Sermons We See by Edgar A. Guest I’d rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I’d rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way. The eye’s a better pupil and more willing than the ear, Fine counsel is confusing, but example’s always clear; And the best of all the preachers…
Written by Maren Huelsman, Member of Youth Leadership Team and 2016 Umoja Project visitor This past summer, I was fortunate enough to be able to travel with the project to Kenya. To be honest, it was a very big challenge for me. My comfort zone was stretched in many different ways, and my anxiety was…
I thought that this kid was just overly excited to meet “the Americans” but as I observed him throughout the three hours we spent together, I realized that Eric just loves to smile. His smile was infectious and I knew that by the end of the day, I would want to bottle it up, put it in my backpack, and carry it with me wherever I went.
If there is one thing I miss most about Kenya, it’s the dust…
the orange brown particles still embedded in my chacos that once coated my feet, turned my boogers orange, and made it appear like I’d spent all day in a tanning bed.
Immersion into the culture and people of southwest Kenya – through home and school visits; conversations with children, guardians, pastors, and community leaders; teaching staff and students; and the day-to-day encounters – gave me a new appreciation for the beauty and goodness of humanity as well as the importance the Global Interfaith Partnership.
Without question, providing a school lunch to a Kenyan student is one of the most cost-effective ways to keep the young boys and girls served by the Global Interfaith Partnership doing well in school. For only $25 per school year, we are able to provide a nutritious noon meal for a student who otherwise might not eat much all day. Children’s health improves; their school attendance improves; their academic performance improves. Teachers tell us that students who used to struggle to come to school each day are now attending regularly and performing at the top of their class.
It has occurred to me that the Umoja Project is about friendship. If you had a friend in need, you would not march into his or her home with a list of objectives and start moving things, installing things, “improving” things. You would sit with your friend and say, “Tell me what’s going on.” and “I’m here for you.” Then you might ask, “How can I help?”
The phrase kidogo kidogo hujaza kibaba has become my motto while staying in Kenya. The phrase is a proverb that translates, “little by little you fill the pot,” and has become a metaphor for the way I have and will continue to approach the variety of things I learn while living here.
I wish that I was able to walk into a home, breeze past the language barrier, and carry on a conversation with the guardians and students as if I wasn’t a sudden intruder, a visitor with little to offer, a university student who can’t understand what it would be like to welcome strangers into your home as if it’s just one more stop on the Kenya tour. It is not the act of visiting homes, of showing one cares, of taking notice of students and families that makes the home visit such a stiff and segmented process; it is me.
The other day we did a GET UP (Girls Empowerment Team of the Umoja Project) session with the middle school aged girls at four of the Umoja partner schools. Our topic to cover was HIV/AIDS. Simple enough, right?
