FROM GEOFFREY — 29 REASONS TO KEEP ON KEEPING ON

Thursday April 23, 2009

29 Reasons to keep on keeping on

The Mungiki is, hands down, the most feared gang in all of Kenya. Murder, rape, stealing, and dealing drugs are all casual get togethers in their eyes. One of their many victims is a small village in central Kenya called Mathela. The citizens of Mathela are in submission to the Mungiki, they must pay them a certain percentage of their income, rent for staying on their turf, and must allow the Mungiki free access to anything their heart desires: property, young daughters, food, water, money… anything.

The Mathela’s had been trapped in this unfortunate circumstance for quite some time, constantly beat down, taken advantage of and made into victims and decided to fight back. The government and police was made aware of the situation and the illicit actions the Mungiki were taking and yet they stood back and did nothing, party because of corrupt bribing and party due to fear of rubbing the Mungiki the wrong way. The Mathela’s had enough and decided to try to fight back; a few men took to the streets to revolt against the totalitarianism of the Mungiki. The Mungiki brutally took the lives of TWENTY NINE innocent men, women and children by stabbing, beating and burning them to death. They did this to strike fear in the eyes of anyone who dares to question their authority again, no police, no government, and no military have control over this barbaric gang.

Instead of wanting to run with my tail between my legs or taking the next plane out of here, I want to stay. Those twenty nine deaths gave me twenty nine more reasons to stay and devote my time and life towards something bigger than me. These vile murders opened up my eyes to how much this country needs God and helps to realize how big of a difference I can make. The twenty nine mothers who no longer have children to nurse, husbands that will no longer feel the warmth of their wives in the cool of the night, the twenty nine orphans that will have to struggle to make it through the next years and the twenty nine grandparents who will now die alone make evident the need for something bigger than a tax incentive, larger than better infrastructure, more massive than access to education, food and water… something like God.

The threat of losing my life; the idea of being burned to death; thoughts dying for something bigger than me gives my life meaning. I’m not planning on dying or becoming a martyr, but the idea of it doesn’t scare me.

In Acts 14 Paul and Barnabas are boldly preaching the gospel. A group of over-zealous Jews turn a large crowd against them and end up stoning them. I’m not talking about a few pebbles, I am talking about rocks the size of softballs being pelted at their heads; stones that chipped and broke their bones and ravaged their flesh. They barely survived within an inch of their life. Did they give up on preaching? Did they give up on what they believed in? Did they throw in the towel and call it quits? No. They made their way to the next city as they nursed their wounds and professed what they believed in their hearts with more boldness and courage.

These twenty nine deaths give me twenty nine reasons to firmly ground myself here amongst the poor, diseased, vile, dangerous and dying.

Asante,

Mwendwa

Prayer Requests:
The friends and family of the 29 victims
My safety
The youth convention and the youth camp
A generator
The medical staff

Randoms:
The girls here say they don’t fart just like the girls in America… but we all know they do
Their porridge is sour… REALLY sour… and taste HORRIBLE
The water here taste like toilet water
I found a place I can buy small chocolate bars… YYYYYYEEEEAAAAHHH!
They think that zits are contagious
They like the movie “the Gods must be crazy”
Someone gave me sugar cane… white is basically a piece of bamboo

WORD OF THE DAY

Mungu Anakupenda

Moon-goo ana – koo – pen – duh

God Loves You

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.