We Are All Connected

I dedicate this post to my late Great Aunt Winnifred, may she rest in peace.

It’s amazing how things work out, especially when you almost expect them to end up in disaster, or at least a lengthy set of almost impossible obstacles that make you feel like a tri-athlete at the end of it all.

Upon preparing for my Fellowship in Kenya, I read past Fellow’s blogs, I met with a cultural liaison during training, and I researched the Internet.  As you may have read in my first blog, what I discovered about my first journey to Africa didn’t sound pretty.  Visions of thugs and thieves, cockroaches the size of my shoe, rats the size of dogs,  and gangs of men preying on me danced in my head.

But the story I am about to tell you, and I feel compelled to tell you, actually heightened my sense of spirituality.  Not being a religious person (aside from the praying and pleading with a ‘god’, any ‘god’, to spare my life on my Air France flight), this was an electrifying experience for me.   I’m curious if this story makes you feel the same.

My living situation in Mombasa was in the air for quite some time. I was told I would be living ‘temporarily’ with a host family.  That ‘host family’ turned out to be one lady who lives alone and happens to have an extra room.  Let’s call her Ms. N.  Ms. N and I got along fabulously from the start.  She is generous, kind-hearted, has a great sense of humour, and really knows how to get what she wants.  She is also a pro when it comes to driving in the chaos that is Mombasa.   In the meantime, my supervisor and others were struggling to find me a more permanent place to live that was safe and reasonable in price.  They had no luck. Without knowing this, Ms. N said, as she piled more delicious curries and bhajias onto my plate, “You know what? You’re not fussy.  I think you can stay here for the whole 8 months”.  I thanked her for her generosity, but kept in mind a place I may have to myself, perhaps with some International roommates who could form into my social network. 

After a month, we discovered that place of my own may not be possible after all.  Lucky for me, I wasn’t left on the street.  It was decided I would stay with Ms.N for the remainder of my Fellowship.  But I was hesitant and nervous about bringing up the whole rent issue.  See, I had never lived with my landlord before, has anyone?  And already Ms. N was starting to feel like a distant relative.  How to juggle the contractual business relationship with feelings of friendship? When I finally sat down and discussed the issue with her, I was amazed by the response. 

Now I need to fill in a bit of her back-story.  We already know that Ms. N is an extremely generous, kind-hearted woman.  Before I entered her life, she was struggling to help a local young man pay for his school tuition.  She looked into various scholarships and other avenues for funding, and even offered what little she could towards the cost of his College or University education.  This young man, with 7 siblings and a single mother, works as a guard full-time but aspires to be a teacher.  He earns about 4000 Kenyan Shillings a month (around $40).  Ms.N  wanted to help any way she could, recognizing the value of education as well as the vicious cycle of poverty.  However, she kept running into roadblocks and red tape in terms of scholarships, foundations, and other fundraising initiatives.

Then I came along.  And Ms.N saw my living here, my paying rent, as an opportunity to help the young man who dreams of being a teacher.  Coincidentally, I am here with aspirations for a fulfilling career in community development and education.   Essentially, Ms.N is putting my rent payments towards his education. 

This really touched me, and when she told me this story we got into a big discussion about how funny life is, and how there must be something out there – some greater thing – that is at play.

As stated above, I dedicate this post to my Great Aunt Winnifred,  a woman who inspires me well after her passing -   A woman who drove to the airport countless times, to provide transportation, warm clothes, and warm food to support newly landed immigrants.  I know how it feels to be scared and unsure about an entirely new place and an entirely new life.  And now I know how it feels to be welcomed with open arms and a warm heart.