Zeek

How in the world did I think this was going to be easy?!

It is SO HARD. So heartbreaking.
I never really expected this. My heart is breaking for the people around me who, just down the street, live in shacks and mud houses. How most of them are unable to retrieve clean water for themselves and their children. How their little mud home is smaller than my room! How they have to work so hard all day to earn enough money to live in the slum. Which yes, they have bills to pay in a mud house! How insane is that? I would never pay the government jack if I lived in such conditions!

But these people inspire me. They are so grateful.
Today we were invited to Zeek's home. Zeek is the night guard for our house here. As I sat in this man's tiny home and listened to him talk about his dreams for his life and his family, my heart broke. Aside from guarding our house at night, Zeek runs a small business of repairing shoes on the side of the streets of Kibera. He makes just enough money to pay off his monthly bills, school bills for his four children, and buy some food for his family. Zeek wishes to become a bus driver in Nairobi. But that requires going to school and paying more money as well as giving up a job to make room for school. Zeek mentioned how thankful he is to God that he is still alive and able to support and care for his family. He says that without God's strength to live, his stay-at-home wife, four children, and ill mother, would not survive on their own.

I have met Zeek and many other believers from the slum who are more grateful than I would ever be in their position. It is seriously unbelievable what people have to live through in the slum. I never imagined it to be this tragic.

This is a general African food called Chapati. Very hard to get used to but probably the best African food I've tried so far.