The summer after my sophomore year of high school, I spent two weeks with a mission team in Nakuru, Kenya. To say that my outlook on life changed is putting it lightly. From that moment, I knew that I wanted to be in Kenya, or whatever country God may call me to, for the rest of my life. I came back and all I could do for weeks was talk about what I saw, what we did, and all about the relationships that were formed during those two weeks.
I talked about it constantly, to the point where I am 99 percent sure even my parents and my best friend were done hearing about it (even though they would NEVER admit that.) I wanted everyone to know about the people who missed almost a fourth of their work every month due to waterborne illnesses. I wanted people to know about the community that had a pastor but was praying for a church building to worship in.
I returned to Nakuru exactly two years later, right before beginning my freshman year of college. We were told to be prepared with a one-minute, five-minute, and a longer summary of the things we experienced while on the trip because there are times for all three. Some people just want to welcome you back to the country, but don't actually want to know about what you did there. Some people want to talk to you for the amount of time they have during the greeting at church, some will want to sit down for coffee, and very few will want to hear everything.
I didn’t expect for that to be as true as it was. Some people weren’t even interested in what we did to serve others, but more interested in knowing about what animals we saw, what touristy things we did, if any, and what the food was like. All of these things are super fun to tell people about, but they aren’t why I go, they aren’t why I want to go back, and they definitely aren’t the first thing I want to spend my time discussing when I return home.
I want to talk about the hard stuff. About that little girl who threw up on my feet on day one, about the woman I saw in the street, about the street boys, about the waterborne illnesses that are keeping people out of work and children out of school. I want to talk about the fact that education does not come first, that when children are hungry they don't use their energy to walk to school, that there are not enough teachers for the amount of students that are going to school. I want to talk about the things that break my heart. I want to talk about the fact that the people in this community have so much less than we do, but are so much happier.
While I would love to tell you all about Hells Gate, and how you get to bike through a scene straight out of "The Lion King," about Lake Nakuru National Park, and the awesome coffee shop we found that makes Americanized pastries, first, let me tell you about what broke my heart. Let me tell you about the things that make it hard for me to return home, and make me want to spend my life in Kenya. Then, and only then, ask me about lions, giraffes, and anything else you possibly want to know.
