As I write these lines, I am in a remote area near the Tanzanian border. For days now the Masai priest has been urgently inviting me to visit their area, to see with my own eyes the terrible situation of our believers and the whole population of the region. And thinking humanly, I said to myself, “Is it possible that there are people today, in the 21st century, who are starving and dying of hunger because they do not have the necessary daily bread to survive?” And of course, without any delay, with my usual staff, in our small mission truck, we filled up with all kinds of food and set off to arrive after a six-hour journey at our destination. One can understand the joy of our priest when he saw us. He could not find words to thank us, since he knew why we had arrived there. Without any delay he got into our mission semi-truck and we followed his instructions. We were all very curious to see what we would encounter. After some time we entered an area that was literally buried in the huge rocks, having earlier crossed areas buried in the dirt due to the drought that has been going on for several years.
Indeed, the whole spectacle was reminiscent of a biblical disaster, since there was not a single green leaf on the surrounding trees or any other vegetation. We arrived, therefore, and found ourselves in front of the Masai huts, built of dry grass. The women came out first, and then the little children. The whole spectacle was overwhelming. The people were starving. If it is possible, in this century, that there are people, and especially little children, all skeletonized, who have no food to eat! Thankfully, though, with the information of our priest, we were able to buy enough food supplies. The priest told them about this visit and the reasons for our meeting them. The head of the residents greeted us with warm words and thanks for the charitable feelings of the Orthodox Church, especially emphasizing the tangible fact of the young children we saw who were hungry. Thus, we saw with our own eyes how much people are suffering, literally starving and lacking all the necessary means to live. It is a sin in this century to let these little children suffer to such an extent and we should be able to indulge ourselves with our comforts and not be satisfied and even complain that we do not have enough goods. We, by comparison, have an abundance of material goods and others next to us are starving to death.
But also in the capital Nairobi, there is a lot of misery. On a daily basis, 350 children, orphaned or abandoned, ask for our protection. We give them breakfast and a hot meal, that is, cooked, human. The whole programme costs only €1,000 a week. So, in this way, all these little children are relieved, who under other circumstances could not survive, would have no protection, no care from anyone. We must never abandon this project, which really, in our experience, saves lives and gives hope and a message of joy and optimism for the future. So let us find people who will support it, so that we can continue it. We thank the Brotherhood of Orthodox Foreign Missionaries, who for decades have been taking these messages to the general public, so that they can be informed and, if there are possibilities, find supporters.
†O Nairobi Makarios
