Ok…I’m not in prison sorry if the title misled you. Go ahead and let out a sigh of relief, although if they had internet fast enough for me to post a blog I would probably willingly go!
This month we have been working in the small community of Kiminini, Kenya. Our team has been doing a variety of different ministries anywhere from helping the family with household chores to working at businesses around town that help finance different programs of the church. Since getting a degree in Religious Studies at UT apparently qualifies me to be a pastor, as I have seen many times this race, I have had the privilege to go around with Shadrack Barasa, the pastor of the church we have been working with, as he visits the members of his church.
Pastor Barasa has been truly a blessing to work with. He is a true man of God when it comes to
his family, church and community. He and his loving wife house orphans as their own children along with thier own. He takes great care in teaching the Word of God to his congregation and really wants to see them grow in Christ. He influences a number of businesses and organizations in town so that its citizens can be well educated and support themselves. He is all about empowerment which is a breath of fresh air in a country that is plagued with so many “pastors” only looking to make money or take advantage of well intentioned foreigners that want to give money and help. (Please look carefully into organizations that claim to help orphans/education/widows etc. I have heard numerous times here about organizations with bad motivations…just as a little word of advice, just because they have a good website and pictures doesn’t mean they help where people they need.)
I knew there were a lot of stereotypes about Africa especially when it comes to poverty and people starving, but what I didn’t know is how open and willing they would be when visitors, especially those of the church, come into their home. I can’t tell you how many times I have heard people say “Oh, if I knew you were coming I would have killed my chicken and fixed it for you!” Needless to say I haven’t gone hungry, in fact, I have had enough tea to make up for the 22 years 
of Tea Time I have missed living in the States. I haven’t left a house yet and succeeded in eating all that was offered me. Yesterday I even had to ask pastor whether it was more impolite not finish my plate or to throw up after finishing my plate. His advice was to finish it. Luckily my friend Greg helped me before it had to come to that… team work!
Pastor was telling me that, in this culture, to go to a house and leave without being offered something is to leave a house without a blessing. You would be amazed at the people who beg the pastor just have a cup of tea before he leaves. This has been a little strange for me because in my head all I think is, “Clearly he is not thirsty for tea and he has no time. Why would you waste your tea?” While I do value the resource and time efficient mind that growing up in America has given me, I have realized that sometimes it’s easy to put efficiency over hospitality. The church’s willingness to give what they have for the betterment of the congregation here really reminds me of
the church in the book of Acts. It has redefined what sacrificing for other looks like. Sure, in America when some comes over I would usually offer them something to eat or drink, but it would be like “Hey, there’s some Coke in the fridge if you want some, or dude, do you want some of these fries that I’m already eating in front of you? I probably won’t eat them all (knowing I really would eat them all if given the chance)” What I have seen here can’t even compare. It is shocking to see that people here barely have enough money to sends their kids to school much less kill their only chicken for a visitor. The closest example I could think of would be me fixing a five course steak dinner for the guy who sits next to me in the back row of geography class when he comes over to study the night before a test…and that really doesn’t do justice. Here it’s not about what they have or don’t have. It’s about who they want to honor and the blessings that they believe will come because of it. For the first few days I felt a little guilty about sitting down with pastor and taking from people who offered these things to me, but after awhile I came to realize that it’s not just about politely accepting what they giv
e but realizing it is a right that he has as a pastor of the people of his church to even demand these things (though he never has to). This has really changed the way I view hospitality especially in respect to those who minister to the church. When a family here gives you fruit instead of coke and donuts, it’s not because that is all they had at the time, it’s because that’s all they can afford. If they could they would go out and buy those things as soon as we came over, which routinely happens. In America usually not having it just means you don’t have it at the time, we almost always have the resources to go and get it if we cared enough.
Now I’m not suggesting that I will do things exactly the same when I return home, I realize that to visit someone’s house in America and then wait 30 minutes while they ran and got some cookie batter (ummm…cookie batter!) would be incredibly rude and really just awkward. But it has been a real blessing to experience a culture that almost moves in slow motion. Some call this “Africa Time”. Others call it “annoying”. I, however, am learning to call it “refreshing”. One of the customs when you enter a house as a guest is to introduce yourself and greet the guest. This is more like a speech instead of an introduction. Many times I have told the families thank you for loving us before they even knew us just as God loved us before we loved him. To them this isn’t anything out of the ordinary and that’s what I can take back home.
