The Children

These children are so beautiful and precious! We are getting to know most of them by name. We have spent the last two days interviewing them and learning more about their pasts. Their stories are heart rending. Most, after losing both parents, have moved to several different homes before being brought here to Oasis. 

 

I will tell you about Steve*. He is/was not yet living at the children's home. He was one of the 23 that were to move in when the second half of the building was finished. After his parents died he moved in with his grandparents. They love him but feel as if he is a burden to their meager income. He is not fed very much at home and often comes to school having had no dinner or breakfast. The children's home staff have been feeding him before he goes home after school so he has some nutrition. More disturbing is that he is being mistreated at home. He is being beaten and forced to carry very heavy cartons of water long distances. He is being forced to care for the cattle by himself – he is 5 years old. Whenever he is given something – like new shoes – they are taken from him. 

 

As Jill and I interviewed him and heard about his situation from Peter, one of the incredible caretakers here, we first shed tears and prayed for him, and we asked if he should move in sooner. The children's home staff decided he would not go home that very day. We asked Peter the best way to inform the grandparents that he would not be coming home. Peter told us that would not be necessary – they wouldn’t mind if he did not come home. We found this a little hard to believe. However, we had brought a blow up pool mattress to use as a bed so we inflated that and put it on the floor – now there are 43 living at the orphanage. 

It has been two days now that he has stayed at Oasis and we haven’t even heard a word from the family… Steve is doing well! He used to come in in the mornings to school very sad – depressed. The night we told him he wouldn’t be going home anymore, he was joyful – running around, playing freely – like a huge burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He’s been that way ever since.

*name changed

The Celebration Ceremony - Tuesday, April 1

WOW! The entire Trans Mara region came out to celebrate the fact that we are here! School was called off and people traveled from all over (some from over 100 miles) to be here to meet us today. We were not expecting such a greeting! We gave the children their red T-shirts and slowly marched up the hill to the children's home singing all the way! The children from the primary, secondary, and High school had prepared dramas, poetry readings, songs, and traditional Maasai dances for us. The town government officials came, two Maasai chiefs, and 9 pastors! Every one of them spoke! It was over 3 hours long but it was really cool! Both Rick and Scott had opportunities to speak and they were the ones to officially cut the ribbons in the dedication of the orphanage. It was quite an honor! 

Once it was over we had a chance to play with the children a little which was very fun! They are a lively and joyful bunch. I can tell already that it will be difficult to leave them. Tomorrow we will spend the entire day with them and begin the interviews with each of them! The younger children are fascinated with our kids. They keep rubbing their arms to try to get the white paint off to see their black skin beneath! 

 

It is amazing to be in a land where everything is so different from what it is in America. No one has a car here – everyone walks…far. The houses are made of mud with grass roofs or are made of crude bricks with aluminum roofs. They are grouped in threes or fours with miles between them. The roads are all dirt and there are mostly foot paths that people travel down. There are small herds of cattle scattered around. No one is in a hurry – everyone stops to greet each other as they pass. Children wear tattered clothing after school because... who wants to get their Sunday clothes dirty. The babies are all wrapped in blankets because diapers aren't used. There is no running water and people cook over a wooden fire with pots. There is no electricity save for the generator at Joseph’s house and one at the orphanage. No one has a bathroom – they make due in the wild. There is one here where we are staying, but it is only a hole in the ground. Everything seems so simplified except that many people have a cell phone! It is very humorous to see someone dressed in traditional Maasai clothing walking along with their cows and then hear their cell phone ring and watch them pull it out of their beaded belt and start talking!

We made it to the Trans Mara!!!

Monday morning we hopped into the smallest plane any of us have been in and flew over the beautiful Rift Valley. We saw elephants, ostriches, and other herds of animals below us. The landscape was breathtaking. 

Sounds enticing eh? Well – It was beautiful but we were all feeling quite queasy by the end… I won’t continue with the details. We landed in the middle of no where – literally. There was a small wooden sign that said Kichwa Tembo Airstrip, a small rickety old gazebo, and a dirt runway – that was it except for miles and miles of grassy fields and a few gazelles. 

One of our drivers was a little late and the pilot had to leave for another flight. It was a strange feeling to be left there! Fortunately the driver was not far and we loaded up our things and began a 3 hour trek along a very dusty, bumpy, road – people in America go off roading on these types of roads – it was interesting to navigate it in a Safari van! 

 As we traveled along we were amazed to see elephant herds, zebras, strange large birds, unusual plants, and huge termite hills. The most beautiful sites were the people. They live in mud huts with grass roofs. There many were very young children (4-6 yrs old) along the roads tending cattle – cows, sheep, and goats. There were mothers and grandmothers working in the yards, doing laundry, carrying heavy loads on their heads. Everyone was friendly – waving and yelling ‘Jambo’ or ‘Sopa.’ Our children had the windows wide open and were yelling and waving as well. 

As we neared the town of Kilgoris, which is at the bottom of ‘The Hill’ (our destination), throngs of people came to welcome us. All along the road the children were running to our vans and reaching out to slap the hands of our kids. Everyone was waving. It was very fun! 

 

We finally reached our destination and were amazed at the beauty of the landscape. It is very mountainous. Everything is covered in green grass and you can see for miles and miles the hills and valleys. We were surprised how spread out everything was. 

 

We walked half a mile to the school from Pastor Joseph’s house. Many children walk 2-3 miles to school each day – some of them up to 7 miles and it really is all uphill! 

 

When we got to Joseph’s house there were about 20 Maasai women dressed in full Maasai garb singing to greet us. They slowly marched forward in two rows and gave each one of us a huge hug! We then went into Joseph’s living room which his wife, Anna, had filled with wooden benches and tables for us and were introduced to everyone. 

 

Then we filed outside again and the children from the orphanage came down and sang us their welcoming song and we did the whole thing again. We were welcomed for about 2 hours! What an honoring tradition! It was so awesome to finally meet the orphans! We recognized so many of them from the pictures we have been looking at over the last several months! They were so excited to see our kids! They are such beautiful children – their smiles are remarkable – the sight of white teeth surrounded by soft black skin is strikingly beautiful! We ate dinner very late that night and went to sleep in our small but very cosy beds! We can’t believe we are finally here!

A day at the beach

When we walked from the hotel down to the beach we immediately drew the attention of the locals who were selling their stuff.  The locals were asking us to buy everything from a boat trip out to the reef, to braided hair, to wood carvings in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  After they stopped selling we were able to get to know some of them.  One of the guys I met was a guy named Tito.  I found out he became a Christian about four years ago and he even used language like "I made a decision to follow Jesus."  In our conversation he found out I was a Pastor and asked if I could share something from the Bible with him.  The next day I brought my Bible to the beach and shared Romans 5:8 with him and then spent some time just talking about various questions he had.  He had lots of questions about the difference between how the Muslim's see Jesus and how Christians see Him.  I did my best.    

As the kids filtered down to the beach Tito suggested he teach us a Christian song in Swahili.  We got all the kids together and learned the song.  We then asked if we could teach him one of the songs we have been practicing for the orphans.  He said o.k and Nate brought his guitar down to the beach and we taught him "Lord I lift your name on high" with motions and all.  As we started singing many of the merchants gathered around and we realized that they knew this song as well as several others that Nate had brought.  What started out as a simple conversation ended up in about 30 minutes of worship on the beach with about 10 of the African merchants.  It was a very cool moment.  

One of the people who came to sing was an orphan girl named Shika who was dressed in a very old and worn dress.  Here is what Rachel wrote about this experience in her journal.  "... All of a sudden this whole entire group of people came over with a little girl.  Her name was Shika.  All the people started to sing with us.  The girl was really really nice.  Nate played the guitar.  Then we went up to eat.  We brought Shika down my skirt, Katie's shirt, and a pair of my swim shoes.  The minute we gave them to her she went behind a rock and started to put it on.  She came out and she had a huge smile on her face.  We were so happy.  I think Jesus felt so happy with us.  I'm so happy that I did that even though I gave up my favorite skirt."

Thanks for praying everyone.  

Fun at the Coast!

We returned late last night from our 3 day trip to the Indian Ocean!  What an incredibly beautiful place!  We had a great time planning and preparing for our trip out to the Trans Mara and just relaxing and having fun with our family and friends.  We head out to the Mara in the morning... We are so so excited!!!

Some of the eventful experiences we had:

On the evening we arrived we were playing in the ocean as the tide came in.  Katie and Piper were stung by jellyfish!  Fortunately some vinegar provided by the kitchen staff took away the pain!  (Sorry the picture is crooked - I can't get it to upload straight)

We had monkeys come visit us outside our room!  We loved watching them - especially the babies - and were very glad we had closed our patio doors that morning!  

We also went snorkeling and saw the most amazing, beautiful, and unusual things.  Nate has the pictures on his camera so I can't upload any for you to see here but we'll show you a sea spider, a red polka-dotted starfish, and some sea urchins when we get back!  

Rick will post on the cool beach God moment we had the day we left...

What is comfort? What brings joy?

We had a very interesting conversation the other day when we were talking about Dave and Carrie's houseworker, Emily.  She is in the picture above with us.  She is a single mom of two boys, one of which has sickle cell anemia and is often very sick.  She works for Dave and Carrie full time - 5 days a week.  All of the families here have houseworkers - it's a way of supporting another family and of providing jobs for Kenyans.  (I'd like to bring a houseworker and a gardner home with me!)  

Emily lives in Banana Hill - there are pictures of her town in an  earlier post.  Katie asked why she didn't live here at Rosslyn Academy and instead lives in Banana hill.  Auntie Carrie told Rachel that she actually had the option to live here in the worker's housing but she chose to live in Banana Hill.  "Why?"  Great question!  From all outward appearances it is much, much, much more comfortable here.  Here there is running water, electricity, safety, and a bigger house.  There she has to walk to a pump for water, there is no electricity, and her home is smaller.  But that is what is familiar to her and the things we consider 'conveniences' are not important to her.  Sure it takes more time - but she is not in a hurry.  Her family is there - her sister lives very close.  She has many friends there.

  So the first question we pondered is what do we need to be comfortable?  The second is what do we need to be happy?  I challenge you to think through these with your family as well....

The Whole Family in Africa!!!!

Sorry we haven't posted in a few days.  It's been thunder-storming in the evenings and we lose internet at those times.  Rick and the Haywards made it here safely!!!  We were so glad to see them!  The kids have really missed their Daddy so today has been great.  We had lots of time together!  

We went to the larger branch of 'The Nest' today.  This is the orphanage that houses children whose mothers are in prison. 

Most of the mothers have short terms for petty crimes but several are away from their children for years.  It is really hard on both the children and the mothers.  There was a wonderful Kenyan woman who has worked in several orphanages who is helping these kids to adjust.  She has a ton of experience and is doing a very difficult job with a heart of joy.  Please pray for her as there are several new children who are really struggling - and please pray for these precious children.  

We then went back to the Hawker's market so Rick could experience it.  Later we met the Haywards for dinner.  Dave and Carrie took us all to a wonderful Asian Indian  dinner.  We've never had Indian food before! It was definitely a cultural experience.  I loved it!  The kids and Rick loved the naan!