Sam.Bretzmann's Blog
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I heart street boys
- Posted on 06.17.09
Hey!
I am in an internet cafe in Kenya and i dont know how much time i have, so I am going to type as much as i can and i apologize if it ends abruptly.
This last week has been exhausting, challenging, and eye-opening.
We have spent much of our time in the slums and it was taking a toll for a while on me, but today was much better and tomorrow we get to go plant a garden which should be a nice little break...im hoping.
The biggest thing that i want to write about our the street boys.
They are orphans or run aways who are living homeless in the slums.
Addicted to industrial strength glue sniffing, they carry around glue bottles in their sleeves. You can get a contact high from just being around.
They are literally high or drunk 365 days a year.
The majority in the community disown them.
They are a rag-tag bunch.
Picture the lost boys from Hook, but with no hope and a glue sniffing addiction.
A group of us were blessed enough to be able to hang out with them for 4 days and it was an incredible experience.
It is amaizng what happens when you do the simplest things. When you treat people with love, no matter who they are or what they are doing.
These are good kids that society has labeled as outcasts and given up on.
They need love and someone to give them hope.
The first day we were there, at lunch, the people working with us that lived there ushered us into a room to eat by ourselves, while the street boys ate out on the grass. We found that odd and just wanted to eat with the boys, thats the reason we ended up being there for (the initiall reason was to build showers, but contractors were doing that and we couldnt help much).
So we went outside and ate with them.
I dont know how to put into words how that affected them. We were told we were the first group to do that.
We were very happy and blessed to have had such an impact (experiences like that continued to happen throughout the week and every time it was the small things, just hanging out with them, that made the biggest impact), and at the same time disheartened at the image that the "muzungos" (white/rich person) have established for ourselves.
The concept of missionaries ( i feel odd refering to us as that, really i feel like we are on an adventure and we should be living the same ways we would be at home) spending time and eating with the people they are going to serve shouldnt be foriegn, but at least in the places we were it is.
Their previous experiences consisted of lining the street boys up on one side with the missionaries or whoever on the other, and the missionaries lecturing them on how they should straighten their lives out.
Cant people see that if they dont first exlemplify love, whatever they have to say is going to be no more than clanging cymbols.
(sorry if that came off as a rant)
Anyway, im sure they had good hearts and intentions coming in, but really?
My challenge for you this week is to go and spend a meal with a homless person. Get to know them, their name, what they do, what they aspire to do, their dreams and goals.
My time is running out, but lastly, if you could continue praying for us, that is more than we could ask for.
We have some people who arent feeling the greatest.
Let us love. Let us be loved. That we all may grow.
-Sam
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Hey, Sam...
This one brought me to tears. Thanks for what you're doing over there and for teaching us the lessons that you're learning... and thanks for squeezing in the time at the Internet Cafe to let us hear from you. I know those moments to connect are rare, so thanks for thinking of all of us back home...
Prayers that God keeps your group and everyone you come into contact with physically, emotionally and spiritually lifted up... In His Name,
Joci's mom