Washing Dishes
Who knew that the simple act of washing dishes with the girls next door would open the door to their hearts and a new friendship?
As our host father often likes to say, “Friendship is good.” I know this to be the truth in my friendships in the States and even more so as I intentionally befriend the orphans, widows, unemployed, students, neighborhood children, and church members here in Isabania, Kenya.
I truly do feel at home here in Kenya, be it with my African grandmother, my two newest sisters who are orphans who live next door, playing soccer with the little ones, sharing a seat with the pastor’s daughter during church, collecting firewood, walking a goat, preparing local food dishes over a fire, dancing with 3-year olds, discussing NGO ideas with a local school administrator, visiting a sick girl, sharing about Christ’s love in my life, or learning how to communicate with my hands and not my mouth in the shade of a mud-and-manure hut while shooing away chickens and keeping an eye out for the newborn goats.
It all started with my request to help wash dishes, playing soccer with the children in the neighborhood, and talking with an older woman who now calls me her daughter.
This is what I had imagined as I signed up a year of my life for: loving the locals and living in close proximity to them. God has answered this hope of mine, to not just play soccer, but to show compassion. To not just talk, but to listen to a saddened widow. To not just cook, but to care and commune. To not just live, but to love. To not just stay 1 month, but to leave an eternal impact. To not just be me, but to be Jesus to all.
I now cannot leave the house without someone yelling my name or something like it (such as ‘Ann,’ ‘Anna,’ or ‘Annie.’) I am beyond grateful for this and how God is loving me through my loving these Kenyans and their loving me back.
