Monday, August 25, 2008

Mathare Valley



On the team's first full day in Kenya, Pastor Karau led us on a journey through Mathare Valley, the second largest slum in Nairobi.

This slum is "home" to some 600,000 people living within one square mile. Here, families are cramped together in tiny tin shacks, just trying to survive another day.

This slum is also the mission field that the Lord has called Pastor and Mama Karau to serve. The church they pioneered several years ago, Mathare Worship Center, is a strong beacon of light penetrating the darkness of the slum. And the orphaned children they have brought into their home were all born in Mathare Valley.

Pastor and Mama Karau are two of the greatest prayer warriors I have ever met. Their faith is vibrant, and they know what it means to be desperately dependent on the Lord's strength to make it through the day. Their church houses a small prayer closet labeled "power room" - this is where they do battle for the hearts and lives of the precious people of Mathare.









3 comments:

Becky said...

These pictures are BEAUTIFUL Melissa.

melissa said...

Thanks, friend! :)

Anonymous said...

Melissa...I am so amazed with your abilty to capture these precious moments and abilty to show the needed awareness through a photo. You are going to go so far with this...I can't wait to see it all unraval! The pictures are truly amazing Mel! Love ya.