I had my first run in with the Kenyan police last night, I was driving to my church homegroup as all hardened criminals do and came across one of the many police checks on my way into the city. I’ve been told not to stop at night for anyone, not even the police, so following orders I ignored the policeman waving his torch at me and tried to forge ahead. I’ve done this before and got away with it no worries but this time there was all sorts of traffic in front of me so I couldn’t get away, the policeman kept flashing his torch at me as I desperately tried to squeeze past the dawdlers in front to no avail. In the end as he was running after me shouting and as I realised there was no chance of escape I pulled over for a chat.
Ignoring a police officer is in fact an offense so I would have to go to court the next day to pay my fine. The court is in Kibera, you have to go at 8am and I’ve been told you may well be there all day. I was so not ups, I was sure I could sweet talk my way out of it but Officer Grouchy Mcgrumps was having none of it. Then he said I could pay an on the spot fine and I was a complete sucker thinking you could actually do that, it wasn’t till I looked in my wallet, didn’t have enough and he said ‘1000 will be fine’ that I realised it was a bribe. By that point I was too flippin scared to do anything about it so I just paid the bribe and left. I was so gutted. I felt such an idiot for not figuring out it was a bribe and so gutted I had paid it, I chose to go along with the corruption because I didn’t want to go to court, if they even were going to send me, I don’t know. Anyway I had to pray a bit after that, forgive the policeman and say sorry for messing up myself. Hopefully I’ll be better prepared next time, to figure out when I should stop and to recognise a bribe when it comes.
So that was my exciting story for the week, now I realise I haven’t actually been saying much about what to pray about so prayer stuff:
Thanks for praying about finding somewhere to live and someone to live with, I now have a flat sorted and someone lined up to move in when my current housemate moves out. God has so clearly been hooking me up it’s been ace.
I’m pretty gutted that my current housemate is leaving and I’ll be living alone for a month before the new girl moves in so I would appreciate prayer for that time that I don’t get too lonely and bored but that I can use the time and space to be with God (and not just watching every season of 24)
I’m really loving spending the mornings in Kibera just befriending people, I’d appreciate prayer for wisdom and guidance with work in general as I don’t really ever know what I’m doing, I’m often asked for my ‘learned’ opinion on things and I immediately forget everything I ever learnt at uni and have no idea what we should do. Also figuring out how life works here and where I fit and what’s right and what’s wrong is pretty confusing, I’d appreciate prayer for that too.
For the project, 20 new people received their first loans yesterday, they were all very excited. I met Nancy today who is selling eggs. Please pray for them and their businesses that they will really make a go of them, that this would be the start of their climb out of poverty. Pray for protection and blessing I guess.
We are having lots of opportunities to help adults who we’re not strictly allowed to help because it’s not in our mandate for the charity commission in the UK. Pray that God would open doors so that we can make the most of these opportunities that come along.
Pastor Shadrack is planting a new church in Kianda, another village in Kibera, and once the church is established we will be setting up another Turning Point project over there. Pray for God’s hand all over that.
Right that’s plenty! Thank you so much for your prayers, its so exciting to see God’s responses, I hope you all are encouraged that God is up to all sorts in response to your prayers. Please let me know what I can be praying for you.
Wednesday, 15 October 2008
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
Everybody needs good neighbours...
Right I’ve figured out how to solve poverty in the first world, I don’t know what to do about the third world, I’m still working on that but I think this theory is pretty good for one morning’s work.
So, poverty does exist in England but in a different way to Kenya, in England it’s mostly called relative poverty as opposed to absolute poverty. According to ‘The Poverty Site’ in 2006/2007 about one fifth of the population in the UK were living below the low-income threshold which is about £112 per week for a single adult with no dependent children or £189 per week for a single adult with two dependent children under 14. So, one in five people are struggling with money, which means there are four people to every one person struggling. That’s just income, this doesn’t say much about health or education or social exclusion.
The thing about relative poverty is that you probably aren’t starving but you probably will be marginalized, pushed to the side, not included in the good stuff of community in the same way as your rich neighbours are. You might be called a chav and told you’re not allowed to wear jumpers with hoods. Or people just might not notice you and the struggles you’re having. You might be having a really hard time at home but not have the social networks to find people to help you deal with those things. I have been so surprised by how much poverty there is in Woking, I just thought there were a few homeless people here and there but when you visit a few families that are having a hard time you realize there are loads of people who could do with some friends to come alongside them.
I think the biggest thing about relative poverty is the social exclusion that comes along with it, who you know is just as important as what you know. Jesus said ‘the poor will always be with you and you can help them any time you want.’ The poor should be with you so you can help them whenever they need it or whenever you can. I think with the relative poverty in the west where social exclusion is such a big part of it, making sure we are with the poor will go a long way to solving these problems. I think that means making friends, proper friends who spend time together, who are a part of each other’s lives. We can keep the poor at a distance and give money to charities or we can befriend a family and love them, maybe you’ll get to help them with money if you become close enough friends but love is better than money any day. It would be very cool if ‘the poor’ where no longer some abstract category of people but were George and Gladis who live down the road.
The reason I mention the stats at the beginning is because in England we have the awesome fact that the poor are way outnumbered by the rich so it should be so possible for all ‘poor’ people to be included and lifted up by the people around them. It’s a bit harder in places like Kenya where flippin everyone is struggling. So if everyone in England reads my blog and goes and makes a couple of new friends then poverty in the UK could be eradicated in maybe a year or so. Sweet.
So, poverty does exist in England but in a different way to Kenya, in England it’s mostly called relative poverty as opposed to absolute poverty. According to ‘The Poverty Site’ in 2006/2007 about one fifth of the population in the UK were living below the low-income threshold which is about £112 per week for a single adult with no dependent children or £189 per week for a single adult with two dependent children under 14. So, one in five people are struggling with money, which means there are four people to every one person struggling. That’s just income, this doesn’t say much about health or education or social exclusion.
The thing about relative poverty is that you probably aren’t starving but you probably will be marginalized, pushed to the side, not included in the good stuff of community in the same way as your rich neighbours are. You might be called a chav and told you’re not allowed to wear jumpers with hoods. Or people just might not notice you and the struggles you’re having. You might be having a really hard time at home but not have the social networks to find people to help you deal with those things. I have been so surprised by how much poverty there is in Woking, I just thought there were a few homeless people here and there but when you visit a few families that are having a hard time you realize there are loads of people who could do with some friends to come alongside them.
I think the biggest thing about relative poverty is the social exclusion that comes along with it, who you know is just as important as what you know. Jesus said ‘the poor will always be with you and you can help them any time you want.’ The poor should be with you so you can help them whenever they need it or whenever you can. I think with the relative poverty in the west where social exclusion is such a big part of it, making sure we are with the poor will go a long way to solving these problems. I think that means making friends, proper friends who spend time together, who are a part of each other’s lives. We can keep the poor at a distance and give money to charities or we can befriend a family and love them, maybe you’ll get to help them with money if you become close enough friends but love is better than money any day. It would be very cool if ‘the poor’ where no longer some abstract category of people but were George and Gladis who live down the road.
The reason I mention the stats at the beginning is because in England we have the awesome fact that the poor are way outnumbered by the rich so it should be so possible for all ‘poor’ people to be included and lifted up by the people around them. It’s a bit harder in places like Kenya where flippin everyone is struggling. So if everyone in England reads my blog and goes and makes a couple of new friends then poverty in the UK could be eradicated in maybe a year or so. Sweet.
Monday, 6 October 2008
Sunday, 5 October 2008
The Nairobi Show
All this week has been the Nairobi Show, a fairly bizarre fair celebrating all things Kenyan, it's absolutely massive. There are loads of stalls about all sorts of thrilling things like the the ministry of roadworks, my personal favorite was the ministry of agriculture becuase out the front of the stall was a life size model of one cow mounting another cow with a farmer standing by cheering them on!! There's also a fairground with some rickety unsafe looking rides and an arena where they do various shows with dancers, marching bands and dramas which are funny if you understand swahili apparently.
I went to the show yesterday with Lillian, Lillian's brother Peter, Lucy Katunge and her baby Grace. We had an awesome time, it was amazing to be able to take them out of the slum and have a proper day out together. Driving them in the car was pretty funny, they werent too sure hot to open and close the doors, we had to stop a couple of time to get them properly closed and I had to explain the shotgun rule to them in order to stop an all out war over who would sit in the front!!
At the show we saw loads of animals, the guys saw guniea pigs for the first time and rode camels and fairground rides for the first time. We went dancing wherever we could find some music playing, we ate loads and we went to the show in the big arena. It was so so much fun. Baby Grace had an ace time, we got her a balloon hat which she was completely in awe of for the rest of the day.
I kept thinking about how Jesus has promised us life in all its fullness, life for most people in Kibera is just about finding food for another day, I know it was only one day out for four kids in Kibera but it was flippin awesome to see them enjoying themselves so much. So I'm keeping my eye out for other stuff we can do together.
I went to the show yesterday with Lillian, Lillian's brother Peter, Lucy Katunge and her baby Grace. We had an awesome time, it was amazing to be able to take them out of the slum and have a proper day out together. Driving them in the car was pretty funny, they werent too sure hot to open and close the doors, we had to stop a couple of time to get them properly closed and I had to explain the shotgun rule to them in order to stop an all out war over who would sit in the front!!
At the show we saw loads of animals, the guys saw guniea pigs for the first time and rode camels and fairground rides for the first time. We went dancing wherever we could find some music playing, we ate loads and we went to the show in the big arena. It was so so much fun. Baby Grace had an ace time, we got her a balloon hat which she was completely in awe of for the rest of the day.
I kept thinking about how Jesus has promised us life in all its fullness, life for most people in Kibera is just about finding food for another day, I know it was only one day out for four kids in Kibera but it was flippin awesome to see them enjoying themselves so much. So I'm keeping my eye out for other stuff we can do together.
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