Mainly out of curiosity, Ina and I have been trying a new church each Sunday we’ve been here. We have quite a few options, with over 100 churches in Kitale...
The first church we went to had a congregation of 20 Kenyans, so us being the only mzungus was kind of a big deal, and everyone made a concerted effort to sit as close to us as possible. After some deafening music, the pastor excitedly asked us to stand and introduce ourselves; he apparently meant ‘give a sermon’ because he was visibly disappointed when we sat down after saying our names. After 2 hours of loud Swahili from the pastor, we still weren’t sure he’d even started his message yet, so we left (as inconspicuously as possible).
Another Sunday we went to a church in a school, with different church services going on in almost every classroom. The congregation was around 10, so us being there was quite the event. Again we were asked to come up and introduce ourselves, then 40 minutes were spent laying hands on and giving thanks for the new keyboard, which had just come in from
Last Sunday we went to a church where we were 2 of 5 mzungus in the congregation. The whole service was in English, led by Kenyans, which apparently means singing “If You’re Happy & You Know It” as a worship song. Yet again we were hauled up to the front for introductions. A Ugandan 20-year old ex-street boy gave the message, in classic fire and brimstone form, about repentance; how we need to repent for ourselves, and the sins of our tribes and families, and for when we get circumcised and our tribal elders give us strong drugs and booze to curb the pain. (I found that one debatable, and I’m not even a guy.) Just as Ina and I were about to sneak out the back door, he asked us to come to the front and repent for the sins of our respective countries. Oh boy.
Personally, I find churches here disappointingly more westernized than expected; the only fun part is singing songs like “Jesus is the Winner” with a bunch of amazingly musical Africans clapping their hands and dancing with you.
Pastors have very mixed reputations here; a select few (usually the skinny ones) actually help their communities and genuinely care about their congregations, regardless of how small they may be. Most of the pastors (typically overweight) are renown for manipulating and lying to their congregations, using all the money from their churches for nice houses and fancy cars, and sending their kids to private schools. They rival the police and government here as the most corrupt and dishonest people in leadership positions.
A pastor near the Shimo slums where we teach lives in a luxurious 2-story home. A few weeks ago he came to take pictures of the school and some of the kids. Only later did the teachers discover he put the pictures on a website, claiming he financially supports the school and all the students. He then uses any money sent to him by unsuspecting donors for personal things, with not a shilling being sent to the school. This pastor also had a very publicized affair last year… and yet still, somehow, has a congregation.
That said, every morning on the compound, all the interns hang out in the livingroom and eat breakfast, sing, wake up, read the Bible, talk about life, pray about problems. Sometimes it’s an hour, sometimes two or three, and it’s the most I've ever enjoyed anything so church-like before.
Sometimes church is not where you think it is, or it turns up where you least expect it.
Regardless of how you feel about America’s 44th president, I hope we can all agree how significant and great it is that our country has finally gotten over itself enough to put an African American into office. This gives me hope.
Needless to say,
Currently playing on the radio is a song entitled -- no joke -- “Obama Be Thy Name”.
The R Word.
On Tuesday, our after-school talk at Shimo was about rape. About 60% of the question cards we got from the students the first day mentioned this topic, so we knew it must be prevalent. Meredith went with us to tell her story of being raped at 13, and all the kids were stunned that things like this actually happen in
Nate and Andrew spent most of the time trying to explain that within our culture and religion, men and women are equal. The boys could not wrap their heads around this, and kept referencing the Bible verse that says a husband has authority over his wife. (Of course the verses that follow, about the husband loving the wife as he does his own body, are not relevant to them.)
The girls asked us so many sobering questions. One agreed that abortion was wrong, but asked what you should do if a man rapes you, you get pregnant, have the baby, and every time you look at it you remember the man who raped you?
One girl asked if rape committed by family members, to very young children, was as common in the
Another girl asked what you could do to try and forgive a man who raped you and infected you with AIDS.
We showed them a few escape/self-defense tactics, and then had a girl ask if they are still as useful if there are lots of men (gang rape).
It became increasingly obvious that there were very few girls in the room who had not been raped.
Maybe most disturbing was the end of the class, when the principal (a sweet older woman in her 60’s) came up and told the girls to try and avoid being in the classrooms alone with any of the male teachers, because there were apparently some rape cases taking place within the school.
As Mere sadly explained on the walk home, unless a teacher is caught in the act, or a girl reports it with bodily evidence, the police will do nothing.
On one hand, Kenyan culture is incredibly upright and conservative. The kids can quote you major Bible passages; abortion is considered murder, practicing homosexuality is illegal; if you steal something (often as small as a mobile phone)and are unlucky enough to be caught, you are either stoned to death or have a tire put around you and are set on fire.
And yet... by the time she is 15, an 8th grade girl can be raped, pregnant, infected with AIDS, and attending a school where she is at risk of being raped again by her very own teacher.
Life is hard.
Regardless of how you feel about America’s 44th president, I hope we can all agree how significant and great it is that our country has finally gotten over itself enough to put an African American into office. This gives me hope.
Needless to say,
The R Word.
On Tuesday, our after-school talk at Shimo was about rape. About 60% of the question cards we got from the students the first day mentioned this topic, so we knew it must be prevalent. Meredith went with us to tell her story of being raped at 13, and all the kids were stunned that things like this actually happen in
Nate and Andrew spent most of the time trying to explain that within our culture and religion, men and women are equal. The boys could not wrap their heads around this, and kept referencing the Bible verse that says a husband has authority over his wife. (Of course the verses that follow, about the husband loving the wife as he does his own body, are not relevant to them.)
The girls asked us so many sobering questions. One agreed that abortion was wrong, but asked what you should do if a man rapes you, you get pregnant, have the baby, and every time you look at it, you remember the man who raped you?
One girl asked if rape committed by family members, to very young children, was as common in the
Another girl asked what you could do to try and forgive a man who raped you and infected you with AIDS.
We showed them a few escape/self-defense tactics, and then had a girl ask if they are still as useful if there are lots of men (gang rape).
It became increasingly obvious that there were very few girls in the room who had not been raped.
Maybe most disturbing was the end of the class, when the principal (a sweet older woman in her 60’s) came up and told the girls to try and avoid being in the classrooms alone with any of the male teachers, because there were apparently some rape cases taking place within the school.
As Mere sadly explained on the walk home, unless a teacher is caught in the act, or a girl reports it with bodily evidence, the police will do nothing about a rape accusation.
On one hand, Kenyan culture is incredibly upright and conservative. The kids can quote you major Bible passages; abortion is considered murder, practicing homosexuality is illegal; if you steal something (often as small as a mobile phone)and are unlucky enough to be caught, you are either stoned to death or have a tire put around you and are set on fire.
And yet... by the time she is 16, an 8th grade girl can be raped, pregnant, infected with AIDS, and attending a school where she is at risk of being raped again by her very own teacher.
