Adventures in Traffic Jams

What an amazing few days it has been! We have had the opportunity to explore the area of Nairobi and meet many new people.


We have found that traveling in Nairobi means being stuck in traffic! Someone informed us that at night there are 5 million people in Nairobi, and in the day there are 8 million. 3 million come and go throughout the day. Thus, the traffic jams.We call it "The Jam" because it really deserves to be a proper noun!

On the bright side, we have already had plenty of team bonding time and conversation in our van because we spend so much time trying to get from here to there. And I thought 405 was bad!!


We have the blessing of having an awesome Kenyan driver with us for the entirety of our trip! His name is "Mesh" for short and he is a lot of fun, not to mention great at navigating Nairobi roads and traffic and knowledgeable about the country and culture. He is the Administrator for WorldCOMP, the organization we are working with throughout our trip. We have also met Pastor Richard and his wife Valerie who founded WorldCOMP, and come to Kenya for two months at a time to serve. WorldCOMP is bringing hope to Kenya in so many ways, including feeding programs, medical camps, microloans, and providing clean water. We are looking forward to traveling with Pastor Richard to help at a Medical Camp later this week.

Yesterday we had an amazing opportunity to meet with Dr. Sadero, a prominent doctor in the Nairobi area. He grew up in the Masai tribe (Kenyan tribal people), and has now come to own two private hospitals. One hospital is in Nairobi, and the other is in the smaller city of Naroke where the hospital is able to serve the Masai tribe. He is an amazing Christian man and we are honored to work with him! Our connection with him has allowed us to connect with the Kenyatta National Hospital in Nairobi where we will be working three days a week.
Today we are meeting with an administrator in the hospital to finalize the details of being allowed to work there. We are hoping to start working on the floors with the nurses today, but we may have to start tomorrow. The process is taking slightly longer than we thought, but this is the first time our school has come to Kenya and this is our first connection with the hospital so it is not surprising that it is taking a few days.

It has been heartbreaking to see the situation of the slums as we travel through Nairobi. The first slum we visited was fairly small and had clean water projects, electricity, biofuel, and a high school. In the inner city, the slums are so much bigger, and later in the trip we will be visiting Kibera, one of the largest slums in Kenya which houses 1 million of the 2.5 million Kenyan who live in slums. The facts are overwhelming to me, and seeing it in real life is unbelievable. We have the opportunity to serve in the slums through medical camps, screenings, and some school teaching. I am so glad we will get to go out in the community to do some good and provide some resources for the people living in these areas, but the scope of the poverty is very overwhelming.
Thank you for your prayers, I feel blessed to have so much support! Please continue to pray for us to know how to use our time and resources in the most helpful way. Pray for the health and safety of our team and those we are working with. Pray for us to have a good connection with the hospital and that we can be a blessing to them. Pray for God to bless the people of Kenya!

Until next time,
Sincerely and thoughtfully,
Christa Layne McMurray