the Holiday.

Reflections of the day as I take my steamy hot shower – My time in my hot shower forces me to think about the faces of those whom I see daily, particularly the children who have never experienced warm water to wash off the dirt that they are covered in so often.  It’s a time of reflection and a time that I try to justify all the comforts that I tend to take for granted. 

Today was a Kenyan holiday.  People were off work, and children were released from school to celebrate Jomo Kenyatta day, Kenya’s first president.  When I think about holidays as a kid, I remember my family going to an amusement park, or a free day to play backyard football, or spending the whole day in front of the TV playing my new video game.  I had no responsibility because I was just a kid and kids are supposed to play on their days off, or at least that is what kids in a first world environment expects.  However, today I was not in a first world community, and I saw something quite different. 

This morning I met Esther and Steven.  I saw them throughout my day, but not in a manner you would expect to see an 8 and a 9 year old on a national holiday.  

 I spent my day at our church planning and preparing for our future Vapor soccer field and running track. I arrived to the church this morning and as I was in the field, these 2 little ones came walking up, each carrying 3-liter jugs in both hands, bare foot and barely covered from the cold.  They stopped, sat down their jugs, and greeted us with a smile and a big hug.  They asked for a biscuit (cookie), and they waited around until I checked my bag for any forgotten candies or goodies.  Unfortunately, neither Trishia nor I were in stock.  They picked up their jugs and continued on their journey to the nearest water point, which is about 300 yards down the hill from where we were standing.  We continued on with our work in the field and in about 30 minutes the 2 of them came back through, with the jugs full.  They were visibly struggling; the jugs looked quite heavy as their frail little bodies swayed back and forth to keep their momentum going forward.  About every 50 ft. they had to stop and take a rest and I would catch them turning around and curiously watching us.  When they saw us look at them they would wave and pick up the jugs and keep going.  A few minutes later they appeared with their gear of yellow jugs on their way for more water.  We greeted them again and received the same smiles and hugs as we did earlier.  They moved onward on their trail as they headed to their all to familiar water station.  They came back up that hill with the jugs full and carried out the same routine throughout the day.  I actually started looking for them to come into the gate as I realized that this was their duty the whole day.  I grew more and more interested in them as the day went on because we developed this friendship as we met so many times today.  I could not believe that children at this age were this disciplined and hard working.  Little Esther must have been getting tired because her last 2 trips she only carried one jug and it had been rigged to go on her back to ease the stress on her skinny arms. 

As I was leaving the church and the sun was setting I met my new friends coming for one last trek.  I couldn’t resist one last hug from them both. As I walked out of the church gate I turned around to see the brother and sister I had grown to love heading back down that hill. 

 What would seem like an exhausting day to us is a normal day by day routine for these two supporters for their family.  We are grateful that God reveals His strength and His sustaining power thru varying context: in this day, it became visible thru the hard-working presence of an 8 & a 9 year old.  Meetings such as these truly shed perspective on the importance of life and the means of survival that so many face within a third world environment. Our resources and our means in the States is abounding and we pray that as our hearts are stretched within this context that our lives will be centered on the perspective and the importance of a life spent following after Christ.