KENYA TEAM TRIP DAY 3
EMOTIONAL OVERLOAD
If you come to Kenya you will, no doubt, have an experience like we had today. A day of complete physical, mental and emotional overload. First we visited our Kara Kibera Kids School, then we visited our Lenana School and finally we visited our kids at the Home of Grace Nairobi. All toll these wonderful Christian places serve over 700 kids. At dinner tonight I explained that the reason we feel like we’ve already been in Kenya for two weeks, rather than two days, is that our brains are trying desperately to absorb a massive overload of sights, sounds, and smells that we’ve never seen before. All at once it is profoundly beautiful and hideously ugly. It is deeply touching and horribly repulsive. Just driving into the Kibera slums is an emotional bomb blast. Then you walk through the sewers and the trash and the mud until you finally come upon a room full of the sweetest, most adorable kids in the world. In contrast to the horrible conditions they live in they are joyfully singing the praises of the Lord, quoting bible verses like preachers and displaying perfect respect and manners. It’s just too much! These three places are all like lifeboats to drowning kids; like Noah’s Ark in the rain.
Today was the day that we set out to give a gift of $100 to each of our 50 Worldcomp teachers and workers who work for practically nothing to rescue children from the streets of destruction and turn them into joyful kids who love God and each other. I always feel bad because they heap gratitude and love on us for the role we play in financing these vital works, when in fact they are the true heroes in this battle for the souls of thousands of God’s little ones. They are the ones who work for practically nothing in a place where no one I know would ever want to work. They are the ones who attend to the struggles of others while ignoring their own. You should have been with us to see how much a mere $100 meant to these people. For them it was not only a month’s salary, but a tremendous source of encouragement because it told them that someone cared!
When we visited Lenana School I asked the young man who was now directing the school how they were doing since their previous headmaster had died just 6 months ago. He began on a positive note and said that the entire teaching staff of 14 teachers was still with the school and that the kids were doing well academically. He also said that, in spite of their critical overcrowding, there were more kids than ever (up from 401 to 430). That was the good news! The bad news was that they were 3 months past due on their rent and the landlord was threatening them with eviction. The school was run down and they had no money for repairs. Most of their desks were falling apart and too old to fix and they had no school supplies for the new school year in January. I was so sorry that I didn’t know these things. The former headmaster did more than run the academic program, he was a man who was constantly out in the community and world looking for support for the school and now he was gone. I was able to share with them that as soon as I returned to Seattle I would send them $1200 for their past rent. So if anyone would like to help with that, it certainly wouldn’t hurt my feelings. And believe me this is a worthy cause. Without this tuition free school hundreds of kids would just be wandering in the slums every day because they couldn’t afford school fees or supplies.
Our visit to the Home of Grace was such a special time. Love just swirls in the air when we are there. We gave the kids each a backpack with twenty dollars in it. They were ecstatic. I ask Marcella, who we sponsor, what she was going to do with her money. She looked at me and smiled and said; “First I am going to take some money and bring a tithe to my church and then she said I am going to buy me a new dress because I have outgrown all my dresses.” She was so excited to be able to bring an offering to the church because she hardly ever had the chance to give an offering of love to the Lord.
Every time I visit these wonderful place I am reminded again, why we do what we do and why we are so privileged to be a part of such a wonderful work. Jesus truly does love the little children of the world and so do we!
Thank you all for your support, your prayers and your love.
