It's Time for Africa

The past two weeks I have been in Juja Kenya. I went with the church I had interned with all summer long and loved getting to further my involvement with the church. We have a partnership in Juja with Fountain of Life Church which also has a small orphanage home on the church property. While I was there I got to see many aspects of the church in Africa, including a seven hour funeral. Not surprisingly though, my favorite part was the time I got to spend with the girls in the home. They range from many ages and we sponsor university students when they come of age. They all had sweet depositions and an incredible amount of gratefulness towards each other that just simply extended to us as visitors. What was sweeter was to see my team leader with the girls. The two churches have had a partnership for seven years now and my leader had been on that first trip. He had seen the older girls grow up over the years. They had a strong bond and would joke about how the girls used to be or the outing they had once gone on, or even past team members that the girls remembered and misses. We were invited into homes, greeted individually when someone entered the room, and hugged very tightly for most of the visit. The culture was new and each day was something unexpected, and I loved it.

I reflect and am thankful for time and the learning that happened with the people in Juja. My value of growth by humility, and my strength of being a learner came out during this trip. When I am put in environment, I thrive on being able to pick up little pieces when I don’t know everything about my surroundings and the culture. When my values and strengths come out on this trip it is no surprise that my passion for people comes out as well. I see that importance of relationships magnified. Through the relationships between the girls, my team, and the two churches from across an ocean; I see how powerful people can be when they come together with love and encouragement. These bonds create a whole new life for these girls through education and a loving home to belong to.

I am taking three things back to school with me from this trip. First, that I will greet people when they come into my house or into a meeting. It is such a simple way to love and respect, and the Kenyans have this one down. Second, it may be more fun half way across the world but, I can learn in the unknown adventures of my everyday life at school. Like in Kenya I do not know exactly what my day will be like when I wake up. There are still plenty of classroom, organizations and just friend groups that I don’t know everything about. I can go in not knowing and thrive by being humble and curious and ready to learn. Third, I can be amazed and excited by the power of teamwork and collaboration. Being in a business school (aka having many group projects) and dealing with different and new people every day, I don’t think you could tell yourself that people are important enough.

#CommLabSummerReflections #KeyLearningExperiences