Kenya - Nairobi

The Orthodox Church at the Forefront: From Coronavirus Pandemic To Hunger Pandemic

During the last five months that we have been literally trapped here in our place of service, we have experienced and tasted moments of pain and sorrow. Naturally, it was something that we expected. After all, within the Church, which is considered and actually is a healing place for bodies and souls, this is the main mission of the ministers of the divine and sacred sacraments.

There are so many things to remember and write about, since this was our mission on a daily basis: Not only distributing food to the hungry, especially to children and the elderly, but at the same time giving actual support and a warm embrace to our suffering and underprivileged brothers. It would be useful to give an overview of our experience, since we have made our presence felt as the Orthodox Church and conveyed the mystery lying behind hunger - which is of course,unacceptable in the 21st century. With deep respect and brotherly love but also prayer, we marched from one end of Kenya to the other, to live up close and support the suffering and deprived brothers, who no authority or entity undertook to relieve from pain, deprivation , the fear of the virus and of course, the fear of hunger.

The first four months were crucial because of the restrictive measures - the so-called «curfew», during which we could neither move about at night, nor travel from one place to another. So, we limited ourselves to Nairobi, the surroundings and in two cases, after a special permit, we visited two areas outside, since people asked us to visit them, especially the Maasai. The whole story started with the following incident. At the nearby kindergarten and elementary school of St. Clement, the teachers approached me to give me the following piece of information, saying: «Do you know that the 300 children who study here, next to your house, go to bed hungry at night?» (It should be noted here that the area where we live is considered degraded and is characterized as a slum).

When our children are here, we offer them, besides free education, uniforms, medical care, footwear, breakfast and lunch. When our teachers told us what was going on, I was so shocked that I stayed speechless. I had to take a decision immediately. I took two seminarians, a teacher, my deacon, my driver, our cook and his assistant, and the support team was formed. This team prepared and presented to me the following plan: five different types of food in each package for the children’s parents. The team members all went to the market, did the shopping, arranged them themselves in special bags and then prepared them for distribution. We called 50 to 100 parents a day and gave them the package for the children’s nutrition.

Kenyan state television was informed of the incident, sent a crew and showed scenes in the main bulletin under the headline «A Greek Bishop Distributes Food to the Hungry Children of the Slum». The news spread everywhere, as it was the main topic in the television bulletins. As a result, we received a lot of phone calls: first from our parish priests, then from various schools, organizations - educational and sports ones - even our Muslim brothers. The food program is still running on a daily basis, and the state television comments on it and promotes it.

Naturally, there was no parish left that we did not visit, including all the neighborhoods and villages, even the houses (huts) of the elderly men and women. What we saw, gave us such a shock that it would be impossible to describe it on a lifeless piece of paper. Each case is a separate chapter in my new book, which is under publication.

When the borders did not open at the same pace, we ran to all parts of Kenya from Mount Kilimanjaro to western Kenya and the Indian Ocean. The people there did not believe that they could get in their hands free food from an Orthodox Bishop, especially from a European one!!! This was the reason why the news bulletins of the television channels showed on a daily basis these efforts that relieved thousands of people. Of course we did not have money, but I contacted my friends and acquaintances and told them that if they sent me € 50, a family of ten could have enough to eat! It is ironic the fact that for a western man, € 50 is just enough for an individual meal… That is why we do not stop this program that we started five months ago during the virus and famine pandemic here in Africa.

I would not like to close this note without referring to a couple of specific events directly related to the effects of the coronavirus that ultimately led people to hunger. Particularly during these months, more and more young people of all walks of life, who previously had some kind of employment and made a living, approached me. With the little they earned, they paid the rent of the room they rented, had food to eat and clothes to wear, so they made ends meet. Now, however, due to the coronavirus devastating impact on economies and societies, they have lost their jobs, virtually everything; it was only natural for them to resort to the Orthodox Bishop, regardless of race, religion, nationality…

It is well known now that the Orthodox Church helps everyone. Therefore, it came as no surprise to us when an unknown young man sent me a message on my cell phone: «I’m hungry. I will die. I haven’t eaten for three days. I live here, next to you, outside the School entrance. I do not ask for much. Only a kilo of maize flour so that I will not die… »One can easily understand the hardships these people have to endure. Look what an old woman whose grandchildren were hungry and crying did to make them forget about their hunger. She was forced to fill a pot with stones and put them over a fire to be cooked as if it were food. The children cried, got tired and fell asleep hungry, without ever eating anything that night.

(To Be Continued…)

† Makarios of Nairobi