Last month in Kenya, my team and I lived in a small remote town called Moi’s Bridge. We instantly became very popular. Everywhere we went the people of the town wanted the Mzungus (a white person) to ride with them either on a boyta (motorcycle) or matatu (a passenger van). Now, the interesting thing is that I was known as a Mzungu also. I’m not even close to being a white. I was asked how I could be black, but live in America. Some of the conversations were quite interesting for me, but I enjoyed them. My team and I were well rounded in ministry. We worked at schools, orphanages, and did house to house evangelism. Our contact was Pastor Simon and we stayed at his house with his family; they were amazing. They immediately became my family. I called Mrs. Elizabeth (his wife) mother, because she was definitely my mom for the month. I enjoyed everyday of ministry, but there was one particular day where reality slapped me in the face.
Pastor Simon took us to his niece’s Milly orphanage to do ministry one day. To me, it was just another day because living in Africa you don’t have to go far to see poverty. It is very obvious about the living conditions of people. So my team and I crammed into his car and went to a nearby city called Kitale. We got to the orphanage and immediately all of the kids came out to greet us. It was so precious. We went in the living room and sat down and played with the kids. Not to long after that, his niece said, “that she didn’t have money that day to feed the kids”. There are 34 kids at the four-bedroom house with no food. I talked to Christine and asked her could we use money out of our supply budget to buy the kids food. We got the kids food and helped prepare it. I know that the kids didn’t have food, but it still didn’t hit me that they were extremely poor. We continued to play and enjoy the company of the kids as the day went on. Then, it was time to go and Milly asked if we wanted to see the rest of the house. This is when reality hit me. I walked through the kitchen and the first bedroom was in the kitchen pantry. I left that room and proceeded to the next, and there was a bunk bed in the room. One of the bunks had a little quilt on it with no mattress. As I looked on, tears started to roll down my face because I couldn’t believe they lived like this. Then we went on to the next room and it was worse than the last. As tears were still flowing down my face, our contact Pastor Simon broke down in front of me and I couldn’t control the tears anymore. My heart was completely broken by what my eyes were witnessing. I immediately had to leave because I couldn’t stand to look any more.
The reality of this is that I have so much back at home. I have more than I could ever imagine. I know there are times that I have complained about having things that in reality I really didn’t need. The reality of this is that there are kids that sleep on the floor, don’t have food everyday, and are completely helpless as these kids were. The reality of this is that I don’t have anything to complain about because God has blessed me to be a blessing to those who can’t defend their self. Being at this orphanage put reality in my face, because in America it is so easy to overlook those who are need because of my own selfish desires. I know that this is definitely a blind spot in my life, but in living a life for Christ- this should be one of the forefront thoughts on my mind. Jesus talks about seeing after the poor all the time. One of the major passages that he talks about this is in Matthew 25.
34 Then the King will say to those on his right, “Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and came to me”. Then the righteous will answer him, saying “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will answer them, “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me”. “Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you did not welcome me, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer, saying Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them, saying, “Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Jesus feels strongly about taking care about the people that can’t help their self. He specifically says, that whatever I do for others, I would be doing it to him. As I continue this journey, I want my life to look more like Christ, especially in this area. I want to continue to have compassion on the people, just like Jesus did.
With the help of my team and friends, I made a video to tell the story of the orphanage. If you would like to donate to the orphanage, please contact me.
Thanks,
