Beauty and the Beast

Well, it looks like I may be able to start blogging again. It's been a frustrating two weeks without much computer access. And to think I thought it was bad before we lost our wireless connection!

I would like to talk about the weekend before Easter. It was a very big weekend for me emotionally. Saturday was a Beauty, and Sunday was a Beast. On Saturday, six of us hired a van and driver, and headed north a couple hours out of Nairobi to visit Mt. Longonot National Park. Mt. Longonot is a lovely dormant volcano crater. We had passed it before on our walking safari trip to Lake Naivasha and Crescent Island and Crater Lake. Remember that? Well, anyway, we had set our minds on climbing it one day, and that day finally came. It was an expensive day, by African standards, as it cost us each about $20 for the transport and another $20 for entry fee. We found out later that we were paying non-resident entry fees, which are about 3 times the resident fee. Oh well, it was quite worth it.

We climbed from about 7000 ft. to about 9000 ft. in a little more than an hour, from about 10 am to 11 am. We were forced to take many gasping rest stops as the air was thin, and the dirt trail was steep. It was exhilarating to climb and reach the top to see the lovely landscape of the Great Rift Valley again. We stayed and took photos and ate lunch up there. Surprisingly, we met scads of Africans in large groups. Many were highschoolers, but there was even a corporate team-building party from the KMA (Kenyan Manufacturing Assn.) whom we befriended. Some of them didn't make it to the top. I wanted to walk the circle trail along the entire rim, about a 45-minute walk, but we were warned not to attempt that feat. Apparently, there had been reports of robbers attacking hikers on the far side of the rim, and it was supposedly dangerous to make the circle without a hired park ranger. Phooey!

The lush scenic beauty of Saturday's spectacular views of Kenya's pristine parkland was surpassed only by the depressing walk through the crowded slum of Kibera in Nairobi on Sunday. We were escorted by Ellie's friend Brandon, who is working there out of college for this year with Adventures in Mission. He will be returning home to the states in May, and Ellie is also leaving soon. Thus, they arranged for Brandon to meet us at Yaya Market Center and walk us through the maze of crowded, dirty, shanties and shops to visit his Calvary Baptist Church in the heart of Kibera. Brandon was the Bible School speaker that morning, so we were all warmly welcomed by the pastor, his wife, and several other church leaders.

Amazingly, this little church service ended up being the most joyful of all that we have attended at 7 different churches here in Nairobi area. There was awesome singing and dancing to lively Kiswahili praise and worship music. We were so blessed to experience the joy and warm welcome of this little church in the slum. I will never forget it. I wish I had a video or recording of the music and dancing. Brandon's message comparing the Christian faith with the Muslim faith was well-spoken and researched, and the message of the pastor was also enlightening. The translator worked hard to deliver both messages in two languages to all who were present. We were all so impressed with the friendliness by everyone there.

In spite of that lovely couple of hours, the sights, sounds, and smells of Kibera broke my heart, yet again. I guess it was the shock of such living conditions, and the still-green state of my heart, that led me to experience what you might call a mini-meltdown on Monday, the day after Kibera. The contrast between the beauty of Longonot and the poverty and filth of Kibera was stark. The other saving grace of that day, besides the joyous church service, was the prearranged meeting with Andrea, Adrienne's friend from California. I had met Andrea in Austin in November at a Bible study, and loved her immediately. It turns out that she met us back at Yaya Center after church, and accompanied us to the Masai Market, where she helped me bargain for more gifts. I was so blessed to see her and spend the afternoon with her, hearing about her former work with Adventures in Mission (like Brandon), her current ministry in Westlands, and her marriage in January to a Kenyan Christian man. I sort of cried on her shoulder about the difficulty of grasping all the poverty, and the helplessness I felt, and the aloneness. She was a jewel. Then, I had a good cry on Monday, and worked hard the rest of the week to pray my way back to acceptance and joy. Fortunately for all of us, we had an escape retreat to the beach in Mombasa coming up, but that's another story!