Mathare Valley Slum: The Testing of Job

Each 6 ft. x 8 ft. shack in Mathare Valley represents a whole family in a state of suffering. As many as twelve people live in these shaky structures. Plastic bags or bed sheets are often draped as the dividing walls between one hovel and the next. Blood and sweat-soaked bedding clings to small pads built to sleep five at a time. The dirt floors are inundated with urine.

They are dark, smelly, hot and humid places. 

We visit Mary. She is 48 years old but looks as if she is 60. She is fragile and emaciated...her gaunt and withered body ravaged by the scourge of AIDS. The disease that torments her has already taken all seven of her children. Her remaining grandchild, Eunice, is a quiet 6-year old that has seen more than her fair share of agonizing deaths.

Our church partners are preparing her for the life of an orphan.

Mary’s face lit up when Eunice entered the room. She holds much joy and hope for this little girl – the only child free of AIDS, the only child able to carry on the family legacy...even as she carries the burden and shame of being an AIDS orphan.

Mary’s hope is that Eunice can get an education, but she can’t afford the $12 per month for school fees. The rent to the slumlord for her paltry shack is also $12 each month. In a country where few even make $1 per day, the $24 monthly expenditure is simply more than she can bear. There would be hardly any money left over for food and medicine.

One of our film crew was moved with compassion and reached into their heart and wallet to fund both the school fees and rent for an entire year.

Pocket change for us...life change for them.

That one-year commitment is probably longer than Mary has left in this world.

Amini and Soumu are sisters. Nine and eight years old respectively, they have already lived some hard years as orphans. They are both HIV positive. Their grandmother, also named Amini, is trying desperately to feed them and the other children in her home. Soumu is mentally and physically handicapped, but that doesn’t stop her from offering a broad smile and tight embrace. She is especially vulnerable to be stigmatized, ostracized, and exploited. When her grandmother Amini dies, Soumu would be cast as a helpless and defenseless casualty of wicked men...but the church stands ready to step in for her rescue.

After our house visit, grandmother Amini walked with me. She was grateful for our love and prayers and said that she would like Jesus to be her Savior someday. I told her that He is already her Savior and that the day is now...all she had to do was say yes. Her response was to throw her arms high into the air and excitedly exclaim, “Well then, I say yes...yes!”

Nancy is in her early forties and already has five children. She and her husband both entered the hospital at the same time and were jointly diagnosed with AIDS. Her husband died there and she lost the use of her legs there. Death and paralysis mercilessly claimed these espoused victims in tandem. The role of Nancy’s youngest daughter instantly changed from one of a frolicking, playful child into one of the chief caregiver. Another transition will also soon occur...from the nursemaid of her mother to yet another orphaned child in the slums of Nairobi.

(Image: Nancy and child)

We asked Nancy how, besides the obvious, we can pray for her. With great enthusiasm she said, “I am saved, you can indeed pray for me. God will listen!”

Even as these people struggle with lives reminiscent of the testing of Job, they find love, find hope, find joy...find God. The Church is the torchbearer. The Church delivered us to their doorsteps and into their stories. The Church continues to invest time and love into them. The Church rescues and redeems. Broken, infected earthly bodies are given the assurance of cleansing and glorification.

...And the promise that orphans will be orphans no more.

Comments

[Sarah]

I love to hear the personal stories, though sad as they are. It helps me to connect and to feel as if I was there also.

[Cheri]

I am very blessed to have been there and seen and heard the stories of rescued children. Blessed be the name of the Lord!!