Kenya: Remix

First Weeks in Review

It’s been a full couple of weeks, practicing driving stick on the crazy Kenyan streets, moving into my new room in the house (I’m no longer on the first floor in the middle of everything, which is great), getting to know my new roommates, “the Jennifers,” getting ready for school, and starting and finishing up our first week here.

There’ve been some hiccups so far: 1. Most of the textbooks and teacher resource materials I ordered back in January were never actually ordered, and so each of the new English courses, plus some of the old ones, are without texts at the moment; 2. I’m unofficially the head of our English department, which is out of control, and the new teachers, Kathy, Jen, and Michael, have all had so many questions, that it’s been difficult to get much done for myself; and 3. I’m teaching an extra class right now until a new teacher finally arrives to take it over. So, it’s been a challenge, and pretty exhausting so far, but I am finding myself happy to be back “home.”

It’s been so much fun catching up with the kids—I’d almost forgotten how great they are! My English 10 kids are little pills for the most part, but they’re a real riot when you get them going. I’ve got a tiny little section of American Literature—five girls—and they’re awesome. Perfect angels. That’s unfortunately the class that’ll get taken over by the new teacher later, so I’m taking advantage of my time with them while I’ve got them. My AP kids are brilliant, and I’ve decided that that just might be my favorite class of the year. They’re definitely going to make me a better teacher, that’s for sure. My yearbook class exploded from 16 to 25 students (and counting), and so I’m figuring out ways to improvise and make sure all the kids are busy and devoted to a section staff so that the book can be even bigger and better than last year’s. I pulled out the “crazy” early in the Theatre Arts class during our first meeting on Friday, introducing them to a partner observation activity. The freshmen looked like they didn’t know whether to laugh or run out of the room. I am that teacher.

I think the most exciting part about being back, though, has been really letting loose and taking full advantage of my platform and position as a teacher in this Christian school and being totally upfront about how my students can expect to approach literature from a Christian worldview, examining the historical and cultural context in which the text was written, the audience the work was originally intended for, the author’s personal worldview, and the world in which the characters live and operate. I left my walls fairly bare this year—just a few posters hung here and there. But I did take some time before the year began to fill a portion of the big bulletin board on my back wall. In my classes last year, I used the terms “dignity,” “depravity,” “redemption,” and “choice” pretty frequently as we went through literary texts. What I outlined on my board in words and images was the connection that each of these terms has with a part of the gospel message. Our Dignity is the product of the reality that God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives. But our common Depravity enters as the result of the fact that we’ve all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. The opportunity for Redemption and sanctification enters with the person of Jesus Christ, who sacrificially provided a way for us to become right with God again. But the Choice remains ours—Redemption is a free gift, but that truth is only ours when we submit to it and let it change us. Read any novel or play out there and you’re going to run into this stuff. Characters (people like us, even if they are fictional) have inherent value as human beings. But we know that most good stories involve some kind of conflict—in steps Depravity. Some stories stop here. You’ve got some screwball character who runs around making mistake after mistake, and never experiences any redemptive change. That kind of a story may satisfy some readers, but I think most of us prefer to see characters embrace Redemption by Choice.

I went through this Gospel/Literature parallel structure with each of my English classes this week and laid the foundation for future discussion of these issues. Basically, it’s going to be pretty difficult for any student in my class to leave on any given day without a clear understanding of the Gospel. But just like those characters, the ability to choose is still theirs. Ball’s in their court now. Just how I think it ought to be. I love teaching literature. Even better, I love reminders that the secular and the sacred can coexist. That faith and reason are partners. That God’s in it all.

Kenyan Moments

I can’t tell you how many times I was asked this summer while I was back in the States, “So, what do you miss about being in Kenya?” And I’ll admit, I had a tough time coming up with a reply a lot of the time. That sounds terrible, but really, I was just excited to come back to America and enjoy all that that involves. I love how easy it is there. At least in Ohio, people are so friendly and easy to know. Meet someone in line at the grocery store, and you can have an honest-to-goodness heart-to-heart conversation with a perfect stranger. Friends and family are either within driving distance, or else easily accessible over the phone. Target and Wal-Mart are the products of absolute brilliance. American radio is entertaining for at least two weeks, until all of the new songs become repetitive. People know how to cut Anglo hair. Free refills on drinks when you go out to eat. Electricity and water patterns are predictable. People follow traffic laws. Traffic laws exist. America is amazing. But I’ll tell you what—my return to Kenya hasn’t been without its joys. Here are some highlights from the past couple of weeks:

- - I got a whole bag full of veggies from the green grocer for 235 shillings. That’s like 3 bucks. And I remain convinced that Kenyan coffee is the purest form of what God intended.

- - A new restaurant opened at the Prestige Plaza food court. It’s called “Buddha Bar,” but all of the decorations are Hindi. I ordered pad thai and, with the exception of thinly shaven pieces of baby corn, it was pretty tasty.

- - The Chandaranda market now carries Hunt’s canned tomatoes with garlic, basil, and oregano (one of the main things I was going to miss about grocery shopping in the States). They’re also carrying Kraft Mac and Cheese, but at 375 shillings a box (about $4), I’m not certain that that’s such a deal.

- - A man was walking through the Junction parking lot carrying a telephone. Not a cell phone. A plug-in-the-wall telephone.

- - Working in my classroom before the school opened, my old friend Shadrach brought a new worker, Abraham, up to help me move heavy furniture. I almost expected Hosea, Malachi, and Nebuchadnezzar to arrive to help out, too.

- - Our friends, Joel and Jonathan, recently moved into a new apartment. I’d heard that it was really nice, but when we pulled into their compound, their gate guards were in orange jump suits and stared us down until we told them we were there to see the wazungu on the third floor who just moved in. Their apartment truly was pretty nice, and their landlord had boasted about how everything was recently imported from Dubai (which basically translates into incredibly ornate and deliciously tacky lighting fixtures with dimmer switches). The best part? The last tenant had installed a black light. Can you say "party pad?"

Prayer

For those of you who faithfully go before the Lord for me, West Nairobi School, and Kenya, here’s a few fire starters:

- - The famine in Kenya is getting worse. Failed rains have caused crops to fall miserably short of what Kenya needs to grow to survive, much less export for a profit. 11 million Kenyans are starving—that’s 33% of the total population. I’ll admit that this just hasn’t hit close to home for me yet, and so it still feels like I’m pretty far removed from the reality. But the other day, a teacher friend told me he’d read in the papers that 20 people in the Great Rift Valley (about a 40 minute drive from Nairobi) have died recently from starvation. Please pray for the basic physical needs of these precious people.*

- - Kenya’s failed rainy season has also led to some pretty drastic measures when it comes to powering the nation. Because most of the electricity in Kenya is hydroelectric, the government recently made the decision to implement a rationing program for water and power for the whole nation of Kenya. So for three days a week, for the whole nation, the power completely shuts off. Our part of town is on the Monday, Wednesday, Friday rotation, while other parts of town shut things off on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. The school has a diesel-powered generator that we turn on each day to power the school, so we’re alright out in Karen, but I’m sure that the cuts will have negative consequences here and there. But for right now, it’s mostly an inconvenience (getting ready for school in the dark, no hot water for showers, etc.).

- - A couple of weeks ago, an AIM (Africa Inland Mission) plane carrying a team of American photo journalists crashed into a building near the Nairobi Airport. The pilot, a man named Frank, died shortly after the crash, and the copilot, Ryan Williams, were both members of my church here in Nairobi. Ryan had been in critical, but stable, condition after the accident, with his major injuries being some broken bones, lacerations, and burns. He was flown to South Africa a few days after the accident for better burn treatment (the hospital in Nairobi had been trying to stabilize him enough to fly him back to the States), but he developed some serious infections and passed away a few days ago. It’s been devastating to watch this incredibly close missionary and expat community in Nairobi deal with this tragic event. So many of the people we know here are connected to AIM and this incident. It’s been difficult to find someone who hasn’t been affected. Both Frank and Ryan were husbands and fathers of four. And they’re both with their Savior right now. If you think of their families, please pray that they’ll recover and see God’s plan in the midst of the tragedy. Ryan’s wife, Dawn, is particularly in need of prayer, as their family has been in the midst of an adoption process for their daughter, Chloe, a Kenyan little girl. With both parents’ names on Chloe’s adoption paperwork, Dawn is concerned that, so close to the completion of the process, the adoption agency and officials will deny the adoption.

It’s never easy, but it’s such an important reminder now and then to be faced with the reality of our lives’ temporal, fleeting nature. Isn’t it incredible to remember, though, that through it all, God is sovereign? He makes us no guarantees, but He also makes no mistakes. You’re here by no accident. We’re here on mission until our purpose is fulfilled. What a sobering reality. What an incredible challenge. I hope and pray that you and I are honoring the Lord with the time that’s ours to steward over. You all are so important and dear to me. Love you all.

* If you've got a burden for the starving people in Kenya during this time of famine and you'd like to give to the relief effort, please shoot me an email (kateweiant@gmail.com). My home church here in Nairobi has been raising funds over the past year to provide food and seed for those suffering most from the famine. There's no middle man in the operation, and so every dollar of a financial gift that you would like to give to this effort would go directly from me to the people of Kenya. Pray about it and let me know if you'd like to be involved in meeting someone's physical needs.