Our day began with a visit to the Leggio Maria Church and ended with an 8 mile walk throughout Kisumu. The Leggio Maria Church, an Umoja participant, sprang from the Catholic Church in Kenya. They believe that Jesus came twice. The first appearance was the biblical Jesus and the second appearance was an African Jesus. The Leggio Maria Church began in Kenya in 1963, after the African Jesus came.
Next, we attended a meeting for the Umoja Project at the Sianda Primary School. We met teachers, students, and home stay hosts, and also learned more about the activities we would participate in while in Kenya. This was a wonderful experience, where we learned more about the role the church plays in reconciling education, familial and development issues.
After the meeting, myself, Laura, Leah, Linda, Lindsey and Lydia walked all over Kisumu in Kenya. Leah and Linda work for the Umoja Project in Kenya, and Laura, a past intern, has led me, Lydia and Lindsey. The goal was to familiarize us Duke interns with the Kisumu region, so that we could properly navigate the city during our home stays. We saw the markets, banks, Nakumetts, Ana Khan hospital and fair-trade shops. We also had the opportunity to learn about landmarks, matatas, and tuk-tuk’s.
Overall, the experience was wonderfully enriching, though equally exhausting. Learning one’s way around a new city is both simultaneously exciting and daunting, because you are like a newborn baby. Learning requires you to operate like a sponge who is ready, willing and able to absorb everything. This journey in Kenya requires us to walk by faith and not by sight. Being unfamiliar with our surroundings required myself, Lydia and Lindsey to follow and not lead; to trust without questioning our leaders, and; to listen and not speak. Today we were led. I believe that God shows us as much about ourselves in leadership opportunities, as God does in moments of pilgrimage. This short time in Kenya allows me to “be still and know that I [God] am God.”
Although we were sweaty, tired and dirty when we returned to St. Anna’s, our lives were that much richer and more beautiful because of the experiences we had that day.
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