Sweet Bunyore

Reuben Kigame, the blind Kenyan gospel singer, wrote “Sweet Bunyore” in 1999 during a ministry trip to California. It is the third song on his album “Never Alone: Kenya's Tribute to Country,” recorded two years later in Goshen, Indiana, with a country band so the sound would be authentic. Bunyore is the region of western Kenya he comes from, and the song is a homesick look back at it.

The first verse says, “Life has been cruel to me, and I have longed for a shoulder to lean on,” and describes the cold city, the lies and the pain of street children. The chorus asks the homeland questions: “Do you remember me? And if I come, will you receive me? Have you a place for me, or am I just a child of fate?” The next verse remembers cows mooing, evening fires and the rivers, with morning birds that “join the whole creation in the mighty song to the King of kings.” Kigame says the song is about going back to God by tracing your steps to your roots and simple living, where loneliness finds an answer.

God appointing the places where nations live is Acts 17:26, and the quiet waters are in Psalm 23:2-3. A son returning home to a welcome is in Luke 15:18-20.