Student Conference: What's a Girl To Do? Part 1

[Wow.  It's October already and I haven't finished posting about our trip in July!  What can I say?  It's been a wild couple of months with husband overseas for a while followed by the start of our school year and capped off with a cancer diagnosis for my Dad.  The pace of life can certainly sweep us away sometimes, but I am determined to see this blog through to completion.  Thank you all for your patience - JJ]



(back row) Drew and Emily, (front row) Tessa and Nathan with some of the students

On Saturday of our trip, I had the privilege of working with some of the young people on our mission team.  We were guest speakers at a Student Conference put together by our friend Edwin of Child Evangelism Fellowship.  I was definitely the "mama" of the team, which was fine by me because I thoroughly enjoyed watching these young people minister to the secondary students (High Schoolers) of the area.  A local school hosted the event and there were many secondary schools that attended.  We gathered together inside a large room for a time of teaching, then after lunch we divided into boy/girl groups to have a time of Q&A.

You know, I'm convinced that at their core, people (and teenagers) are the same everywhere in the world - it is their circumstances that affect their expression of who they are.  In America, we have endless choices for entertaining ourselves and in Africa they have to take things into their own hands...literally.  At the start of the conference, each school is given the chance to perform for each other...and I don't mean a hand-selected group of "cheerleaders" or even a group designated as a "choir."  No, they ALL stand up together and sing songs for each other.  Our team included a piano- er, Casio player, who would jump into their songs and provide accompaniment, otherwise the schools sang acapella.  It's fun to watch this African display of school spirit, and I've been privileged to see this sort of thing many times on my travels, but I just can't imagine American High Schools doing the same thing, can you?

The topic for the day was "Arise and Shine" in your relationship with God, in your personal devotions, in your academic performance and in your moral character - which brings up another difference between African and American schools...they welcome God into their studies!  The Bible is highly respected in African schools, even some Muslim schools, as a source of wisdom for how to live.  I wonder what would happen in America if God were allowed back into our schools?

The morning teaching went well but the highlight for our whole team was the Q&A time that afternoon.  This was a time where the kids were allowed to anonymously ask us anything by writing their questions down.  The girl's team represented a diverse sampling of life experiences: there was me, the old mama who had lived long enough to gain some perspective, Tessa, the young woman who recently turned her life back over to Christ, and Emily, the baby of the group who has chosen purity and actively makes choices based on that decision. 

The thing that we most enjoyed about the Q&A is that you felt like you were truly dialoging about issues the young people were grappling with.  Much of it has to do with the struggle between what they believe is right and the urges of what feels good.  Yep - teenagers are the same all over the world!  We fielded questions about purity, drinking, dating, Christianity, abortion, life at home, etc.  Three moments stand out in my memory that I hope never to forget.

Tessa received a question from a young lady struggling with a boyfriend whom she loved.  She answered with honesty and vulnerability as she described her own struggle with a man whom she loved.  Tessa told how she had become convicted that she was not behaving well in the relationship and that this young man had taken priority over God in her life so she made the very difficult decision to end the relationship.  She described the situation in detail and we could all feel her heartbreak, yet from that painful place, Tessa rejoiced that God had been faithful to draw near as she made the decision to obey his leading.  She encouraged the girls to put God first no matter how much they love their boyfriends.  She said that if a relationship leads them to behave in a way contrary to God's standard, then that relationship is not good for them.  I believe we were all moved by Tessa's testimony.

We had many questions about salvation so Emily took the opportunity to share the gospel one more time.  As a reminder, Emily was only 15 years old (she's turned 16 since then) so this was truly a peer sharing the Lord with the girls.  She did a wonderful job of speaking the truth with clarity and love and when it came time to pray, there were many girls who received Christ because of Emily's willingness to share.  Seeing her amongst the Kenyan teens while she led them in the prayer of salvation was beautiful.  Oh, how I wish her mama had been there for that precious moment!

Finally, the moment that affected me most personally was a question from a young woman that read:

"I just found out I am pregnant.  My parents have kicked me out of the house.  How can I find a way to stay in school and is abortion wrong?"

Tessa and Emily passed this question to me like a hot potato and I must admit that I was somewhat at a loss as to how to answer it.  I confessed that I didn't know what resources were available in Kenya for an un-wed pregnant teenager but I tried to encourage this young woman to find a trusted adult who would help her figure things out. 

One thing I was able to answer was the abortion part of the question.  I told them what the Bible had to say about life and how God knits us together in our mother's womb (Psalm 139:13) and that God had a plan for each of us (Jeremiah 29:11).  I explained how science has recently determined that the neuro system is in place by 8 weeks and fully developed by 12 weeks and that in fact, the first feeling a baby in-utero feels is pain (see  http://www.abortionfacts.com/online_books/love_them_both/why_cant_we_love_them_both_14.asp#By%208%20weeks?%20Show%20me )  Then I described what an abortion does to a baby.  The group of girls literally gasped as I described the vacuum extraction ripping the baby into pieces.  I stuck to the facts biblically, scientifically and medically and let the girls decide for themselves if abortion was wrong or not. 

As we finished our Q&A session, I think I saw a young lady who was wearing her uniform blouse a little loose and perhaps I saw a baby-bump.  It broke my heart to imagine what her life must be like when school really is a place of hope for the young people.  Even with a diploma, future prospects are grim.  How much worse must it be for those who never finish or get to attend school at all.  I pray this young lady found the help she needs to stay in school and continue forward in life.

I'll get back to this young lady in part two of this story.  Stay tuned for more.

- Julie

"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the LORD rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the LORD rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn." - Isaiah 60:1-3

Our view of the crowd during closing remarks at the conference.  Arise and Shine young people of Kenya!