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Floss Hall is a nineteen year old student, currently studying theology at London School of Theology, who spent five weeks of her summer living among the Rendille people in Korr, Kenya. Floss had previously been on a short term mission to Tanzania with her home church where she developed her passion for mission and Africa. We asked her some questions about her experience:
So what led to you doing a short term trip?
God placed Africa on my heart when I was very small, and it has always been something that I have assumed as being a part of my calling. When this opportunity came up, I saw it as a great use of my university summer break, not only for the experience and what I’d learn from it, but also to explore further God’s calling on my life.
Where did you go?
Korr, a town in the northern desert of Kenya. Arranged around the local wells, this is where some of the semi-nomadic Rendille tribe has settled.
“I also had a continuous flow of visitors to my home; wanting to talk to a foreigner… wanting to learn about Jesus…”
What did you do?
I worked alongside the national pastors in the Africa Inland Church, speaking at a youth rally, running bible studies and leading devotionals for the teachers in school. I also had a continuous flow of visitors to my home in Korr: wanting to talk to a foreigner, wanting chai after a long walk into town, wanting to learn how to read and write, wanting to play with muzungu hair; wanting to learn about Jesus, wanting to talk about faith.
What was a highlight of your trip?
I got to stay the night in one of the traditional Rendille houses, called a ‘min’, which was so much fun! The mins are round huts constructed of woven fibres, animal hide and cardboard boxes which fill in a wooden structure. The families sleep on animal hide and cardboard, all together inside. The men on one side, and the women on the other. They cook their food over the ‘dab’, the fire which sits on the left hand side of the entrance.
The stars were amazing too, and one night my guard let me sleep outside. I love how the stars cause me to marvel at my creator in their very being.
What was the worst bit?
The biggest challenge is seeing people who passionately believe that the Western lifestyle is flawless. Conscious of the ‘refugee crisis’ going on back at home, it hurt to know that so many of my Rendille brothers and sisters would love to be Western, just so they could benefit from a culture of great wealth, well-being and political stability. Just like the refugees pouring into Europe, they only know what they have seen through the limited media they have access to – the idealised. They have no concept of the brokenness of the Western world.
