Nairobi’s City Park
359 Words – Approximate Reading Time 2 minutes
My first trip to Kenya took place in 2005. At that time I was the pastor of Agape Baptist Church located in Pinson, AL. Agape supported a missionary who was located in Nairobi. He was a young man who had grown up in the church and was working with Y.W.A.M. (Youth with a Mission).
One night while walking back to his apartment in Nairobi, he was attacked and beaten. Agape decided to send me to Kenya to encourage and spend some time with him. I spent 10 days walking through Nairobi with him. He showed me both the pretty and the poverty of this large city. It was on that trip that God expanded my capacity to love the people of this country.
One day while with him, he took me to Nairobi’s City Park. It is famous for one thing: monkeys. At this park, the monkeys are like pigeons at a city park or seagulls at the beach. They run freely through the park and swing through the trees.
The monkeys are small and gray, not like the big browns you might see at the zoo. They’re cute—and they are not afraid of people. In fact, they expect the people to feed them peanuts that can be bought from one of the many vendors at the park entrance.
I had a funny and scary thing happen to me that day: one of the monkeys bit me. I’ll never forget calling Cherry and telling her I got bit by monkey. I thought it was funny. She did not. I’m pretty sure the movie Outbreak had just been released in movie theaters which is the story of a man being bit by monkey that had a disease that killed millions of people. That was 13 years ago.
Saturday, I went back to Nairobi’s City Park. One monkey in particular approached me. He had a warm look of familiarity to him. I can’t say for sure it was the same monkey that bit me, but he seemed pretty comfortable with me.
I am glad to report he did not bite me. I think once was enough for him and me.
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Nice beard!
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