i am afraid.for almost two years i haven't even been able to say the word 'africa' without weeping. my family and closest friends have all witnessed tears or impassioned diatribes about the plight of the two-thirds world. i've been so excited to go....excited to be back in the developing world again where life is slower and where stupid things don't matter and where there are mangoes abounding. now as i'm faced with it, i wonder what will happen as those ignorant diatribes i delivered actually come to life.
(i'm also going away from my husband for 3 weeks. it seemed a fine idea when we made the decision, but now it seems ludicrous. what tricks will my mind play on me when i am in culture shock and without the one grounding force in my life?)
my children aren't used to seeing me cry (only when i read them the chronicles of narnia). i am afraid they are going to witness their usually stalwart mother as a big bawling mess.
and yet, am i really afraid of all that? afraid that this fire burning in me might spread? afraid that people around me might see my real humanity? .......
oh man, I'm totally going to pray for you!
ReplyDeleteyou inspire us all to remember to cry to the Lord that he use us to reach the poor and free the captives
ReplyDeleteI hope the fire spreads girl!
ReplyDeleteI cried reading this, and cried last night thinking of you all on a plane. Please write soon.
ReplyDeleteI'm so jealous that you get to be in Kenya!
ReplyDeleteI went to Kitale once for the ASK farm show or whatever it's called. I remember drinking yoghurt as I walked around looking at all of the arts and crafts. Good memories.
I also remember that part of Kenya being very beautiful and wishing that we could spend more time there. Hopefully you get to explore a little.
I don't think that the suburban slum phenomena had really hit that part of Kenya back then in the way that it probably has now.
I'd be curious as to how or if things have changed there after the post election violence last year. All of the displacement and turmoil. I'd probably be sad to hear how it is but hopeful that there has been some recovery.
Anyway I'll be reading your blog with interest.
tim...
ReplyDeletekitale and the surrounding countryside were indeed beautiful. i couldn't get enough of the red earth.
there was definitely quite a bit of slum action in kitale...one really large one and a few smaller ones (nothing compared to the size of the slums in nairobi). i went visiting in some of them one day, which i may yet write an entry about.
i'm not sure exactly how different things are there now compared to before the election. as i mentioned in an entry, i was shocked by how many children were orphaned/displaced.
i think a lot of people were hit financially and are still struggling to recover. i met people who had lost all their livestock and still haven't managed to replace it.
the government itself is a bit farcical and i think it may keep the country at a bit of a standstill (kinda like canada?).