A Story of Hope
Curtis Elliott, director of Southern Territory's WorldSend, traveled to Kenya to attend an Integrated Missions Conference in the spring of 2005
It was a hot spring day on the outskirts of Nairobi
when our group, myself, the Territorial commander of Sweden and
Latvia, and some local Salvation Army youth ventured four kilometers
up the side of a mountain for our first home visit. We were on a
site visit for Integrated Missions which focuses on individual and
community capacity development through dialogue and reflection.
Through this model of engagement, The Salvation Army in Kithituni is
mobilizing young and old to respond courageously to the AIDS
epidemic that has destroyed whole generations. On this particular
occasion, a man from the village had contracted the AIDS virus only
a month or so before and we were going to visit him, his wife, his
mother and seven small children. We were told that he once was a
watchman for his village, active in building relationships in the
village and the sole provider for his growing family. Now, he was
forced to depend upon others in the community to take care of him.
After a slow rocky climb up the side of the mountain, we arrived at
a small one room house that the man had built with his own hands.
First the grandmother came to greet us; then the wife and the
children, and finally the man. In Kenya, people who have AIDS often
carry a dual burden: losing the ability to function and provide for
their families, and a social stigma resulting in rejection,
loneliness and despair. We had a good visit, the kind you're not
sure how to process when its all over, and managed to wind our way
back down the mountain to the corps building for a debriefing time.
It was on our way back down that the Lord began to breathe hope into
the hopelessness and despair that seemed to suffocate our small
group. A young boy of 14 named Timothy was with us that day. He
co-led the little team up and down the mountain describing the
country side, the vegetables, and the trees. He was one of our
translators who helped us communicate with the family, and he
visited them routinely for support and encouragement. I asked him
what he wanted to do with his life, what his hope was for the
future, and he told me, "I want to be in the ministry and preach the
gospel". I told him with a smile and sense of hope in my heart, "you
already are in ministry my friend, and you are preaching the gospel
by your actions, stay close to Jesus!"
It was young Timothy that Paul counseled by saying, "don't let
anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example
for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in
purity." (1 Tim 4:12 NIV) This young Timothy from Kenya was the hope
of a new generation of believers, and a new generation of
Salvationists. His courage and determination to see beyond the
present despair of HIV into a life of hope and possibilities
reminded me that God is the only source of true hope for the future.