No millionaries in this slum…

Wikipedia has an article on Kibera that is worth looking at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibera

Our photographs are here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/moderator08.09/NoMillionairesInThisSlum?feat=directlink

On Wednesday 13th we had the privilege of being taken into a Bible school in the heart of Kibera, where some faithful souls seek to train and support pastors who minister not just in Kibera but throughout all the slums of Nairobi. They have two campuses with over a hundred enrolled pastors at the other one and about 50 at this one.

Many of these pastors have not even completed secondary education, so the classes are often very simple Bible studies to cover the basics. Language is also a problem as most of the literature (what little they can get hold of) is in English and is often quite technical, so it is hard to understand for someone whose grasp of English is rudimentary.

David Leek, who is the HR manager for MAF Kenya, teaches at the school occasionally and it was he who organised for us to visit. We parked our cars in a neighbouring suburb, behind the security fence/gate/guard that I’m begining to get familiar with but still find cultrually very challenging.

A young man called Dixon kindly came to meet us and lead us through the maze of lanes for a walk of perhaps 20 minutes through some of the worst mud and garbage mixture that I’ve ever experienced! Poor Duncan and David (Pearce, that is, not Leek, who knew better) both had just sandals on their feet and had to wash off in the bath once we got home.

Despite the social depravity, it’s not like folk were just sitting around doing nothing. Quite the reverse. The laneways were a buzz of activity, stall upon stall of everything imaginable – household goods, clothes, shoes, furniture, small electical goods, etc, etc – not unlike the Vic Market, but bathed in mud and visibly much poorer.

The Bible school meets in a decent enough room above a modest church, but the children’s school next door, a ministry of the church, was really quite heartbreaking. About 30 kids are taught in a single classroom with almost no equipment or books and outside, their playground resembled the worst kind of farmyard. I know we saw it at its worst in the mud, but even dried out it couldn’t be much better.

Yet, the welcome we received, both in the Bible school and in the children’s school, where we poked our heads in to say hello, was incredibly warm and friendly. They even help to wash and brush the mud off our shoes (in Duncan and David’s case, off their feet) when we arrived.

Class began at 8am with about 20 minutes of sponteneous African praise. Beautiful, enthusiastic, enrestrained praise of God Almighty from the heartfelt gratitude of people saved by grace.

I was then invited to lead a 15 minute devotion before they began their studies. I spoke from the story of Lazarus about the utter inability of a dead person to obey the commandment, ‘Lazarus, come out’. Salvation is a miraculous work of God in the life of one who is spiritually dead in his sins. I wanted to encourage these pastors with the knowledge that the success of the gospel is not about their own efforts or abilities but that God in his grace as called us to partner with him in his work.

I then had a breif discussion with the leader of the school about their needs, but to be honest their was nothing he could tell me that I couldn’t guess. They desperately need financial support and decent Bible literature. Many of the students can’t even afford the 500KES (less than A$10) per term fees, but the school never turns them away.

Despite their obvious hardship, they hope to open a third school in another slum sometime soon.

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