Farewells

Today I danced one last time with the children from Joska.  I was even able to spend some special time with the school’s worship team and teach them some additional songs.  These kids are the hardest to say goodbye to.  I have formed so many relationships, it is hard to say goodbye when you know you will probably never see that person ever again.  Many of the class eight students were begging me to come back before December (before they graduate and move on to high school).  It was so hard to say goodbye to them.

After departing Joska, I made one last stop at Pangani to meet my sponsored child.  The boy I have been sponsoring (Meshack) has moved to Uganda, so this was my first time meeting my new child.  His name is Paul, he is 7 years old, and in class 2.  He was very shy and not completely fluent in English yet, but he had the best smile and was just so precious.  I cannot wait to watch this child grow up.  It is so special to me that I actually get to know my sponsored child, he is not just a name and a picture, he is a little boy with a personality and opinions and I feel so privledged to get to know that part of him.  How many people actually get that                                                                chance?

I am now at the airport, waiting for my plane.  My heart is so torn at the moment.  I miss home and am ready to go back and see everything I have missed, but I also love the people here and I feel like I can do so much work here.  For now I have to be content with the fact that I will come back.  When God provides the means, I will be on the first flight back to see my Kenyan family.

Me and Moses (my dancing buddy)

Pastor Joseph

Joska Day 2

Today I woke up to hear multiple roosters crowing right outside my window.  The children were in class all morning, so I was left to entertain myself.  I walked to the other side of the compound to see the new construction.  There is always a new project here; I am always so impressed with the progress that they make in a year.  Since I was here last, they have started a new building that will be a recreation center and a chapel.  It is a large, gorgeous stone building that is such an improvement on their too small, aluminum chapel.  They are also continuing work on the dorm building, though progress has been halted since I was here last because they haven’t had the funds to continue.  After a nice walk around the compound, I spent the afternoon talking with Pastor Joseph.  Pastor Joseph is such an amazing man, the amount he does here amazes me, but he is so happy and loves all of his 900 kids.  He has a great story and it was fun to discuss culture and religion and so many topics with him (you’d be amazed all the things you can discuss and how well you can get to know a person in three hours when you take the time to just talk, no tv, nowhere to be, just talk).  After the children finished class, they took some recreation time and I brought out the football I had brought.  None of the kids had seen one before and I had to show them how to throw it.  My demonstration left much to be desired, but the boys understood the idea, and in no time they were throwing it like they had been raised in America.  Afterwards we tried kicking field goals over the soccer goal.  No one succeeded, but had any of them been wearing shoes I’m sure it would have been too easy for them.

Tonight we were planning on dancing again, but halfway through dinner the power went out.  The generator was out of fuel and the man who went to get some had not yet returned.  It’s hard to organized 900 kids with no light and no P.A. system, much less get them to dance, so the kids were sent to bed.  I was disappointed, feeling like I had wasted a day here, but then I saw the stars.  I have never seen the stars like this.  There are just so many more than I have ever seen; at least 10 times more than what I see at home.  It was so amazing and beautiful it brought me to tears.  God’s paintbrush was right here.  There may be a lot of trouble in Kenya, but God is right here, painting the stars to remind everyone how marvelous He is.  The fact that He created the stars has always baffled me….that the giant fireballs in the sky were just a day project for Him…but this was something new.  He didn’t just create these things, He arranged them into a beautiful masterpiece that shows us only the smallest fraction of His glory.  I wish I could capture these stars so I could always look and remember, but this beauty cannot be captured in a photograph.  God’s creation is so marvelous that the only way you can see it is to come to Him everyday.  No man-made thing can capture His brillance.

Joska Day 1

Today I packed up yet again and headed back out to the Joska boarding school, where I will spend the remainder of my time here.  I spent the afternoon with the kids listening to a health presentation a couple of the interns are presenting.  In the evening, we had a Wednesday night service.  I led worship and we all had such a blast singing and dancing together.  After every song the kids would clap and yell for the longest time.  It was great seeing them enjoying themselves so much and praising with all their hearts.

Kimiko and Huruma/Madoya

This morning I went to the Kiamiko school.  I have never been to this school, so I did not know what to expect.  I was met with an entergetic staff and children that were so happy and energetic that it increased my energy exponentially.  The children were so excited to learn the songs and they put all of their energy into dancing.  Funny thing is, the Kiamiko students were pretty tone deaf.  The could not carry any of the melodies I gave them, but they didn’t care; they sang with all of their might for the Lord.  Even when they couldn’t remember the words, they would sing their own words to their own tune.  To human ears, it sounded like quite a ruckus at times, but I could not help from smiling at their spirit.  At that moment, I could hear it as God did, and it was beautiful.

In the afternoon, I walked over to the Huruma/Madoya school.  When you are driving everything seems so far apart…all the jams and the fact that you have to drive around the slums instead of through really increases travel time.  I was surprised how close Huruma/Madoya was to Kiamiko when we were able to walk through.  The Huruma/Madoya children were great..  We were crammed into a small little hall and I was on a table that was on a pretty steep incline, but it didn’t matter.  Though they were elbowing each other, and stepping on toes, they had a blast and wanted to keep learning more.

This evening I stayed again with the Kamaus.  Mary has been gone since I’ve been here, doing some speaking in the U.S.  but tonight she (and little David) came home.  It was great to see them, and David was just as much energy as ever.  After everyone went to bed, David and I stayed up and played.  Jet lag has not yet caught up to his little 4 year-old body.

More strings to my heart

Today I was able to visit some more of the special needs children with Isabella.  All these children just pull at my heart; I want to bring them all back with me so they can get the care they need.  After visiting a few homes, Isabella and I headed back to Pangani and I showed her a few things she can do with the children.  I feel like there is so much more I can teach her and help her with, but we are so pressed for time.  I hope that the little I have been able to give will be enough to help these children and to keep them busy until I am able to return.  These children are so wonderfully created and deserve so much more than they have been given.  I know there is a special place in heaven for each of these beautiful children.

Meet the children:

Susan

Susan was 3 years old when she fell from her mother’s back (women here carry their children on their backs with a piece of fabric that is just tied in a knot in front….so scary!).  She now has very poor muscle control and has trouble focusing her eyes and walking.  Because everything is done for her, Susan is also very uncooperative and was kicked out of school because she refused to tell them when she needed to go to the bathroom.  In the little time we had, I was able to teach Isabella how to teach Susan to comply.  I was also able to talk to Mary, who leads the sewing workshop, and get her to make a harness to help Susan walk.  Hopefully I can see great progress here next time I come!

Ian

Ian is 6 years old and is one of the happiest kids I have ever met.  He would just giggle at everything…so sweet coming from a child that has no toys to entertain him.  Ian has cerebal paulsy and cannot walk or stand.  While I visited him I was able to get him to hand me different objects, a hard task for someone with poor muscle control.  But, he worked hard because he quickly learned that I would give him tickles every time he did it.  Ian will be such a great worker because he is so motivated for giggles.  I am sure he will learn so quickly…I cannot wait to see what he learns!

Kenyan Sun

Today I packed up my things and headed to the Joska boarding school.  Halfway there, Pastor Stanlas allowed me to drive his car =).  Driving on the right side of the car and the left side of the road was not as difficult as I had expected it to be.  The thing that was difficult was trying to avoid all the potholes and speed bumps.  At one point we were driving on a dirt road and there were huge tire ruts ahead.  I started to go around them but Stanlas told me not to go around, just go through.  We made it halfway through the ruts then got stuck.  Some men from the village had to push us out.  It was a great first driving experience, though I do not take full credit for being stuck =)

At Joska, I attended church with the students.  Near the end of the service, Pastor Joseph leaned over to me and asked if I had a presentation prepared, which I did not.  He asked me to do something anyways, so I got up to do some songs with the kids.  When I got up all the children remembered my name from last year and all of the dances I had taught them.  We did a few songs from last year and even from the year before.  It is such fun worshipping at Joska.  The kids have such energy and such passion that you cannot help but be affected by it.

After church I headed back towards Nairobi to Wallace and Mary Kamau’s home.  (The Kamaus are the directors of the Hope Schools.)  I will be staying with them for the next few days until I head back to Joska.  After getting back to the house, I was able to relax with a couple of the interns that are also staying with the Kamaus.  We went to the pool and just enjoyed the Kenyan sun then headed to “the village” for ice cream and shopping.  It was a nice, relaxing day to recharge for the busy week ahead.

Mabatini

Today I went to the Mabatini school.  This school is without a doubt the best dancers and singers of the schools I have visited.  The teachers and students wanted to perfect every word and movement before moving on to another song.  They wanted me to stay all day and were so eager to learn as many dances as they could.  Even the teachers got up and did all the dances with us.  It was a blast to dance and worship all morning…I was sad to leave them.

This evening I checked out of the hotel and went to stay with Pastor Stanlas and his family.  He lives a little outside Nairobi with his wife and 6 girls.  He dropped me off at the house then had to run to the church so I had some time to get to know the girls.  They were all so sweet and the little ones were so curious about my hair and my skin.  I painted all the girls nails which they really enjoyed (though they are more well off than most in Nairobi, things like nail polish are luxuries they don’t usually enjoy).  We spent the evening talking and once their mother came home, the girls made dinner.  They had to make everything for dinner (no frozen meals here) so we didn’t eat until 11pm.  Even the 3-yr old stayed up that late for dinner.  It was interesting to see how a Kenyan family operates.  The father was completely served and didn’t so much as lift a finger to get the tv remote and the late dinner seemed to be nothing out of the ordinary to them…so different than the way I was raised.