Hi my name is Kayla Carraway and I am a teacher at West Nairobi School. If you ask me what I teach at WNS you will get a hesitated answer, much like if you ask me where I am from. Not because I don’t know the answer to these questions but more because I am not sure the best way to answer. Most people expect a short answer like 3rd grade or MS English-but I simply don’t have simple answers.
At WNS I am the Athletic Director, math teacher, PE teacher, remedial instructor, and whatever else comes my way. I am from…well, the best way to put it is…I was born in Idaho, raised in Papua New Guinea, I went to college in IL, my parents live in Michigan but are moving to Cambodia in a year (that is the short version). Yes-obviously I am a MK/TCK. In the first grade I went to six different schools, I have never lived in a house longer than 18 months and have moved approximately 30 times. I definitely know what is meant by the saying, “This world is not my home.”
But my purpose here is not to make you feel sorry for me. I want to tell you a little bit of my story. I always remember on furloughs how my parents would speak in various churches telling them about their ministry in PNG. After they would get done the whole family would stand at the back of the church and talk to people. I was always asked two questions. 1) Do you speak the language….always followed by…say something. To this I would respond, “Bai yu laik mi tok wanem samting?” Which means what do you want me to say. And 2) How did you grow up over there? Don’t you feel like you missed out on so much. I always wanted to say something sarcastic like “oh yea poor me missing out on things like drugs and swearing and the pressures of a ‘worldly’ society”. But instead I would give the MK angel smile and say “No I am quite blessed to have grown up in PNG.” I didn’t go into detail with them because I knew they didn’t really care about the truth. I know my heart and I know what I would be like if I had grown up in America and gone through the public school system.
But instead I had the privilege to grow up in a school for MKs. I was taught by teacher who were there because they wanted to and not because they were getting paid. I was surrounded by people who loved God and had given up everything for Him. My parents both had ministries that allowed them to be home when we got home from school. My dad was also able to coach our sports teams as we all got older. If any of you know me at all, you will know how close my family is and I know it would not be that way if we hadn’t grown up in that environment. But it was more than just my parents who influenced me. It was also the other missionary families, the ones I call my Aunts and Uncles. They helped to shape me and guide me into who I am today. The people who took time to invest in my life and to make sure I had a solid foundation in Christ.
When I left PNG after 10 years and went off to college I could have been floundering, lost in an unknown place, a whole other world. But I wasn’t because I was rooted in Christ. It was because of people who had made a commitment to love me and help me to understand that I am who I am supposed to be. Because as Kathy (our speaker) put it so well, “When you know who you are in Christ everything else is going to be ok!” It didn’t matter that I wasn’t up to date on all the things, and I didn’t know how to fill up my car with gas, or I don’t know the TV shows that people always talk about. It didn’t matter that I didn’t have the most expensive clothes or a nice car because my security was not in those things. I had been taught to be rooted in Christ! So, I just want to say thank you to all of you who had a part in pointing me to Christ and those of you who continue to do this for me everyday. God bless you all!
Happy Easter!!!
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