Life Learning in Kenya

This blackboard is an image representing my learning about life and the world here in Kenya.  Life, for me, is enriched engaging the Kenyan pastors and people.  Learning comes to life when life comes to learning.

My students amaze me with their eager spirits and persistent efforts to learn all that they can about teaching and about God. I'm teaching in a developing nation, to 22 men and woman whose lives are hard by any measurement.  Their tools are rudimentary, when they are available.  And, their call to serve God is passionate. This bouquet of hope-at-work draws me in and encourages my own spirit.

The blackboard on the left is old, worn and ready for class everyday.  It sits at the front of a shed-like wooden church in Murthura, Kenya. The chalk, although limited in supply, is freely given.  The teaching finds enhancement with student focus and participant willingness to jump into drama, experiential learning, academic information and practical application.  The blackboard leaps to life with the enthusiastic learning of the lives gathered.

Today my class served me black tea, instead of Kenyan tea (Kenyan tea starts as black tea a then mixed about half and half with boiled milk, then generously sweetened with unprocessed sugar), all because one person noticed that I preferred that yesterday at a meal.   What loving hospitality!

I can't help but wonder if I would be so dedicated in my calling if my context had half as many impediments and challenges as those attending my class.  I am reminded of how privileged I am to serve with a full complement of tools and support. My Kenyan experiences are inviting me to consider ways to more fully employ the gifts at my disposal and challenge others to do the same.

All these thoughts from a simple blackboard, a basic class, and the family of God.  I am blessed!  In all of this what gifts might I be treating as entitlements, instead of wealth?  I wonder.  How would you answer the same question for yourself?

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