A Coke from an African tribe...

When I was in Kenya, I went on a microfinance trip out to the rural parts of the country near a city called Kisumu. I was going to speak to a group of people from a very small village. These people had never seen a white person (musungu) before. They did not have electricity, running water, telephones, or any modern luxuries. But what they lacked materially, they made up for in charity – and they taught me the true meaning of generosity.

I stayed with the people when I was there. It was interesting to sleep in a grass hut and share life with these people for a few days. We worked together to set up a milk business. Once they received the money to buy a cow, they were going to use its milk to sell in the local market. This should bring in enough of a steady stream of money for them to be able to send their children to school. As it was now, they did not have enough money to send their kids to school. In fact, they barely had enough money for the necessities – food, clothes, medicine, etc.

But the second nite that I was there, they were unnaturally excited about something. They were just acting all excited and happy – like they had a surprise or something. So they had me come outside where they were all (like 20 people) standing. They led me to the middle of the group, and then the leader started saying something in the local language. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was now really excited to see what was going on.

My excitement turned to humility when the leader presented me with a Coke. Their simple innocence of excitement for this Coke about broke my heart. I can’t imagine what they had to sacrifice to pay for this gift for me. I was so blown away by their generosity that I didn’t know what to say or do (although they explained that I was supposed to drink it right there in front of them while they watched!). It was just such an amazing experience. I couldn’t believe that they – living in the most extreme poverty on the earth – would be so generous as to buy me a Coke. They taught me the true meaning of generosity that day.

And they cemented it in my mind by doing it two more times after that.