This is the fourth post in a series about Five Talents' Business As Mission (BAM) program, which develops training materials that professionals use on short-term mission trips to teach entrepreneurs. The following is an excerpt from Dan King's new e-book The Unlikely Missionary, available for purchase on Amazon.com and BN.com. Dan kindly agreed to let us reprint a small section about his Five Talents-sponsored BAM trip to Kenya. Click here to read parts one, two, three and five of the BAM blog series.
In 2009, I joined a Five Talents-sponsored Business As Mission (BAM) trip to Kenya, where I had a chance to meet and talk with some of the men and women that the organization helps. When we set out to meet some of the loan clients in their workplaces, I was not prepared for what I was about to experience.
We met guys like Stephen. With his microloan, he set up a small shop (comparable to a 7-11 or other convenience store here in the US) in a great location right next to a factory. And he tells us that running this shop means his family can have a better life. It's important to him that his kids get a decent education. Unfortunately, his shop is a 6′x6′ metal box under the full glare of the hot African sun. But he is grateful for the opportunity to work there all day.
We also met women like Irene, who runs a small second-hand clothing shop. Often when Westerners donate their old clothing to charity, it ends up overseas in shops like hers. I asked her what the microloan has meant to her. Irene said the opportunity to run her shop is providing extra money to buy things for her children.
As a father I could totally identify with that. I love to buy things for my son! Looking to for points of connection I asked her what kinds of things she buys.
Irene said, "Meat. And bread."
Wow.
In a place of extreme poverty, it is easy to focus on all of the things that people don't have. They don't have many basic necessities of life. But they do have a strong sense of community. For example, consider a typical African kitchen (pictured here). While it doesn't feature the latest appliances or fancy granite countertops, it is a traditional hearth. Family and friends gather to talk and laugh with each other while their meal is cooking. In a kitchen like this, no one watches TV while they eat.
Visiting the clients was a day of revelation for me. I was overwhelmed by the widespread poverty. I was amazed by how little people had. And I was moved by the Spirit within the people who understand what it means to live in community with each other.
What in the world could I offer these people?
As I return to my room after dinner with the team, my head is spinning with so many thoughts from the day. I had met some of the hardest working people I've ever known. Unfortunately, they live in a place with very little infrastructure. Private transportation is rare, and public transportation is inconsistent and unreliable. Basic utilities like running water and electricity only reached 20% of homes in the areas that we visited.
Quality public education is a rarity, forcing most into a cycle of despair. The people we met that day, people like Stephen and Irene, have become experts at just surviving, because they spend most of their time simply finding a way to live until tomorrow.
Like any of us, they hope to improve their position in life. They are people with bigger dreams than how the next meal is going to appear on their table. They want quality education for their kids so the next generation won't have to struggle like they did.
They were people just like me.
Click here to find out more about Dan King's new e-book, The Unlikely Missionary.
