Recently I was visited by one of my most favorite people.  She is a young Kenyan woman, named Koi, with an uncompromising heart for God and a fearlessness to live her purpose against all logic and obstacle that is all too rare in this world. 

The day we’d agreed she would visit finally arrived and I walked down the dirt road to meet her where the motorcycle taxi had dropped her off.  From the moment we embraced and all during our dusty walk back to my home, we chatted happily.  We quickly settled in on the couch and all afternoon she poured out her passionate heart. I drank it all in as she patiently endured a million interruptions from my little ones.  Her limited but quickly growing life experience means she is beautifully unjaded with a heart full of a million possibilities, and a mind full of a million questions.  She maintains a perfect balance between being sincerely hungry and searching for insight and being willing to wing it on all the rest.

When I asked her what is new in her life I knew the answer would be enthralling.  She is a 22 year old girl who just finished her bachelors in economics and statistics and is planning to pursue her masters in human relations and development in the coming months.  Oh, and did I mention she is the only female DJ in Kenya?  She has DJ'd for several national Christian radio and Television programs, one being a radio program specifically created for women and their empowerment.

Koi in the radio station studio DJing for the women's radio station called Venus

The whole world is at her feet and her eyes are full of light and excited anticipation for the part she gets to play in it all.  She reminds me so much of myself at her age.  So full of adventure, passion, dreams, and nothing but possibility.  She perfectly embodies one of my favorite quotes, “We’re too young to know certain things are impossible, so we do them anyway.”  When God sets her sights on something, she won’t be stopped.

She told me that as part of her statistics class she had to write a paper that ended up being about maternal/fetal mortality rates in Kenya.  She said that she learned through her research that in an area called Garissa, the maternal mortality rate is DOUBLE what it is in the rest of Kenya.  So when she graduated from school she and 9 friends decided they wanted to exploit their newfound freedom and go on an adventure.  They tossed around the idea of going to the gorgeous Kenyan coast to be tourists at the Indian Ocean.  But somehow this extraordinary girl talked them all into going to the desolate, desert village known for extremist terrorist attacks, scorpions, and other generally life threatening things.  Her friends asked her where they would stay and what they would do there.  She told them she had it all worked out and not to worry – but the reality was, she had no idea! 

Koi with some children in Adhama

Long story short, they ended up in an even more remote village 40 kilometers outside Garissa, called Adhama, and helped out teaching in an elementary “school” which was really just the village children from many many miles around gathered under a tree.  One little boy walked as far as 8 km a day to attend these make-shift classes.  Sure enough, in the middle of one of the “classes” Koi was teaching, one of the students was stung by a scorpion!  That’s when she learned that the nearest hospital was too far away for him to receive any medical help.  Then when she met a woman who had seen 5 of her 6 children die, she knew she had to do something more.

The school under the tree

A map of Kenya showing Nairobi (where we live) and Garissa, the nearest town to Adhama.
Adhama is 40 km from Garissa, but is not on the map.

When she got back to the city she called around looking for a connection to a Kenyan clinic that might be willing to take a medical outreach to Adhama.  One day she put on her most official looking outfit, walked into a clinic, and asked to see the director.  Amazingly, he agreed to see her without an appointment (Kenyans tend to like to be very “official” about these kinds of things, but interestingly, this doctor is an Iranian).  She shared her vision, from building a school to digging a borehole, told him the things she had seen, and gave him her “proposal” which she admits she made up on the spot.  I LOVE her for this because I have done the EXACT same thing many times.  And amazingly, with her determination and refusal to give up, she eventually had gathered and coordinated everything she needed for her medical camp.  It took place over Christmas, though in a sad twist of events and after all her hard work, her parents refused to let her go.  They were worried for her safety because days before the team was supposed to leave there was a terrorist attack in the Garissa area that killed many people.  I could see the disappointment in her eyes as she told me she had to send the team she’d mobilized without her, but then she smiled and said, “I think it was just God reminding me that it’s not about me and He can still do amazing things whether I’m there or not.”  And sure enough, her team ended up treating 400 people in a two day period!

The medical camp Koi organized

She told me the report her team brought back from the medical camp was heart breaking and started to shed some light on why so many women are dying in childbirth related deaths.  In that area they still practice female genital mutilation and then the girls are married off at around 13 years old.  On top of that, she said the health workers discovered that most of them were suffering from sexually transmitted diseases, most likely due to the practice of polygamy.  She said men there are allowed to marry 4 wives at a time, and if they want to take a 5th wife, that’s ok too.  They just divorce the first wife.

 
Koi and the water hole that the villagers of Adhama have to walk many miles to reach
and the reason Koi is trying to get funding and backing to dig a borehole in the village.

Of course all this got me all impassioned and I told her if I could, I would go there with her tomorrow!  For as long as I can remember my heart has ALWAYS been for the poorest of the poor in the most destitute and seemingly hopeless of situations.  If I had my wish, I would honestly live in the most remote village in Africa in a mud house, working with the community to identify THEIR felt needs, the solutions THEY know will work, and inspiring them to achieve their solutions with their own abilities and resources.  Koi shared a story about a very well-meaning woman who went to Adhama to teach the girls about using sanitary pads as she distributed them among the women and girls.  A man from Adhama later told Koi that the women there don’t even wear underwear, so how will the sanitary pads even help them?  He went on to tell her that the men in the village were furious about the whole thing and wanted to know why these outsiders were trying to “corrupt” their women.  What a mess.  And it SO easily happens in situations like those – where great intentions end up doing more harm than good.  That’s why it’s so important to live in and know well the culture in which you’re serving.  To know their struggles first hand, to experience all the beauty, evil, and challenge of their culture in real, everyday life, and to see the Holy Spirit reveal solutions that work in and in spite of it.  Then people begin to see Jesus, and little by little, miracles begin to happen and things begin to change – even the evil, deadly cultural beliefs.  Oh how I long to be a part of that kind of transformation.

And sure enough, eventually the conversation did turn to me.  Koi wanted to know what I’VE been up to.  I didn’t miss a beat when I proudly announced that I’ve been here at home, raising up the nations.  Feeding the nations, clothing the nations, training the nations, schooling the nations, entertaining the nations, evangelizing the nations, and discipling the nations.  I was happy to discover that I didn’t shrink back from her question or feel ashamed to admit that right now, I’m “just” a stay at home mom.  Especially after hearing of her adventurous exploits that I would LOVE to be living right along with her!  But in this season the Lord has me in right now, it just isn’t possible to live all my dreams – not even my midwifery dreams.  But God is reminding me that one of the greatest dreams I’ve ever had was to be a mommy, and He has so extravagantly given me that desire of my heart beyond any of my wildest hopes or imaginings.  How can I dare forget the days I wept and pleaded that He would give us a baby and the fear that I might never know the miracle of being a mother?  Raising my 3, soon to be 4, little nations IS my world changing purpose right now, and I am learning to wake up every morning to embrace it and give it my all, instead of feeling sorry for myself that I’m not living all my dreams, or that what I am doing is unimportant because I'm not doing “more.” I have always dreamt of being a world changer, and though I’m not dodging grenades in a remote village right now, or directly participating in lowering an unacceptable maternal mortality rate, God, in His loving kindness, has made a way for me to have a tremendous impact in the world without ever leaving my own home.  One day the seasons WILL change, but for now I will delight in this one, and be so very thankful.  And I will pray for, encourage, and support amazing young women like Koi in every way I possibly can.