Update from Kenya

I am so happy to say that Bud, Kim and their 3-month old son, Elisha, returned to Kitale on Wednesday. I was so excited to see them (especially Kim) and meet my new “nephew” Elisha. He was all smiles for his Auntie Mary. :-) Its great having them home; and with Daniel in the US and Rhonda, my current roommate, (Texan girl) leaving for the US on Monday, it’s so nice to have Bud and Kim here. It would have been a very lonely time for me. :-)

Rhonda, my sweet roommate, works at a place called Challenge Farm. It’s a home/school that helps rehabilitate street children and gives them an education as well. Anyway, Rhonda was telling me that they recently took in about 35+ street kids; it was about 3.5 weeks ago. I was giving her names of street boys that I knew to see if any of them had gone to Challenge Farm. Rhonda recognized some of their names and she had some pictures on her digital of the new arrivals. As we went through them, sure enough….there was some of my boys.

So Rhonda went to school a few days ago and told these boys that she knew me. She said that they boys were so excited that she was friends with me and asked Rhonda to please bring me to Challenge Farm so they could see me. Well, today was that day.

As Rhonda and I pulled up to Challenge Farm, the kids all stared at her vehicle coming in. Suddenly, one of the street boys recognized me in the passenger side. ‘Maaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrryyyyyyyyyyy!” He screamed. Within moments, I was surrounded by all of my boys (yeah, I still say MY when it comes to them). “Mary, you came!” I couldn’t believe how many of my kids were there: Jackson, Caleb, Alex, George, Daniel (yes Lisa – that Daniel), Sammy, Kiptoo, Edwin, etc. I was beyond happy to see them.

This is Daniel and Ichuda....

At one point, it had started to rains so the kids grabbed my hands and we ran for an empty classroom. There were two little kids who kept fighting as to who would get to sit next to me. Then the moment I sat down, some of the girls from the home, pulled out my ponytail and went crazy on my hair. I LOVE it when kids play with my hair.

Me and some of my boys...

The kids who didn’t know me were shocked when I would speak Swahili to them. Not that my Swahili is perfect or even great but it’s enough to get me by on most occasions. Then Jackson asked me to sing a song. So I started singing, “Na sama Asanta” which means, “I say thank you.” (It’s another Thank You song – different from the one we learned in April 05 and sang to NAC). It’s a Swahili song, so the kids were even more amazed that I could sing a full Swahili song. After the first verse, the kids joined in with me and we all sang an awesome thank you song to Jesus. I sat and looked around at these singing out their hearts to Jesus.

After that song was complete, Jackson asked me if I would sing “that song.” I asked him, “Which song?” He said, “The one that says, Yes Lord, yes Lord, yes Lord, yes yes Lord.” I knew right away it was “Trading My Sorrows.” So I started singing it and only me because most of the kids didn’t know the words except for the “Yes Lord” parts. Jackson caught on fairly quickly and would try to sing along to the verses.

A few minutes later, the teacher came in and got the kids organized. I went off to another classroom to find my sweet Sammy (he has my heart…I ADORE him). He was finishing up writing his English composition, which he took VERY seriously. He came over to me and let me give him a great big hug; Earlier, I had told him that I was so proud of him for getting off the streets and getting in to a home. I said that I pray he stays there because he is such a bright boy and he deserves an education and become any body he wants to be. He told me that he wants to stay there. I told him that if he thinks of leaving again, I want him to have someone find me first, get in touch with me first so that he and I can talk and I can help him fight the desire to go back to the street. He said that he would do that.

I shared sugar cane with some of the kids. The sugar cane is really sweet and it helps the street kids keep themselves busy and the sweetness helps them fight off the withdrawal and addiction to the glue.

Shortly after, Rhonda and I went to go and see some of the Challenge Farm boys play in a football (soccer to North America) match. It was the FUNNIEST moment EVER. Here are two white girls (with a Kenyan worker from Challenger Farm) walking on to a school football field sideline of about 3,000 (no joke, seriously that many) Kenyan men, women and children. Within SECONDS, Rhonda and I could feel HUNDREDS of eyes on us. The whole one side of the field that we were walking up to IMMEDIATELY looked at us. We could here them, “Eh…wazungu ni hapa.” (The white people are here.) They were shocked to see us and we felt incredibly weird. Never in my life have I been started at by so many people all at once. It was INSANE.

The bravest children would approach us as we were walking up to the field to greet us, to shake our hands. And then when we did, they would run off in giggles. Everyone wanted us to sit with them. There were young men asking us to come and sit with them; I completely ignored them and steered Rhonda and I in to a different direction. The children cleared a bench for Rhonda and I to sit on…front, centre of the football field. We insisted that we were fine but a woman (a Mom), told us to sit, so we obeyed. :-)

The kids playing football.

Then there was half time - - and Rhonda and I became the half time show. Hundreds of children came over to us, staring at us. We were COMPLETELY surrounded by children. So, we got Grace, a worker at Challenge Farm to take a picture of us with this massive amount of people. It was the funniest thing. After the picture, the mom sitting next to me, picked up a stick and started chasing the kids to move away from us. She said that we weren’t for show or for sale and to not crowd us.

Rhonda and I at halftime...and you can't even see all the people surrounding us.

The second half began and the kids got back to watching the game. About 30 minutes later, Rhonda and I decided that we would leave before the game ended so that we wouldn’t be caught in the crowd of 3,000 people all trying to leave the school at the same time. And then the whistle blew; the game was over. So we ran for the car and thankfully, the people moved for a running and moving vehicle. The children just continued to stare at us so I rolled down my window, stuck my head out and greeted them. I was being a little silly with some of them as the car drove past, just wanting to hear them laugh. I made faces, spoke funny Swahili to them, whatever it took.

Us trying to get through the crowd of people after the game.

It was an amazingly fun day with the children, all of them. It was a much needed day; I was having children withdrawal due to the fact that it was on Saturday that I had time with children at HBF. I love children; they certainly make this world a brighter place.

For those of you interested in knowing the political part of Kenya, here’s a bit of an update. The two leaders made an agreement last week. The country is slowly getting back to normal; however, we have seen the increase of prices in certain items. But other than that, at this time, people are just trying to get back to some type of normalcy…trying to get their lives back on track. I can only pray that things get better for this country from this moment on.

Prayer Requests:

1. Daniel’s time in the US. Wisdom for him in his speaking engagements.
2. Rhonda – in preparation for her to head back to the US for 5 weeks.
3. Me – doing the work that needs to be done while Daniel is away. I don’t buy the dog food or the small fish called minnows; that’s Daniel’s job…but I have to do it now. And I hate those small fish. Ugh! :-)

I think that’s all. Thank you everyone for your continued prayers and support.

I love you all!
Meredith

xoxoxoxo