Nairobi is big, busy, noisy, dirty and cold! There is great poverty, crime, pollution and congestion. Personal safety is a big issue as pick pocketing and mugging and road accidents are real dangers. But it is an interesting place of contrasts and culture, new developments and promise.
There is mains electricity, faster internet, piped water, hot showers, mobile phone reception, coffee shops, cinemas, buses, tarmac and chocolate. I've stayed at a guesthouse full of missionaries and visitors who are coming and going and passing through.
I've had a good few days preparing to return (including sorting a new mobile and broadband at home), doing packing and shopping, saying goodbyes, and doing some evaluation/debrief stuff.
So, I have had my hair cut, travelled on matatus (crazy 14-seater minibuses with music blaring out), met up with folks for coffee, had photos developed, taken a new short termer grocery shopping, been to a colleagues church and home, packed my backs again.
I am looking forward to returning home but I
will be sad to leave here. I have appreciated being immersed in a culture and
environment so different from what I am used to; every day I feel like I am
walking in a geography text book. In many ways daily life has not been that
different. I teach, read, cook, hang out with friends, go to church. But I have
enjoyed the simple living, amazing sunsets, starry skies, smiling children who
want to play, people with big hearts, and seeing how God is working in the
church and wider community.
It hasn't always been easy but I’ve
enjoyed teaching here and being able to weave the good news of Jesus into
ordinary classes and conversations with students. It has been a real privilege
to be a small part of the mission work in Korr and get a taste for
international and cross-cultural missions by supporting the long-term gospel
work.
Being away from everything that is familiar,
missing friends and family (including the arrival of nephew Sebastian), contending with
language and cultural differences, and living communally, all have enabled me to
learn more about God and about me. I feel God has done far more in me this year
than through me as he teaches me to trust him.
After an overnight flight I get back to the UK
early on 16th August. It’ll then be a hectic two weeks moving back
into my house, a family holiday and preparing for the start of the new academic
year.
I am so grateful that I can return to my job
as Geography teacher and Head of Year at LCHS. Once again I will be looking
after the new Year 7 students. I’ll have a different office, different
classroom and different team but I am really looking forward to returning to a
familiar role and I am excited to return to re-join colleagues and students. I
am mindful that gospel work is not limited to special missionaries or far-flung
places and I pray that God will use me there for his purposes.
People here ask me when I will be back in
Kenya. Well as yet I have no plans but I don’t think this will be the last I
see of Africa and I await the Lord’s guidance for the future!
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