Gabby - Update 7: Debrief Blog 1

Journal prompt: What is one lesson I’ve learned from my East African friends that I will never forget?

How do you encourage someone when their situation feels hopeless? How do you know what to say to show God’s love and light in that moment? Well, this Internship I had the opportunity to go and teach at a school for a day with my friend Bob from Kenya. The school was one that lacked basic necessities for students to be able to get the most out of their educational experience. Their “buildings” were poles with chalkboards nailed to the middle of the makeshift wall to give the children some idea of a makeshift classroom. 

One of the classrooms was not a room at all, but merely a few benches set under a tree. This was my first time being in a school with so much need. I was overwhelmed, and did not know how to respond to what my eyes saw in front of me. 

But my friend Bob knew how to respond. He told me how the primary school he went to was not too far different than the school in front of us, and because of that, he knew exactly what to say, to encourage them. So during the first recess time, all of the students from P7, which was the oldest class at the primary school, came and sat around Bob and me. 

Their eyes yearned for us to say something to them, but every word from my head escaped my brain. I felt trapped and heavy from the students’ realities that I sat face to face with. But even though my words failed, Bob’s didn’t. He immediately began encouraging the students around us to stay in school and try your best to do well. He reminded them of the importance and privilege it is to be able to have an education even if the physical infrastructure of the school is not how it should be for them. I watched, learned, and was incredibly impacted by Bob in that moment. I learned how he did not allow his own feelings of overwhelmingness to cloud his ability to encourage and lift up the kids we were serving. I hope to be able to be able to bring Jesus’ light with me to dark places just like Bob did with encouraging those students. I am forever marked by my friend and will cherish this lesson for the rest of my life.