There is so much to tell you about the last 2 or so weeks that I'll have to split it into two posts. The reason I've been out of touch for a while is that I've been in rural Kenya with no internet access. Which brings me to the story of what I've been doing
I travelled up to Kenya with Fr. Abraham, and Dalia and Fr. Mark for the 1st Annual Mission Conference in the Coptic Orthodox Diocese of African Mission. When we arrived in Nairobi, we were driven to the Coptic Centre there, which is much bigger and busier than ours in Lusaka. The Hope Centre for HIV in Nairobi is one of the biggest infectious disease centres in all of Africa and is supported by the US Presidential fund. It was pretty overwhelming, but we were only staying there one night because the next day we had to get to Maseno in the Western part of Kenya. Unfortunately, it seemed no-one had told them I was coming so they had prepared 3 places to stay the night and 3 seats on the plane to Maseno in the morning. Still it wasn't a big problem, they found me a place to stay and the next morning I was taken at 5.30am to the bus station to get a seat on the 9-hour bus to Maseno, which was survivable.
When I arrived, everyone was already out on mission; the conference didn't start officially until the day after I arrived, but the majority of the group had been there for up to 2 weeks already and were right in the swing of things. Even though a lot of people were out, there was still lots of work to be done at the monastery we were staying at, and I had to get right to it with the others. What was quite amusing was that as my old friends from London would arrive back at the compound, I would run up to greet them and be met with a puzzled and at times slightly frightened look. I forgot that no-one had seen me with a beard (which is quite thick now) and it was taking everyone a few moments to figure out who I was.
Anyway, the conference itself was absolutely mental, but really amazing. I think the monastery had never taken more than 30 or so people before, and there were now over 200 from all around the world, sleeping in 3 level bunk-beds and wherever we could find room. The water, electricity and boiler systems didn't exactly cope with the extra load of so many people, so we often went without those things. But still, none of this dampened spirits, and with so many people, we could really do a lot in the local area. A few things stand out:
For the first time, we were granted access to the local high-security prison in Kisumu and the experience was amazing. The justice system in Kenya is not always the best unfortunately, so a significant proportion of those in prison are innocent of any crime. Several of those who are guilty have committed crimes under the influence of alcohol or out of poverty or desperation. The people there were really quite inspirational, often very honest and decent and with an incredible determination and strength of character. When we first entered we were greeted by 2000 prisoners who were assembling in the grounds. What they wanted more than anything was to hear the Word of God, so it became a sort-of massive open-air church service with singing and praying and preaching. We also distributed some food from the outside world to them and on the three occasions that we visited, we ran a mobile medical clinic to supplement their usually poor access to health-care. One small group (unfortunately I was busy with the clinic) went onto death row with one of the priests to visit the prisoners awaiting execution. I've been told that they were truly amazing people, and that they literally jumped at the opportunity for Fr. John to take their confessions.
Visitations in the Maseno area were amazing. I've had the chance to visit plenty of homes in my stay in Africa but this was the most rural place that I had been, and it was truly village life. Visiting the people there, you just get blown away by their kindness and generosity. Three groups returned from visitations with live chickens as gifts that they simply were not allowed to refuse. The meal that I shared with one fellowship group was one of the best I have ever had. Ugali (the staple diet of a lot of central and southern Africa, a softish stuff made of boiled maize flour and eaten by hand) with spinach relish and sweet Kenyan tea. Very simple but delicious. And of course, the singing was amazing; at one fellowship the locals had gathered into a small choir and been practicing for when visitors come.
Another part of village life is that not necessarily all the churches have a building. Two of the churches in the Maseno parish are simply shady spots under a tree and I had the pleasure of praying a liturgy in one of them; St. Moses. It was like nothing else to be have a service out in the open, able to look up to the sky or look out over the rolling hills. We also had the chance to drive down to Lake Victoria to spend the afternoon, and it was pretty stunning. Actually getting there was a story in itself. With so many people, we had to come up with new ways of carting everyone round. One method was to cram 80 or so people into our 28 seat bus. The other was to make use of the massive articulated lorry that the monastery has, with almost 100 people standing like cattle as we drove to Lake Victoria. Fun times.
The one thing though that blew me away more than any of that was the way that God was working in people's lives during the conference. When you're out in the middle of nowhere, doing things outside of your comfort zone, you rely on Him so much more and then amazing things happen. Also being surrounded by so many amazing people and so many great priests is really spiritually uplifting. There were so many people I spoke to, for whom this was their first real experience of service and spending time with God, and the way that it changed them was truly humbling. It's so easy to get caught up with life back home and live just for ourselves, but here in the mission, you feel the power of something bigger than yourself and realise how amazing a life of love and service to others can be. I thank God every day for the opportunity to be here.
Ok, I think that's enough for Part 1. Part 2 coming up.
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