IN-TUNE A CAPPELLA

27th March 2009 will go down in Nairobi Central Church history for a number of reasons, positive and negative, but the good thing is, this was the day the Youth of the Church were to go on a ministry mission to MUSDA…no not Maseno University SDA Group, and no neither Masinde Muliro University SDA Group as well, but to the Kesses area main campus of Moi University. The primary invitees were the Choir and Drama but as things would have it, countless other youths were on hand for the sojourn which would prove to be both unique and unforgettable.

The morning was crisp and dry and traffic, as was usual in the Kenyan capital on a weekday, was quite heavy in the morning. The initial plan had been to gather at the church grounds bright and early by nine, but as I have stressed time and again, punctuality is not a strongpoint in the Adventist circles. I on the other hand, thinking I was late by five minutes, managed to book myself the strategic seat I was accustomed to towards the rear end of the bus we were to travel in. Having secured it, socializing seemed to be the next best thing. With Zebby, Diana, Paul and Mongina to my left and Ebby, Tichy and James in front, this would prove to be a fantastic road trip!

Then the first blow came. Amidst the excitement and anticipation that was building up among the youth came news of Celine’s ordeal the previous night as she headed home. Celine is one of the Choir members and that Thursday night she had left choir practice late as she headed on home. Boarding a shuttle on her way home, it ended up being hijacked in the sprawling Umoja neighborhood by a gang of thugs who ordered everyone to surrender their cellphones. As she grappled for hers, it sprawled to the floor by accident and she swiftly bent to pick it up, not realizing that the passenger she was seated next to was indeed one of the thugs. He proceeded to bat her on the head with his gun, causing her to scream incomprehensibly, resulting in the thug shooting her through her left ribcage, the bullet shattering her liver and intestines.

Celine was rushed to the national referral hospital promptly and was admitted, even as the Evangelism bus snaked its way out of the Church grounds the following afternoon at a little after midday, packed with the ejubilant yet shocked youth. The Youth Leaders left on ground would handle the situation and brief us of Celine’s condition as the weekend crept I as we planned to visit her when we got back. The concrete and steel of Nairobi soon gave way to the gentle slopes and harsh terrain of Limuru and Gilgil on the outskirts of the capital. It was the dry season in the country, with the scorching sun burning down mercilessly on the landscape, and with it the preparation season for farmers in anticipation for the long rains in April and May. Thus we could witness countless fires around, as thicket and bush were cleared and some were wildfires wrecking havoc on farmland.

It was an awesome sight to witness how man, beast and land co-related intermittently all in a common balance held in the palm of our Creator…and that such beauty and splendor could be so fragile and plentiful and yet a curse if misappropriated and destroyed unabashedly. Smoke billowed from left to right as the bus moved on to the drier plains of the bed of the Rift Valley. We arrived at Nakuru town, our midway point, for a luncheon stop-over of around 45 minutes. This was mainly a soda, chips, sukuma wiki, nyama and ugali affair, after which we headed on our way yet again having completed only half the journey. At the city center we picked up a surprise package, songstress Esther Mokaya and made on our way, as the driver diverted towards the Kabarak motorway as the other stretch, Nakuru to Kericho, was still under rehabilitation. We bypassed Kabarak Universtiy as well as a junction 55km away from the University of Eastern Africa, Baraton. All the while guys in the bus were singing ecclesiastic renditions and hymns all in harmonization, Greg of Final Appeal being the spear header of it all.

It was six thirty in the evening as we maneuvered into the Main campus of Moi University, with its majestic administration block’s white facade gleaming in the fading rays of the sunset. Jared, a MUSDA member was our receptor as we ad a prayer and were welcomed to our destination and place we’d call home for the next two days of our lives…

*to be continued