Anonymous (Stories from East Africa)

After spending two weeks in East Africa, it was the slums and her inhabitants that stuck out the most. Though I met many during my time in the Misri, Bukesa, and Kawempe slums, the majority that I saw were nameless faces that I didn’t engage with. Their anonymity as humans reflected the slum in which they lived — perpetually going unnoticed until someone enters into their life.

The above photo represents for me the anonymity of so many people. An anonymity that results from us being unwilling to incarnate ourselves into their lives and into their story. His appearance so easily blends into his surroundings — tattered clothes against the backdrop of tattered structures. His identity can so easily be mistakenly defined by his surrounding environment. (As an aside: How easy is it to also miss the anonymous around us who blend into a backdrop of perfection and consumerism in Western cultures?)

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing about those in East Africa who accepted me into their lives because I was willing to enter. People who went from anonymity to onymity, from nameless to named, from unknown to known because they allowed me in. I was humbled to learn that when I was willing to enter into someone’s story, 100% of the time I was invited in. All I had to do was be willing to enter.

As Jesus was willing to enter into the anonymity of our lives, my hope is that these stories will inspire both you and I to be willing to enter into other people’s lives…no matter what culture we find ourselves in.

©2009 Fuller Youth Institute