My Friend Anne

Posted on Oct 28, 2007

There is one “ sassy “ girl in Ndathi, Kenya I am proud to say is one of my dearest friends. Anne Kaburu met me and my travel companion, Ali, at the Nairobi Airport when we arrived in Kenya. When Ali left for Tanzania, Anne became my shoulder to lean on. I had heard stories about Anne from Poppy Buchanan and Ali, who both promised that I would love her. However, she was not what I had expected. Anne sat quietly with me in the car on our three hour car trip from Nairobi to Ndathi. She graciously smiled as I made her stop on the side of the road to go to the bathroom. She had to follow me into the bushes because I was not allowed to go alone. It was an odd way to start our friendship but a unique one, as well. When I asked, “When will I see an elephant?”, she smiled and assured me,“Oh, you’ll see one soon”. This “promise” evolved into numerous long treks in search of elephants.

Ali would jokingly say “curse the day we ever asked to see a wild elephant” but we did enjoy the long walks. My Kenyan family tried to keep their word to find me an elephant….

Anne had studied abroad at David Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN., so she understood it could be hard adjusting to life in a country so different than your own. I was homesick for the first few days, but she confidently assured me that all would be fine. As the days went by and my homesickness subsided, I began to help Anne more in the health clinic. We sat at the small nurse’s desk, and Anne gave me her least favorite job to do- drawing lines in the clinic book used to keep track of patients’ visits. I quickly learned that Anne had developed her own system of book-keeping and was determined that I follow it very precisely. The funny thing about Anne is that she doesn’t call herself a people person, but she knows that she is loved by many people. She has a spunky spirit that attracts other people. I have a few more ideas about what it might be that makes Anne so loveable. During the six weeks I lived with Anne, she never criticized me but instead encouraged me, even when I knew I had messed up. Anne liked to sing “you are a superstar” to me. She loves to sing and has a beautiful voice. Most mornings I heard her singing songs to glorify God. Her knowledge of worship songs is impressive and is exceeded only by her knowledge of the Bible. Anne is wise beyond her years. She spends time in prayer before making important decisions. When I now call her on the phone to discuss future plans, she reminds me to pray about it. She is a good example of how a Christian should seek God first. Anne believes that she is called to serve God at Samaria .She makes it seem so simple to live such a life. Perhaps her faith is strong because she not only believes it with her heart but with her mind. We had wonderful times of sharing about our faith with each other. Last but not least, one of the things I love most about Anne is her peaceful spirit. I would catch Anne sometimes sitting up on the water tower just soaking up the beauty of God’s creation. She took time out of her day to stop and be at one with Christ. It was contagious and a joy to be around. I knew I would come home with many great stories and adventures, but I did not know that I would come back from Africa with a new sister. Even though we are not able to be together in the same place, Anne is never far from my heart. The lessons I learned from her are things that challenge me daily here in America. Even though I did not get to see any wild Kenyan elephants, I am forever grateful for the opportunity I had to get to know Anne and the African people