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.