Some thoughts from a stranger

My teammate, Lily, sent this to me via fb messaging one day.  I hope she is okay with me sharing it with everyone. 

hey rei! Remember my friend that I have had since forever? well he sent me this message, and I thought you'd like it too!

"Life is nothing but the mere experience of our existence, of all the things that surround us… We are all born into a world of uncertainty and that is simply the beauty of it.

We all have dreams, we all have hopes, we all have fears. We imagine ourselves into the future, as we remember our pasts. We live life curious to know what tomorrow will bring us. Yet today will soon be the yesterday of tomorrow… and so it will be forever.

People live planning for tomorrow, and projecting their lives into the future because they want to have something certain. Some sort of path to follow and know where they’re going, control and comfort of their lives. I believe humans do this to satisfy their fears of the true uncertainty of their lives. But it is exactly in those moments of uncertainty where the true beauty of life comes up to touch the human heart and soul.

We must be patient, as the universe and time will set things in place, some day at some point….but we must never quit dreaming and imagining all that our hearts tell us. We strive facing the fears and the uncertainties, to become stronger and stronger from inside out understanding that we are all capable of anything if we apply ourselves and battle the fears. We grow stronger as we remain conscious that anything can happen and the unexpected will come. "

Feeling lost

I am honestly bored out of my mind at the moment.  I don’t know what to do. I haven't written anything in a while because there aren't much to talk about on some days. The internet is extremely slow, I keep falling asleep if I attempt at reading, I don’t have anything planned for the day and it is way too hot outside.  These are the biggest problems of my life at the moment (sigh, and I am in Africa).  It's already been almost 2 weeks since I've been in Kenya and one thing that really strike me the hardest is the amount of problems that exist in this country.  I don’t mean problems like the ones I am experiencing at the moment but bigger ones that have an enormous impact in many people’s lives. 

The first and obvious one is the corruption in the government/ officials.  The government is filthy rich while if you step outside into a village, poverty is severe. Kids are covered in dirt, shoesless, and some wear sandals made of tires.  I am not an expert when it comes to politics or economy of the country but I’ve been told that the rich in Kenya continue to become rich while the poor will remain the same and suffer. This problem has been on-going in many countries and the disparity between the rich and poor continues to grow.  In the soccer tournaments, there are children who beg us for a banana which costs 5 shillings while in Kisumu hotels, the children are well-groomed and dressed just like the children we would see in Canada.  I wish there was something I could do.  I am here to volunteer but many times, I feel extremely helpless.  Stephen, who is Maurice’s brother wants to come and study in Canada. He got accepted to a University in Nairobi to study commerce in September.  Once again, I wish there was something I could do to help.