God in Africa (Kenya)

One thing that I have learned in my time in Africa is that the people that are the most faithful in God are the ones that seem to have been the most abandoned by this god. I mentioned this in Zimbabwe and I have seen this time and time again.
I don’t know if people believe so strongly in God because of the hardships they have faced and they need faith, or if God tests them because they believe so much. Much of this trip for me is about figuring out what I believe in. I have had a good life, I have no complaints, yet I find it extremely difficult to believe in a God. Then I look at these people who have faced atrocities I could never imagine and their faith is unwavering.
All the Africans I have met are extremely religious. Christianity particularly, but Islam as well, is an integral part of society. They mix prayer with education and politics. It is taken for granted that most people are Christian. They are always praying. Throughout this whole debacle with the Kenyan elections, everyone I interviewed overwhelmingly said things like, “We are trusting in God.” “We pray that God will help us.” “God will take care of Kenya.” And so on. Their conditions never cause them to lose their faith in this God that is supposedly watching out for them.
I find myself praying more as days go by, though I am not sure who I am praying too, but I pray that the prayers of all these people will be answered. They haven’t in Zimbabwe yet, but they still are hopeful. I am more pessimistic and wonder if that day will come.
I meet more people as the days pass while I am here in Kenya and while their faith grows, mine is tested as I hear their stories.
I went into the slum of Mathare, the infamous slum that houses the Mungiki, the gang that terrorizes people.
“God has blessed us. I thank him every day,” said Mercy, the manager of the orphanage as she showed me their living quarters. There is a room for the girls and a room for the boys. Bunk beds are lined up, pushed together because the single beds with no mattresses, just hard wire must hold as many people as possible, an average of 5 squeeze onto each bed.
“The children that are really malnourished get an egg a day, but we cannot afford one for everyone. The rest eat ugali and sometimes vegetables.” Mercy tells me.
The children look happy. They play on the cement, banging on cinder blocks like drums, some do the washing and others play with a ball made of a plastic bag.
She takes me to their small plot of land in the slum. There are a few animals, cows in wooden stalls without enough room for them to lay down or turn around in, but it provides them with milk for the children. The kids laugh as they cartwheel and dive-bomb into the manure. It serves as a playground for them as well.
Walking through Mathare, there is life everywhere. No electricity or running water makes it quite a social place, as does the sheer numbers of people that live in each shack. Each shack holds as many people as possible which forces everyone outside during the day. The washing is done in buckets outside. There is a small trickle of brown water in a ditch along the side of the dirt road, clogged with trash. This serves as a source of water for washing, garbage disposal and latrine. But the people look happy. A tenuous peace has returned for the moment.
Children follow me chirping, “How are you?” People go about their daily life, listening to music, selling a variety of things from eggs to used clothes to a few tomatoes. Everyone I talk to seems to mention god in some way.
“We just pray that god continues to have peace here.” One woman says over a crate of eggs.
“We don’t care who wins the election. People are suffering. We only want peace. It is the poor that has the worst of it, the politicians don’t care. I will never vote again. But never mind, god will take care of us,” said a teacher at the orphanage.
Their faith seems unwavering.
I look around at the slum, peaceful for now but nothing has been solved. It is heartbreaking to see that the worst of the violence and destruction has been taken out on the people who are the poorest to begin with. I am seeing the human face of the suffering that is perpetuated by the power-hungry few. But for now they are optimistic and trusting in their god.