I can’t believe I’m finally in Africa, I’ve wanted to be here since I was about 6 or 7, and it’s everything I’d imagined and more, perhaps a little cooler and wetter, But I’m definitely not complaining about that, makes it feel more like home ;)
We arrived in Kenya early Friday morning and were greeted by five members of PCEA (Presbeterian church of east Africa) Kiambaa, this is the church we are spending time with while we are here. I was amazed to step out of the airport to some cool air, I thought Kenya would be HOT, being on the equator and all! But we had arrived during the wet season so I was glad to hear we would need to take a cardigan and a rain coat with us whenever we left home, feels like home!
We were dropped at the pastoral centre, a hostel used for training etc in the PCEA, fed some dough nuts (square ‘puffs’ of pastry) and tea before we were left to rest for the day, in the evening 4 elders from the church came to visit us and discuss a timetable for the next fortnight. They told us a few young people would come to collect us early Saturday morning for a walk, and we could discuss the rest of the programme on Sunday after church.
Sure enough three young people, Ann, Stanley and Dan showed up, on time, to the hostel ready to spend the day together. First they took us for a long walk, Jenn and I had not prepared well for this at all, I had the silliest little pumps on, which were not at all appropriate for sludging through puddles.
We hopped on a bus, a fourteen seater, or at least it’s meant to be... and headed to the church of the Torch which is the first Presbyterian church in Kenya, and was planted by Scottish missionaries around 120 years ago. Some ministers seemed to be having a meeting inside so we didn’t get in for a look but one minister came out for a chat. He gave us a little history about the church and welcomed us to Kenya.
We headed to the PCEA university for a walk in the gardens, and lunch. During lunch one of the boys asked me if I enjoyed watching football, to which I replied ‘nah, not really, I quite enjoy going to the stadium to watch, but I can’t much be bothered with it on the television.’ Jenn quickly informed me that the boys wanted to watch an English league game and I was being invited to watch it with them. OOPS! I agreed we should go, and I’m glad I did because Man Untd. won, nah only joking, I’m glad I did because it’s a project set up by the young people in the church to discourage the men in the community from going to the pub to watch football at the weekend. And it seems to be working! There was over a hundred locals enjoying (some more than others) the game.
On the way home we stopped off to have a peek at a local wedding, Jenn and I were a little nervous as we weren’t sure how well we would blend in as gatecrashers at a Kenyan wedding!!! And we didn’t, we were only there a few minutes before the groom spotted us, he turned quickly to his groomsmen and his new wife, and before we knew it they had instructed the camera man and he was over with a camcorder in our faces, we were absolutely mortified!
In the evening we rested as we had an early start for church in the morning, the youth service begins at 8.30am. We were again collected to walk to church and met with the people taking part in the service for a prayer beforehand. We were invited to take part in the service by sharing a word or singing a song, we agreed to sing a song. We were led into the service and seated on the stage at the front with some of the young people. The music started and the worship team took to the front. Everyone began singing and harmonising beautifully before shaking their hips and joining in with actions, and even jumping to praise the Lord. It’s so different from the Presbyterian church in Scotland, and to be honest I’m not sure we’d manage the moves, although Jenn and I gave it a good shot.
After the service we met for another prayer before heading meet with the elders before the second service. We all marched in together and one of the elders kindly directed us to our seats, we were moved seconds later to sit with a couple of girls that would translate for us. We could barely believe it when the service began, we started with worship, then the women’s guild got up to sing a song, then the youth group, the choir, another few groups in the church before a couple of artists came forward to share a short message and song. Perhaps we should try this at St Andrews?!
The elder taking the service then asked any visitors to stand, we were then invited to the front to share a bit about ourselves, Soul Touch and our experience of Kenya so far. Andrew, an elder, told the congregation that we would be spending time with different groups every day, they were to give us lunch and dinner and not to make any special allowances for us. He also said we had to be home at the hostel for 7pm?! We then returned to our seats for a short while before we were invited back up to present gifts to students who had performed well in a recent maths exam. Afterwards we heard the sermon and the service finished nearly 3 hours after it had started.
After the service we joined the youth team for some lunch, I think it was Irish stew! Seems to be a common meal in Kenya. We discussed politics, Kenya are about to vote on a new constitution in the next few weeks so this is a very hot topic. After lunch we spent some time in the church gardens with the congregation and Andrew, one of the elders, to discuss the programme for the next week.
The rest of the afternoon was spent playing with the children in the garden. They were fascinated to hear about Scotland and by the way we looked. We are becoming used to hearing local children shouting mzungu (white person) to their friends so they can all great us in a thick African accent, ‘how are you?’ After a busy day we were walked home and told to be ready to be collected at 9.30am the following morning by some more members of the youth group.
Laura <><
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