Introducing... BRADEN!!!

My name is Braden. Even though I’m an American kid, I was born in Nairobi, Kenya.  I grew up in a village called Kahunda until I was five, and now I live in a town called Musoma. I am 8 years old. I live in Africa because we are missionaries.  This means that we are people who go to other nations so that the people there can know more about Jesus.

 

What people should know about missionary kids is that they aren’t really the ones who do all the work. Mostly the parents do, and we are there to make friends and play and learn. What do we learn about? We learn about what it’s like to live in Africa! We learn about how the kids grow up there - their language, what they like to play, and what they eat, and lots of other things. I know how to speak both English and Swahili, which is the main language in Tanzania.

The cool thing about being a missionary kid is that instead of learning about things in a book, we see it in life! Some of the things I’ve seen is what traveling is like. The roads are bumpy! I’ve also experienced the food. The food is very good there and I’ve learned to like it. Especially rice and beans! One thing that I was sad to have seen in life is that people don’t have as much money as we do. There are lots of beggars and they have poor clothes and they sometimes don’t look clean and this makes me feel bad for them. I also don’t like seeing animals that are skinny and not healthy.

When I’m in Africa, I know I look so much different than my friends but I don’t think about it that much because we’re all people.  We act the same and like the same things. My friend Baraka likes to play and ride bikes just like me! And I have a friend named Daudi who likes to tell jokes and be funny just like me. He likes to call me Dogo B which means “Little B,” and I like it because it’s funny.

The last thing you should know is that I like both America and Africa the same. People ask me this all the time and the answer is that I like both. The cool thing about America is that there are other people who speak my language and I can teach them about Africa (I also like having TV) but the cool thing about Africa is that I have friends there that speak different languages.  I also get to be homeschooled (I really like that) and I can learn so many cool things!

Me learning about the ancient Egyptians :)