My afternoon with the Anglican Mother's Union

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So far, absolutely every day I have been in Africa I have had intriguing conversations with people that I would have never predicted possible.  Today was yet another unpredictable experience - a visit to the local prison and to the hospital.  One of the women's groups that is quite active here is the Anglican Mother's Union.  I had never heard of them before, so I googled the name.  Apparently this is a group that was founded in 1876 by Mary Elizabeth Sumner in England.  Her original purpose was to found a group in support of women in their role of mothers.  Her concern was not only the physical well-being of the children, although that was important - she was also very concerned that they be raised in the love of God.  Over the years since she first launched this group, it has grown and diversified immensely.  There are now 4 million members in 83 countries around the world.  I assume Anglicans may have heard of it before - it was a new group to me!  This week, the Mother's Union group here in Marsabit is focusing on outreach.  Yesterday they spent time in their own fellowship - hearing about each other's concerns, and spending time in praying together.  Today they visited both the prison and the hospital, to pray and share their faith.  The rest of the week will be spent on visiting the widows, the orphans, and the most vulnerable in their community.  To finish off they will be leading in the worship service at their church on Sunday.  This is a picture I took of the group.  Many of them are wearing the Mother's Union uniforms - which is why they are all in blue.  When I was with them yesterday they were in their "civilian" clothes, as they call them, which were a beautiful rainbow of colors, but unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me.

When we arrived at the prison, we first met in the warden's office.  There were a lot of us crowded into this little office, but they insisted I sit on one of the fancy chairs with a high back & arms on it.  When we came back into the room at the end of our visit, I made sure I was standing in the back and insisted that one of the older women sit on the chair!  The warden was very welcoming - he was glad that we had come to visit.  He even welcomed the special visitor from Canada.  And then we moved into the open courtyard of the prison.  We never went into any cells at all - just sat on benches out in the courtyard.  There were about 50 male prisoners and about 5 women.  Normally they are kept in very separate places, but for this special visit, they brought the women over to hear the message.  Of the 5 women, there were 2 younger women, one had her very wee baby with her, and one had a toddler with her.  All the prisoners, men and women, wore uniforms that were black and white stripes (just like on the cards we use when we play monopoly!)  The first one to speak was the Anglican vicar.  He spoke for an hour long sermon - that is the African way!  And then we sang a couple of chorus's.  There was another man there who is a member of the Anglican church, and who is a guard at the prison.  He was quite wonderful.  He introduced his wife, who was one of the women in the Mother's Union.  He spoke about how they are very good companions and they look after each other well, and so when these men go home, he encouraged them to treat their wives well, and to show them as much love as he has received from his wife.  It made all the men cheer and clap to see his wife - he is obviously a guard who is well liked.  The president of the Women's Union also spoke for a bit.  She then turned to me and asked if I would have a few words of advice for the prisoners.  She had asked me earlier, just before we came into the prison - she didn't just spring this on me.  While the other Anglican priest was speaking I only listened with 1/2 an ear as I tried to figure out what I might say!  (there was a woman there who interpreted for me the whole time which was quite kind of her).  So I stood up and amazed myself - I was able to quote scripture, even without a bible in front of me!  I shared with them one of my mother's favorite pieces from Isaiah:  "do not be afraid - for I am the Lord, your God, and you are honored and precious in my sight - my beloved".  I told them I would not forget them - I would return across the ocean to my own church and I would talk about seeing their faces and we would pray for them - for courage in their hearts, and strength for whatever it is they are facing.  Not bad for a sermon of the top of my head! But it was Canadian style - only about 5 minutes long! The Anglican vicar was speaking mostly in Swahili, and one of the women there translated into Borana for the prisoner's who don't speak Swahili.  Her name is Esther and she seemed quite keen for me to take her picture, which I was glad to do:

After the prison, we walked across the street basically and visited the hospital.  We were only in the hospital a very short time - we divided into 3 groups and went to 3 different wards.  I was in the ward with the men.  We spoke with 3 or 4 of the men, and said a brief prayer.  Again, I was drawn into things when we met one man who had been a policeman in Marsabit.  However, in the last few days he had accidentally shot himself in the foot - very sad, and very painful.  So they asked me to say a prayer for him.  He is another man I will not be forgetting - and it was an honor to be able to pray with him.  All I can really say about the hospital is that it was very basic.  The families come to provide the care for the most part - there were no nurses anywhere in sight.  At the end of our time, the women all spread out to walk to their various homes in the Town.  I took this picture because I loved watching the woman in the front, walking with her umbrella held behind her back.  She is about 70 years old apparently, and clearly has walked all her life.  She has a tiny wizened face - and watching her walk strengthened my resolve to keep on keeping on - we never spoke a word to each other, but I felt quite strengthened watching her.

Along the path on the road home we saw this banana tree and in the background is a mango tree.  These women were telling me I was very lucky to be here in the rainy season when everything is so green - normally all I would be seeing would be brown bushes and lots and lots of dust.  I can't quite imagine it.

And so that was the end of my adventure for today.  Won't it be interesting to see what tomorrow holds?