Week 2: Perspective

It is now the end of my second week in Kenya. This is not why people will remember this week. People will remember this week because it was the week when the American people made such a bizarre choice for leader that the world was left scratching its head, wondering how this could happen.

When the election results were coming in, it was already Wednesday here. Like many people, I had been closely following the U.S. election. But as the results were coming in, I had other things to do. Along with my coworkers, I was trekking around rural Kenya making home visits and doing interviews. I was visiting the beneficiaries of Chalice's child sponsorship program, which here also comes with membership in a microfinance self-help group.
With Mount Kenya as a backdrop and the clucking of chickens as a background noise, we were welcomed into these homes.
Of course, the election was on my mind that day. But visiting these humble homes gave me perspective. The people we visited were not talking about the election: they were talking about saving more money than they had before. They were talking about their HIV-positive granddaughter's dream to be an architect. They were talking about waiting for more rain to come so their crops could be plentiful.

Literal fieldwork :). We brought the desk outside while interviewing this day.

It brought my mind to a thought I had the other week, when I was flying over New York City on my way to Kenya. I had picked up a copy of Vanity Fair at the airport and was reading it on the flight. There was an article about the "new establishment": those rich, fashionable people who hold power and influence in the world. Looking down at the many buildings, among them the one named for the U.S. president elect, I thought of all the power that is in that city: Wall Street, Madison Avenue, even the United Nations. Many of the members of this so-called "new establishment" are based in this city. As I looked down, I wondered: "How many of these people think about the people of Nanyuki, Kenya, or anywhere else, for that matter?" And I got this overwhelming sense of peace and joy and love-- I'd venture to say this was the Holy Spirit-- and I knew then: Jesus is with the people of Nanyuki. I knew then I was going where Jesus is. You know, there is such a temptation for power, to go where the power is. I think in a way we all feel like we deserve to be right there among the new establishment, in these positions of power in the world. But that's not where Jesus is.

OK one more election thought- I think the U.S. people elected their president out of fear and distrust. People are afraid of losing their jobs, and being attacked by a foreign enemy. Most importantly, they are afraid of losing our way of life. People have started not to trust the government or the media. Now that the results have come in, there are people on the other side of the issues who are protesting, and who are afraid of this presidency for almost the same reasons: they, too, are afraid of losing their way of life. But this is all just the same. Fear and distrust get us nowhere. Fear leaves us paralyzed and breeds distrust. We are not called to be ruled by fear, but by love. At this time, when, at least for my generation, the world seems all topsy-turvy, we can choose to not let fear rule us.

As anyone who has lived cross-culturally can attest, life in a new environment invites us to daily set aside our fear and radically trust God and others. For example, yesterday I was at the market with my Canadian coworker and a few new Kenyan friends. We Canadians would have been totally hopeless if our friends had not been there to advise us. They knew which vendors were good and which were trying to cheat us. They told us the going price for items so we would not be taken advantage of. I am using this as an example-- we need to trust on our friends to help us survive life here. And somehow I think this is true wherever we are. We just need to trust one another. When we don't, the world is a very dark place indeed.

What you can see just outside our house in the morning- Mount Kenya

PS THIS HAPPENED