Nov. 24th, 2013: Religious Service - Cultural Experience #5

For those reading this blog that are not affiliated with my program, Dean Weber, the professor who facilitated this Global Leadership Program for my cohort required us to journal each day as well as focus on a few specific, short ethnographic assignments. You'll see these labeled throughout my blog as "Cultural Experiences" and the numbers following them only mean something to Dean Weber (they coincide with her assignment numbers) so ignore them.

So, #5 was to attend a religious service. It so happens that Garry & Brenda Kean, the founders of Jacaranda, are missionaries and pastors from Canada. Being a secular humanist myself, I have to say I was a bit nervous that they would not understand or accept my world views. Quite the opposite! Never have I met more open, wonderfully accepting individuals who are deeply religious themselves. Throughout my journals you will hear me sing the praises of this couple and their family, and this is no exception! My plan upon arriving in Africa was to simply not reveal what "religion" I practiced (none) and just avoid the topic altogether, but at that first lunch at Java, Garry asked me outright. When I replied, he didn't even blink or skip a beat before saying, "Cool, well I hope you're comfortable around a bunch of Christians!" - which of course I was. It's hard not to be completely comfortable around this endlessly warm couple & their children. That said, I still did not talk about my beliefs with any of the Kenyans I worked with and surrounding community, and kept my mouth shut when people were praying; the Keans are Canadian, so maybe a bit more exposed to atheists, however I had heard prior to arrival that there is a stigma against atheists in Kenya; people just don't understand how you could possibly not believe in a god. Understandably so; when people are in complete and utter desperation, who can blame them for clinging to what works for them? Everyone needs something to believe in, even atheists…we just don't believe in God. I'm also extremely open and accepting of all religions; I'm not one not stand on my soapbox; everyone should be allowed to believe what they do and have the freedom to practice as well…so I'm sure that helped ease any tensions.

That said, along with Jacaranda Creations, the Keans started a church for their constituents called Jacaranda Christian Fellowship to coincide with their philanthropic efforts in the community. This was to be the first of several times I went to the church. Because Kenyans are notoriously late to everything, a "tea time" comes before the service, a brilliant idea for several reasons: it's an excellent community building activity, all of their clients are invited (and whomever, it's totally open) and it gets everyone there on time, because they serve cookies as well (and who doesn't go for free food…particularly people who sometimes don't get even two meals a day)?

I've done extensive religious research in my past, and grew up in the Catholic Church, so I've been to all kinds of church services, synagogues, temples, etc. and have a pretty wide range of contact and experience with religious ceremony. The experience at JCF was not too much different, with the exception that it is a bit more lively & some of the songs are sung in Swahili, which is really fun to listen to. Garry Kean happens to be a fantastic musician and singer, and has cut several albums; one of which he produced in Nashville right before I arrived in Kenya (photo below).

This particular Sunday, the Kids Choir sang too, which was super adorable. One thing that was definitely different than I've ever experienced was the "testimonials" part, where the Keans invited anyone up who needed specific prayer for something and prayed with them in front of the church. It was private, however…and they had several people who facilitated the "minister" part and prayed with the several people who came up to receive it.

A bit about Kenya's religious diversity; it is a largely Christian population, making up roughly 80%. The other large majority are Muslim, at around 11%, and the rest are Hindu, Baha'i or other traditional African tribal religions. Although the Muslim population is concentrated mostly on the coast of Kenya, around Mombasa and other coastal cities, there is definitely a large population within Nairobi. The city was peppered with beautiful mosques, and it seems as though the percentages may be skewed more evenly in the city centre, although I have no data to support that (purely observation). Everyone is really tolerant of each other's religions, which is fantastic. However, there are lingering tribal clashes, as evident in the 2008 election violence, which I hear surprised and shocked the nation. The younger population is most certainly not beholden to those tribal traditions, intermarrying freely (well, somewhat…some traditional parents are not always pleased) and most younger adults I spoke to feel like the tribal tension will phase out with their generation.

Religion most certainly impacts every aspect of the daily lives of most Kenyans; as evident by so many faith-based organizations doing great work in the region. One thing I really appreciated about the Keans & Jacaranda was that they did not proselytize; their help to the people within the slums was not based upon whether they would join them in their faith, but upon pure need. While they did pray with clients in the slums on their visits, it was not overt, and my sense was that even if someone rejected their offer of Christianity, they would not turn them away. However because of the popularity of Christianity, particularly in the slums, it seemed to be not much of an issue. I had heard stories of Christian groups going into the slums and simply praying with people and "giving blessings"…but not taking any actual action. Jacaranda, true to their mission, provided help, monetary or physical, whatever was needed, in addition to their prayers.

Finally, after church, we went to a fabulous Indian restaurant and chowed down. A bit about the Kenyan Indians: at the turn of the century when the Ugandan railroad was being built, several Kenyan railroad workers were being eaten by lions while working on the railroad. Yes, EATEN (what?!) by a particular man-eating lion (which I happened to see a disgusting taxidermy of in the Nairobi National Park museum, yuck). So, roughly 30,000 British Indian laborers were brought over to continue work on the railroad (really, they were indentured slaves….I suppose the Kenyans wanted someone else to be eaten)? Anyway, several tens of thousands remained in Kenya after the railroad was built and were eventually granted citizenship, and today Indians are very prevalent in Kenya, and are now are big business owners throughout the country, and particularly Nairobi.