Monday, October 29, 2007

Low time...

I don’t understand things. I don’t understand His plan, His ways and it can be so frustrating at times. I hurt; I ache; I can be in a room full of amazing people but it doesn’t take the loneliness away. It doesn’t stop the pain, the longing.

Am I not good enough for anyone but more importantly, for Him? Is He proud of me? Are You proud of me? Am I not doing enough? So many questions, I just need the answers. I’m asking for the answers; please answer me.

Food Distribution Day

I don’t even know where to begin on the food distribution day. It was amazing, humbling, amazing, heart breaking and amazing.

We started early in the morning. The huge lorry (a massage truck) was here at 7:00 am and they started loading the truck as soon as possible. By 7:50, us in the taxi were on the road; the lorry with the rest of the crew wasn’t to be too far behind.

We (Sandy, Dolores, Joanne and me) arrived at the first location; Maili Saba (my-lee sa-ba) and were greeted by the District Children’s Officer, Phillip who was there waiting for us. The next to arrive was a sweet, amazing woman by the name of Rebecca who lives in the community that we were doing the distribution. She and Anne, our social worker, were the ones who did all the main searching and interviewing of the neediest families in that area.

I got a call from Daniel; the lorry had broken down. They were waiting for a pickup truck to come and get them; they would load the truck and be on their way. Unfortunately the pickup truck is much smaller than a lorry so it was going to take about three trips for all of the food and blankets to get to the chapel building where we were all meeting with these families.

And then I saw her, this beautiful little girl. She was standing outside the chapel building by herself, looking a little lost. She wore this cute blue and white checkered dress, her skin a very pale white and the bluest eyes I had ever seen. She was a Kenyan albino girl and her name was Patience. I immediately went over to her and scooped her up in my arms. She wasn’t at all scared of me and welcomed my arms around her. Right away, I noticed something else about her. She had Down Syndrome; another thing that is very close to my heart. I seriously just wanted to snatch her up and take her. I walked her to the front of the church where the women and children had begun singing worship songs and the Foster Group was giving out sweets. I wanted to make sure that Patience got her sweet too.

The building was packed with women and children. There were a few men, one blind, one a single father. There were women of all ages, some young mothers with many children, others were grandmothers caring for their grandchildren. So many women looked sick, tired and sad. Sad that this is the life they were living. Maybe some had a choice of the life they were now living but most of them probably didn’t. It was heartbreaking to see. There were women who looked like they were in their 90’s, fragile, barely able to move but when it came time to get up and sing their praises to the Lord, they suddenly found this energy within themselves to stand up, clap their hands and shout out at the top of their lungs.

I can’t even describe the room during worship time to you all. Amanda got it on video and I hope to someday post it somewhere for all to see as it gives a better view of what these women and children sounded like when singing to God. The room was filled with people; there was one woman leading and the rest of the people following her. At first, they all stood there, singing their hearts out to God but then they got filled with even more joy and started dancing around. Before we knew it, they were grabbing us girls’ hands and dancing with us; they were hugging us, kissing us and saying “Asante Sana” (meaning Thank you very much) to us.

At one point, watching these women and children, who are obviously desperate people, I got completely emotional. I turned to Amanda and said, “How can you look at moments like this, desperate people praising God like this and not believe that He exists?” I was completely overwhelmed with a huge sense of love for God, for the love He has for each one of us. Even hours later, a day later, I’m still overwhelmed by what I saw and felt.

The speeches began: the children’s officer, Daniel, Sandy (leader of the Foster Group), the pastor of the church, etc. I heard a few children crying, one of them being a little boy and the other – Patience, sweet Patience. I immediately went over to her, picked her up and consoled her. I rocked her in my arms and within a minute she had calmed down, put her head on my shoulder and arms around my neck. Within five minutes, she was asleep and I was totally in love.

Kathy, one of the ladies on the Foster Group, and I were dotting all over Patience. Kathy is a retired teacher with special needs children so she immediately was drawn to Patience as well. Because Patience is an albino, her skin and eyes are extremely sensitive to the sun. Her head, face and little hands were extremely burned from the hot sun beaming down on it, probably all day every day. Kathy and I got her up on a table, grabbed baby wipes from Kathy’s backpack and I began wiping/cleaning her arms, hands, and feet while Kathy wiped down her face. We found a severely blistered upper lip from the sun’s rays. After washing her down, we covered her in suntan lotion, someone from the team put a bandana on her head and then Kathy and I went and found her mother and asked her to start covering up Patience from head to toe and to keep this bandana on her head if a hat was unavailable. We told her that she especially needed to protect Patience’s eyes as albinos have very sensitive eyes and the sun can be very harsh to them. At that moment, I wish that I had had a pair of little children’s sunglasses; I would have put them on her right away.

After we would distribute the food (corn and beans) and the blankets, Eva, Kate, Jared and I would walk around and pray for each family that received something. The people were so welcoming of the prayers, the blessings they said they received. They were coming up to us constantly, thanking us for helping them, for thinking of them and putting together such a wonderful thing for them. The children were so happy to be around white people and were so welcoming of the hugs. I could have sat there all day in the grass with all those children.

After about two hours, we got ready to head back in to Kitale Town for lunch, and preparation for the next food distribution that we were doing that afternoon. The second place that we went to was called Shimo La Tewa (She-mo La Tay-wa). It’s just a few minutes from our home and is a slum area. The slum is well known for high alcoholism and prostitution/rape. The Shimo La Tewa Primary School, made up of two-thirds slum children, state that they have at least 5 pregnancies per year from girls who have prostituted themselves or been victims of rape. This is an elementary school; how young these girls are.

When we arrived and finished getting the food distributing organized at the Shimo Primary School, we were still 45 minutes early then what was planned with the family. However, each family member was already there. They were so excited and anxious that they were early and more than ready for us.

Before distributing, Daniel, Anne and Sandy spoke to the women, a few men and the children for a few minutes. Again, as the Maili Saba distribution, there was this little boy, about six years old, who was crying. I walked over to him, knelt down and asked him if he was okay. He started rambling something off in Swahili, crying hard and big tears streaming down his face. I took a finger and wiped the tears from his face; he immediately stopped crying. I rubbed his cheek and he calmed down; he actually closed his eyes and pressed his cheek against my hand. It’s amazing what a little physical touch can do for a person.

After the short speeches, the distributing began. Like Maili Saba, the families were called by name to come and collect their maize and beans and blankets (some received more than others, based on the number of people in their family). Kate, Eva and I walked around and prayed for each family who received their items. It was so cute when we had people coming over to us, saying they haven’t been prayed for yet and could we come and pray for them. That was awesome.

I’m overwhelmed today; so many people touched my heart today; specifically, my new sweet friend Patience in Maili Saba. I just can’t seem to get her and her beautiful face out of my head or heart. I find myself becoming emotional over her, a worry in me. Obviously she comes from an extremely poor family and suffers from two disabilities: albino (which isn’t a disability but needs to be cared for) and Down Syndrome. And with the culture not being very accepting to people with “disabilities”, I find myself fearing for this little girl. Is she properly being cared for? Are her emotional and mental needs being met? Obviously the mother is not educated on caring for a child who is an albino as the poor little girl has burned skin from the sun and it’s not necessarily the mother’s fault. They are uneducated: the parents but also people in general.

I’m going to keep in contact with Rebecca, the lady who lives in the Maili Saba community and worked with Anne on this project. I want to keep updated on Patience; she’s touched my heart, a very deep place in my heart. I can’t describe it; I can’t explain it. She’s just so precious.

I’ll try to post pictures soon. It sucks that I lost the cable for my camera so I have to rely on other people’s cameras for pictures. You can also look on our TI website (www.transformedinternational.org) for pictures too.

Thanks to everyone for your prayers. The day was a complete success and we are so thankful to the Foster Group for allowing us to be a part of this day. And we above all else, thank God for providing the resources and funds to be able to do this.

I love you all!
Meredith
xoxoxo

Monday, October 22, 2007

Foster Group

On Thursday morning, we had our Foster Group arrive, a team of 6 people from Canada, to our home. They will be staying with us for one week. They are such a great group of people to have here. All except one is retired now and it’s so awesome to see how young at heart they are, how adventurous they are. They are traveling to three different cities in Kenya and sharing their resources and fundraising in those areas. They have been an awesome group to spend time with, full of stories and laughter.

On Thursday afternoon, we took the Foster Group (the leader of the group has the last name of Foster) to our usual street kid feeding program. They were amazed by the street kids and even more amazed by the relationship that we have with them (Yes D, you know me well!). At one point, Eric and Oscar (running the program that day) asked Daniel to come up and introduce the new people there. Between Daniel and Sandy (the leader of group), they were all introduced. Then they asked me to stand and introduce the rest of the white people there (like our interns) and so I went around and introduced Jared, Amanda, Kate, Eva and Caleb. Then I pointed to Daniel and in Swahili, asked who he was. The kids all screamed “DANIEL!” Then I pointed to me and asked who I was, “MARY!” Yeah, it was pretty cool!

Later, we were walking home and Daniel asked me if I heard what some of the kids shouted when I asked who I was. I said I heard Mary. Daniel said that there were some kids there who shouted out another name for me, in Swahili. And the translation was, “Mama Street Kids.”

When Daniel told me that, tears welled up in my eyes. Mama Street Kids, wow! I was completely touched by that. How awesome is this relationship that we have built with the street kids? These kids just blow me away; I LOVE them.

There were 8 street girls at the feeding program too. And we were so excited to see them, especially the new girls that we had never met before. My sweet Rose was there and we sat together, arms around each other, the whole time. There was also a mom there with her baby.

I had a drunken older street boy next to me for awhile who liked to get right up against my cheek and ear and talk to me and of course, breathe on me. A few times, his hand moved closer to an upper place that it didn’t need to go. Thankfully, I know when it’s okay to punch a guy and not get hurt by it, so I punched him…not hard but to let him know he wasn’t allowed to do what he wanted to do. : ) Rose and two new street girls went off on him in Swahili for getting too close to me but he was too high or drunk to reason with. Within a minute, Daniel was there and removed him.

The Foster group was blown away by the street kids. They really enjoyed getting to meet them and seeing how we spend our Thursdays.

On Friday, Eva, Caleb, Amanda, Kate, Jared, Daniel and I left early in the morning to spend a day in Eldoret. On Fridays, there is this HUGE market, called the West Market that goes for about 2kms and you can get some really decent new or second-hand clothes. I’ve gotten a few second-hand skirts there for about $3 each.

We went to town to catch a Peugeot (it’s a seven passenger taxi that goes direct from Kitale to Eldoret to Kitale) and because there was seven of us, we filled up the taxi right away and were ready to go. To take a Peugeot, it costs 180 shillings per person so 180 shillings times seven people is 1,260 shillings. However, the guy that collects the money wanted 1,400 shillings from us (total). We asked why the increase and he said because of gas; we said that if we were all seven different people, including Kenyans, it would only be 1,260 shillings, right? Why are they trying to charge us an extra 140 shillings? It wasn’t much of an argument so we only paid 1,260 and we were off.

We arrived at the West Market and it was already busy. We were also buying clothes for some of the kids in our program so we were excited to be shopping for them. Thankfully, there were no hard times in the market; no one harassed us or tried to pick-pocket us. We managed to buy tons of clothes for the kids that we know they will love.

We later went in to town and went for lunch, visited our friend Robert (the craftsman), did a bit of grocery shopping and then headed to the stage (huge parking lot with all the public transport vehicles) to catch another Peugeot home. Wow, this was a pain in the butt. Apparently, there was a shortage of vehicles and therefore, the stage was PACKED with people and all fighting to get on the matatus (14 passenger vans) as they pulled up. We went to the Kitale Peugeot area and voila there was an empty one. So we all got in and the guy collecting the money says, “Two hundred shillings each. Its 1,400 total.” We were like, “Not again!” But this guy would not budge. We told him it was only 180 shillings but he wouldn’t have it. Daniel argued with him and then the guy told us that if we weren’t going to pay the 200 shillings to get out of the car. I noticed the driver of the vehicle right away as I’ve taken him many times before to and from Eldoret. I went over and said in Swahili, “You know me. Don’t cheat us.” He said that yes he knew me but it was rush hour and he wanted 200 shillings. After a few more minutes of talking with him (he wouldn’t have to sit and wait for the car to fill up, there were seven of us already there, ready to go), I told him that I was disappointed and that I would not ride with him again, if this is how he is going to cheat me and my friends. As I started to walk away, he said it was okay, he would take us to Kitale at 180 shillings. But at that point, it was too late. We didn’t want to use him anymore; so we decided to take a matatu instead.

Well that was a hassle too. Ugh, so many people, so not a lot of vehicles. After an hour and half of waiting, Daniel found a matatu at another stage in town that was saving us seven seats for 150 shillings each. So he ran back and got us and we all had to run to the other stage, across the main road at rush hour (yeah….lots of cars and trucks and crazy drivers) but we got there. The matatu waited for us, we got on and were finally headed home, all tired from the day in the sun.

Saturday was spent getting the bags of maize (corn) and beans separated and labeled for the food distribution on Tuesday (23rd). With the funds raised by the Foster Group here, we are able to feed over 100 families on Tuesday, completely desperate families in the poorest parts in this area. The food they are being given is going to last them a few months. It was a hot day but we all managed to have a great time and us young people were really able to bond with the older crowd of the Foster Group. It’s amazing to be brought together with the older generation, to hear their stories and for them to give us wisdom and encouragement in a different and refreshing way.

I don’t have much to say now. Tomorrow is the food distribution day and it’s going to be crazy busy so I’m going to call it in now. Oh yeah, the media may be there tomorrow to do a story on us; either paper or television – don’t know which one. Hopefully it works out to be a good media event and not a bad one. : )

Please pray for Amanda and her family. Amanda found out today, via email, that her grandmother has passed away. Understandably so, this has hit her really hard, especially with being here in Kenya. I just ask you all to please keep her in your prayers.

Prayer Requests:
1. Amanda and her family at the loss of her grandmother.
2. Food distribution tomorrow – that all goes smoothly with no problems.
3. Foster Group – as they wrap up their time with us on Thursday and head to Nairobi.

Love you all!
Meredith
xoxoxo

Monday, October 15, 2007

Street Kids....one of my favs

The past few days have been spent with street kids and I have to say, as per usual, they are some of the most fun days that I have had.

Wednesday, October 10th, 2007


This morning, Caleb, Eva, Amanda and I were heading to town. We were all motivated to walk to town (a usual 20-25 minute walk) but then this really nice white pick-up truck with a Kenyan lady stopped and asked if we wanted a ride to town (we later found out she is our next door neighbor and recognized me). We couldn’t turn down the offer (as it’s rude in this culture) so we all jumped in the box of the truck with the wind blowing in our hair. As we were heading toward the main road of town, I heard all these voices screaming, “Mary, Mary!” I looked and there were tons and tons of street kids, girls and boys, sitting around, which was an odd thing.

The truck dropped us off in town and the four of us immediately headed to where all these street kids were. When we got there, I was bombarded by tons of the street kids, hugging on me, kissing me, shaking my hand, etc. Jackson, one of the street boys, says in Swahili, “Mary, these children and me love you so much.” Thankfully, with the Swahili I know, I knew what he was saying.

It turns out the children were waiting for this street kids home called Challenge Farm to come and pick them up for the day. This organization does this every other month; they come to town with a lorry and take all the street kids to Challenge Farm. The ones who want to stay and get in to the home and program are allowed to stay, the ones who don’t, get back on the lorry and are taken back to town. Realistically, a lot of the children end up coming back to the streets. However, it was cool to be together with this amount of street kids at once.

Here are some pics of the kids and me.



Then we noticed a bunch of street girls, street moms, and then I saw my sweet Rose. She and I ran over to each and other and hugged a great big hug. This is my sweet Rose.



Amanda and I sat down with the street girls, the street moms. One of the girls asked me to come over and see one of the street women sitting there. I went over and she had a puffy lip and a deep gash at the corner of her mouth. She had tears pouring down her face. I had asked what happened and they said that she had gotten beaten earlier that morning. I sat with her for a minute and comforted her the best way I could, especially with the language barrier. I told her that she needed to get to Challenge Farm and then see if she could get in to Sister Frieda’s (associated with Challenger Farm) medical clinic and they would be able to help clean her up and maybe stitch up the wound. I knew that if she went there, she would probably be able to get the medical care for free.

There were at least 5 street girls, around the age of 16-18 who were very visibly pregnant. Some of these girls already had children attached to their hips. And most of these girls had glue in their mouths or on them somewhere. It was such a sad sight; a heart-breaking sight.



One of the girls asked me to sit down and as soon as I did, they all wanted to play with my hair. Within a few minutes, they asked if they could braid my hair. I love having my hair played with so of course I said yes. I had three girls doing my hair, pulling in different directions, different size braids. But I looked totally sweet afterward, I must say.



One of the girls let me hold her sweet baby girl, Valinda. She was such a beautiful baby. At one point while holding Valinda, the mother came to me and said that she wanted me to keep her baby. She told me that I could raise her better than she and that I would be a good mom to her baby. And then she ran off, with me still holding her daughter. I went after her, baby in arms, and she ran away from me. At first, a part of me panicked. What would I do if she was serious? What would I do with this baby? I would take Valinda in a second, in a heart beat. She does deserve a good life; she doesn’t deserve to be a second generation street kid. I could take care of her, couldn’t I? But I’m not her mom; she needs her mom, doesn’t she? And then I saw her mom and when her mom saw me, she didn’t run. When I handed Valinda to her, she took her. She had sadness in her eyes but she took her. What else could I do? What would you have done?
Shortly after 12:00, the lorry for Challenge Farm came to round of the children. Amanda, Caleb and Eva Joy decided that they would go to Challenge Farm with the children while I stayed back in town to do a few things and then head home to start on my pasta sauce (I make it from scratch) for dinner that night. As I headed to the main road of town, I saw a boy that I see almost every day on the street. His name is Benson. He lives in the Shimo slums (which is just a few minute walk from our house) and comes to town every day to find food/money for his mother and siblings. He’s about 12 or 13 years old.

As I got closer to Benson, I saw his shoulders shaking and then these big tears rolling down his cheeks. I asked him in Swahili what was wrong and he said, “John hurt me.” I asked who John was but he wouldn’t say. I asked him if he was hungry and he shook his head yes. So I told him to come with me. I asked him which restaurant he would like to go to and he picked one so we went to it. We sat down inside and I asked him if he was okay and with a tear-stained face; he looked at me and said yes. I told him that he could order whatever he wanted from the menu and to get a big soda too if he wanted.

I excused myself for a moment to go and wash my hands at the sink. A man came walking in to the restaurant and headed straight for me. This is what he said when he reached me (in brackets is my thoughts or what I said).

“Hi. I’ve been watching you. (me freaking out a bit!) I just had to come and tell you that if it was proper in my culture, I would hug you right now (again, me freaking out a bit!). I watched you go and talk to that boy and I saw you bring him here to buy him lunch. (me, breathing a sigh of relief). And I just want to say thank you. Thank you for taking care of the children that we Kenyans don’t (me just about bursting in to tears and saying thank you to him). My name is Mike and I just want to say thank you.”

He shook my hand and then he left. I stood at the sink for a moment, trying to compose myself before heading back to the table to join Benson. When I got back to the table, Benson and I ordered our lunch and a large soda for him. A taxi friend of mine, Sam, came and sat down with us; “trying” to talk back and forth with Benson but it was a little difficult as Benson was very quiet. He ate his food slowly and looked down most of the time. I tried to engage in some conversation with him but he was so shy.

I couldn’t eat all of my food so I had it wrapped up in a baggy and then Benson did the same with his. I told him to take my food home to his family and gave him a few extra shillings (money) to go and buy his family some milk or extra food.

I noticed that Benson’s hands and feet were covered in “chiggers”. Chiggers are a flea/mite like bug that gets under the nails and lays eggs and grows and is very itchy. It’s a common thing among street and slum children; it’s caused by lack of hygiene/bathing. I’ve looked up on the net a bit of info but I think they may be a bit different then when I found on the net. Actually it’s almost exactly like the Chigoe flea (in case you want to look it up). I know that here in Kenya, you can tell the really bad cases of chiggers. When a child leaves a spot that he/she has been sitting at for a period of time, you can see a white residue left behind on the ground, usually from their feet. Some say that this is the infection/liquid that is oozing from under their skin/nails from the chiggers. It’s definitely not something that I would want to get and that is why we usually come home and wash up after spending the day with the street kids. This also helps us from getting ringworm as well.

As we were leaving the restaurant, Benson looked up at me with tears in his eyes and said, “Asante sana Mary. Mungu akubariki.” which means “Thank you very much Mary. God bless you.” He was a great person to spend my lunch and some of my afternoon with.

Thursday, October 11, 2007

This morning we got up early and as every Thursday morning, met for prayer at 7:00 at the Prayer Room, built by the organization called Youth Apart (I’ve talked about them before) and just five minutes from our house. We go there with Youth Apart members and sometimes other ministries and usually spend an hour or so praying for our ministries, the street children, our church, the town of Kitale and the country of Kenya. It’s a great way of getting in to the day of time with Christ and with each other. It keeps the unity strong among the different ministries in the area.

At 9:30 a.m., we started our first Swahili class at our house. We have a Kenyan friend that has set aside two hours every Thursday to teach a few of us white people Swahili. We aren’t telling any Kenyan friends that we are doing this; we want to surprise them. Plus we want to know what they may say about us – and them thinking we don’t know what they are talking about. J

Our first lesson went awesome. We had so much fun. It was Jared, Eva, Caleb, Amanda, Marlies (from Youth Apart) and myself in the lesson (Daniel is away for a few days and Kate is in Sudan until Tuesday of next week). We learned a lot and we can’t wait to get more in depth in the language.

After lunch, we headed to town and behind Nyayo House to visit with the street girls. When we got there, it was a raining a bit so we didn’t see many kids out back as we usually do. But then I heard, “Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary, Mary….” It was Elizabeth; one of the street girls. She saw me from a distant and came running and screaming my name, everyone looking from her to me. All I could do was laugh. She came running up and greeted us. Her and I walked away from the crowd of people and spent a few minutes together. She smelled so much of glue but we still hugged on each other and when I kissed her on the cheek, she giggled like a little girl and then returned a kiss on the cheek to me and then told me she loved me. I told her that I loved her more, to which she giggled like a little girl again.

After a few minutes, she told me that she was in need of shoes (her sandals were torn and abused a bit). I simply told her that I would not buy shoes for her as long as she had a glue/drug habit. I told her that if she quit the glue for one week, she would be able to buy her own shoes. She laughed and then said, “Yes, I will do.” I wish and pray that she would do that but I know the effect the streets and the glue have on those kids.

On Wednesday, Caleb’s sunglasses got stolen by one of the street kids (when we were hanging out with them waiting for the Challenge Farm lorry to come). So today, some of the kids told Caleb they knew who had them and where they were. The kids took him a bit in to the “forbidden white person” area and ended up taking him to a pool hall where they left to go and find the person/people who had the sunglasses. Jared ended up joining Caleb and after a few minutes, Amanda, Eva and I ventured down there as well.

This is the rough part of behind the Nyayo House. For awhile now, we’ve just sat on the stairs and the kids came to us but this time, we wanted to go to them. It was a different feeling today. We weren’t scared that we were going more in to their territory, a bit deeper in to the “slum” part. The street girls stuck to us like glue and the guys were more than happy to see white girls coming in to the “pool hall”. The pool hall is a small, rectangular, concrete building with a tin roof. It had two pool tables and around the pool tables were benches for the spectators. When the three of us went in, there was Caleb already playing pool with a bunch of street kids that we know. When we walked in, I could hear my name being called and even some new young faces of street boys that I had never seen before. We introduced ourselves to some of the kids and they were so excited to have us there. Within two minutes, the word had gone out…not only were there two white guys in the pool hall but three white girls too…and the place was packed.

Never for one moment were we scared or uncomfortable. There were street girls coming in now to see us and sit with us, including my sweet Rose. She couldn’t find a place to sit so I had her sit on my lap and we just cuddled. I met a girl named Pauline who I had heard so much about from friends at Oasis of Hope (street kids program in Kitale). I met a young girl named Josephine and her baby, Mark Isaac. Pauline hugged on me the whole time and I started singing Swahili worship songs that I knew and she immediately jumped in and started singing to. Then Josephine started in on the singing with us and so did some of the boys that were hanging around. A bunch of us just ended up singing worship songs in Swahili while the others played pool.

About twenty minutes later or so, I started to feel the effects from the smell of the glue that was in the air. Almost every child in there had glue on them or if they didn’t, their clothes reeked of it. I began to feel light headed and a headache was quickly surfacing. I turned to Amanda and by the look on her face, she was feeling the same way I was. And then she said, “My head is hurtin’ from this smell in here.” I said, “Me too. Let’s get out of here.” We also realized the time and that it was getting close to the start of the feeding program. So we packed up Caleb, Eva and Jared and a lot of the street kids and then began our fifteen minute walk to the feeding program.
We did our usual walk through town and got the usual stares by Kenyans who saw these four white people walk through town with all these street kids. We also had Josephine and her son Mark Isaac with us on the travels.

We arrived at the feeding program to another 25+ kids already there. After the time of teaching, the kids who went up to the front the week before, were asked to come up again to be prayed for and spoken with. After that, the children were asked who would like to accept Christ as their savior and about seven kids went up to the front. Eva, Amanda and I went up there too and we laid hands on the children and Mwangi (a good friend of ours and staff of Youth Apart) prayed with them and for them. Josephine was one of the girls up there. She was so excited to be up there and prayed out loud and with her heart’s content. Again, it was such an amazing thing to see. God is certainly moving and working in this place; in the feeding program and we pray it’s going to move the street kids of Kitale.
This is an average day at the Feeding Program:








After the teaching, praying and food, we spent some time with the kids. I danced with a few of the boys (old fashioned style of course) and taught them how to spin me. Amanda and some of the boys started doing high karate kicks, which caused a riot of karate kicks. It was fun to watch them all try to karate kick Amanda. :-)

It was a great day with the kids, as per usual. I can’t say enough about how much we have with the street kids; or how much fun I have with the street kids. They just want to be accepted and loved and treated like human beings. Isn’t that what we all want? No matter what age, color or nationality we are? We just want to feel loved and accepted and treated as equals. These kids deserve that. I don’t know what life is like for them at home, if they have a home to go to or what life is like on the streets but if we can give them a full day or an hour a day of love and affection and they can feel important and special, then I’m all for that. I will always be more than willing to give them my time, attention and love. I can’t even explain how beautiful and special and gorgeous these kids are. I have a huge heart for them; they have a special place in my heart. Each and every one of them.

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

Lots of mini updates...

Wow, I realize that it’s been a few days since I have blogged on here. My bad. And there has been so much going on.

Thursday, September 27th, 2007

Two of the coolest people arrived in Kitale, Eva Joy and Caleb. Eva Joy and Caleb belong to a ministry called Africa Connect. Although we as TI have no direct partnership with their ministry, we are partnered with them in bettering the Kingdom and helping the children of this town, this country and this world.

I met them at the bus station (as Daniel was in Nairobi awaiting our fourth intern, Jared to fly in from Canada – more on that in a moment) and it was instant friendship. We felt so comfortable around one another. I had never met them before, although I had gone back and forth on myspace with Eva Joy, but even after a week and a half of them being here, I feel so comfortable around them. It’s like we’ve all known each other for years. It’s going to be a great six months with them.

Saturday, September 29th, 2007

As every awesome Saturday Kate, Amanda and I went out to the children’s home to spend the day with the kids. It was such a beautiful day and we had such a relaxing time with the kids. The kids had worked in their garden that morning, harvesting the maize and so as a present to them for all their hard work, us girls bought them sodas. They were so happy; soda is a luxury here so the kids were so thankful to us for buying them the sodas.

So, Jared our intern was supposed to arrive on this day. But it didn’t happen. Apparently Jared went to check in to the airport in Toronto, Canada on Thursday (27th) and they told him that his passport was too damaged and dirty and they would not accept it. Therefore, Jared could not get on the plane and thus, missed his trip to Kenya. It sucked big time as we were all excited to have him arrive that evening. But thankfully, Jared trusted in God and….I’ll give more update on that in a minute.

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

On the way back home from town, Amanda, Kate, Daniel and I made a little pit stop to one of my favorite places to go – The Baby House (called Baby Rescue Centre). This was the first time that Amanda and Kate have been to the baby house and they were so excited to be going.

When we arrived, we saw the cutest thing ever. There were four little ones lined up in a row, sitting on brand new colorful potties. And then there was Mercy, sitting on her potty…two braids completed in her hair, the rest…..a huge afro. It was the cutest thing EVER.

(Gracie, Brian, Mercy & Hope - who wasn't comfortable with the new white people)
(Sweet Mercy)

After the children got off the potties, Brian and Mercy came running over to me, both of them wanting my lap. After covering them with tons of kisses and blow farts, Brian wanted some guy bonding time with Daniel. I think Daniel was more than welcoming of that.

Then my sweet little Isaiah woke up. What a beautiful little baby he is. He’s about 6 months old and has one of the biggest smiles ever. As soon as I saw his eyes open, I ran for him in his bassinet. He welcomed my arms and kisses with a huge smile and a little giggle. He is a little top heavy (he’s got a belly on him) so when you sit him up he immediately falls forward. It’s so funny to watch and he doesn’t seem to mind his face in the grass at times. Yeah, he’s one that I would definitely steal and bring home with me.

Thursday, October 4th, 2007

It’s Faith’s, Hope’s and Caitlin’s birthday today!!!! I hope they all had amazing birthdays.

The most amazing new restaurant opened in Kitale. We have been going to its ‘sister’ restaurant called Twigs forever now. Daniel and I have been “im”patiently waiting for the new one to open and it did!!!! It’s called Iroko (EEE-row-ko) Boulevard and it’s got this awesome outside patio that looks out over one of the main streets). It has a huge inside dining room and a cute little VW bug like car (but it’s not) hanging from the ceiling. Brilliant!!!

The owner went to university in the US for architect and minored in interior design; the guy knows how to build an awesome restaurant – and at affordable prices for the average Kenyan. Amanda, Kate, Daniel and I just had to go to the opening; it’s going to be our new hangout now. J
Thursday’s, as I’ve said before, are one of my favorite days of the week. It’s the day that we really spend time with street girls. We went to our usual place behind the Nyayo House to see and visit with the street girls. It was a bit quiet back there this particular day but I did get to see my Rose.

When we arrived, I saw the same mother (from previous Thursday blogs) sleeping on her sack in her usual place. What scared me was that I didn’t see her little boy; the one I fed biscuits to a few weeks back. He’s no more than two years old and she’s sound asleep; what could be happening to this little boy. As we sat down on the stairs at the back of the building, I saw the curly hair in the distance. Amanda and I saw him at the same time and then he saw us. A smile crossed this little boy’s face and he came running toward our direction. It was cute; he would come running to us but then about 15 feet away, stop, stare at us and then take the LOOOONG way around to get to Amanda and me but he finally made it to us. And within a few minutes was off again. His mom, never waking up and wondering where he was. Another little boy that I would love to take home with me. Wow, the list of children keeps getting longer.

After sitting behind the Nyayo House, we grabbed the street kids and headed to the weekly feeding program. Funny story: so we’re walking to the feeding program, Rose and I walking a few steps in front of the rest of the gang. Walking toward all of us is a group of about 20 high school boys. I don’t see anything or think anything of it. I greet them all and Rose and I keep walking. A few minutes later, Daniel tells me that as I walked by all the high school boys, they all cranked their necks around to continue watching me. As they turned their heads back around, Daniel singles out one of them and says, “Do you like looking at my wife?” All of the boys are shocked but then starts laughing at the one that Daniel has drawn his attention to. So Daniel asks, “Why are you looking at my wife?” The boys all answer in Swahili, “She’s very good.” Meaning, I’m nice to look at. Yeah, high school boys and puberty time. I don’t think so!!! Thankfully my dear “fake” husband is always there to protect me. :-)

Moving on to the feeding program. One of the kids snuck in to the compound with his glue bottle (which we don’t like) so Daniel took it. At one point, Daniel fell asleep with the glue bottle. Amanda got a picture of it. No worry, Daniel is NOT becoming a glue sniffer.
(Daniel sleeping with glue)

An amazing thing happened at the feeding program today too. Juma, one of the Kenyans that assist in running the feeding program, asked the question to the kids if anyone didn’t know Christ and wanted to know Him. There were six children that raised their hand so Juma asked if they truly wanted Christ with them to go to the front and they did, my sweet Rose being one of them. And then in Swahili, they repeated the prayer, the prayer to accept Jesus Christ. It was totally awesome. We were in awe of it. Thank you so much Lord. They are rejoicing in the heavenlies today!!!

Friday, October 5th, 2007

For those of you who don’t know, today is a very special day to my friends and I. Okay, a special day for me. It’s my 31st birthday. Yaaaaay!!!

So, we planned a big party for me tonight. We (actually Daniel) barbequed goat (it’s amazingly good!), made rice with a spicy soap sauce to go on top, chapattis (it’s like a tortilla but a little greasier), Daniel’s amazing potato salad, sweet corn (yeah, you can buy it frozen here….first time for the Kenyans to eat it), sodas and cake.

Daniel and I went out today and did a bit of last minute shopping. The sweetest thing we bought: a volleyball net and ball. So Caleb and Daniel set it up in our backyard for the party. When the party started and before it got dark, everyone was playing volleyball and then dinner was served. Daniel and I also bought kerosene lanterns and set them up in the four corners of the gazebo; when it got dark out, it was so beautiful to have the gazebo softly lit.

After dinner, Todd led me out to our gazebo and I suddenly got nervous (I’ll explain why in a minute). I asked Todd why he was leading me out to the gazebo, was it so that they could dump water on my head (a birthday tradition in Kenya – when they celebrate birthdays). Todd said that he thought it was for the birthday cake with candles. Then I saw everyone come outside with Kate and Amanda who had the cake with the candle in it. I breathed a sigh of relief. They sang happy birthday; I blew out my candle; everyone clapped; I gave a thank you speech and then Kate left to cut the cake. Or so I thought.

From the corner of my eye, I see a blue basin. I look at Todd and said, “You lied to me!!!” all the while laughing my head off. But it wasn’t a basin full of water; it was a basin full of water balloons. Ready, aim, fire!!!! Yeah, I got smacked and good. The jeans, the top – soaked. And thankfully, some innocent bystanders were hit as well.
(a wig, a mask, a fog horn, Barbie bubbles for my b-day gift from Todd - and Amanda in the background)


(This is Todd wearing the wig he bought me. I promise, he's not drunk or high...just having fun!)

After the cake was eaten and presents open, we all went out to the gazebo, with the kerosene lanterns lit to give a nice glow in the dark. Daniel and a few others (Jimmy and Caleb) pulled out the guitars, Mina on the drum and we spent the next two hours singing worship songs. It was awesome, totally amazing. A whole slew of us, sitting around together, in a relaxed, informal setting, praising God. What a way to spend a birthday!!!

(Caleb, Jimmy, Daniel & Mina)

I love birthdays. I love that we get to celebrate the birth and life of someone we love. I’m not a freak about my age because a few years ago, I came to a place with myself and God where I just said, “I’m not planning it anymore. You do it God.” And although it’s been rough a few times, I am on an amazing adventure in my life right now. I am so thankful to Him!

Saturday, October 6th, 2007

Jared made it!!! It was so awesome to see him and Daniel pull up in the taxi this afternoon. I was so excited to see Jared get out of the car. I just ran over to him and gave him the biggest hug.

Thank you to everyone who sent something for Daniel and me along with Jared. I love each and every thing I received: the books, the clothes, the M&M Peanuts (yummy!!). You guys at NAC are the best!!! I love you all!

Also, one of our interns, Kate, has left for Sudan for ten days with another ministry from her church back in the US. Please pray for her during that time: for protection and yet adventure, God’s adventure.

Sunday, October 7th, 2007

After dinner tonight, the six of us (Amanda, Jared, Eva, Caleb, Daniel and I) sat around the table and talked. It was a deep, spiritual talk. We confessed things, shared things, discussed things and then we spent the next hour with our heads down, in prayer. We prayed out loud, some of us crying, some of us laughing. It has been a bit of a rough week for me, and so it was so wonderful that afterwards, together, we felt so ignited, so refreshed and in so much anticipation of what God has in store for each of us and us as a body of Christ. We felt closer to one another; it was such a needed time of conversation and prayer together; as a unit.

Additional Stuff

We have a great group of Canadians that are coming in two weeks to stay with us for a week. Awhile back, they asked us if we could help them do a huge food distribution day while they are here. Of course we said yes. So the past few weeks, we’ve been getting together and interviewing the neediest families in the area that could benefit from this distribution. The amount of money that we received from this group coming in is going to be able to feed over 50+ families.

We have already purchased some of the food, and it’s being stored in our garage right now. The rest we will get a few days before the actual distribution day. We are getting organized in the packaging of the food for each family, the transportation for the sacks and sacks and sacks and sacks of maize, beans, etc. that will be distributed and the route of travel that we will take to ensure that all 50+ families receive their food in that allotted day.

We are really excited for the day to come. It’s going to be on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007. So please keep that day in your prayers as well. I know we’ll be taking lots of pictures and for sure I will post them as soon as I can, after the event.

Other than that, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. Because my birthday was so close to Thanksgiving, we didn’t celebrate it but we will for sure celebrate the American Thanksgiving on November 22nd.

Oh yeah, Jared relayed the messages to me from some of you at church. Thank you to those of you who insisted that Jared tell me that you do read ALL of my blogs/messages and read each and every part of it. Thank you to those who believe in me and what I’m doing here. I only hope that my blogs/messages give you a slight picture of life here, of me here, but mostly of God here. He gives me strength when I am weak. He comforts me when I feel lonely or sad or burdened. He hugs me and tells me that I am fearfully and wonderfully made when I feel unworthy. How awesome He is!

Prayer Requests:
1) Kate’s safe and adventures in Sudan (she’s back to Kitale on the 15th)
2) Upcoming food distribution day – that all goes well and is organized
3) For the six street children (including my Rose) who asked Jesus Christ in to their hearts on October 4th.
4) For the continued unity with all of us in this house

I love you and miss you all!!
Meredith
xoxoxo