Day Six - The day that changed everything

Today I went with Jeffeth and David to Kibera, the third largest slum in all of Africa. Jeffeth grew up in Kibera but hasn't been back there in almost 5 years. So the journey back was tough, but as we walked inside he immediately began to see guys that he had grown up with and they picked up right were they had left off. In Kibera community, FAMILY, is very important. Everyone takes care of one another. We interviewed a guy named James that stressed this point, he said that in the ghetto if you have something your brother needs, you give it to him because everyone in the ghetto is your brother, your sister. He said "Growing up here is hard and we don't have a lot, but we have family" That was powerful to me...I don't even know the name of my next door neighbor. As we walked the unbelievably cramped streets we were stepping over garbage and feces and among that were hundreds of children. Kibera is just under 1 square mile large and over 1 million people live there. The biggest injustice to me was that among these 1 million people there is ONE toilet, and you have to pay to use it! Toilets are so expensive that no one can have one...and the land is so sparse that they can't even dig a hole, so they have created "flying toilets". A "flying toilet" is when you use a bag, cover the bag in mud and throw it up on the roof to dry out in the sun. All over the tin roofs you can see the "flying toilets"...I will NEVER complain about the condition of a gas station bathroom again! Kibera is riddled with crime, rape and murder. It's beyond description! As we walked we ran into four boys that had grown up with Jeffeth and as he asked about three more that he had known they told him they had been shot and killed just a month ago. The police will shoot to kill and ask questions later in Kibera. It was very hard for Jeffeth to hear. But the conversation quickly turned to Jesus and as Jeffeth began to share the Gospel with them they sat on the railroad tracks and for almost 30 mins. he told them that hope was found in Jesus, that the way out of the ghetto was Jesus, that if they would put their trust in God, He would sustain them. After we prayed with them and said goodbye we left Kibera and I was changed!

As we started to walk back to the car near the market a young boy came up and asked me for money I immediately began to take out my money but Jeffeth said it was better to take the boy to a restaurant and get him a meal...so as we started to walk with him toward the restaurant Jeffeth asked him his name, Francis, he was 8 years old and lives with his grandmother because both of his parents have died of AIDS. Pretty soon another boy came up and so we brought him along as well. His name was Newton, and he was 10. Newton's fate was similar to Francis, he too was an orphan because of AIDS, but Newton has no one...he is on the streets on his own!!! Just before we got to the restaurant another boy also named Francis came up and Jeffeth knew him. He said that Francis was one of 6 boys that he had been witnessing over the last four years because they all sniff glue to get high. As we walked we offered Francis a meal as well, but he asked if we could buy him some corn meal instead. What Jeffeth didn't know about Francis was that 3 years ago his father died of AIDS and just a month ago his mother died of AIDS as well. 15 year old Francis was now the sole caretaker of his 7 year old sister. So he wanted the corn meal to take home for his sister. WOW. I have prayed and sang songs asking God to break my heart for what breaks His, but THIS was too much. You can read about people like Francis and his sister Shiela and you can feel a tug on your heart...but to look into his eyes and see the desperation and the sadness is TRULY heart -breaking!