Revisited: Kenya, Eldoret (2/2)

If you missed part 1,
click here and read it before continuing…

Team Karis travelled to Eldoret by bus, with the buzz all
around of what Dad was going to show us next. We met up with Pastor William,
his wife Pamela, and their friend Patrick. It was a tight squeeze into the home
we stayed in with two other teams, but it was a great testimony to how community
works. Some folks helped Patrick and Pamela cook (all day long), some people
helped wash the immense amount of dishes, and some would get rid of the trash.
Some people got sick (“runny stomach” as it was kindly referred to) for one
reason or another, but there was always someone there to take care of them. But
this was just our time at home.

When we trekked off into downtown Eldoret, we were blown
away by a new image of the Church of Christ. It took a bumpy and dusty bus ride
into town, a walk through the sheet metal market, past the trash dump, and
through a rusty metal door to get to the magnificent church building that was
known as “Latter Glory Church of Eldoret.” And when we sat in the church on
Sunday morning, praying for the pastors, for the preachers, for the
congregation, and for God to show up, in walked the people of the church.
Dressed in dusty, baggy pants, winter coats and hats, we found out that most of
the people that attend the church are actually young boys who have been kicked
out of their homes onto the streets. Nearly all of the street kids we met had a
bottle of shoe glue in their hand, sniffing it until they were too high to
remember they were hungry. As little as we were able to communicate with most
of the kids that came in, it was amazing to at least pray for them, sit next to
them, and even dance and praise God with them.

One day I was talking with some of the boys (David spoke
English pretty well) and David asked me to give him a pair of pants. I had only
brought two pairs of pants with me on the World Race, one pair of jeans and one
pair of nicer brown pants for when I had to preach or go to church. And he had
a decent pair of pants on already, so I didn’t think it was too much of a
necessity. So I told him that he didn’t need my pants because he already had
clothes. But then there was a shift in the conversation. David said something
like this: “Yes I have pants, but they
have holes and stains all over them. If you walked into a place to get a job,
they would hire you in a second, because you look clean and ready for the
workplace. But if I walk in and try to get a job, they will kick me out because
I do not have clean clothes and they cannot have a dirty boy working for them.”
… I did not have a response. All I could say was “You’re right.” David did
not have what it takes to get a job, at least in Eldoret, Kenya. No matter what
David said or did, even if he gave up sniffing glue and was absolutely
determined to get off of the streets, no one would hire him because of what he
looked like.

Maybe this is what it sounds like to talk with a homeless
man in the U.S. Hundreds of people walk by him every day with the usual, “Get a
job, ya bum!” But maybe he’s tried on many occasions to get a job, and because
he doesn’t have a suit and tie he’s never given the job… 

My heart broke that day. It broke for every one of those
kids that came into church, every kid on the street in Eldoret, every kid we
met walking around the community we lived in. I understood the care and
compassion our Father has for them. The way my heart broke is exactly how His
heart breaks every morning when these kids wake up on the street, hungry,
dirty, cold, and parentless. And I honestly do not have the resources to get
these boys off of the streets. I do not have the food to feed them. I do not
have the clothes to cover them. But at the end of the day, when I sit next to
them, listening to them, putting my arm around them, dancing with them, they
experience love and care, which they have not experienced, perhaps, at all in
their lives. I actually exchanged bracelets with one of the boys one day,
without exchanging any words, and I still wear that bracelet to this day as a
reminder of my brothers in Eldoret whom I care so much about. 

We had opportunities to do a lot of things in and around
Eldoret while we were there: door-to-door prayer and evangelism (with the amazing
Pastor Titus), speaking about faith with local drug dealers (Eugene), and spending time on
Christmas day talking with a man named Joseph about how he has the ability to
hear the voice of the Lord speaking directly to him. I could go on and on about
all that God did with us while in Kenya, but that would maybe take a publisher
and a printing company (someday). So for now I will leave you with these two
challenges: