Wisdom

July 23, 2010

We spent the afternoon at St. Paul's University. We had the privilege of sitting down with Esther Mambo, Vice Chancellor and Professor. The following are excerpts, as best I was able to recall them later that night, from our conversation with her.

Q: What are the struggles you have personally faced as an educated woman in your culture?

Esther: Young

"Being single, which is a calling."

Female

Educated

"I am too tall for the box they would like to put me in."

"Each of these things has become a blessing because I am doing ministry in the context God called me to."

"I spoke at a conference of 800-900 Mums in Western Kenya - representing six Dioceses. The Bishops from each Diocese decided to come and they were prominently displayed on the dais. All of these women were running around to take care of them because that's the way Bishops are treated here. Each of them got up to speak and said something about the end of the Anglican Church in the US. They all had something bad to say But I found that interesting, because the first chance they get, they will travel to the West. SO anyways, I am the last speaker an the whole time I am wondering what I am going to say because this is supposed to be a conference about women in the church. So I get up and begin by saying how proud I am to be a part of the Anglican Church because we have a woman primate. First women deacons, then, priests, bishops, and now a Primate. The whole room applauded. I knew I was in trouble then! I asked the women to enter into a conversation with me. I wanted to talk with them about what issues they had with the church. There were microphones spread around the room and I asked some people to record the answers with markers on chart paper. So women started sharing, "wife-beating." "Polygamy." And they went on. After all the Bishops had shared about the evil West, not one woman who spoke up shared their concerns. I want you to know that just because the people in power believe something, that does not mean they have listened to their people.

One courageous woman articulated a question directly to the bishops, "I want to know why it is okay for priests and bishops to spend money we work so hard to earn on prostitution and extra wives." The room was still. I told the bishops, "She asked you, not me." Each bishop down the line did not make a single comment until the very last one on the stage. He finally responded, "I don't know." At least he had the decency to say something. He was the only one who returned to the subsequent sessions.

Q: What gives you inner strength?

Esther: My grandmother, who raised me to believe I can be exactly who I am. Knowing that I am created in the image and likeness of God as a child of God.

Q: What gives you your drive?

Esther: Knowing that I might transform just a few lives.

There were many things about our conversation with Esther that will stick with me. However, I was most struck by a challenge that she articulated throughout her personal and communal narrative. As Christians and as Africans, how can we be defined by membership in the Body of Christ before our tribe, clan or nationality?