Article December 27, 2004 Issue

SAFE AMONG THE BIG CATS

By Joseph Kamenju

I never imagined finding so much inspiration in a quaint old picture. I teach a Sunday School class of 15-to 19-year-olds in Nairobi. The picture that the students and I now affectionately call "our picture" hangs above our Sunday School table. It illustrates the well-known story of Daniel when he was thrown to the lions, as narrated in the Bible's book of Daniel.

We use this picture as an illustration when we discuss a wide range of issues facing Kenyans today. I've found it to be an amazingly adaptable object lesson in confronting the fears that accompany AIDS and other diseases, poverty, unemployment, and other troubles that plague our country and Africa. The picture also has been a reference point when we've talked about specific issues such as facing examinations, or how to heal a painful boil through prayer.

Being cast into a den of lions was a form of capital punishment during the Babylonian Empire. There was no escaping the grim outcome. Today, being diagnosed with AIDS in Kenya is thought of as just as certain a death sentence as being thrown to the lions was thousands of years ago.