Chris Entwistle is currently participating in a one-month short term mission in Kenya, Africa with African Enterprise as part of the Youthworks Year 13 Gospel Gap Year program. In this, the fifth chapter Chris comes face to face with the most pitiful human tragedies courtesy of the AIDS pandemic, and discovers that the Gospel can be a cure for all manner of ills.
Thus far I, and many others in our group have felt rather sheltered from the full extent of the poverty and deprivation facing the Kenyan people. Our accommodation, though greatly appreciated, is shamefully comfortable and western and so far our ministry experience has taken us only to the outskirts of Mathare slums. These are unarguably areas of great underprivelege but, if truth be told, they are also reasonably well off as far as African slums go. But our seclusion from Nairobi’s woes ended the moment we entered Soweto Kayole.
When we first toured Nairobi’s needy areas, this particular slum’s degradation certainly unsettled me. But as I learned yesterday, there is a great deal of difference between passing through a slum and actually engaging with the community in ministry. As we drive along we are only privy to the exterior side of the slum. The people we drive past are smiling, happy and some will wave and call out greetings. Children run up to the matatu (bus), screaming out "How are you! How are you!" in repetitive, rhythmic fashion. There are no obvious signs of sadness.
However as I found myself walking through the dark passageways, alongside the Home Based Ministery carers we were working with, I was confronted with the true environment of these slums. Most people live with their families of up to 7 children in cell sized rooms, which would seem impossible were it not for the fact that each family's possessions could easily fit inside my luggage bag. But beyond the cramped conditions, and the resulting sanitation, we were also presented with the unavoidable issue of AIDS. I was drawn to two families in particular which lived under the tyranny of this African pandemic.
In the first family, the mother’s AIDS related illnesses meant that she was bedridden, though she still had to manage a household and two young children. Seeing her grief, hearing of her marriage problems (most men leave their wives at the first sign of AIDS and then pass it on to other unsuspecting women) and contemplating her existence brought home to me the devastation this illness brings, not only to the individuals but to whole communities. This impact was even more apparent with the second family. A man who was HIV positive was responsible for a wife and 5 children, though he also was bed ridden. This family's only source of income was his wife's work of roasting and selling peanuts. Even if she were able to sell all her stock (a process I guestimate would take two days) it would still only earn her 50 shillings (one Australian dollar). Knowing this family lived on 50 cents a day really hit home as a fellow team member and I cooked the peanuts to provide her a much-needed rest. Yet in the midst of these problems and trouble there is still hope.
The Home Based carers are able to provide food, counseling and prayer for this woman’s husband who they have since led to Christ. As he shared his story, it emerged that his illness prevented him from attending church. Moved by his plight I decided to share some form of encouragement with him. I asked him to think of the most joyful moment in his life (the day he was given his first job) and asked him to understand that heaven will be eternally better than even this moment. Seeing the man's eyes light up as he received this message and the certainty he had in Christ made me realise the ultimate value the gospel should have in ministry. It would be easy to get caught up with simply meeting this man's earthly needs, given his dire circumstances. But he requires more.
It is a firm priority of the Home Based carers to go beyond providing for the needs of the afflicted, to also draw these individuals to Christ and to sustain them with prayer and encouragement. As I walked home from this last patient, I struck up a conversation about this ministry with one of the carers named James, asking him how many more unassisted AIDS patients there were in Soweto. He simply replied that sometimes he felt overwhelmed by the need that existed for care and the gospel of Christ. It saddens me to know that it is a simple lack of funding that prevents these amazing individuals from expanding their ministry to other AIDS patients who, being aware of their immortality, are eager to have their thirst for hope quenched by the gospel of Christ. Once again I wish to commend the work of the Home Based carers in partnership with African Enterprises and The Bible Society of NSW to those who read this entry.
Right now we are preparing to undertake a mission to the remote Mfangano Island on Lake Victoria. So remote, primitive and tribal is this island, that even the Kenyan Fox Fire partners anticipate a confronting and extreme experience. We've been informed of a few difficulties and issues we'll encounter there. The island is heavily influenced by tribal spiritualism with ancestor worship and the wearing of witch doctor necklaces part and parcel of the lives of many. It is for this reason, among others, that we have been told to prepare ourselves for deep spiritual warfare of a kind which I confess I am unfamiliar.
Unlike in Australia, spiritual manifestations and exorcisms are said to occur with great prevalence. While ministry may assume a different fashion on the island, simple living conditions will also be greatly different to what we have become accustomed to in Nairobi. Mfangano Island will be without the deep westernization and English literacy of the capital. It is my prayer that our preaching and sharing will cross cultural and linguistic barriers to enliven the hearts of the people on this island and draw them to Christ. I also pray that I might have the boldness to preach in spite of these barriers, as even in the slums I am ashamed to say, I have sometimes allowed language and cultural barriers to stop me from sharing the gospel with bystanders.
Photo courtesy jonrawlinson
