Sunday Mass ... with a twist ... part II
Trip Start
Dec 12, 2009
1
6
Trip End
Dec 29, 2009
Mukuru Slum - Introduction, Nairobi Area, Kenya
Sunday, December 13, 2009
We kiss our hellos and I'm struck be how meek and quiet J is ... and yet she has a steely stare the makes me feel a little ill at ease ...
We jump in a car with Simon (Gary's new found friend) our driver and we head towards Mukuru slum ... as we drive through the city we first pass all the government buildings in the city centre ... Nairobi is not quite a modern city, more a step back into the 1970's ... but as we pass through Uhuru park (no it is not named after the communications officer on the Starship enterprise!) the buildings begin to deteriorate as we exit the city centre heading towards the Industrial zone where the Mukuru slum lies ...
We pause at a light where yet another road accident has taken place ... this one involving an oil tanker ... the road is a mess ... but we make our way past it.
I'm told we are guest of honour at J's church today ... interestingly the word "church" conjours up an image in my mind ... one which is shortly afterward shattered into a million little pieces as we pass what looks like a shack made with scrap wood and rusty corrugated iron for a roof ... this, J says, "is a typical church for the area" ...
As we enter the shabby Industrial zone dotted with rusty hulks of trucks and smelly old factories I begin to notice side streets of mud and waste materials ... we pause at one such street only to decide it is too impassible for our little white car, so we pick up N (J's eldest) as guide ... he greets me with a friendly warm smile and hops in the car to help us find another route to our destination ...
As we drive under his guidance the cracked and potholed road beneath us gives way to a concrete mess that looks like the aftermath of a major quake, buildings disappear and are replaced by waste land ... eventually the "road" deteriorates altogether into complete mud and becomes impassible as we reach the edge of the slum ...
Nervously, I get out of the car as we begin the walk that will take us the rest of the way to J's church ... I chat to N as we hop from mud hump to mud hump on our way past tiny wooden shacks with rusty corrugated roofs interspersed with open street shops (basically a shop is everything laid out on the mud) selling everything from shoes to what looks like entrails from a chicken ... around us children are playing in the mud and the filth ... this is what makes up the Mukuru slum ... as a rich white person you are an oddity here and it is noticeable in the way people stare at you ... children are either gazing at you in amazement or, the braver ones are shouting "Jambo" as you pass with big smiles to welcome you and hands ourstretched to shake yours ... some people are even grateful for our visit ...
"you're lucky" says N ... "when it rains badly here you can't move in the street" ... "because of the mud?", says I ... "yes" says he ... "it can be so bad you sink to your hip and people regularly lose footwear" ... I'm unable to find a suitable comment to fit the situation so I follow silently ...
After what seems like and endless walk through streets of grime we are led into one of the shacks ... this is J's church ... "The Grace Restoration Worship Centre" ... From the outside you can hear the loud noises as the faithful celebrate mass ... inside it is hot and sticky and full of mostly young children with some adults ... a noisy ancient PA system with no Bass at all splits our eardrums with the sound of the preachers, three women who look in the 20's, 30's and 40's, singing gods praise ...
We are led to a table which has been especially laid out for us complete with table cloth and seat covers at the front of the church ...
The atmosphere inside this little shack is hot and intense ... I call it a shack to enable an image to be evoked in the mind, from this point on I'll refer to it as the church to mark it with the respect it deserves ... but let that not change the image in your mind!
In thier tiny little church J's congration celebrate their mass in ways I never dreamed of ... not the contrived "lets try to be cool and have a guitar" folk massess of the RC tradition where I was raised ... but a frenzy filled excitment that encapsulates the whole congragation with singing and dancing and plays and stories to be told ... the service lasts several hours ... these people are celebrating their faith, not mourning it as we do in RC ... it seems to me more genuine, a happy affair ...
From the back of the church a group of young singers including Jo and N chant their way to the altar ... where they sing their hearts out in celebration ... later the younger children have prepared a play especially translated and performend in English for us honoured guests from the west ... it is all very intense ... but the children are enjoying themselves ...
Finally we are asked to speak to the congration ... I am honoured to do so ... but what to say to people who live in these conditions?? ... I make the point about their celbrating their faith while we mourn ours ... I express how humbled I am by their strength and bravery ... and I sit down hoping I have said the right thing ...
The mass ends and we are given a tour of the little plot of land on which the church stands as they describe their plans for a steeple and further expansion ... around the back of the church there are toilets marked in chalk on the doors "Adam" and "Eve" ... here there is room to expand ... when they get the necesary building materials together ... they have big plans but meagre resources to deliver them ...
I play on the waste ground with some children taking their photos and showing them the preview screen on my camera (a camera which costs more than most of the people here could earn in several years of hard labour) ... their excitement grows as they all cram together to see their images on the screen ... great amusement and laughter erupts ... it is so special to see such happiness in this setting ...
As we leave the area I am escorted by J and her daughter Jo ... we move through the muddy streets to the cross the main Nairobi to Mombassa rail line built by the British and subject of the movie "The Ghost and the darkness" ... as we walk a conversation strikes up with Jo ... comparing how people live in this slum and how we live in Ireland ... it is a difficult conversation for me ...
"how do poor people live in Ireland?" she asks as we step over the rail tracks surrounded by local children curious to see me in this place ... an image of Ballymun and Darndale springs to mind ... two areas of which I have personal experience and very close to where I was brought up ... "well to be honest it is nothing like this place" I say, almost choking on the embarresment of my words ... "our slums have sanitation, roads, running water and people live in houses with several rooms ... but they face their own kind of problems, life is still difficult" I try to explain ... Jo accepts what I say at face value ... thankfully ...
Later the mud gives way to a long partially flooded paved street as we approach it a man shouts to me "Now you know what it is like to be in a slum" ... his voice contains anger but it is not directed at me ... "tell people about it!" he says and, perhaps most amazingly, he goes on to thank me for visiting ... "I will" .. I promise him ...
We dodge between the mud, the dirt, the street display of goods, lots of tiny little shack shops and even a few shabby shack bars as we make our way to the car ...
As I approach three young children shout "Jambo" and another game with my camera strikes up ... we make our way about 500m down the street to a place called "The Country Club" ... it is a restaurant and night club up an laneway ... not one which the locals from the slum could afford to attend. We sit down to lunch of Chicken and Chips with J, her kids, Gary and Simon the driver ...
Over lunch I get the chance to talk to J about what drives her on ... "The churches are an important to the community ... they keep people together and give them a reason to hope ..." she says ... " we have all sorts of people from orphaned children, to single mothers to families" ... "it is very difficult to be a single mother in this place!"
"How does it help people?" I ask, "in many ways, apart from spiritual ... we help people set up small businesses .. and by helping them ... they can then help others later on" ...
"What drives you to do this?" I ask ... "I suppose I have a lot of love in me ... and people here don't get much love ... so I wanted to share some of mine ... everyone deserves to be loved" she answers.
What more do you need to add to a comment like that?
Comments
The photos are great and I even saw few little faces of Gatoto students...all grown up!!