Email: Blair Moorhead

Friends,

Earlier this month, the church I attend hosted a Kenyan Sunday service. The sanctuary looked beautiful with red, green, black, and white streamers. The congregation was smartly dressed in traditional outfits, and the order of worship included singing the national anthem. It was a lovely and poignant service, particularly given the political climate in the nation of late.

Kenyan Sunday is making it into my YAV musings because I, of all people, was asked to give a prayer during the service. There are eight provinces in Kenya, and a resident of each one was called to give a prayer for different issues facing the nation. The youth pastor asked if I would be so kind as to represent the “international province” during the proceedings. The nine of us stood in front of the congregation, praying in Kiswahili, Kikuyu, Luo, and many other languages that I had never heard before. It was our own little piece of solidarity in a country so hurt by ethnic divisions.

But by now you may have heard that Kenya President Kibaki and the opposition’s Honorable Raila Odinga sat down together yesterday to sign their approval of a coalition government. Perhaps the microcosm of peace experienced in church has a chance to spread to the rest of the country. Even without making sweeping predictions about the future of Kenya, we can unequivocally say that yesterday was a huge, huge day for the nation. Thanks Kofi Annan!

Beyond politics, my life in Kenya has really been moving along well. When I first I arrived, it seemed possible that I would have no friends, no concept of how to maneuver around Nairobi, and that I might be completely terrible at my job. Happily, those worst-case scenarios have largely been avoided. Slowly but surely I’ve been building up a social network, throwing myself into church activities, and becoming very comfortable with my colleagues. I started co-teaching third-grade Sunday school last month, which with another teacher and the church service schedule means actually only having to plan a lesson maybe twice a month. I’m also attending a Bible study regularly after church that is specifically targeted to young professional type folks, which seems to be what I am now. I turned 23 a few weeks ago and am finally coming to terms with being a young adult instead of a college student.

Work has also been keeping me very busy. While I don’t have one of those jobs where you can’t leave the office until the sun is long gone, from 8:30 to 5:00 I keep a very steady pace of emailing the member institutions of the All Africa Conference of Churches, writing funding proposals, and gearing up for a 100-person, two-day meeting next week. The meeting will bring together all the folks who are planning the thematic content of the AACC’s 9th General Assembly. Participants are coming from all ends of the continent to brainstorm how the Assembly’s nine issue-based workshops will educate and empower all who attend them.

Planning this meeting has really been an exercise in self-discovery. I have learned a great deal about my professional (that word again!) strengths and weaknesses. For instance, I am really terrible at tracking down all the travel and itinerary details for our delegates coming to Nairobi. Yet, it turns out that I can design a mean nametag. As my colleague tells me every time I make a mistake, “Only God is perfect.” This helps to ease the pressure at work. We have started praying every day in the office for our work toward the Assembly, which will be held in Mozambique in December. That’s another aspect of Kenyan life that I truly appreciate. Prayer is everywhere.

So until next time, you know I will be praying. And everyone in this country thanks you for your many prayers for our safety and peace.

God bless,

Blair