I originally titled this blog "Alyssa's Kenya Adventure" to reflect a month long trip to Kenya after my junior year of college. I ended up keeping the blog, mostly as an outlet for post trip reflections, frustrations, ponderings. And in a lot of ways, I am still in that stage. Yes, a lot has happened in the past 2 years, but the primary questions and convictions I experience remain largely the same.
I must apologize for my over-zealous attempts to convince people to buy hoodies in the past several days. Or some of my repetitive stories about Kenya, pleas about the drainage project, or just talking about Imani in general. I think my worry is that if I stop talking, posting, sharing...that it will be forgotten. The hardest part about founding an organization is not expecting the people who volunteer, donate, serve on the board to be as passionate about the cause as you are. Especially when you were driven to start the entire thing based on a personal adventure that was not necessarily shared with anyone else. When I beg you to buy a hoodie, I really don't care about the hoodie. I am hoping, praying that you will care about the people in Kenya, about their health clinic, about their joys and struggles....and measuring hoodie sales is sometimes the only tangible means I have of doing that. I want people to know that working in health care in resource poor areas is very challenging and often discouraging. I want people to know that these people are my friends, not just the people my organization supports. There is a lot riding on that hoodie....
I had no intentions of settling down once I graduated nursing school. I did not intend to move home, to work at the hospital I grew up volunteering at and raising money for. I did not want to start or do anything that would let me roots grow too deep to the point where being uprooted would be too painful. Yet here I am. I know God had a purpose for keeping me here....I did not know that Imani would become what it has in a relatively short amount of time. I did not know I would be that person who is constantly checking and sending emails, drafting contracts, running around to the bank, post office, and coffee shop(okay well I did know that haha), making calls to the lawyer, planning a catered event. It is so easy to get caught up in all the things, the numbers, the to do lists. How many people are coming? How much money are we spending? How much progress has been made on this project? Did we receive donations this week? When are we going to have a board meeting? When can I make it back to Kenya?
It is easy to lose sight of the foundation...of the great adventure that led me to this world of business and legal jargon and event planning in the first place. I wanted to show the people I met and loved and became friends with in Kenya that I did not go home and forget. That I was not just happily readjusting to a comfortable life. That going to Kenya was not just a trip I took one time or a learning experience or an attempt to do some good in the world to feel better about myself. As much as I am grateful for the incredible opportunities I have been given, I still prefer just listening to people tell their stories, visiting the sick, running around and playing with children, and sharing those experiences with others. The simple things. I know the world is not simple and it takes some effort to navigate through the complexities. Yet Imani was started simply - just my attempt to do small things with great love in the slums of Nairobi.
I thought the adventure part was limited to the time I was physically in Kenya. Now I realize that each day is an adventure - whether I am here or there. The life God calls us to is an adventure. There is this old Steven Curtis Chapman song "The Great Adventure" that goes something like this:
"Saddle up your horses
We've got a trail to blaze
Through the wild blue yonder
Of God's amazing grace
Let's follow our Leader
Into the glorious unknown
This is a life like no other
This is the great adventure, yeah
Come on get ready
For the ride of your life
Gonna leave long faced religion
In a cloud of dust behind
And discover all the new horizons
Just waiting to be explored
This is what we were created for, yeah"
So whether my day is spent waiting in line at the post office and addressing invitations or giving chemotherapy and offering support to the family of a newly diagnosed child or immunizing children and walking through the slums - it is all part of this great adventure. God knows what lies before me and all I can do is wake up in the morning and say "What do you have for me today?" Thank you for bearing witness and taking part in this great adventure.
