I’m writing this message before I actually leave for Kenya, but since I have been once before I can give you the broad strokes of some of our trip to Kenya.
We left Atlanta in a flight to Amsterdam and then another flight to Kenya. All in all, that’s a lot of time in the air. Once we land in Nairobi, we spend a few hours sleeping and then get on another local flight to Kisumu, Kenya’s 3rd largest city. When we land in Kisumu, we have about an hour long ride in a very very bumpy bus to get to Point of Grace Academy.
The Point of Grace Academy is a boarding school that is run as a mission to the area. They are able to bring students in that otherwise might not have a chance at education. Many of these students have significant challenges to overcome, things including being orphaned or having HIV/AIDS. While at Point of Grace Academy they receive not only an education, but a place to live, food, and medical treatment.
Medical treatment is something that we take for granted. We take for granted that we have a CVS down the block from us where we can pick up Tylenol or allergy medicine or something more impactful like diabetes or blood pressure medication. One of the things that we do on this trip is that we take medicine with us. Each of us on the trip will have a full suitcase filled with medication for the people we are serving.
While we are there, we will be working along with several students from FAMU to set up a medical clinic. We will treat the students from the school, but then word will get out to the surrounding area and we will open up to those people as well.
But maybe the most important part of the trip is when we return. What we find is that when we return after a trip like this, you look at things differently. You start to see your own home country in a new way. You start to see mission opportunities where perhaps you didn’t see them before. The long flight back is filled with reflections on God’s grace not only for the people of Kenya, but also for the people that are around us in our day to day lives. I look forward to getting back and telling you more about it from actual experience this trip.