God's Daughters in the Darkness
by Jane Sutton"Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." - Matthew 18:4
"God is in this house," neighbors say of the Wangui family's small concrete home along a muddy road in Kariobangi, a slum of 50,000 on the outskirts of Kenya's capital city, Nairobi. God is here, welcomed by a slender 13-year-old girl named Wanja, whose faith has already influenced her older sister Betty, and resonated beyond these walls.
If ever there was a place that sorely needs the light of Jesus, it is the Nairobi slums. The crushingly poor urban squatter settlements have come to represent the frustration and disillusionment of those who moved from rural areas hoping to find better lives, only to wind up scraping for food and shelter in overcrowded conditions.
Damaged hopes twist into all manner of evil. In a frightened whisper, Wanja's mother, Lily, speaks of everyday realities - men breaking into homes and raping the women inside, first the young, then the old; youths, drunk on cheap, locally brewed liquor, beating up their own mothers; street kids, called "parking boys," begging for money and brandishing knives at those who refuse.
Lily, a heavyset woman with a sweet smile, struggles to raise seven children alone here, a task difficult in itself. But in 1991, her elderly mother fell sick with cancer. Lily had to buy medicine which cost more than she earned as a city janitor.
Wanja, then 8, gave her beleaguered single mother some trouble by being argumentative and sometimes disobedient - behavior perhaps learned from the other children in the slums. But the girl also suffered from the new demands on family funds. She grew thin and had to wear shoes so tattered that water easily soaked through them.
At the time, World Vision worked through schools to identify children for sponsorship, and an observant teacher noticed the changes in Wanja. When the girl became sponsored she received much more than the basic benefits of school fees, a uniform, and shoes. Almost immediately, a new world opened up to her.
While being fitted for her school uniform, Wanja had one of her first conversations about God with a World Vision staff member. They ended with a thankful prayer. A few days later, a bedraggled, hungry man followed Wanja home from school at lunchtime. Lily hoped he would stay outside. But Wanja, with uncommon insight, explained that God can come in any form, so they should treat the man with respect and compassion, and serve him a meal as good as theirs. Lily says, "I saw that she was more informed than me."
Wanja reached a turning point in 1993 when she attended a Christian youth camp over school holidays. As part of Christian witness efforts, World Vision pays expenses for children to attend such church-operated excursions, often held in wilderness areas outside Nairobi. During the weeklong camp, Wanja joined other children on hikes and in various Christian lessons. She listened to her new friends talk about their relationships with God. They told her, "If you are saved, you lead a blessed life."
When Wanja came home, Lily says, she was transformed into a serene and happy child. She had accepted Christ as her savior. Shortly thereafter, she was baptized at the Kenya Baptist Church of God.
Since then, Wanja's radiating glow has set her apart from the other children in her neighborhood. Her ingenuous demeanor and beautiful smile express what she is too shy to say about her faith experience.
"Wanja had something in her that made me think more about God," Betty recalls of Wanja's return from camp. Then 19, the elder daughter was given to "wildness" born of hopelessness and confusion about her future. "I didn't know what life would be like for me," says Betty, now an articulate 22-year-old woman. "I wanted to be someone in the world, but I was scared."
Fear of the future as well as the hardscrabble present affects many Kariobangi youth, who escape into diversions such as discos where they get drunk on local alcohol, changaa, cheap at 40 cents per bottle. Drugs are also widely available, particularly a locally grown leaf called khat. Girls become sexually active as young as 10.
"Children can be very bad at an early age here," Lily says. "Some mothers regret that they brought children into the world."
Wanja asked Betty to accompany her to church. At first Betty refused. But impressed by her little sister's faith, she began attending services, and during an altar call, she went forward to accept Christ into her life.
"I felt a change, something new and something strong," Betty says, her eyes shining.
"Life is different now," she says. "I go to church. I stopped listening to crazy music. I have new friends."
Betty is now focused on a career in graphic design, which grew out of a love for drawing. She recently completed a design course and hopes to find work in a Nairobi advertising firm. In the meantime, she designs posters for church and explores her second interest, children's ministry.
"I really like to be with kids," she says. "They love godly things. They ask questions, and we discuss things like 'How do I become a child of God?'" Betty tells them about Wanja's experience and her own.
The girls have become well known in the surrounding slum neighborhoods. They are "people of God," admired by mothers who hope their daughters follow the Wangui sisters' example. Although attractive and single, Betty says she is not sexually pressured by young men. "They know I'm saved, and they respect me," she says.
While the other houses on the block have been burglarized, the Wanguis have never been attacked, an omission so rare that Betty can only attribute it to the neighborhood's new esteem for the family. Yet Lily still lays her hand on the door each night and asks for God's protection.
The love of Jesus exhibited by her daughters has deeply affected Lily. But the illiterate woman finds herself in a seemingly uncompromising position. Unable to afford rent, she lets a male neighbor pay it, for which he expects sexual favors. Without another place to live with her children or prospects for a better job, Lily can only sigh wistfully, "The time will come when I'll give my life to the Lord."
Betty and Wanja pray for salvation within both their family and the community. "There are so many needs," Betty says. "If everyone would be saved, there would be a lot more love here."
Postscript: Lily Wangui accepted Christ in June 1996.
| World Vision's Breakthrough Work in the Slums |
| The influx of people into urban centers in the developing world has created complex problems and widespread human suffering. In Nairobi, Kenya, half of the estimated 2 million population lives in slums where overcrowding leads to disease and crime. World Vision, in Nairobi and elsewhere, enables the poor to help themselves through Area Development Projects (ADPs). Soweto and Kariobangi ADPs in Nairobi's slums target AIDS patients and their families in health programs; help families afford astronomical school fees for their children through sponsorship; and start income generating activities which put families on the road to starting their own businesses. But the most crucial element of World Vision's work is spiritual: revealing Jesus and the good news of the gospel to hopeless urban squatters. World Vision holds Bible studies for AIDS patients and street children, and works with local pastors to bring people together in worship. |
Copyright 2000 World Vision Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission. 1-888-511-6598 http://www.worldvision.org
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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