I’ve had so many people ask me “How was the trip?!” but I could never really answer them because, to be quite honest, there just aren’t any words to describe my feelings about it.
I went to Kenya for the first time last July and I went with about 30 other people. It was a very large group and we had a very structured schedule, with a full medical team and a team that put together a VBS to do at each of the orphanages. It was completely different this time. I went with a group of 12 and we had no schedule, structure, or routine. We definitely stuck to the mentality of “this is Africa” knowing that not everything is going to be perfect, not everything will happen on time, and we WILL face some obstacles.
One obstacle, for example…car trouble.
Yes, we had car trouble. Well, actually, car troubles…plural…as in more than one occasion. We needed 2 cars for this trip. One of them belonged to the Mbuvis (the family from Nairobi that oversees the orphanages that travels with us). The other car we rented didn’t show up at the right time… after a couple hours of waiting, they finally showed, buuuuut with the wrong kind of car (no 4wheel drive). We ended up having to drive into town to meet the people with the car we needed, and once we got there, our new car had a flat tire. They had to call in ANOTHER car to come meet us, and once it finally arrived, we loaded up and were on our way. We had to drive about 3 and ½ hours to Nakuru, which is where we were staying for the night. About half an hour or so outside of Nakuru, the rental car broke down. After spending a few minutes trying to fix it, we decided to just tie it behind our other car, and tow it to the nearest filling station. Once we did that, all 12 Mzungus (white people) plus 5 Kenyans piled into the 10 person Land Cruiser and drove the rest of the way to the hotel. Oh – and all of our luggage. It was quite the site.
We got another car the next day to replace the one that broke down, but of course the new one had problems too. Imagine that. Needless to say, we were pulled over several times trying to fix it, and ended up having to go to an “auto-repair shop” which basically means, pull over in any small town and a few guys will come over and try to fix it… after having it worked on for about an hour, we paid them (about 65 cents in US money…no joke) and headed out to our next destination.
So that was definitely an obstacle that we faced throughout the entire trip, but we kept reminding ourselves and each other not to get frustrated, just roll with the flow, because “this is Africa”…
It was crazy how before and during this trip we were definitely under spiritual attack from the enemy… but no matter how hard he tried, our God was faithful and kept us safe, gave us ways out, and healed us when needed.
Well, other than these low points on the trip, how else was it?
INCREDIBLE.
We visited 4 different orphanages and 2 feeding stations. I had been to 3 of the 4 orphanages in July so it was really neat being able to go back and see the same people and see what all they had done in the past 8 months.
I had never been to the feeding stations, but wow, that was quite an experience. The feeding stations offer 2 meals a day to some orphans. They are not a full orphanage, where the kids can sleep or anything, but these 2 meals a day are life changing for many of these kids. When we got to these feeding stations, there were literally hundreds of people there waiting for us, just to see us for a short time. They were SO joyful and so appreciative of us being there. It was such an incredible blessing.
One of the highest points of the trip for me was returning to the Dirubi orphanage. This was an orphanage we spent 2 days at in July and I met a little girl named Cypress who I immediately fell in love with. She was absolutely precious and we clung to each other the moment we saw each other. As I got out of the car last week and looked around at the children walking over to us, I immediately saw Cypress and before I knew it, she was walking straight over to me. She had the most beautiful smile come across her face and I just hugged her and was so happy to see her again. I got out a couple of pictures that I had printed off that we took in July. She absolutely loved them and held on tightly to them the entire time. Once again, she clung to me and we were inseparable. Looking at this little girl, I really see the beauty of God. Here we are, 2 completely different backgrounds, unable to communicate other than “What is your name?” and a few other little phrases. However, that language barrier had no effect. Just holding her, and loving on her was such a blessing. Seeing her smile just melted my heart and I truly saw God through that precious little girl.
Cypress & me in July 2009
Cypress & me in March 2010
The entire trip was kind of like that. Just being able to love on these kids and see their hearts through their actions and gorgeous smiles was unbelievable. The joy that they have, despite their living conditions or where they came from, is unfathomable. It is always such a humbling experience. They are so focused on what is to come, not what they have now. They have an eternal mentality and they yearn for heaven.
I know, as an American, I have been tremendously blessed. God has given me so much, yet I tend to overlook the things with true value that He has blessed me with. I hate saying this because it’s so cliché, but there really is no other way to say it: It’s not about the material things, it’s not about the things we have, it’s about what we do with them and what our focus is. One thing that was mentioned over and over was that we are working side by side with these churches in Kenya. We have things to bring, and they have things to bring. It doesn’t work unless we both bring the gifts, experiences and other things God has given us. That’s what is so incredible. We have all been blessed in different ways, but none of the things we have are better or worse than what God has blessed anyone else across the world with.
I really don’t know what else to say about this trip. I tried to process and organize my thoughts before I wrote this, but when I get to thinking about it, I just can’t. There’s so much that I want to say and so much on my heart, but for now, this is all I have. God is powerful, beautiful, loving, and faithful. That’s all there is to it.
