June 2002

Dear Friends and Loved Ones,

At Daystar University here in Kenya, it is almost time for the annual graduation celebration, this year on June 15. We as faculty members are in the thick of finalizing marking, confirming grades, reading MA theses, and looking forward to celebrating with each one as they cross the finish line. The ceremony will be accompanied with the fanfare of dancing, flags of the nations flying, music, speeches, and all the "mamas" of the villages coming down to escort their protégées from the platform. With Nairobi being the national capital, many ambassadors of various nations will be in attendance, coming forward from the seats of honor to embrace their country’s children as they pass.

I was reflecting on what it takes to be a university student in this context. As my eyes scan down the list of names of hopeful graduates, as well as the list of those still in process, their stories humble me:

• The student who came to ask permission to miss class one day—he had just learned that his entire family back home had just been massacred in a rebel attack.
• The student who began each term without a shilling (penny) to her name, praying and hoping against hope that somehow funds would come before the deadline each semester. I don’t know how she did it, but God was faithful. She defended her MA thesis earlier this week (on caregiving for AIDS orphans), and will be walking across the platform at graduation next month.
• The students from non-English-speaking countries, who must learn English in the process of beginning university studies, since English is the language of instruction in Kenya.
• The Ethiopian student who began in August, who in January was detained at the airport when he went to send his wife off, being accused of falsifying his wife’s passport. The issue could easily be resolved if he "just gave a little something." He refused, saying that he had done nothing wrong, and as a Christian, he could not give a bribe. Two weeks later his student visa was denied, and now he has no source of funding, since he cannot enroll in classes. He lives hand to mouth, staying with friends, and comes to my office for prayer every so often, as he waits for a response to an appeal he and the university have made on his behalf.
• The number of students who leave their spouses (it’s usually husbands leaving behind their wives, but sometimes it’s the reverse) and children at home to come study for two, three, or four years, before they are reunited again. One student has an 8x10 photo of his wife and children on the front cover of his notebook, to help them seem not so far away.
• The many who carry the pressure of being the "chosen one" from their village or clan, the one whom everyone back home is supporting through university, with the hope that this student will come back to be a leader in the community. These students cannot afford to fail, or the shame and the pressure of disappointing an entire community will be too much.

In addition, we have a successful, financial consultant in his mid-forties who comes between client appointments to take courses towards his MA in Christian ministries. We have the young professional who has realized that the way she can improve her skills and make a difference in her place of work is through the MA program in communication, using her MA thesis research to document the need in her organization for specific changes, with recommendations for the way forward. One student, who is also a staff member of Daystar, did his thesis research in one of the slums within Nairobi. By training and utilizing women in the slum to do the research about their own community, these women have become so empowered that they don’t want the student to leave, and are now well on their way to launching a primary health-care campaign and clinic, instead of being defeated by the overwhelming odds of poverty.

The list goes on, but as you receive this letter, please pray for these students as they complete their studies and now go back into society, the church, the marketplace, into the villages and cities of Africa. May they be the channels and instruments of hope and of strategic change for the good, wherever they may go.

Marta (along with Justin and Imani)

The 2002 Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 37