Trip to Kenya Adds Perspective

Maybe we would all benefit from a trip to Africa. Robert “Bob” Grace, who resides in Dennisville when he isn’t globe-trotting, could certainly be a recruiter for such a trip. Even with all the wonders of the Internet, the capability to talk to someone around the world in an instant, there remains a mystery about going to far-off places like Kenya.
Grace, faithful readers will recall was the focus of a story here in the Jan. 9 edition when he traveled to Nyeri, Kenya to visit the graves of Lord Baden-Powell, founder of Boy Scouts, and Olave, his wife, be founded Girl Guides. To Grace, that trip was the equivalent of me going to George Eastman’s home and being where photography got its greatest push.
Having over five decades of Scouting under his belt, to stand near the mortal remains of such a great couple is indescribable. That was not the sole reason Grace was in Kenya. He was there on another visit to the Word of Life Mission in Mombasa and Kabete. A Christian of long standing, Grace believes God has work for him to do among the children who visit that mission camp. He’s made several trips over, and, if I didn’t know him better, would believe he’s smitten by the place.
“There isn’t anything in Africa I didn’t like,” he told me as he recounted his latest trip there from Nov. 16 to Dec. 23. He shared a memory card from his camera. On that miraculous little chip, not much larger than a postage stamp, were several hundred photos of Africa.
Most impressive, he said, was the attitude of respect among the children who visited the camp. They were pleasant, well-mannered, and, actually looked out for one another, he said. There was an attitude of sharing that, he said, humbled him. When it came time to each, none of the youngsters wanted more at the expense of another. All were concerned that each had some.
An example he cited: A small cake was made to celebrate his visit. No one wanted a big piece, because that would have meant someone else might have gone without.
As I’ve chronicled from his prior visits, many of the children do not know their father, nor is there a father figure in their life. Thus, they truly appreciate what he says, and often they will seek him out after he addresses them as a group in order to gain a morsel of knowledge or direction from him.
If customs agents open his luggage to inspect, they might wonder why he would be toting to Africa over 20 pair of flip-flops. That’s so he can give them to the children who have meager footwear.
Reviewing the photos prior to writing this, I had to agree, many of the youngsters wore broad smiles, and so did many adults.
Getting used to life in Kenya would take a bit of adjustment; not only for driving (they adhere to the British rules of the road and drive on the opposite side from us) but for turning lights on and getting hot and cold water. Flip the switch down for on, up for off in Kenya. Hot water’s on the right, cold on the left.
There are two temperatures, he joked, “Hot and very hot.” When he visited temperatures ranged from 100 to 105 degrees Fahrenheit (38-40 degrees Celsius). Combine the heat and the natural food without preservatives or a lot of salt, and it’s easy to understand how a person could slim down rather quickly.
The countryside was green, as would be expected. Some roads are paved, others are not.
Worship services are long on Sunday, but no one wears a watch to worry about getting home in an hour or less. It’s typical, Grace said, for worship to start with about an hour of singing, and maybe dancing, then the preacher takes center stage for another hour or so, then there is more singing and dancing. Then, it’s time to eat.
Some of the children who visited the camp in Mombasa were from the outskirts of town. They had little, he said, but loved to play soccer. So, in the sweltering heat, the lads took to the soccer field all day. As long as there was light, they were kicking the ball around. They played on a field that players on a Cape Express team would worry about breaking a leg. There were ruts and bumps, holes and rocks, but it was a place to play soccer, and that was the important thing, said Grace.
One day, the children wanted to play the staff in a soccer match. The prize? The loser washed the dinner dishes. “Somehow” the staff lost, and the children took great joy in watching staff members working in the kitchen cleaning up.
It tugged at Grace’s heart to say goodbye to the young campers. Some have asked him why someone like him would fly halfway around the globe just to be with them for a short time. His reply to them is a simple: As long as the Lord makes a way possible to tell them the Good News, he’s simply an ambassador bringing them the Word.
He left with two suitcases and returned with one, (he left one with a mission member in Kenya) and the lone suitcase arrived at the Grace home on Christmas Day. Still, he considered himself lucky, since he heard that some 30 lost their luggage somewhere along the way.
The flight cost about $2,000, and went from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. then on to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Change planes then head for Nairobi, Kenya.
It was Jimmy Buffett who sang, “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes”
“It’s these changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes
“Nothing remains quite the same
“With all of our running and all of our cunning
“If we couldn’t laugh we would all go insane.”