My Last Night in Africa

Well, I'm writing this on my last night in Kenya.  It is really hard to believe.  I have been sick for a few days (a cold, nothing like malaria or anything dangerous) and I'm getting better just in time to go home.
We got to visit the kids at their school the other day, it's much nicer than Raila, thankfully. 

But the teachers are on strike.  So they all stayed home today.  Which is nice because we get more time to play with them.

We walked home with them from school. 

A lot of people walk in Kenya.
The sun finally came out today too! 

We have been gardening, sorting clothes, painting the dining hall, building and varnishing desks for Raila and making signs. 

God placed people on this team that had great skills for just what was needed.
One of the guys from Arizona is a sign maker and he made several beautiful signs for the property.  A couple of the ladies are very skilled at flower gardening and redid the gardens.

We went to visit Kazuri bead factory, were 200 some single mothers are employeed to handcraft these beads that are sold all around the world. 

The other day I asked one of the older boys,15, I think, how he liked having 60 brothers and sisters.  He said "It is a gift from God."  And these kids don't quarrel, they share well and the older ones take care of the younger ones.  It's amazing.

Luchi and I made a little progress this evening.  He allowed me to get a photo taken with him and sit by him at dinner. These kids can eat!  A whole plateful and they eat everything off the bones of the chicken. I couldn't eat it all, but these stick thin little 6 year olds clean their plate!

They did some presentations for us this evening and they were beautiful.  Singing and dance.  This was one super special song that made us all cry, and I almost sobbed.  I hope you can hear the words and their beautiful voices.  Even some of the kids were crying so you know it's heartfelt.  Wow, heart wrenching stuff, but totally what it's about.  This mission isn't just here to save them from the poverty they were in, but is here to bring them hope for their future through Jesus Christ.

And here, for your enjoyment, is a baby dressed up in a Care Bear outfit in June.

Another fun example of God at work- I had 4 princess pencils and I was wondering who I could give just 4 pencils too because there are so many kids here.  And we thought the little girls would be good but there are 5 of them.  But then Meg was like- wait, what's that, under your bed?  And it was a 5th princess pencil.  Just the right amount for the babies!

Beautiful Kids

This is the quilt I'm going to buy, and the ladies who are working on it 

Here is Felicsta in a good mood.  Someone donated all these beautiful dresses and hairbands.

Here are the younger girls.  They were so proud of their new outfits.  Aren't they beautiful!?

 Here I am with Dickson and Godfrey- if you read their story from a few days ago, they are so sweet now.

"When first arriving at First Love, Dickson was very aggressive with his twin brother, Godfrey.  They are from the Meru tribe and are used to displaying their emotions in a physical manner."



All the kids hug us everyday when they come home from school.  They're so nice.

Here's my Luchi again with his brother James.  Here is his updated bio.  He still needs $90 in sponsorship.

Luchipereti, or Luchi, as he is known, is from the northwestern part of Kenya called Turkana.  He is the youngest of four siblings.  His mother passed on, leaving Luchi at the age of 6 months.  His father was not able to take care of the children and took them to the grandparents.  Unfortunately, during the many skirmishes that were in the Turkana area, the grandparents were shot, along with an aunt and 2 uncles.  There was no one left to care for Luchi and his siblings, as the violence in the area left many families in poverty.  Luchi's father decided to relocate to another part of Kenya for the family's safety.

Luchi's father is illiterate and can only, therefore, get low paying casual work.  In Turkana education is not valued.  The people are herdsmen, and children are forced to look after livestock from a young age.  They travel with the herds for many miles looking for water and have no time to attend school.

The father had struggled a lot being both the father and mother to the 4 children.  Even though Luchi had reached school age, he was not able to enroll him.  We decided to take Luchi and his brother Ekalele (James) into our home on January 11, 2012, so as to give them an equal chance like other Kenyan children.

At first Luchi had difficulty understanding how to cooperate and respect authority.  He was not used to rules, and he had learned to fight early in life.  Now, however, he is adjusting to life at the home and learning to cooperate.  He has had to make some big adjustments in his young life.  

Records of Luchi's birth tell us that he was born Dec. 30, 2008, but we are certain he is older than this.  We are investigating to see if we can find more accurate records.  

So Irene was telling me that if the children have any sort of living guardian (remember 85% of them are complete orphans but may  have aunts or uncles living) they come to visit them in August and April and the children go home to them in December.  Well last April Luchi's dad didn't come.  And she said to me "He cried."  And that just breaks my heart, poor little guy.  To wait months and months to see your only living relative and to have him not come?  Isn't it crazy, in America, if a parent dies, it's a big deal.  Here, it is very rare that a child would have  both parents. 
I'm so glad these kids are here and safe and cared for. 

The Weekend!

 So as I said a little before, the kids spend so many hours in school, getting up way early, some at 4:30 a.m. and leaving for school at 5:40 a.m. and then not getting back until after 6:30 p.m.  That's the older girls.  Next time your kids complain about school, tell them at least it's not the WHOLE day.  And then when they get home they bathe, and wash their clothes and polish their shoes.  And then they have devotions and then dinner and then homework until bed.    Well on the weekend it's not so structured.  Here the girls are dancing on Friday night with Meg.

And Ashley taught them them to make friendship bracelets- I had to relearn too.

 We had them tie the bracelets to their toes.

 I just thought Franchesca looked beautiful in this picture.

The girls braided our hair a little bit this weekend.  They told me there were some gray ones.  They're crazy!

Little Helen here built this tower out of extra pieces of wood laying around.  

Dickson

Dickson Muthethia Jacob

Dickson came to First Love Kenya on December 28, 2012.  As of now, we have no formal birth certificate but understand that he is 5 years old.

We learned about Dickson's condition through the chief of Mikinduri East location after he had been informed about the situation of his family by a neighbor.  First Love then sent our social worker to the home to verify the story of the chief.

Our social worker found that Dickson, along with 6 other siblings, is a total orphan.  Their father, Godfrey Muchui Jacob, was strangled to death by "shifters" (bandits) during ethnic clashes in 2006. He had two wives, the first having 2 children, and the second having 5.

After the father's death, the children were left under the care of Penina Gakui Ithalii, who is the biological mother to Dickson.  She struggled to take care of the children and passed away in 2008.

The 7 children were then taken in by their grandfather.  Due to his age, he was basically jobless, only being able to do light work.  He struggled to feed the children, and on many occasions, they would go without food.  The children slept directly on the floor, posing a great risk to their health, as rain would seep through the muddy walls and leak from the roof.  Food, clothing, and shelter were all challenging to provide for the children, so First Love stepped in to rescue Dickson.

Dickson is in pre-unit at Rock School.  Previously he did not attend school regularly due to lack of school fees.  His sister, Evangeline, and his twin, Godfrey, are also living at First Love.

When first arriving at First Love, Dickson was very aggressive with his twin brother, Godfrey.  They are from the Meru tribe and are used to displaying their emotions in a physical manner.  Both boys are settling down and learning to exercise more self-control.

They are still seeking a sponsor for Dickson.  Please let me know if you'd be interested.  Also, Godfrey is adorable as well.  He may still need some portion of his sponsorship.  You can write them letters and send them gifts.  Godfrey is in the light colored vest in this picture with the missing teeth.  Is one of the cutest kids here. . . not that I have favorites!

Photos of me from Anissa

Making friendship bracelets

Serving food at the Children's Home

Serving food at Raila

Sorting corn at Raila

Teaching the Preschoolers

Baby asleep on me during devotion, the shot we missed was when I also started falling asleep with her on my lap.

You can't paint their fingers here because they don't allow it at school, so I painted their toes!  I know, I know. . . I don't normally like feet.

I'm showing them photos on my phone of my friends and family.

Frisbee

Teaching them origami.  Mainly I just watched.

Worship

Trying the Pilau with fingers.

My First International National Park

First I want to show the improvisation of some of these kids- This girl Hilda, is knitting a scarf on pen fillers.  Her grandma taught her how to knit but she doesn't have any needles. 

This morning, Saturday, we went to Nairobi National Park.  We went very early and it was freezing- still wearing several layers every day.  We were in a van where the roof could raise. 

All the roads are dirt and we got there as the sun was rising.  I didn't realize I would be going on a safari so I only have a point-and-shoot little digital camera.  So if you want to see the really good shots, you'll need to check out Joey and Anissa's blog in a day or two.  They have amazing photos!  And actually Jonas took a lot of them (he's only 10). 

So we were looking at an ostrich and saw a great big group of vans congregating in one area off behind us.  So we zoomed toward them.  And at first, when we got there, we saw only another ostrich off in the distance and we thought all those people were kind of silly.  But then, we noticed right beside the road- three lions!

They were males and just lazily sat there and then got tired of us all looking at them and sauntered off a little bit further away and laid down again. 

My favorite thing to see were the giraffes. At first I thought this was a good view.

But then we got this view down by the river.

And then we saw a whole herd!  Off in the distance you may notice the city skyline.  This National Park is bordered by the city.
Another interesting thing- we stopped once to have a little hike to the river where we saw a crocodile but a solider with a rifle escorted us there.

Another really cool momment- we were watching some cranes and vultures at a watering hole and a lion stalked up.  And everything took notice.  All the birds either flew away or moved to the other side of the watering hole. Even the ostriches ran a little bit to get further away.

Overall a grand National Park experience.