Adventures in Africa: Crazy Week

Quick note: I’m sorry that this email/blog is almost a month late. One, it was extremely busy few weeks with the team here and two, our internet has been down for over two weeks, which makes it difficult to post pictures. Hopefully, you’ll forgive and enjoy the next few updates…

Crazy Week – Part 1

It’s been a crazy and emotional few weeks for all of us here at the TI compound. We’ve all experienced different types of emotions but for the most part, it’s been emotional. In order not to bore everyone or have a blog that is about 10 pages long (because trust me, with all that’s happened, it very well could be), I’ll break down the past week in to separate blogs.

Maili Saba & Shimo

On Thursday, September 25th, the TI team (staff and interns) as well as the Foster Group (Sandy, Don, Cathy, Carol and Julie), spent the day at the compound packing food for the big distribution that we were going to be having the following day. There were enough bags of maize (corn) and beans to feed 177 families as well as 500 blankets to distribute to each family.

It was a long day and an exhausting one for us as all as we (well lets be honest, it was mostly the guys) carried up to 190lbs bags of maize to package.

Distributing the food for the big day.

On Friday, September 26th, was the big distribution day. We were ready to go and had the three pick up trucks loaded by 9:30am. We drove to our first destination called Maili Saba (my-lee sa-baa). As we approached the road, there lining the path were tons of children with their old grandmothers and children with their widowed mothers. When they saw the trucks and the taxis arrive, they began to sing and dance. It was beautiful and emotional.

The Families

Trucks full of food

We unloaded the trucks and got organized. This food distribution stop was the largest one out of all of them. There were 108 widows and grandmothers that we assisted. We set up the food along one side, calling over 20 families at a time. They would receive their blankets first, some getting more blankets than others depending on the size of the family.

Families lined up for food and blankets.

The line-up of women and children was overwhelming. We did the same community last year when the Foster Group was here but this year was different. There were more children which meant more poverty hitting more families, more children. It was way too difficult.

As each family received their food and blankets, they were then prayed for by our interns. They were welcoming and so incredibly thankful of the prayers.

I had two beautiful little girls, Chebet (my Nandi tribe name) and Nancy, cling to me for most of the time there at Maili Saba. All of us made some new, cute little friends that day.

Chebet & Nancy

Nancy, Me & Chebet

Carrying her blanket home...

After we returned from Maili Saba, we grabbed lunch in town and then headed back to our compound to fill up the pick up truck with maize, beans and blankets for our next food distribution location, Shimo La Tewa (She-mo La Tay-wa). We had done this location last year as well with the Foster Group. It is a slum area, about 5 minutes from our home. It is filled with drunkards, young children, rape victims, widows, grandmothers and prostitutes. It’s an area that is forgotten because it’s in a corner of the town and not as large as the other slum in Kitale.

There is a school that borders the slum and our community, called Shimo La Tewa Primary. This is where we do our distribution. We have a relationship with the Headmaster (principal) there and the school counselor (it’s the school counselor that assists on finding the families for the distribution as she is familiar with the needy in this community). The school counselor, in fact, informed us that this year, four girls in grades seven and eight dropped out of school because they were pregnant. Grade Seven and Eight?!?!?!? Sadness, complete sadness.

When we arrived at the school, there were the women, sitting in wooden school desks in the yard of the school, as students still in class looked out the window, watching the commotion begin. The women started to dance and sing for us. And like at Maila Saba, there were more children and here, the children were dirty, wearing torn clothes that probably hadn’t been washed in weeks. But that didn’t stop us from hugging, chasing, kissing and loving on these children.

Kenyan Child Beauty

He got his lollypop stolen...

In Shimo, we assisted over 50 families with maize, beans, blankets and prayers. At the end of the day, we were all physically, emotional and spiritually exhausted. Some of us came home and cried, cried over the poverty we had just seen, cried over the children that were so dirty, cried over the lack of love or affection these children receive at their homes. We just didn’t understand why people have to live this way. We did a lot of processing, knowing that we still had one more distribution to do in the next few days.

Food for Shimo