Ninja vs Penguin

Penguin May 24th, 2010

Pray for:
- pastoral mentor
- opportunities for God to show up

What happened:
- woke up at 7:10 to travel into Kibera
- Kigan met me at Nairobi Kibera Academy and walked me into the heart of Kibera
- met some of Jah Army; have 6 in this post-high school class; had them share their stories; taught loglines; homework: write 5 loglines
- took the mutatu back to prestige
- did my devos
- went home
- went out to lunch with Ken; went to Westlands mall; had mutton masala
- went to Kibera to teach afternoon class
- continuing to learn Swahili
- went home

Today, I went into the heart of Kibera.

The ground I walked on was covered in garbage trampled by thousands of people. As I climbed the steep slope and crested the hill on to a pair of train tracks, I saw a whole nother world.

I saw the rest of Kibera.

If you’ve seen Slumdog Millionaire, you’ll have an idea of what Kibera looks like.

Kigan, one of the Jah Army, led me to their home, to their HQ. In the midst of the garbage, of the forgotten, of the refuse, there was this group of friends who group up together, who are trying to make it together, who are trying to give back to the community together. Jah Army.

They are artists. Singers, rappers, musicians, illustrators, painters, filmmakers, and photographers.

They use their skill and talent to make statements.

“Burn the rapist”
“Rape is wrong”
etc.

What kind of place is this where signs need to be made to remind people that rape is not a good thing. How does something like that even happen?

Do they embrace their status as disenfranchised? Do they buy into the fact that they are forgotten by the rest of society? Do they accept their lack of dignity as truth?

Whatever the rational responses are, I know that the kingdom of darkness is there. The enemy created the situation and the enemy continues to oppress God’s people, keeping them in bondage.

No amount of NGO work is going to “fix” Kibera or even poverty. Not to say that they shouldn’t try. But there is tremendous arrogance in any individual or any organization who says that they know how to solve poverty.

• Kenya: Day 8 (1)
• Kenya: Day 7 (0)
• Kenya: Day 6 – Week 1 in review (1)
• Kenya: Day 51 – Portraits (1)
• Kenya: Day 5 (1)

Tags: Kenya 2010, Missions, Poverty, Trips

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Penguin May 24th, 2010

What happened:
- went to Nairobi Java House at adam’s arcade; got coffee, chatted w/ Ken
- went to Nairobi Chapel; Oscar Miuri’s, of Urbana fame, church
- went to Ken’s parent’s home
- lunch: rice + beef stew + fresh banana
- Ken loses his car keys for 20 min
- go to Gwatila’s place; met her parents
- went to Junction to watch Robin Hood, but we were already 30 min late
- went to Ken’s place to drop off his Redrock Micro rail kit
- sat around and talked about Zuki, film marketing, Nairobi televesion, and the Nairobi audience
- went home

It was interesting seeing Oscar outside of the Urbana context. So far, both times I’ve seen him speak (the first in class, the second, in person at Urbana 09), he was wearing what I would consider traditional African garb. This Sunday, as he got up to preach, he was dressed in a suit.

I don’t know what I was expecting, but that was definitely not it. In retrospect, it shouldn’t be all that surprising. You look around the crowd, you look at the people on the street, the majority of people are in dress shirts, suits, or the like. For him to wear traditional African dress would NOT be contextual.

That got me to thinking. Urbana, and Intervarsity as a whole, is really big on diversity. I don’t doubt that there are people who still wear traditional African garb, or Japanese people who wear kimonos, but by playing off those stereotypes, perhaps we are perpetuating this idea of differences when, in reality, a lot of these differences have disappeared.

In one of my previous posts, I talk about how Westernized Nairobi(http://www.ninjavspenguin.com/blog/2010/05/21/kenya-day-6-week-1-in-review/) is.

Diversity tends to be a hot issue in American churches. Understandable considering how churches tend to be monocultural. Even the “diverse” churches, still have a predominant culture. Aside from ethnic churches, I would say they are “Amercian”. What these “diverse” churches are really talking about when they talk about diversity, is skin color.

This may say more about race and racism than anything else. It is affirmative action as an ethos. But this isn’t meant to start a discussion on affirmative action.

I think we like to believe that we are a post-racial culture. The reality is that race has come back into the forefront.

Before I continue, I want to make it clear that this pursuit of “diversity” is not a bad thing. And the intentions are often very good. So this isn’t meant as an attack on those churches or their pursuit of “diversity”.

I can’t help but think that if we truly were post-racial, there would be no such thing as race. And genetically, biologically, there is no such thing as race. And just as in the Kingdom of God there is no Jew, there is no Gentile, wouldn’t putting an emphasis on “diversity” bring those differences back?

As I said before, these churches are mono-culturally Amercian. They also tend to be homogenenous in terms of socio-economics as well. Of course, this is often a function of the church’s location. If it’s in an affluent neighborhood, affluent people are going to go. If it’s in a poor area, you’ll have more poor people. Of course, this is a sweeping generalization, but it paints a stark picture.

In fact, you see the same thing in the African churches that I’ve been to. You look around and they’re middle, upper-middle class people of Nairobi. They have the same misconceptions and prejudices of Kibera as a random person from America.

“They’re lazy.”
“It’s disease stricken.”
“It’s dirty.”
“They’re empoverished.”
etc.

Some of those things may be true, but it’s not the complete picture.

There is beauty. People work hard. There is education. There is life.

The thing that stands out is the community’s poverty. Just like there are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation rich. There are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation poor. These are people who, all they have seen and experienced is poverty. They know nothing else. They have no concept of anything else. Therefore, they can’t envision a life or even a way to get out of their situation. The very definition of poverty.

Across the street from Nairobi Chapel is a slum. Right there, on their doorstep. And the thousands of people who attend Nairobi Chapel, Nairobi Chapel it self could do some real change.

I think diversity is a noble goal. I believe it’s a “biblical” goal. If it were true diversity and not just multi-colored mono-cultural “diversity”.

• Kenya: Day 9 (0)
• Kenya: Day 7 (0)
• Kenya: Day 6 – Week 1 in review (1)
• Kenya: Day 51 – Portraits (1)
• Kenya: Day 5 (1)

Tags: Church, Culture, Diversity, Kenya 2010, Missions, Nairobi Chapel, Poverty, Race, Trips

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