They defend him because he defended them during the 2007 elections. Whether he committed crimes against the opposing tribe, the Luos, or not is not the question. Of course he did! They know that, just like the Luo candidate committed crimes against humanity by persecuting their tribe, the Kikuyu after the elections. Everyone understand their was violence. Everyone understands their was suffering. What WE didn't see in their argument for him though was that in their eyes, he PROTECTED them from the Luos that were killing their people and burning their homes. In their eyes, he was justified in rallying Kikuyu to fight and kill innocent Luo people because they were doing the same to them and Uhuru Kenyatta, the Kikuyu candidate, was protecting his people. They agreed you should not fight violence with violence because obviously, that gets no one anywhere, but what would you do if you saw your family being killed and your house being burned and you are forced to another part of the country you have never been with 8 children and no food or water? You would fight for the guy who was providing "justice" for you too.
That was a hard pill to swallow. Yes, our goal was still to get them to understand and critically think about what a good leader is and how you choose one, but how do you tell them that the guy who "protected" and " fought back" for them was wrong? You don't fight violence with violence, but when your sitting president isn't doin anything to stop the violence and no other countries are stepping in, you are desperate for a liberator. This realization stopped me dead in my tracks of leading discussion and I actually learned more from them that day than they did from me. For sure. It was one of those humbling moments given by God's grace that allows you to understand more than you teach them that day.
They always say when you go to a foreign country, don't go with expectations of teaching, go with a humble heart that is willing to learn. Everyone says you will learn more from them than they will of you sometimes and we as Americans think that we know the right way, or the best way, and we understand everything but that's just not the case. Yes, these people might live simple lives, but they are not simple-minded in understanding of their culture. Our biggest hope HAS to be to learn, understand, and listen. That way, we can see what their needs are and not just assume we know about how they think and feel. I think I have learned how to approach situations they know more about now with a humble heart and sometimes ask them more questions that I don't already know the answer to. Teaching them how to think critically and for themselves instead of just giving in to the cultural norm or what their parents say about elections, hygiene, or school is our goal. It's a good goal and so revolutionary in a culture where linear thinking does not come naturally but in order to succeed we must first learn to listen, understand, and be humble so we can assess their needs correctly.
After this discussion group though, things simmered down and we got to spend some actual quality time with them! No agenda necessary. This is what happens when they got a hold of my iPad!
This is Ruth. She is one of our paying students and she has been here for 2 weeks now and loves to play with my hair!
Ann- I love this picture of her!
Gladys
Ann Gathoni - She is fastly winning my heart!
Lynette- Our first paying student we received!
Margaret- She is saying "kidosh" in this picture which means "thumbs up!" It's her signature greeting I would say!
Lucy- She certainly has come out of her shell in the past few weeks!
Mary- She is our newest student at the moment and as you can see she had no problem acclamating to the new environment!
My roommate Christine and Ann Wangui
Me and Ann Gathonie- my little presh pot!
Ruth and Ann Wangui
All of the girls minus 2! If you can tell, everytime they take a picture with me, they put my hair on their heads and pretend its theirs!
Christine with Lucy, Josephine, and Margaret
I am laughing because Margaret was pulling my hair over hers to make it look like hers!
My girls :)
Also, a few prayer requests for this upcoming week... The elections are monday, March 4 and although there has been plenty of campaigning for peaceful elections, on the ground, there is a lot of tension between tribes because Uhuru Kenyatta is the leader in the polls and a lot of the country does not want him to win for good reason. BUT, if he loses, the Kikuyu will be upset and violence will break out again. Not to the degree that it did last time because America especially is looking out for any signs of bad behavior to shut down so what happened in 2007 does not repeat itself. However, we are planning on hunkering down next week and stocking up on supplies tomorrow just in case. We will be staying with a few of our teams members so we will all be together in case something were to happen but we live in a peaceful part of Kenya so chances are it won't be too disturbed. BUT, just to be safe we will not be going into the market or to Nairobi until we are sure things are calm.
PRAISE FOR THE WEEK: we have reached 34% of our total goal for the car fundraiser!! We have close to 1400 raised out of 4000 right now and we still have a month until our deadline! W are so excited to hopefully have a car by the end of march and if yall could keep sharing the link on Facebook or go to my Facebook and donate whatever you can, Christine and I will be so grateful! Anyone who knows me knows I hate physical exercise besides sports so walking everywhere isn't my favorite thing to do and especially when we start clubs in far away schools a car would be awesome to have!!! The link is:
http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/Help-Christine-and-Jordan-buy-a-car-for-ministry-in-Kenya-/41234
Lastly, in my next post I will include pictures of the outside of our house and compound because so many keep asking for them so be on the look out!!
http://www.youcaring.com/help-a-neighbor/Help-Christine-and-Jordan-buy-a-car-for-ministry-in-Kenya-/41234
Lastly, in my next post I will include pictures of the outside of our house and compound because so many keep asking for them so be on the look out!!
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