Half Way There...

I was walking through the cafetorium on Monday and a Gr. 1 student came up to me and said "Mr. Browne, I hear you're going to Africa." "Yes, Iam," I replied. "But they don't have any food there," he said. "What are you going to eat?" I was touched that he appeared so concerned.

We have a lot of ideas about what life is like around the world but a common one seems to be that there are some places in the world that may as well be on another planet. The images we see on television and news reports describe a place so foreign to us that it almost seems like fiction. What I have come to realize, however, especially on a visit such as this, is that our world is very small indeed. I am writing this post this morning from London, England, yet I was with you all yesterday at school. I will be in Nairobi later this evening and in Kijabe even later. It is amazing that one day I can be at school with all of you and the next evening I am on a small mission station an hour's drive into the mountains in Kenya.

There are others who do not have what we have, but they are not that far away. I hope that my stories about conversations and situations with the mothers, fathers, children, doctors, and nurses remind us that everyone has hopes and dreams for the future, just like us. Sometimes those dreams are as simple as food on the table or basic medical intervention. I hope you will remember this when we embark on our Lenten initiative again this year.

The time change here in London is only 4 hours at this time of year. Since we moved to adpot the American daylight savings and standard time, there are weeks around the time change that we are only 4 hours apart rather than 5. That means Kenya will only be 5 hours difference until Sunday.

The last time I was here President Obama had just won the presidency of the United States. Since his father is Kenyan, he was celebrated like a native son in the media last time I was in Kenya. There was barely a newspaper story that did not talk about him in some way. This time the mid-term elections are on and things are not looking as rosey for him. I look forward to reading how the media reports whatever happens in the election today and how that plays out in Kenya.

I look forward to my first post from Kenya. Until then, my thoughts and prayers are with you all at school. Thanks for keeping me in yours.