Today was one of those days in Kenya that I know I will carry with me for a very long time.
We spent the day in Mathare Valley and with Mathare Community Outreach (MCO), visiting people in their homes and spending time with students in the three schools MCO runs.
As we walked through Mathare Valley, I found myself trying to take in everything around me. The neighborhood is in bad condition. The roads are bumpy and made from dirt, and small shops and homes made from metal are packed closely together. There is very little open space. Everything is cramped together.
What appears to be a small streams popping up throughout the neighborhood is actually sewage running down the streets and in between homes. The conditions are very different from anything we experience at home.
What affected me most was not what I saw from the outside. It was the people who welcomed us inside.
We were invited into people's homes and given the opportunity to hear their stories. I saw one small home where seven people live together. The entire home was about the size of two dressing rooms in a store. There wasn't a separate bedroom, living room, or kitchen. The one small space serves every purpose. It is where they cook, sleep, live, and spend time together.
Yet these families welcomed us. They shared their stories with us, opened their homes to us, and allowed us to pray together. In a place where there is so little physical space, I was struck by how much room people made for us.
Then we went to the Mathare Community Outreach's schools. There are three schools, and we had the opportunity to meet students from different ages and grade levels. We were welcomed with singing, dancing, and Bible verses. The children introduced themselves, and we had the opportunity to introduce ourselves to them and share a personal message with each group. The children brought me so much joy.
It would be easy to look at Mathare and focus on everything that is difficult for them in life — the crowded homes, the dirt roads, the streams of sewage, the poverty, and the challenges that these families face every day.
But when I looked at the children, that wasn't all I saw. I saw smiling faces. I saw children who were excited to sing and dance. I saw children who wanted to meet us and hear from us. I saw children who were happy to have visitors.
Their circumstances are challenging, but their circumstances do not tell their whole story.
They are children with dreams, personalities, humor, faith, and joy. They laughed. They smiled. They welcomed us. And for a little while, we simply enjoyed being together.
I think that is one of the lessons I am learning during this trip: we have to be careful not to define people by what they don't have.
It would be easy to come to Mathare Valley, see the living conditions, and think, "These people have so little."
But the people we met have much more than what can be measured by the size of their homes or the things they own.
They have families. They have faith. They have community. They have stories. They have hopes and dreams. And they have an incredible ability to welcome others into their lives.
Today, I was welcomed into homes that were incredibly small, but I experienced a generosity that was anything but small.
And then I was welcomed by children whose lives are not easy, but whose smiles were bigger than their circumstances.
I came to Mathare thinking I would see a community that needed something from me. Instead, I left realizing how much the people of Mathare had given me. Joy, hospitality, faith, and love. And a reminder that a person's circumstances are only one small part of their story.
- Jennene
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