Wander Lust Satisfied

We landed in Nairobi, Kenya the morning of Friday, June 22 at 7:00 am local time after two exhausting days of travel. My first impression was a country of kind and gentle people. My experience of the airport was much different than when I landed in Cameroon. We were not harassed in anyway by the locals and left to our own devices of carrying our bags and finding our ride. Because of the fact that Nairobi is considered the most dangerous city in Africa (coined Nairobbery by locals), we booked ourselves into a very nice hotel built in 1902. When we first entered the hotel my skin crawled at how the place reaked of colonialism but as I looked around, I saw that more Africans than foreigners are staying at the hotel.

Yesterday we were met downtown by the principal of Sud-Academy - a school in Nairobi I am involved with raising funds for back home.This school educates Sudanese refugees. Because the school is in Nairobi, they do not receive money from the Sudanese government - and because it is a Sudanese school - they do not receive money from the Kenyan government. We took a local bus into one of the slums of Nairobi to visit the VERY small, underfurnished, resourceless school - home to over 320 very poor Sudanese refugee students. This neighbourhood was built beside a very elite private school and neighbourhood...one of the most glaring examples of the how wealth is distributed in so many countries. Many of the senior students have left their parents 900km away in the refugee camps to attend this school. The students are from different tribes within Sudan and the school works to eliminate tribalism between students, which according to the principal is difficult given what many of these students have witnessed during the war. The children were not camera shy and clamoured around us begging to have their pictures taken. As the young students pushed and shoved to be in the limelight of our cameras, I noticed a young man sitting on a chair in the middle of their very small field reading a ratty, graffitied text book. I went over to see what he was studying...geography. He had his turn with ONE of the social studies text books being shared amongst studnets to prepare for exams. When I see students commit to their education in such environments and compare them to students in Ontario who fight with you when you ask them to get off Facebook when they should be working - I feel great sadness and a sense of rage at the disparities between the two populations. Unfortunately because of our short time in Nairobi we did not get to watch any classes in session. I do hope though that this is not my last time seeing this school.

This am Claudine (the student with whom I am traveling)and I went to the National Park to see a variety of African wildlife roaming relatively free. When we were at the park we met a couple from Michigan who were in Kenya to visit an orphanage their church sponsors. When the wife of the couple spoke about the children doing bible study at the orphanage I asked if the children had been Christian prior to their arrival at the school. She said that they were not when they arrived but now were Christian. I realize that some of you who will read this blog are Christian and believe in the work that churches are doing in Africa. However, I must note that I am struggling with the role white man's church plays in the culture/community of Africa. The 'deliverance of jesus' to Africa is partially responsible for so many of the problems that exist here today. I also struggle with what has been quoted as the creation of "Rice Christians" - the sense that white man comes here and offers help on the condition that local Africans convert to Christianity. I realize that not all organizations work this way and many do good work without the expectation that the locals convert; however, it is problematic within this part of the world.

Since prior to our arrival, I have been wrestling internally with my right to be working in this continent. Although being back in Africa makes my soul sing - I know that it is going to be a daily struggle with what my role as a Canadian educator is in this part of the world.

Tomorrow we are flying to Kigali - where we have been assured we will be picked up and driven to Butare. We had been told our accomodations would be a four bedroom house with a fenced in yard, but since then have received word that that residence is no longer available and we will be staying in the school's guest house....no idea what that means in terms of space and location.

Hope you are well - thank you for the comments - it is nice to recieve words from home.