Change Is In The Air

I’ve been traveling to East Africa since 2007 and living here for the past 6 months. The changes in society have been radical.

In 2007 you would never see teenage boys and girls holding hands in public, now it’s everywhere. I remember having to wear skirts everywhere, even in the city. Now you will see clothing just like in the West, shorter, tighter and more revealing. Of course, these same girls will cover it all up when they go to their country village.

I remember sitting in a family restaurant called Java House at a small mall just up the road, and it was only full of white people. Times have changed with the middle class increasing so eateries are full of locals as well as expats. It’s like anywhere else where the rich are getting richer and the poor, poorer, this is especially so in the city. People come from the country in the hope of finding a job in the city only to find there just aren’t any. Without a social welfare system here, these people become desperate and destitute.

There’s a huge building boom in Nairobi, along with a lot of investment from China in both roads and residential accommodation. Unlike the past, there are even a number of footpaths.

There are Apple stores selling all the latest gadgets competing with other smartphones.

I remember only a few years ago that there was just one ATM I could use; now they abound everywhere.

Technology has brought about many changes and chances for people. Apps are being created to assist farmers in remote areas, mobile banking has meant people can send money from one end of the country to another with a flick of a few buttons, children living in slums can access the internet to meet online with other students in our global village.

What hasn’t changed is that poverty still abounds in Kenya. Last week a needy family living in Kibera was visited by our team. They were taken an emergency food parcel that will see them through the next 3 weeks. Somebody asked ‘what is the long term plan of this family to become self sufficient?’ It was a good question but the simple answer is that there is no quick fix when you are in abstract poverty, you are just trying to survive the day.

At Afri-Lift we have three goals as part of our mission statement:

Lifting              To give people an opportunity to change their situation be it educational or economical

Guiding           Develop the person as an individual

Mobilising       Giving opportunity for a person to use the skills and knowledge they have acquired to change   the lives of those in their local community

Do I believe that poverty can be wiped out – most definitely! Will it? That has yet to be seen.

What I have seen is the transforming of lives. Young people who have made it through school and are now trained in a particular field. They are employed, starting their own business and families. Their lives haven’t been changed by a magic wand, giving them a house with a white picket fence but people partnering and believing in the worth of a young person – one they have never met.

Times are changing here at an ever increasing pace but there is also ‘pole, pole’ (slowly, slowly) for those who struggle each day. We are believing God for a great future for our young people – why not be a part of that change?