Abok’s Story

Abok was one of the young men heavily involved in post election violence and looting in Nairobi. His rage drove him and his friends to wage war against members of a different tribe. He threw stones and tear gas at the police. At some point after the violence abated however, he found himself filled with remorse and emptiness. His life lacked direction and purpose.

Then he heard about the Msafara. Made his way to Nairobi Baptist to sign up and found he needed a signed reference from his pastor as well as 5000/- to join. He went to one of Nairobi’s more famous churches and asked the pastor’s secretary if they could sign his form and sponsor him for the trip. But pastor was away and secretary was unwilling to commit.

Abok not knowing what to do next determined to volunteer for odd jobs at the Msafara secretariat and to make himself so valuable that they’d have no choice but to take him with them. Long story short, strategy worked, and he somehow slipped by the screening process and became a Msafiri - without the required pastor’s reference! For the next week, he found himself surrounded by Christians across the country praying against violence and working among those affected by it. He made friends who genuinely seemed to care about him. No one knew his story but something began to burn within. At some point, Abok could take it no more, and confessed his actions to one of the Msafara pastors, who prayed for him as he accepted Jesus as his Savior.

So now Abok is passionate to become a part of the solution instead of the problem. And he is convinced that God wants him to be a pastor one day, so that he can help others who are where he was, not too long ago.