It is day six in this series of my trip to Kenya, Africa.  In using one word each day as inspiration, today’s word is probably my favorite.  LOVE!  I talk about it all the time, I have an affinity for heart shapes, and have worked hard to become fluent in the 5 LOVE languages.  But that is because spreading LOVE is my purpose in life.  And I want to use every possible language necessary to do that.  Therefore, I was very excited for today to come.

I will share a story I wrote for a group blog that was set up for the team of travelers of which my Hubby and I were a part.  This story was one of the key experiences of my time in Dandora, one of the largest slums in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya.  I supposed it was the moment that all my trepidation about this trip eased. I realized that I had to communicate these feelings and this notion of a “tripidation” series came to mind. Tomorrow will be the final day in the series.  But for now, just let your heart be touched by a young boy named Eugene.

Yesterday was such an incredible day of LOVE!  For me personally, being witness to the good Veronika’s Place is doing by distributing food to those in need, brought back a flood of emotions.  I experienced poverty as a child and we often went to food banks and churches for help.  Even the young ones have a sense of what is going on when their mother’s are lining up for their rations.  And so I was drawn to a little fella with a torn red sweater and sad face who was sitting on the ground.  I didn’t know which woman was his mother, but I just got on the ground and started playing with him.  At first he was shy, but over time he and I were laughing and hugging.  We were building towers with stones, tickling each other, and I sang nursery rhymes to him.  I don’t know Swahili and he doesn’t know English but it didn’t matter.  We just became friends.

He climbed aboard our team’s bus and looked like he belonged on there!  Eventually his mother came.  She was a beautiful young woman and very soft spoken.  She saw how happy Eugene was and let him continue to play with me for a while.  But they had to get going as they had arrived very early to line up to receive their number.  Eugene cried when she told him in Swahili that it was time to go.  I was crying too.  I remembered I had a banana in my bag on the bus.  I asked his mom if it was okay if I gave it to him and she thanked me.  His big brown eyes got even bigger and the tears stopped.  He was so delighted with his snack and tucked into his banana like it was his new best friend.

As they walked away, Eugene with his banana and his mother with her bag of food, I knew why I was here.  I will always have a pang of hunger in my heart remembering my time as a child like Eugene.  And that pang propels me to continue to help in any way I can to feed those in need.  I was fed yesterday too, but the food was LOVE and it filled my heart. Thanks be to God!

LOVE,

YDP

Welcome back to day five of “Tripidation” as I share with you my recent trip to Kenya, Africa.  Luckily, even with so much trepidation about going, I am glad I trusted my Hubby as he encouraged me to go.  He had been ten years before and it had such a profound impact on him that when the ten year anniversary of that trip was nearing we decided to go together.  It was one of the best decisions ever!   Today, I am going to share a story Hubby wrote for a group blog on which those that traveled together to Dandora contributed.  However, the blog is still unfinished and this post never went on it.  So today, I’ll let his insight and his photos tell the story through one word as inspiration.  That word is SERVE!

From Doug:

Ten years ago I had the privilege to accompany St Monica’s on the annual pilgrimage to Kenya. It was a life changing experience in so many ways. I documented it on film and shared it with the St. Monica community (click on the link here to view). I always knew I wanted to come back to this beautiful country. I encouraged my wife to visit as I knew the children would touch her heart.

Yesterday she spent time working in the kitchen at St. James Primary School (she just so happens to be a trained chef). When I went to see how she was doing I witnessed something that made me realize why I kept urging her to visit here. I saw how happy she was serving lunch to the precious children and playing with them and simply sharing the LOVE. One of the scriptures she reads every day is from John 21:15-17 when Jesus asks Simon Peter “Do you love me? Feed my sheep!”

It was so wonderful of him to write those words and take these pictures!  I am actually overwhelmed feeling so blessed to have had this opportunity to serve. I feel like I didn’t do enough, yet it has infused me with passion to continue to do more.  My inspiration is the amazing woman Julia who does it everyday as I shared in the “trepidation” post called grateful.  She is the head chef at the school and “feeds the sheep” day in and out using what make shift conditions she has, and she does it all with a smile.  Health and Safety regulations over in the Western world would not look too highly upon that I am sure.  While they are looking for the errant spark from the stove, they are missing that spark in her eyes that comes from being able to serve her community.  And I got a bit of that spark to ignite my soul for years to come!

To serve and to LOVE,

YDP

P.S. I saw this sign up at the Brother Andre Dispensary (the onsite medical clinic there) and it is a wonderful reflection on offering service to others.

For day three of my series on the “tripidation” to Kenya, the trip that was taken with loads of trepidation, I have chosen HOPE as the inspirational word. I just have a few thoughts to share with you and then I will leave you with some wonderful photos, taken by my Hubby.

When “we” (those of us living in Western affluent societies) go to a place like Dandora, one of the largest slums of Nairobi, we are faced with a palpable situation.  From the smells (yes the city dump that resides there really stinks) to the visceral images of dirt and poverty, this way of life is very different.  And if you look at it from the perspective of what might seem repulsive to you, then it is hard to grasp.  But this is their reality.  Yet, I discovered that amidst this, they have a grounded sense of hope.  In fact,  more hope than many people I have encountered elsewhere, especially those who appear to have more going for them in their lives.  But it isn’t about a clean environment, pretty things or a big paycheck, it is about what it all means. Those things are all temporary anyway.  So maybe this immense hope is their response, their knowing what the true meaning of life is.

Nothing describes this more than pictures.  They tell the story better.  It is a story of a community so passionate about having their own spiritual home, their sanctuary, right at the center of it all.  Those with barely more than a shilling to spare in a year, raised money to build this new church.  Yes, our church home in Santa Monica donated money to help as well.  But we are sister churches and that is what you ought to do, help family.  And just a reminder that the average income of those in Dandora is $125 per year vs that of Santa Monica which is $73, 649.

The day the new church was dedicated, the archbishop arrived to consecrate it, and everyone, and I mean everyone that could be there was there. The parishioners felt it was such an honor that his eminence would travel to the slums.  It might have been the most important day in the lives of the congregation. The heightened emotion was multi layered, but certainly the most prescient was hope that it had all come to fruition.

 What was once a piece of land, just dirt, overlooking a mountain of rubbish, became hope incarnate. After worshipping in a tiny ramshackle rusted patio/garage with a couple of make shift benches for over 20 years, they finally had a place that they could call home.  Instead of numerous smaller masses in the old church, they looked forward to a spiritual oasis where they could all fit in together to sing, dance and celebrate as one. A break from the harsh realities of their daily struggle.

The photos below show the city dump. In the photo on the left you can see a person (most likely scavenging), a bird and a tractor. In the photo on the right you can just barely make out a roof of a building.

This photo below shows the whole picture. The dump and the new Holy Cross Parish Worship Center named Saint Andre Bessett Church . To the unsuspecting eye it looks like a church on top of a trash dump, but I think it looks like a Phoenix Rising from the ashes!  It is an earthy vision of hope, one which I believe the people of Dandora have stored up in their hearts.  That of a heavenly hope they long for one day.

Hoping for LOVE,

YDP

Welcome back to day two of my Africa “tripidation” reflection.  It was the trip which gave me much trepidation.  However, with an open heart I entered, and boy did it get filled!

Faith is a word that conjures up so many heated emotions, because let’s face it, there is an undercurrent of religion inherent in it.  However, from my experience in Dandora, one of the largest slums in Nairobi, Kenya, there is amazingly a great amount of tolerance.  When our group of 28 broke up into smaller groups for  home visits with the local people, I saw first hand that tolerance in action.  We were hosted by a lovely woman and several of her family and friends. It was a small two room home (which to some would be referred to as a shack) but it was filled with LOVE and she was so honored to have us as guests and her table was filled with snacks and drinks for us. One of the first things I noticed was that her walls were decorated with religious imagery.  The Blessed Virgin Mary, The Holy Family and the Sacred Heart of Jesus all present and accounted for. Clearly a Catholic home.  It reminded me of so many homes belonging to the older generation I’ve seen throughout Ireland.

Though her home was tucked in off a crowded dirt road nestled amongst other similar homes, you could still hear the dull buzzing of the outside world in which they lived.  At one stage I was able to recognize the sound of the Muslim call to prayer. It overpowered everything else and our conversation halted.  I point blank asked if this bothered her. And she looked me straight in the eye and smiled gently and said, “No why would it? It is just like our own church bells”.

Some may think that with little resources to go around some may be unwelcoming to “strangers” from other nations and religions.  But the people I met in Dandora are not, as they have faith. This faith is what drives them to wake each day and walk sometimes 2 hours to work.  It moves them to help one another, including those of different religions and races.  It fuels them to journey to church each Sunday and spend their entire day worshipping and celebrating.  But interestingly enough, even on the day of the dedication of the new church, where the mass service lasted over 5 hours, the place was packed!  The people poured out into the courtyard.  I must admit it was such a wonderful service that those 5  hours actually flew by!

These wonderful people of Dandora have faith that is steadfast, passionate and tolerant. The faith I experienced being with them was vibrant!  They worship from the tops of their heads to the bottoms of their feet. Their faith is also very reverent and respectful.  It is such an inspiration to me, still, to have a continued commitment to one’s faith.  Even when we can’t see it.

There is a great chant that Father Andrew, the pastor of the Holy Cross church there says at each service. It is a call and response and goes like this:

Fr. Andrew: God is good all the time

Congregation: All the time God is good

Together: And that is His nature, WOW!

In fact this chant is very personal to my Hubby and me.  We’ve been saying it for nearly ten years now since he taught it to us.  Father Andrew was in Los Angeles for our wedding in 2007. And ten days later just before my Hubby had brain surgery for a tumor, Father Andrew gave him the anointing of the sick. While some, including those in our family, had doubts about the outcome of the surgery, we had faith. When after a nine hour surgery I first saw Hubby in the ICU recovery he was resting.  I held his hand and whispered, “God is good all the time.” And my Hubby whispered back, “All the time God is good” and we said together, “And that is His nature, WOW”

It is amazing what we can do through faith, what we can endure through faith, and what awaits those with faith.  I’ll end now with some photos my Hubby took during our amazing and totally unforgettable time in Africa!

Faithfully LOVING you,

YDP

It has been five weeks since our time in Africa. A trip about which, prior to embarking, I had much trepidation, for many reasons.  Hence I referred to it as a “tripidation“. My physical health being one of the reasons I was concerned about going.  But mostly I was hesitant to go to Dandora, Kenya because of what I thought I might find there.  I expected to see poverty and filth that would take me back to a dark place in my own life.  I am so sensitive and I thought it would be too hard to see people in dire conditions. I had experienced that feeling before when I had visited the Phillipines.  I felt guilty that somehow, I managed to improve my life.  I now have food, shelter and clothes.  But how could I witness others in these circumstances and then go back to my “normal” life?

Well folks, all I can say is that I will try my best to impart my feelings each day this week by using only one word to describe my experience.  Today that word is JOY.  That is it.  I won’t write much more, as I will let my Hubby’s amazing photos tell the story.  But suffice it to say, the people we met, the people that we helped, the people that we worshipped with and sang with, danced with and dined with, they have the one thing that eludes so many others.  In spite of having next to nothing, they have everything and they shared it all with us.  Their joy is exhilarating and infused our souls with an energy that makes me long to go back.  Back to that place, to those people, and especially to the sweet, sweet children!

There it is, JOY shining forth from these faces with their beautiful smiles. At one point, while at a school mass, I felt like my heart was going to explode from so much joy. I have posted this on my Instagram if you give a little click on this link you can hear the children singing. But guess what?  My heart didn’t explode!  It just expanded wider to make room for more JOY to enter!  It is the gift that keeps on giving!

Check back tomorrow for more reflections on my tripidation!

Bursting with JOY and LOVE!

YDP