I wasn’t supposed to be on this trip. I had intended to fly into Sudan to scout out land for a medical clinic with a Sudanese lost boy. I was immensely disappointed when our “friend on the ground” suddenly needed an extra $3,000US once he found out I was an American citizen. Welcome to African politics!
I was, however, able to connect with an old friend serving at AIM who put me on a “puddle jumper” airplane with a retired missionary couple to visit an extremely remote part of Northern Kenya named Log logo (good luck finding it on a map).
Logo was dry, extremely dry. In fact it had not rained for over a year and many villagers had taken their cattle several miles away in search of water. I had never seen such poverty. The child in the above picture was so malnourished that his hair had turned red.
As I walked around Log Logo, I noticed three girls in matching dresses. When they saw me, they giggled, and I caught the moment on camera. Having my own two daughters, I suddenly realized that there was no difference between these little girls and mine. They giggled just like little girls do. The only difference between these girls and mine was that they were born in Log logo Kenya and mine were born in Tennessee. In Proverbs 22:2, king Solomon makes this point when he says “The rich and the poor have a common bond, The LORD is the maker of them all.” Even though they are poor, they are still valuable.
Later on that day, I saw that there was a difference between us. I saw the same three girls drinking water out of an animal trough. For some reason, I was born in America, and they were born here, to live and die as generations had before.
Except for one small house, there was no electricity in the village. When the sun went down, I understood what Abraham saw when God told him to count the stars and consider his descendants. Being the rare guests, we were invited to share a dinner at the small house. As I walked into the house, I was shocked by the familiar device that sat in the corner. There, in the middle of Log Logo Kenya, in the only house in the village with electricity was a television set. The fresh prince of Bel Air blared loudly as I entered the living room. The irony disgusted me. After watching three sweet little girls drinking water from an animal trough, now I was seeing the best that America had to offer this village was the cheap entertainment of a sitcom TV show. I knew that I had made a good decision to use creative media to help people like these.
The western world has largely lost its passion for God because we have become intoxicated by entertainment. What would happen if rather than watch TV for a week, we went to go find someone to needs served, and served them. After the week is through we might judge which brings more joy, serving or entertainment? I know from experience that service brings about more lasting joy? How is it that we have time and money to watch TV…and not go out and serve the poor? It boggles the mind.
I have not been able to visit Log Logo since, but I was able to show the picture of the three girls to some friends and we sent $500 dollars to help them with schooling and food.