Life-Changing Mission Trip to Kibera Slum

Going to Kenya on a Catholic young adult mission trip with CARITAS For Children was one of the best decisions I have made.  I have never experienced so much in one week before. It went from seeing Lion King trees (acacia), to robe lights, to run-down buildings, child beggars, zebras, slums, garbage, exotic flowers, giraffes, and other African animals.  I did as many things in a week as one might in a month.  I'm surprised I haven't died from exhaustion!  Although, we did get a few days that we got to sleep in‚ at least until 8:30, which was late for us! 

Our trip to Kibera slum was unforgettable.

Kibera is the largest slum in Africa, and second largest in the world.  We went to a nursery school right outside the slum, and if you wanted to find a school for charity, this school fits every word for the meaning of 'charity'.  More than ¬æ of the children at this Catholic school don't pay fees because their parents are too poor to pay them.  It is a small little place that somehow manages to suffice for about 95 children in all. The Little Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi run this nursery school (preschool) for children age 3-6 in cooperation with funding provided by generous sponsors of CARITAS For Children. The headmistress of the school, Sr. Lucy, has put forth so much for these children.  She made sure there were uniforms for each child because she didn't want them to feel uncomfortable about being in rags.  The uniforms made them look clean, tidy, and unified.  There is porridge for breakfast and then some type of lunch every day - and that could be the only food these children eat that day.  There isn't much money going into the school, basically all donations.  Sr. Lucy must beg all the time to other schools and Sisters in order for these children to have food.  It doesn't even stop there.  The desks are really only metal benches that are about 2 feet off the ground (for 4 yr. olds I guess that's ok), and during naptime they have to sleep on them.  There isn't enough money to buy them mats to sleep on. There is not even enough money to pay the teachers, so their pay is being able to live at the school.  Didn't you ever think, when you were little, that teachers lived at school?  Well, here they actually do.

After the school day and all the children were picked up, Sister took Michelle, Andrea, and I around the slums so we could see for our own eyes what the living conditions were.  Some people tried burning the whole slum down about 3 years ago, leaving many people homeless.  It may not being the most physically pleasing place to be, but it was still people's homes and then they were gone. Obviously, it had not gotten rid of the slum, but it still did a good amount of damage.  Words can't even describe what I was seeing with my two eyes.  Honestly, pictures don't even express half of what I was witnessing.  I did not take as many pictures as I had wanted to, because sometimes the people do not really like that. (I snuck a few in though.) I couldn't believe what I was all looking at.  Everywhere I looked, I was in utter amazement.  Dead rats, human feces, garbage every square inch (thank goodness I wore my Toms!), people selling whatever they could find to sell - and they sold it in their little market that was right in the middle of working train tracks! There were shops on each side of the tracks with maybe 5-10 feet between the two.

But in the midst of all that poverty and deplorable living conditions, do you know what?  I believe that there is some beauty everywhere you go. The flowers were so vibrant and exuberant, that once you looked at them, everything went away and your eyes were transfixed on these gorgeous things.  Don't ask me what they were called because I have no idea.

Kibera, you have changed my life and make me want to give so much more.  Thank you for making me appreciate all that I have 100 times more then I ever have had before!  Such an 'awakening' is what one experiences while on a mission trip.  There is so much to see, so much to learn, and so much to impact one's life for the better.  If you get a similar chance, take it!  You can learn more information Here about Catholic mission trips, internships, and volunteer possibilites through CARITAS For Children.

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