The pungent odor of raw sewage filled Becky Alwin’s nostrils. She and her husband, Zak, looked around them and saw merchants pedaling their wares of disease-ridden and fly-covered fish. A river flowed slowly past them, full of garbage. They were in Kibera, Kenya, and they were there for a reason.
Kibera is the second largest slum in Africa. Kenyans have a saying that “nothing good ever comes from Kibera”. Sewage runs down the side of the streets and, in the center of the slum, the streets are so narrow that a person can stand in the middle of the street and touch the buildings on either side. It hardly seems like a place where hope could survive.
But it survives at Soweto Academy. This school for girls is a brightly-colored refuge in the midst of the grays and browns of Kibera. There, girls have the freedom to learn and grow together and can dream of leaving the city and making a better life for themselves elsewhere.
Becky and Zak, who are outreach artists at Keynote, felt called to share their musical gifts with the children and tell their story to the world. They spent two weeks at the academy in early August, singing songs, leading Bible curriculum, and encouraging the children. They also co-wrote a song with the children about God’s goodness. Going into the project, the Alwins were curious, wondering how the children would feel about the goodness of God.
The kids blew them away. They each had anywhere from five to fifteen examples of the goodness of God in their lives and they were eager to share them. They spoke of God’s faithfulness to them and his provision for them and even talked of his omnipotence and omniscience. The children, who to the outside world could have little reason to know about the goodness of God, were aware that they were loved by Christ and special to Him.
They were also overcoming the odds, testing at the highest national level without any support from the government. They had a level of spiritual maturity well beyond their years and now, thanks to Becky and Zak’s visit, they had Bibles of their own, a renewed hope in Christ, and a bright future. Something good can come from Kibera.
Click here to see a video of Zak and Becky on stage at the Soweto Academy.
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