Beauty In the Midst of It All

As we were driving from one location to another, I was reflecting on some of the things I have seen and heard in the last week or so as we meet people and travel here in Kenya.  In many ways it all seems a bit surreal as we were asking our friend who was driving about the politics in Kenya.  Here it is fourteen months after the election that caused all the civil unrest here in Kenya or what they refer to as the post-election violence or the "clashings", and still it is a country very much unsettled.  The very first day we were here we picked up the newspaper and the headlines read of political conflict between the two parties in power, so it seems that even though there is peace for the moment, at any second, things could erupt between the two tribes that originally started all the warfare throughout the country.  Our friend concurred that yes, for the differing tribes, they are silently waiting to see what happens.  It seems that one tribe politely avoids the other because it's very obvious that this is a country that is at peace only by the grace of God and who knows for how long. I couldn't help but shudder as even during this conversation we passed a huge billboard sign that announced to the world "Real Men Don't Rape".   Strangely, I don't particularly feel unsafe being here in Kenya, I just feel that this is a country that is giving me a picture of what life is like in many parts of the world, particularly war-ravaged Africa.  Right now Kenya is also suffering a famine due to the drought.  Last year they suffered from civil war - killings, rapes, burning of churches, homes, living in refugee camps; this year drought and political unrest with the threat of more civil war.  And, there is always the ongoing problem of poverty, poor education, sickness, and disease.  And yet, when I spoke with my Kenyan friend about these things, she merely said, "This is the life of the African woman.  We don't think about these things.  We work hard and we expect to work hard."  I couldn't believe it, really.  Here she is-a woman who is very intentional about her life of hard work...and, of all things... "looking smart".  She has three young children, has a cosmetics shop in town, and can easily walk to and from town carrying packages or sacks of potatoes on her head.  Today she even killed a chicken, plucked it and cooked it over an open fire, along with french fries, for our lunch meeting-all wearing her "smart" outfit, covered up by her lesso "apron".  So, I guess for me this time, I have a fresh perspective on the Kenyan woman's outer appearance.  Many of them wear colorful clothes, some with babies snuggled securely to their backs, many balancing wood, or water jugs on their heads, and then the modern woman who has a suit and heels and beautifully styled hair - plaited or wigged, up or down, but not a hair out of place.  In a life that is so extremely difficult, with so much ugliness all around them, they are like beautifully chiseled Rodin statues gracefully walking about town, giggling and laughing and going about their lives.  Even though they face unimaginable hardships, these soft-spoken, strikingly attractive women adorn themselves with vibrant color and trinkets, as they can.  The world around them is so dark, so hopeless, so bleak, but they brighten their world by speaking of who they really are...the true jewels of Africa.