed to fast forward this process for me in a huge way, which I am grateful for.

I fell in love with a little boy named Isaiah a couple days ago when he came out of nowhere and was just standing right at my feet looking up at me with eyes that instantly melted my heart. When I picked him up, he wrapped his arms around my neck and held his face next to mine for what seemed like forever. We danced, laughed uncontrollably when I tickled him, played soccer with an empty plastic bottle, and stared at each other for the longest time. 

I teared up at one point because it hit me how much I loved him already, but that it was only a fraction of how much God loves him. Though we didn’t speak the same language, his hair was covered in dirt, he had crusty boogers in his nose, and his clothes were falling off because they were so worn and stretched out, I couldn’t imagine anything else being as beautiful and precious as him. My amazing teammate, Mary, pointed out to me today that God sees us in that exact same way. Though we are not always put together and are filthy at times, He sees past all of that and is crazy about us nonetheless. I pray that I will see Izaiah again and have the opportunity to simply love him more and more as God is teaching me to be able to see right into the hearts of the people here. I am so blessed to be here and to be leading this team. We serve a God who is so faithful and consistent regardless of where we are in the world or what situations we are placed in. Buana asifiwe! (Praise the Lord)!