Rachael Brennan was on our 2 week trip to Kenya in June 2011. Here are her thoughts and reflections on how this experience affected her life.
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Kityui is a small village about 3 hours outside of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. Everything about Kituyi is beautiful. Not only the vast country sides, sunsets, and night sky, but the precious people that live there make it truly breathtaking.
As our Mocha Club team arrived we were greeted with singing, dancing, kisses, and hugs. Once we met everyone they took us in like family and the guardians started sharing their stories with us. The guardians are the adults that have taken in the orphaned children due to different circumstances. All of their stories consisted of the hardships that they have gone through but not one person ended without saying how the Lord has come through and provided for each one of them. Jesus is truly faithful. Even in the little village of Kituyi, Kenya, Africa.
The next day we got to spend an entire day with all of the sweet orphaned children. We got to play games with them, fly kites, do face painting, jump rope, sing, dance, and more than anything just love on them ALL. In return they love on you all the more. Later in the day we got to give all of the guardians and kiddo’s gift bags and water filter straws. It was such a blessing to watch them open their new things and see how grateful they were with just the little things.
Something that really hit me that I found out is our group is the only group to visit that little Kituyi village in the whole year. No one else comes to help out. There is such a huge need in Kituyi, so it was very sad to hear. But the Lord is still providing for them and they all know they can count on Him, no matter what comes their way. How encouraging it is to find that these people really know Jesus and that their joy is stable and complete in Him. It’s crazy how simple the Gospel is in Kenya; they receive it, they believe it. These people know their God, despite their circumstances. It changed my paradigm for sure.
Mocha Club’s saying “I need Africa more than Africa needs me” is straight on. I never thought that going to Kenya for two weeks would change my life so drastically. In the best way possible! It’s given me a new love for people, has me not living so selfishly, and has popped my bubble that I feel like I have lived in for so long that had me blinded to the needs all around me. Although I know wholeheartedly that it’s Jesus changing me, I believe He is using Africa to do it.
What Mocha Club is doing in Kenya and especially in Kituyi is super encouraging. It brings joy to my heart that they are getting support, because they definitely need it and deserve it. I’m honored that I can come back to America and be a voice for these amazing ones. No matter how small it is. I could go on for days about this trip.
If you’re thinking about going on a trip with Mocha Club or just supporting what they are doing, DO IT. It will change others’ lives, and yours.
It changed mine.