Woke up around 6:30am. Very groggy, I headed over to breakfast. Two of the team members (women, of course) had made pancakes and hard-boiled eggs.
I took a VERY SHORT shower and got dressed for our first full day in Cheppema.
The team headed out around 8:30am. It is an hour ride from Sunrise Acres to Cheppema. We pass the Equator on the trip... personally, I thought that was pretty cool. One thing I noticed on this ride... the Kenyan people wave at cars that are passing by. Especially the kids... I made it a point to wave back.
When we got to the Hope Center, I started to help in the clinic with the Nurse (her name is Doris.) We had brought LOTS of medicine with us to help supply the clinic. Those of us helping tried to explain the medication to Doris and to help organize her medicine cabinets. I mostly just organized the medicine by type and let the other women do the rest... I don't know a whole lot about medicine... LOL
Then I went over to check out what the boys were doing on the houses for the teachers. However, since I was in a full length skirt... I really wasn't much help over there. I did get a few pictures though.
When I realized that I wasn't getting anything done with the men at the house... I headed over to the school. Recess had just started, so I watched some of the girls play a game. It looked REALLY FUN... but I didn't really know how to play. The girls drew a grid in the dirt. Then, four girls would jump into the grid... one at each corner. While singing, they jumped around in the squares in a specific pattern. By the end of recess, I had finally gotten the pattern, but then, it was too late... ugh!
All the kids went back inside... some of them with bigger smiles than they came out with... I think that they enjoy learning more than free time sometimes.
Since there weren't any kids to play with during school... I went back over to the houses. I decided that I would take the initiative to get lunch ready. We all decided to eat lunch on the far end of the property under the shade of a rather large tree. Stephen pulled out his guitar and we practiced the songs that we would be performing for VBS.
After lunch came our first hitch of the day. The kids were supposed to be in school until 5pm. We had planned to do VBS at 3. So, we worked with the headmaster and decided to do TWO sessions of VBS. The first was for the young children who were done with school... preschool through standard (or grade) 3. The second session was for standard 4 through standard 8.
Since the kids don't learn English until standard 4, we had to have a translator for the first session. BUT we didn't need one for the second go round. Stephen, Dave and I led worship and Elaine was up there to help us sing! The kids loved the motions (or, as I had to remind myself to say, actions... if you want to know the reasoning behind that... I'll tell you later...). And they even started singing the songs along with us. At least, as much as they could pick up.
A fun note: we did the song called "Every Move I Make" and this song starts out with a chorus of 'Na, Na, NaNaNaNaNa'. Well, in Swahili Nanasi means pineapple. So, they kids thought it was funny. We also did a few other songs. One of which the kids really enjoyed... Everyday! I'm sure most of the team has had more than enough of that song thought ;D
After worship... BJ, Terry, Amanda and Lisa did an excellent job with VBS. They were thrown together at the last minute, and they pulled it off beautifully!!
After the lesson, we split the group into two and while one group colored and decorated treasure maps... the other got a lesson in washing their hands. It was really neat, they used glitter as an object lesson. Wonderful Idea!!
Then, we did it all over again for the big kids!
After the 2nd VBS, the girls wanted to show us the children's home. So, Jennifer took me up to the house and showed me around. Some of the things I saw were extremely upsetting. I guess I had a picture in my mind of this perfect haven for these kids. But instead, the home was sort of run down. I guess that the pastor who ran the home in the PAST did not really keep the building up to standards. Jennifer showed me the chicken coop, where they used to have chickens... until they were taken. She also showed me a very small kitchen and an extremely small dining room for the amount of children.
Jennifer then took me to the girls quarters. Most of the girls live two to a room. She however has her own room, from what I understand, she gets it to herself because she is so much older than the other girls. Jennifer helps out with the other girls and makes sure that they are getting taken care of. Jennifer took me into her room. It was rather small, but I wasn't very surprised by the size. She was very proud of it and of her few possesions. You can see pictures below.
After we walked back outside, Jennifer told me the story of how she and her sister came to the home. I almost cried. It was a heart-wrenching story. I don't feel that the story is mine to tell... but I am reminded of it when I start to think MY life is bad... that story is something I will always carry with me. She also talked to me about the pastor that used to live at the home. Having an idea of what that man was like, I did my best to just listen to her and not throw in my two cents.
We went back up to the center and it was time to leave. Evidently, the rest of the team had been waiting on those of us that went to the home. Jennifer told me that she was going to make me a gift for Sunday and that she loved having me (and the rest of the team) there.
We drove back to Sunrise... and the entire time, all I could think about was the story that Jennifer told me about her life. We again ate at the home of Sunrise's owners, another amazing meal. We had a de-brief after dinner... there were quite a bit of tears... it was hard to stay calm. Dave did a devotional on Deut. 32:11... VERY MOVING!
After the de-brief... my team met to plan for VBS for the next day. We got everything worked out and we were ready for tomorrow. Stephen and I practiced because we had messed up a couple of times during worship on the first (and second) go arounds of that day. However, to save Stephen's face, I will admit that none of the issues were in any way his fault, it was all Dave and I.
I went back to my room after that to journal. BJ came in and started asking me questions about me. When we got down to the "what do you want to do with your life?" question... BJ said, 'you know what you should do... you should work with kids... maybe in children's ministry... you really have a talent for it.'
What can I say?? I think I'm right where I'm supposed to be. On that note... I went to sleep.
Working in the clinic...
For some reason I'm having trouble uploading pictures on this post... I will try to do so in another post..
PLEASE COMMENT... LET ME KNOW YOU ARE READING... I promise it will make me write faster...
-Britt
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