Jane

Boldly she exclaimed with a giggle, “I never thought I would be sitting this close talking to a Mzungu (white person)!”  This was Jane’s response when I asked a group of eleven women to start our day together by sharing how they were feeling.   I explained to them that as women we have so many emotions that are changing from day to day and sometimes even minute to minute.  Since each of us had busy lives and come from different parts of Kitale town, some with the hardship of just trying to come up with the fare for transport, I thought maybe the best way to start our time together would be to express in a sentence or two how each of us was feeling right this minute.  I suggested they start their sentence with, “I feel sad, or happy, or angry, or lonely, or worried,” or whatever it was they might be feeling.  When it was her turn, Jane nervously went on to further explain that for her a Mzungu is so high up and learned and she saw herself as so low down that she could not even imagine to sit in the same room, to be talking, to be sharing about life with a White person.  This is something she thought only happened to very wealthy Africans, not her, a poor Kenyan woman.  I couldn’t really tell if she was excited or nervous or just plain scared, but one thing I did know:  I had plenty of life experiences to share that would dispel her thinking that this particular white skinned woman was any better or any higher up than a poor black skinned woman who happened to be born in Kenya.

At the end of the day this same Jane gave a stirring talk as she spoke about the things she had learned.  What touched me the most was she found that she and I weren’t very different at all. Perhaps my skin was white and maybe I was, mmmmm, maybe some 35 years older than she was, but woman to woman we were the same.  Our hearts, our feelings, even some of our life experiences were the same. Our need for a Savior, the same. Someone to love us, to provide for us, to comfort us, to guide us, to heal us…all the same.  She spoke confidently looking across the room into my eyes, “ Mama, do not be gone from Kenya long.  You have a home here in Kitale and many daughters who love you.”