PCEA Kibera

So Heather decided it's my turn to help with catching up on our adventures. I didn't really feel like writing. She threatened to tickle me to death if I didn't write. I hate being tickled. I should've fed her to the lions when I had the chance.

Returning to Nairobi, we spent a day with Naomi - one of the group of Kenyans who visited Scotland in 2008 and whom I met at Youth Assembly that year. She works for the PCEA (Presbyterian Church of East Africa) in Kibera, which is the largest slum in Kenya. This was our second visit to Kibera, having been for a 'slum tour' upon our arrival at KVDA. It's a different place the second time round.

When I first trod round the bumpy muddy tracks, weaving between slanting market stalls, dodging running children, chickens and goodness-knows-what under our feet, I can't claim to have felt at ease. These were some of my first hours in Africa, and the different smells and sights and ways of life made quite an impact. It was busy, loud, and with everyone market seller clamouring for your attention, it was quite intimidating. What surprised me most was the sheer amount of 'stuff' kicking about - to say that the people have next to nothing wouldn't be wrong, but the slum is cluttered with the cast-offs of the West: shoes, second hand clothes, watches, B-grade electronics and radios, sunglasses, copied DVDs and CD's, mobile phones and top-ups as well as any number groceries (maize, tomatoes, greens, sweet potatoes and 'Irish' potatoes) piled in neat wee pyramids. People make their pittance of a living trying to sell what they can in a slum community reckoned to be home to more than 1million people, most of whom live on less than the UN global poverty line of $1 a day.

On my second visit, my impressions were very different. I knew what to expect. I even knew my way around. I'd been in Kenya for a month now, and I felt almost at home. I think it helped that we were being taken round by Naomi, who grew up in the slums. It was an odd feeling - an alien, scary place in which I'd been astounded that human life was able to exist now presented itself as familiar and almost friendly. People are happy in Kibera. The smiles are broader than any I've seen on any street in Edinburgh. We stopped to say hello to a lady who goes to PCEA Kibera before reaching the church itself. In the post-election violence of 2007-08, the church lost everything. Three of their four buildings were forcefully taken from them, two of which were destroyed. Those employees and elders who tried to persevere were virtually held hostage inside the remaining building; Naomi says she spent four days there, locking herself in for safety before she had to flee for her life as petrol bombs began being thrown into the church compound. With this in mind, it is astonishing that, 3 years later, walking into the church grounds you would never guess at any of their hardship. They've built a brand new Technical College, a Primary School and associated ECDE (Early Child Development and Education i.e. Crèche/Nursery) as well as renovating their main worship building. The College is administrated by the church but open to all, offering courses (with reduced and very reasonable prices) in Adult Education, Hair and Beauty, Design and Textiles, Catering and IT. They college was drawing to the end of its second intake of students when we visited, and although uptake isn't yet at a stage that the college is able to run without financial help, Naomi says that former students have been very satisfied, they leave with useful qualifications that mean something and many have found some form of employment since then. The Primary School has good uptake, Kenyan government is working hard to push the importance of education, and the message is now fixed in the popular mind that to improve your children's lives you need to educate them. The kids were very friendly, and the the teachers seemed better equipped to teach than in rural Maanzoni. The EDCE classroom had lots of bright poster and decoration that the kids had made. It was fantastic to see the social side of their work - as a church, PCEA Kibera seem to understand and work within the ethos that they cannot validly preach the hope and promise of God's love without offering it in the real form of providing for the community's needs. It was wonderful to see the church, to have tea and lunch with Naomi (I think it might be the first time I've witnessed Grace being said for a cup of tea...) and to see how vibrant, relevant and hopeful the African Church is. I'd love to go back for longer one day.