Una Taka Chai?

I spent the day yesterday in the kitchen, making food for the entire school and learning a lot along the way!

Humility.

I am constantly being humbled.  Over and over again.  I cut vegetables SO SLOW.  And always forget the Swahili I just learned as soon as one of my favorite teachers shows up who I really want to show off to by asking them if they want tea or porridge, but then I get all frazzled and forget the question I’ve been asking in flawless Swahili over and over again for the last half hour.

Taking tea.

It’s like a coffee break, but required.  And delicious (although I also love coffee).  And you don’t ever take your tea to-go, you just sit and drink it.  They make their tea with milk instead of water, and put fresh ginger and rosemerry (literally picked from a bush right outside!) in with it, and it is just so delicious.  Taking tea is a time of fellowship and filling your belly half way through the morning because lunch is so late.  I absolutely love this little part of Kenyan culture.

Hunger.

The kids who go to school here are hungry.  When we finish serving everyone their rice and beans, many line up for seconds or whatever is leftover.  We scoop leftovers into their bowls until it’s all gone.

And that’s when it gets hard to watch.

The boys push and shove and thrust their bowls out in from of them to try to get in front of or above the other bowls, so that their bowl will be the one that gets the tiny scoop of extra beans.  They’re desperate for food.  I’ve always known that was a reality for kids all over the world, especially here, but I’ve never really seen that desperation, that hunger, right in front of me.

I don’t know what kind of homes the kids go back to afterschool or whether or not they get fed.  I know that at least 21 of them get fed, because 21 of them live in the residential home as orphans and eat their dinner from that same kitchen the lunch was prepared in.  I also know that the majority of the rest of them live in the slum that surrounds the BCC, and from visiting homes and walking around (during day, with none of my belongings, and with two Kenyan adult responsible males, no need to worry about me!), I do not have much hope for what they get at home.

Joy.

On a more positive note, in the kitchen today, we had a couple of visitors!  I got invited to a wedding (on August 31st, so sorry if I just don't come home...), and I got to meet a boy who went through the program and is now in college!  It was so encouraging to see the longer-term effects of the good work that Buckner is doing in supporting the BCC.

Singing.

Okay.  This is not just about the kitchen, but oh well.  I want to talk about it anyways.  Another one of my absolute favorite things about Kenya is that they all just sing all the time, and there is absolutely no shame or embarrassment or hesitation or anything.  It’s perfectly normal to walk into the class five room and see the whole class singing and dancing together until their teacher (er, I) shows up!  Talking with the girls learning to sew in the tec classroom, they ask me to sing for them.  Everyone asks me to share a song with them!  Many teachers are always singing something as they walk around, or sit and grade in the staffroom. 

At first I was hesitant to just sing for people out of nowhere, but I have completely picked the habit up and embraced this part of the culture by singing all the time.  So I absolutely loved singing while working in the kitchen, it made the work so much more fun.

Storytime!

I asked Paul (the head chief) for his life story while we worked, and what I got was a brief start that resembled the beginning of a life story, then a description of what his wife was doing before they met, and then a moment-by-moment, incredibly telling of their love story.  I think it took about an hour, maybe more, but I was hanging on every word because he was just so excited to tell it and so happy to share how he ended up with the love of his life.  He gave me lots of practical advice and reminded me of the importance of patience and waiting before the Lord for good things because it took him so long to find her and then finally marry her, but they are now so happy together.  He told me that I needed to always check to see if the man is looking for a wife or a girlfriend, and I was encouraged to run away if he just wants a girlfriend.  I got to see how he trusted God and remained loyal even when times were hard and many encouraged him to get a divorce because she wasn’t producing babies so everyone assumed she was barren, he valued commitment and had faith that God would provide, and God did just that after seven years of trying.  He proved the value of prayer, waiting upon the Lord, and having a relationship completely grounded in Christ.

It was so powerful how completely different worlds we live in, from social norms to economic situations to stages in lives to just about everything… We are so different, yet he shared with me such universal, practical, real truths that apply to both of us in the same way, even though every other detail of our life is completely different.  Paul and I share faith in Christ, so we are siblings, live with the same goal in mind, and can learn from each other.  It constantly strikes me how cool it is to be sharing that with everyone on staff here, despite how different my daily life is from theirs.

In Conclusion,

I loved taking a day off from my normal work to help out in the kitchen and be a part of the ministry of feeding the kids that goes on there.  Cooking has never been strength of mine (to say the least), but it was awesome to be able to encourage the kitchen staff in the work that they do day in and day out with very little thanks.

A child cannot learn if he or she is hungry, for the child will be focusing only on how to satisfy their hunger.  The kids who come to the BCC for school are given life, education, and hope through a good meal.