Four-part harmony lingers in the air. A slightly out-of-tune guitar urges the singing to start again, vibrating the plastic walls of the makeshift shelter.
Annie, an IMB missionary, offers devotional materials to provide encouragement to displaced Kenyans staying at her home in the wake of violence that has torn the country since last December’s elections.International Mission Board missionaries Tim and Annie duck under the cardboard door frame to join the praise and worship time with 20 internally displaced Kenyans camping out in their backyard. Since the Dec. 27 disputed elections in Kenya, more than 600,000 men, women and children have been displaced as violence rocked the country.
The missionary couple’s friend and house worker, Peti, received a call from her brother saying they were given 24-hours notice to vacate their home. Tim and Annie (identified only by their first names in this story) opened their home and resources to help the family.
“When the call came, I had just gotten back from helping at an internally displaced camp,” Annie recounts. “I told Peti to call her family back and tell them we would pick them up. I knew this was one family we could help and touch directly. They are like family to us.”
Peti and her family say they are touched that the missionaries opened their home. Many in the family lived through the horrors of burning houses, machete-toting youth creating havoc, and old friends turning against them. They say being together as a family helps them work through the problems and rejoice in their Savior.
“I look at Mama and Baba and I don’t have anything to tell them. I have no words because I am so happy – so happy that they love my family this much,” Peti says of the missionaries. Of her family, Peti says, “I see them happy. I see them smiling. When they first came, there were tears. Now we rejoice in what God has provided.”
The missionaries look down in embarrassment at the Kenyans’ appreciation. Tim says he is just joining the ranks of many Kenyans as well as other IMB missionaries who have opened their homes to family and friends fleeing the violence.
“To me, that’s the neat part of what’s going on … individuals opening their homes and giving a place of safety,” Tim says. “Sure, our friends can go to the camps, but what’s there? There’s no security. There’s not always food.
“This is an easy and practical way to reach out and show Christ’s love.”
Tim, Annie and Peti ask Southern Baptists to join them in praying for Kenya:
– Pray for peace. Pray that the country’s leadership will sit down and have discussions. Pray that tribes inciting ethnic animosity will repent and change their ways.
– Pray for Christian workers in Kenya. Pray that God gives them wisdom in knowing how to reach out, in the short term and long term.
– Pray for the escalating human needs problems in Kenya. Because most farmers are displaced, food may be in short supply next year, even if peace returns.