AFRICA. We are here at last!! It’s the first time for all of us Daughters of Zion! Some of us have eagerly waited to be on this continent since childhood, when it seemed like a distant dream. But finally, we made it through a 70-hour travel day (bus from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, and planes from Phnom Penh -> Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -> Hyderabad, India -> Dubai, UAE -> Nairobi, Kenya)! The moment we stepped out of the airport, the cool Nairobi air greeted us. What a refreshing change from Cambodia’s thick, humid, 100-degree weather! (Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE Cambodia and I am convinced that I’m made for long-term warm weather…) It’s Kenya’s winter and rainy season now, which is quite reminiscent of our first month in mountainous Guatemala: cool, dewy mornings; powerful equatorial rays at noon; crisp, rainy evenings.
Oh, the people. They have such kind faces. They’re outgoing and talkative, and they’re unafraid to make friends. So eager to tell you about their country and to ask about yours. They’re people people, for sure.
And it’s no different here with the students who are blind! If anything, they’re more eager, more passionate, more curious! Our team is living on the grounds of the Thika School for the Blind, sponsored/run by the Salvation Army in Thika, Central, Kenya. There are primary and secondary co-ed boarding schools, but we have mainly been at the secondary school. These high school kids are some of the smartest I’ve met, and they certainly don’t let their disability hinder their passion for life! I can’t even put into words how humbling this experience has been, even in the short week we’ve been here. I realize I have so much to learn when I watch these students caring for each other, literally leaning on one another to get around campus and avoid puddles. It’s an integrated school, so some of the students are completely blind, others are partially blind and expected to lose sight eventually, yet others have albinism, and some are fully able to see. The majority of them follow the Lord, but a small portion are Muslims, so they do not attend chapel or worship but instead do their prayer activities elsewhere. But the school is founded on Christian principles, and their overall love for the Lord is so overwhelmingly evident.
Their JOY is one that I’ve barely known, and in some ways I can’t help but think that we’ve let our SIGHT steal our joy and freedom instead of enhance it. They have this unashamed passion for Jesus, and it takes barely 3 minutes in their chapel service to see it! The first time we went to morning chapel with them, they started singing and my eyes got teary because it was so beautiful and I was just so happy. Such rich voices and harmonies, such breathtaking synchrony. Everything they do, even when they’re not singing, seems to be characterized by a subtle yet contagious rhythm. I find myself moving to the beat, and then giving in to a sudden urge to snap my fingers. It’s liberating to be in the midst of those who thrive in rhythm! I love watching them dance, too- how do they move their bodies so naturally like that? Haha.
OH! And how can I forget… the special moment when I spontaneously decided to sing Hakuna Mungu Kama Wewe (the only Swahili worship song I know, learned at Urbana 2009 missions conference) instead of an English song. I figured they’d know the song, but at first I started singing and only heard a few voices in the crowd join me. But really, they were hushing each other so they could hear me sing it once first. The second time around, I was blown away by a resounding chorus of 250 joining me, “…Hakuna mungu kama wewe, Hakuna na hatakuwepo!” I could barely sing because I was smiling so hard, giggling in giddy excitement, and wiping my tears of joy. My goodness, it was the best feeling I’ve had in a long time…
I can’t wait to have more stories to tell about these incredible students. I can’t wait to learn how to play more on the African drum, how to sing more Swahili songs, how to type on the Braille machine, how to strike up more conversations of intelligent curiosity (and answer their surprisingly difficult questions! haha).
‘So, what differences have you noticed between the infrastructure of Kenya and that of America?’
‘I want to study psychology at Oxford. You studied psychology too? Tell me what you know about it.’
‘What do you know about the Illuminati?’
‘What do the slums look like in America?’
UM. Humbling much??
Ladies and gentlemen, these are future writers, musicians, lawyers, doctors, engineers, politicians, journalists, computer programmers, secretaries, and ministers. And until I met these students with blindness, I was blind myself. Blind to the blind, blind to what I saw and what I had, blind to this level of joy and passion. So thankful that God is making this so literal for me that I can’t not get it. 🙂
Since being in Kenya, the devil has used all sorts of physical things to steal my joy and attention, including mosquito attacks and an allergic reaction, but I will not let it distract me from this mission I’m on to love, to give, to learn, to bring freedom…. to SEE, in every sense of the word.
