Is This Real?

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Yesterday we held our monthly Riziki program in the Kibera Slum. It’s where our sponsored children meet with the youth leaders for 2 hours of fun, food and fellowship. This month’s meeting was special because those who are normally away at boarding school were home for the holidays.

Many of the boys have turned into young men who tower above me.

The reality of their dire situation became all to evident during the program. Remember, these are young people who come from homes where the average income is around $2 per day. If it wasn’t for our generous donors, education would be far out of reach for every single child we minister to.

Two examples stuck out to me about these kids.

One was when we were having a game with toilet paper. The idea was that two competitors would come to the horizontal broomstick and on the blow of the whistle unravel the toilet roll. The winner was the person who had an empty roll the fastest.

While in the West we would simply dump the toilet paper after the game, some of the leaders (especially the girls) carefully rolled it all up so they could use it. A toilet roll costs around 25 cents. To these young women it was a luxury. Many girls in developing countries don’t have the finances for sanitary products, fall out of school one week a month and suffer the embarrassment of having nothing at ‘that time of the month.’

Each person treated the toilet paper like it was a gift.

  

The other time was when I was doing an object lesson. This is where we use a physical object which relates to the theme of the day. I was to pretend to either rip or burn money. I chose a 50 shilling note – around 50 cents. I pretended to do both, and both times a cry of horror came from the kids.  They really thought I would do it and to them even that small amount of money could buy them some milk – something they don’t get a lot of.

This is the reality that many children face each day. What we see as a small, even miniscule thing can be life changing to them. Whether that be toilet paper or some money for food.

It was interesting that today we chose to have beef pilau made for their afternoon snack. It’s school holidays here in Kenya. Besides getting an education, our kids also get a meal at school. In the holidays it is more than likely that they will not eat at all during the day. Our friend Mariam made enough to feed a small army, which enabled all the kids to eat well, even going back for seconds. We were also able to bless other families as there was so much made for $30. 

While I’m grateful that I have a nice house to live in, the internet and a car. I am even more grateful that people get behind the vision to transform the lives of young people through the ministry of Afri-Lift.

Lots of work has been done, but there is so much more to accomplish. Let’s work together to let every child in Kenya know that God has a purpose and plan for their lives.