mathare valley

We are human beings. Which means we suck. Our souls are mangled with sin and brokenness. It is in within our very nature to be evil. But at the very core of it, our natures were intended for something more. Human beings, at the onset of creation, were meant for good, for perfect relationships with God and each other--which is why I think at the heart of it all, we resonate with the pain and suffering of others.

I see this dichotomy very clearly manifested in the slums of Mathare Valley. Mathare is a frighteningly dark place, and the most visceral impression I made of it was my first visit there last summer when I stood at the top of a church building and stared across at the miles of corrugated tin roofs, shuffled and stacked upon each other. They were both a shield for the sin in Mathare, and an iron wall  enclosing its people in abject poverty. It is a testament to how human beings and structures of society hurt each other. It isn't right that people live like this. There is no question or debate--it just is not right.

And therein  is the yearning for what we were actually designed for: shalom.

I thought that I would be "better" at handling Mathare this second time around. I was composed enough while we picked our way around sewage and navigated disturbingly colorless alleyways. I made sharp observations about our surroundings. But when the team got into smaller groups to intercede for Mathare, and as I started praying, tears choked words still making their way from my throat. Tears of shame, for by what chance was I born in a first world country, in a tidy little suburb? Tears of revulsion, for the abuse that happens to faultless children. Tears of helplessness, for what good can I do?

In many ways, I am still crying.

It never gets "easier" to walk through a place like Mathare.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” 

for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, 

and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, 

coming down out of heaven from God, 

prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 

“Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, 

and he will dwell with them. 

They will be his people, 

and God himself will be with them and be their God. 

‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. 

There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, 

for the old order of things has passed away.” 

--Revelations 21:1-4