Every other Friday, the MITS staff travels in to Eastleigh (Nairobi city center) to visit bases (outdoor areas where the street kids reside) and get to know many of the kids that live on the streets. This past Friday was no different as we left Kamulu and MITS around 10 AM with a bus full of staff and a few students. The drive takes anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour depending on traffic and road conditions so i spend much of that time observing people, gazing at the city and just trying to take in all of this strangeness. The city of Nairobi is cloaked in noise and smells but yet it also feels strangely familiar. I noted the distinct sound of crows at one place we stopped but also noticed the crows are not jet black like ours in America but instead have white breasts. You also hear the sound of honking horns and yelling people and the distinct smell of diesel and exhaust fumes. At the first place we stop to visit street kids, we got out near a busy intersection, crossed the street and walked through a market area. The market area is mostly made up of small wood stalls typically covered with cardboard, plastic or any discarded piece of trash that people can manage to scavenge to keep their stall free from rain (if and when it comes). The market vendors are usually selling any small item you can think of like used clothing, hardware items, fruit, beverages, shoes, etc. and most of these items are sold at bargain basement prices. Soon after exiting on the far side of the market we come out onto the fringes of a dump, searching for the street kids that typically live in and around this area. But we are disappointed when no kids are there to greet us when we arrive. So we trudge back through the market and get back on the bus for our next stop. Our next stop is back in a neighborhood and we park on the side of a street to walk for a good distance to our next base. After walking for about 10 minutes we again arrive at the edge of a trash pile and soon discover about 15 young boys (youngest probably 8 years old) sitting in the shade of a tin building. As we stop and greet all of these boys i note that we seem to be surrounded by a whirlwind of blowing confetti. Besides the many rotting things you would normally find in a trash dump, these boys have also found trash bags that are filled with shredded confetti and are using them for seating, sleeping and just overall comfortability. As i stand there and meet these boys and talk to them i am overwhelmed by the sights, sounds and smells (8 year old boys, rotting trash, diesel and exhaust fumes, the glue the boys are sniffing, the occasional smells of fruit, crowing of birds, etc.) that assault me in endless waves. After briefly spending time greeting and encouraging these boys and trying to offer them some hope and maybe an escape through MITS, it is time to leave. We hand each of them a bag with two meager loaves of bread as some source of physical sustenance. Again, my heart is broken knowing such young boys will spend that night sleeping on the ground, in awful clothing, amidst blowing confetti and an ongoing assault to their senses from the sleepless city.
As we are driving back i notice a solitary stork flying clumsily in the air to land on a tall building. I glance around and notice many other storks standing on tall buildings like silent sentinels taking careful measure over the city they stand guard over and I couldn't help but be reminded of God. Of being reminded of God's love for His creation no matter where that creation may choose to call home. I can't help but imagine the love that God must have for these street children and His desire to help give them a better life. I keep imagining the responsibility that God has laid at the feet of those who have so much to help those who have so little. And i am thankful for the people at MITS that God has placed in this position to serve not just as silent sentinels to watch over these children but as willing helpers to teach, serve and enable these kids to find purpose and meaning for their lives. And finally I am reminded of the Apostle John's words when he writes, "You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world" (1 John 4:4)"
No comments:
Post a Comment