A rare show of love and unity

“Do not withhold good from those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act.”

— Proverbs 3:27

NAIROBI, Kenya— When she saw that her son, Maximillian, was calling at 2 a.m., the boy’s mother was tempted not to answer. He probably only wanted to say that the youth conference he was attending in Eldoret was going well, and cell time in Kenya costs by the minute.

Max was persistent, dialing again when she didn’t pick up. So his mother received the call, intending to scold him. But her son was frantic. His sister, Margie, her daughter, had fallen in the school compound and badly fractured her leg during the Church of Christ youth conference. The coordinators had rushed her to the hospital.

Our God provided. What followed was a rare show of love and unity amongst Christians from all parts of Kenya

Though her parents immediately longed to be with their daughter, the cost of traveling to see her in Eldoret was prohibitively high — and there would be other trips necessary, including one to bring Margie back to Nairobi after she was released from the hospital.

What could they do?

Our God provided. What followed was a rare show of love and unity amongst Christians from all parts of Kenya. The teachers at the conference (preachers and elders of Churches of Christ) appointed one of the youths as treasurer and began a collection. Though not wealthy, the believers raised enough to help with the initial expenses for Margie and her caretaker at the hospital.

She was taken into the surgical theater and doctors fixed her fractured femur for healing. Thankfully, her father’s insurance covered the bill. She was discharged four days after the operation but could not leave the hospital. Her parents were working to find a way to bring her to Nairobi without causing her more pain on the rough roads through public transport.   

Church members set up a group on the smartphone program WhatsApp to help mobilize funds to airlift Margie from Eldoret to Nairobi. Within three days, the group had raised enough money for two air tickets — one for Margie and the other for her brother. Christians in Eldoret helped her to move from the hospital to the airport.

“Thank you for the sacrifice you made to ensure that I came back to Nairobi comfortably,” Margie said in a message to all who helped her

From there, the siblings took their first-ever air flight to Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Margie said she forgot her pain for a moment when she boarded the Kenya Airways JamboJet flight. Her parents waited with a taxi to take their children to their home in Kibera district.

“Thank you for the sacrifice you made to ensure that I came back to Nairobi comfortably,” Margie said in a message to all who helped her, relayed through Christopher Opondo, minister for the Kibera Church of Christ. “Many of you have never boarded an aircraft, but you generously gave to help me. We sat right behind a cabinet minister who was traveling to the city.”

Margie missed one term of schooling (the second term of what we call Form 3) because of the injury. We prayed that she would recover quickly so she wouldn’t have to repeat. The youths from the conference planned to meet with her for a thanksgiving service with the Kibera church.

Let us keep the fire burning and share our success stories.

NYABUTO MARUBE is a longtime minister and ministry leader among Churches of Christ in Nairobi, Kenya.

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