Monday

Monday, 17th 2009

Today Mariella and the Ghetto Light youth started working on murals in the Ghetto Light Hall. We thought it would be easy to find paint for the mural, which was not the case. Abel’s step brother took us out to find paint. We walked around the corner to a hardware store in Kibera to buy paint. There was none. Then we jumped on the bus and went down the street to Nakumatt (a Walmart like store). The store did not have any paint for mural painting. Next we walked about a mile to the Yaya shopping center. After visiting three stores in the shopping mall we found what we needed. We returned to Kibera and the Ghetto Light Hall and the youth had already outlined the first mural. The youth applied the first coat of paint. Tomorrow Mariella will work with the students on the final coat. The youth were glued to the wall painting away. I had an interesting dialogue with one student while at the hall.
He asked me how to forgive. He proceeded to tell me about how he was angry with his father because he denied that he was his father. He denied this fact to his son, his wife, friends and family. It was clear that this young man was angry. His anger with his father was intensified because he currently lives with a stepfather whom he does not get along well with. We had a great discussion about forgiving those that wound us. We talked about not being the unsettledness about being in bondage to another person. It is better to live life in freedom. I got to tell him how unfortunate it is that his father has missed out on his life. I told him if I was your father I would be proud of you for how well you grown into a man. I told him that I would be proud of him and happy with the good decisions he was making and the life path he was on. The Holy Spirit was working in both of us as we discussed these things as the others painted. We are both on the transformational journey in looking more like Jesus.