Lessons from Lokichoggio

 

This week stretched me more than I ever have been in my life. But in a very good way. I saw things and had experiences that will stick with me forever. From the minute we stepped of the plane until the minute we boarded again 5 days later, I was in a constant learning process.

I will begin with the physical challenges I faced. The average temperature in Loki while we were there peaked around 100 F. This is quite a switch from the early spring weather of North Dakota. Even at night the heat was relentless. I don’t think I ever stopped sweating. I was amazed at how well the people there handle the heat!

Because the rains just ended we were graced with a constant presence of flies. They were, of course, accompanied by mosquitos, cockroaches, spiders, and a some other bugs that I have never seen before. Once again, the people there are not even phased by the bugs. It took me a couple days, but after awhile I didn’t notice them much anymore either. However, I have never appreciated a mosquito net more in my life!

Loki is a very rural part of Kenya. It is so far north that the locals joked they are not apart of Kenya, but that they are forgotten. From Loki it was pointed out that just over those mountains was Uganda, over those mountains was South Sudan, and over those mountains in the distance was Ethiopia. We could definitely feel the close presence of Sudan. There are multiple villages that have become Sudanese refugee camps. In fact, while we were out in the bush (60k) from town doing the mother and child nutrition clinic, we saw several vehicles from the UN roll past us. We were surprised to see other vehicles in such a rural location. We were informed that they are planning on forming another Sudanese refugee camp very close to where we were. Seeing them made things come to life for me.The nurses at Loki also told us in the past years that the Sudanese crossed the border into Kenya seeking medical care from war wounds. I have read about the war and heard stories but being so close to it is completely different.

The 5 days I spent in Loki I was blessed to share with a Kenyan nurse named Gladys. She opened up her home to me and prepared some delicious Kenyan food for me! Even better, she taught me how to make it so I will be preparing some when I return to the US!

We also spent a lot of time at the home of a single German missionary who has been in Loki for over 30 years named Renate. She was the main nurse of the clinic for 23 of those years and has more recently turned her ministry towards transformational development. We had several long discussions hearing her many stories and and experiences. One quote I feel is worth repeating. We asked her how she knew that God was calling her to come to Loki. She said that she was currently in Bible school in Germany and had already attained her nursing degree. She said she was living the Christian life and serving God with almost everything she had there in Germany. And everything was just fine. But then God told her, “You can serve me 99%—or 100%”. Renate decided to give God that last 1% and it was enough of a difference to her being a missionary for over half of her life! As I continue to search God’s will for my life throughout my college years I plan to hold these words close to my heart and give God 100%. I encourage you to do the same!

Every day in Loki we visited the local Africa Inland Church clinic. This facility is entirely run by nurses and they do a phenomenal job! They take care of everyone who comes through the door and if a case is too complicated, the patients are sent to the nearest hospital—which happens to be 90k away over a bumpy road. We saw just how vital this clinic is to the people of Loki and the surrounding areas as it provides the best health care for the region.

The clinic not only cares for the people who walk through its doors, it also does outreach clinic to the surrounding areas. Many people are not able to travel that far for immunizations or for nutrition treatment so the nurses go out into the bush to serve them. I gained a huge amount of respect for Kenyan nurses. They are on the front lines and work so very hard.

Loki is at the heart of the area of the Turkana people. They are nomadic and  mainly herd goats for their sustenance. The women wear beautiful beaded necklaces while the men wear what I thought were very cute hats that often had a feather stuck in them. And they men always carried a long stick. The Turkana frequently face raids from Ugandans or Sudanese. There is an interesting atmosphere in the region because of the raids and revenge.

During the years of the Sudan war, NGOs poured into Loki as a way to provide relief to Sudan because it is very near the border and has a large landing strip making it easy access for delivering aid. As the title predicts, I learned so much while in Loki, and relief efforts is the first thing I will discuss. There is no doubt that Loki and the Turkana need assistance. However, the people there told us how one NGO has come after the other and tried to help but they always leave. As we were walking down the streets of Loki, children would shout “mzungu!” as we passed by. And we soon learned what majority of them equate our white skin to: money. Nearly all mzungu (kiswahili for white person) who come to the Turkana are there to give them some kind of assistance whether it be food or money. This is the same story in many other parts of Africa and other parts of the world. It was a new experience to have people look at me but only see money while they looked right past the actual person underneath my white skin.

We got to see first hand the affect this coming and going of the various aid organizations has had on the area. There were locked doors on vacant rooms with signs of organizations on them that had left. It brought up so many questions about how aid should be delivered, how it most will help the people, if it actually helps more than hurts, and if I do feel called to serve people in poverty, how I will choose to do it.

As I stood in the middle of a crowd of mothers with their malnourished children I was faced with so many questions that I had to ask myself about life. Really tough ones. I have read about missionaries in books since I knew how to read and heard their stories of the work they do. I have read of how children around the world are starving. I have seen pictures. But it was all still an ocean away.

Last week as I stood under the blazing sun in a desert in northern Kenya it all became real. The reason I was stretched so much last week was not because of the heat or the bugs. It was because I can never wake up again viewing the world as I did before I came to Loki. I cannot erase the memories of the desperate Turkana mothers trying to provide food for their children. I cannot keep those malnourished kids on a page on a book or suppress their big brown eyes to a picture in a magazine. They are here and they are real. Living in the same world as me. Even when I return to the US an ocean will longer be enough to separate my life from theirs.

I thank the Lord so much that I saw Loki and the Turkana people. I’m so grateful that I have seen the poverty and suffering with my own eyes. I also saw something else in Loki…I saw life! I saw a beautiful people group with a great sense of community. I met brothers and sisters in Christ who love Him so much! I saw the results of the life of faithful Renate and what a difference her stable presence has made among the Turkana. I saw hope. I saw progress. There is hope for the Turkana and the chance to make a difference in their lives that will last through eternity!

I have been so challenged by my time in Loki and realized that God is in even the most difficult places. Whether it be among starving children in Africa who will not live two weeks without their portion of supplement that we handed them or in broken relationships that have not changed in years and seem hopeless—God is there. Whether it is in grief over a lost loved one or or a in a Sudanese refugee camp—God is there. He is in those places and He is moving and healing!