WE ARE IN A REAL JAM HERE
The city of Nairobi is one of the most congested cities in the world. There are 8 million here in the day and only 3 million at night. That means each morning and each night 5 million people are trying to get in and out of the city. Most people get to town in 12-15 passenger minibuses. Everyone packed to capacity. Once in town they take to the streets, by the millions. Those of you who have been here can attest to the fact that you literally have to drive through town through a sea of people. The traffic jam in this city is mind-boggling. Once you have lived in Nairobi you can never complain about the traffic in Seattle or Los Angeles again. Sitting in traffic for 2 to 3 hours each day has become routine to everyone in this city. Even the side streets are jammed because there are literally millions of drivers who cause a jam trying to beat the jam.
Life in Nairobi is hard. Everyone I know leaves for work at 5 am and cannot get back to their homes before 8pm. Anything imported is very expensive here and almost anything manufactured is imported. The cost of a car, a television, a computer, a washing machine or anything in a can is two or three times the cost of stuff back home. We went to buy some tuna the other day; $3 a can! A can of corn? $ 2. Most of the people I know do without these imported luxuries and many go without essentials. This however is the life people are used to. It may drive us mad, but to those who live here, “This is life”.
VALERIE IS HAVING A BALL SHARING JESUS
Several weeks ago at the Shikusa Boys Detention Center, one of the staff gave Valerie a beaded bracelet woven in the colors of the Kenyan flag. They explained to her what the colors stand for. Red is for the blood of those who died to win the freedom of the Kenyan people, White is for peace, Green is for the land, it’s prosperity and it’s fruitfulness, and Black is for the Kenyan people and also for the fact that they Kenyans raised the flag at midnight on independence day. As the colors were explained, the Lord spoke to Valerie and told her that the unbeknown to those who chose the colors of the flag, that He had written His gospel into the colors they chose. Red is for the Blood of Jesus shed for the freedom of the people of Kenya; White is for the peace that is theirs through Christ; Green is for the growth that they can have in Christ and the fruit of the Spirit that comes into our lives, and Black is for the deliverance of the Kenyan people from the darkness of sin. Since that time Valerie has been handing out beaded flag bracelets to people everywhere and explaining the Spiritual significance of the colors. It is interesting to see how the Kenyans are responding to this message. It’s truly an “ah ha moment” for them and many of them are now using it as a witnessing tool out on the streets. Not one person has ever connected the colors of their flag to the gospel. Yesterday Valerie stopped by some vendors who were selling these same beaded bracelets outside of the grocery store near our apartments. She picked up one of the bracelets and began to share about the colors. The next thing you know there were 7 or 8 women having a “hallelujah party” right there in front of the store. Now all of our Worldcomp staff is sporting one of these bracelets on our arms. We are starting a movement here!
Tonight we pick up the team of Northwest University nurses from that airport at about 9:30 pm. We are looking forward to working together with these nurses in all of our projects. They will be examining all of our precious kids and they will be helping us in 2 special mini-camps, one in Majengo at the Widows Center and one at the Shikusa Boys Detention Center.
Please continue to keep us in your prayers as we now increase our pace for the next few months.
We love you all,
Richard and Valerie