Finally Some Pictures!

These are some pictures from the Kibera slum where we spent the most time. I worked with Teacher Abigail in the Nursery Class. This church has an incredible ministry for people with HIV/AIDS and they have an awesome Women's Bible Study and many other ministries to outreach to the community. The people in Kibera were so welcoming and loving. The children were so adorable and just wanted love and attention and I was happy to be able to spend time with them. Being in Kibera was a comlete joy. The poverty is overwhelming and there are so many needs in this place. But the love the people have for the Lord is incredible. I learned so much from spending time in the Kibera Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Children playing outside Kibera Reformed Presbyterian Church
Teacher Abigail with Alex and Teddy
Pastor Imbumi playing with some street children
The entire team on the edge of Kibera
Some sweet girls from the Kibera Youth Group
Kids at the Mamlaka School in Kibera



The Nursery Class

I will post more pictures soon from the other places we spent time. Thank you for your prayers. I am adjusting well to being back in the States.

Saftely Home

I arrived home saftely last night from Kenya. My last month flew by and we were busier than ever (hence the lack of posts on my blog).
The Kenyans taught me so much this summer about what it looks like to love and take care of those around you. I really enjoyed all of the opportunities we had this summer, but I think my favorite thing was workig with Teacher Abigail in her clasroom. Last Thursday when I had to say goodbye to the children it was certainly a tearful day. I will be missing all of those kids like crazy. Now that I am home I can finally post pictures from the summer. I could go on and on about the amazing people we met and all that we learned, but for now I will post some pictures and soon I will share some of the stories about people I met in Kenya.
Now that I am back in the States I will be looking for a job. Prayers to readjust to being home and for a job would be greatly appreciated. Thank you for all of your support and encouragment all summer and thank you especially for your prayers.

Independence Day

Hope you all had a good 4th of July! I had one of the best ever. I was really excited about the 4th which is one of my favorite holidays and all of the other interns and myself wanted to plan a really great party to celebrate. We decided to have the party at the girls’ shelter. We bought decorations and American food and dressed up in red, white and blue and headed over there in the afternoon to share the holiday with our Kenyan friends.
We went all out decorating the house. We put up streamers and balloons. I made red and blue sashes for all of the kids to wear and we gave them all bracelets and necklaces that light up. The best part was the food. We had BBQ on the grill, baked beans, hot dogs, potato salad, potato chips, sodas, peanut butter cookies, chocolate cake, and even the Kenyans made a couple Kenyan dishes to add to the festivities.
At the end of the night we popped about 80 balloons-which represented fireworks. The interns all sang the National Anthem while facing our handmade American Flag and then Pastor Imbumi gave a wonderful speech about Americans. And of course the Kenyans and Americans can relate in that our independence is from Britain. We ended the evening thanking God for our countries and praying for one another.
On Wednesday we are leaving for Safari and we will return on Friday. Please pray that we have safe travels. I can’t wait to share the adventure with you when I return.

Bible Club

Yesterday we had a Bible Club at the church in Kibera and we had a HUGE turnout. I think about 250 kids. It was a blast and I was completely exhausted at the end of the day. All of the interns put on a skit about the Good Samaritan. I was the robber and had to pretend to get into a fight- I think the kids thought it was hilarious. Then we split the kids up into four groups according to their ages. I was in charge of crafts along with 2 other teachers. I had a coloring sheet for the younger kids, and with the older kids we glued different colored hearts together that tell the story of the gospel. I had 120 color sheets and it wasn’t even enough! The room we did crafts in was very tiny and at one point there were about 80 little kids packed in there. Kenyans don’t have a sense of personal space too much though so it wasn’t really a problem. It was so crowded that rather than handing out crayons and glue we just started throwing them around the room. The kids got quite a kick out of it. The other stations for the Bible Club were a station for games, one for singing and one for learning the memory verse. After all of the activities the kids had juice and sandwiches. It is amazing how the church cares for and ministers to the people in the community around the church. It is a beautiful picture of the gospel.
After we did the Bible Club with the younger kids we took the youth from the church (age 12 and up) and went to the park across the street from Kibera. There was a huge soccer game and then we split up the guys and girls and had some group discussion. One of the interns, Liz, shared her testimony with the girls and then we all talked about things that we struggle with. Some of the things these girls shared was heartbreaking. They shared everything from feeling pressured by friends to do things they shouldn’t, to being angry, to having alcoholic abusive fathers. I can’t even imagine some of the things these kids deal with. But they still want to come and learn about Jesus and learn what it means to love in spite of their hardships.
Today Brent, one of the interns, preached in church. It was nice to hear a sermon in English. He preached on Revelation 3 and not being lukewarm in our faith. Then I had a wonderful surprise at the end of the day! My friend Juli, who also happens to be Brent’s girlfriend and is here in Kenya, came to visit us for dinner. I had no clue she was coming and when she came into the room it was one of the greatest surprises ever. I love it here, but I do miss home and it was fun to have a friend from home here visiting.
Tomorrow I am giving my testimony at the women’s AIDS support group in Muthiga. Please pray that God would speak though me and that I would be able to be an encouragement to the women in the group.
I just want to you all to know I appreciate your prayers and your emails and comments on my blog. Know I am getting them all even if I can’t respond to everything. Your encouragement means so much to me.

The Long Way

On Thursday we took another way into Kibera that we have never travelled before. Normally where we enter is at the bottom of the slum and it is only about a 10 minute walk to the church. The way we went on Thursday however was about a 45 minute walk to the church starting at the top of Kibera and working our way down. Taking the long way was so different from the way we usually go. There were many shops and businesses. The streets were crowded with people and there was a lot going on. At the bottom where we usually enter we pretty much only walk by houses and maybe a couple people selling things on the street. Usually we say hello to everyone as we walk in, however in this area we had to stay very close together leaving no gaps. I was right behind Caroline, who was leading the group, and it was really neat to have her explaining things to me as we walked. She pointed out where she used to live and the school she went to. She pointed out Teacher Abigail’s house to me. We passed by a big bus at one point (which I have absolutely no clue how they got it into Kibera because the streets are so narrow and overcrowded) and Caroline told me it was there because someone just died and they were all packing up to go home (in another part of Kenya) to properly bury the body. There is a lot of disease in Kibera and 1 in 3 people has HIV. We crossed only one bridge, but it was surprisingly very sturdy, which I was thankful for because it was over about a 10 foot drop into the sewage. On our normal path in we go over 3 bridges, all of which seem to be missing more planks every time we cross them. I am sure that before I leave I will fall off the bridge closest to the church, if you could even call it a bridge. One of the corners of it isn’t even on solid ground. The way these people survive is incredible. They know what it means to work hard to eat. The average pay for the people in Kibera is equivalent to $1 a day. Pastor Imbumi told me that they have to really budget to be able to pay their rent and have just enough money for other basic necessities. Many of them eat only one meal per day. The smell of sewage flowing in the streets surprisingly doesn’t bother me. The smell that is difficult for me to deal with is the piles of burning trash everywhere. On this long walk we passed many piles burning and it is pretty awful. They just burn everything, paper, plastic, whatever. The part of the slum closest to the church is the poorest part of the slum, as it is at the bottom of the hill where everything flows down to. However, I really like walking that way because I love seeing all of the kids and shaking all of their hands, and I walk by the homes of many of the students from the school and I love hearing them call out my name. They continuously break my heart.
Julius came to the church on Thursday also to have his leg cleaned and re-bandaged. It still looks pretty bad and is very swollen so please pray that God will place a healing hand on him. Please also pray for Maureen, Sharon and Jacob in Abigail’s class. They are all 3 very behind the other students. Jacob just started going to school and has great potential. Maureen and Sharon both seem to have learning disabilities and I am hoping they can at least catch up a little bit before the end of the year. And finally please pray for Kibera. Pray that God would be present there. There is a lot of brokenness in this place and my prayer is that God would bring restoration into the lives of these people.
Tomorrow we are doing a Bible club in Kibera for about 200 kids! I will let you know how it goes. I am very excited/nervous about it. We are doing the story of The Good Samaritan.
Miss and love you all!

Muthiga

So many things have been happening here since I last wrote. We have been so busy and having a wonderful time. The kids in Abigail’s kindergarten class are really getting to know me and feel much more comfortable with me. When I arrive in the morning they all yell out my name and run to me and nothing in the world could make me happier than to see the smiles on all of their faces.
This past Sunday I taught the children’s Sunday school class. I taught about Moses and the plagues. Then we learned Proverbs 3:5-6 together and the kids had it down no problem by the time I left. These kids pay attention so well and love to learn. They know the importance of education as well as studying the word of God and it is awesome to see.
There medical team that has been here for the past two weeks had their last clinic today. I am sure they saw several hundred patients, although I don’t know the exact number. One day last week I was able to assist Ellen, one of the nurses, for a while. We saw a patient named Julius who has some really awful wounds on both of his legs. Well Ellen did the best she could to clean the wounds and wrap them and then gave Julius Keflex to get kid of any infection. Today as I was outside the church getting the “mud” off of my shoes Julius came back to see the doctor again and I was so thrilled to see him. I was able to assist Ellen again, and while the wounds sill look pretty bad, there was definitely improvement in how they looked last week. Ellen redressed the wounds and showed me exactly what to do and now every Tuesday and Thursday for the next 5 weeks that my team is here Julius is going to come to the church to have the wounds cleaned and looked at. Peggy, my team leader, is a nurse, so hopefully we can continue to get the wound cleaned and see it heal before we leave. Please keep Julius in your prayers.
Another fun thing that we have been doing is going to a slum called Muthiga in the country on Monday afternoons. I think I have talked about Muthiga before. We do VBS type activities with the kids there. It is fun to go every week and see the same kids. And every time we go they are more excited to see us than the week before. Yesterday we told them the story of Noah’s ark and then made boats together. We really had no clue if they would even know what a boat was, but they listened to the story and really seemed to catch on. When we were singing with them yesterday they started doing all the hand motions with us and laughing and trying to sing along. We have come quite a ways from 3 weeks ago when they sat and stared at us wondering what these crazy white people were up to. It will be amazing to see what God will do over the next 5 weeks.
There are many more stories I want to share and I will soon. For now I am headed off to dinner. I am sure there will be rice! As always!

Happy Father's Day

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DAD!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we went to the girls' shelter and played and helped with homework. I have been getting to know a little girl named Trufenna. We did math and science together which are my two worst subjects. She is in fourth grade and I am pretty sure she taught me more than I taught her :) I love going there though and hanging out with the girls- they are totally refreshing to be around.

Yesterday we went to an elephant orphanage and the giraffe center. I had a complete blast! We played with the baby elephants and kissed the giraffes and we even got to pet a rhino. It had been released from the orphanage but keeps returning and it was hanging out in the parking lot! I was a little nervous about petting a "wild" rhino, but we all did anyways! We also saw lots of warthogs running around. For lunch we went to Java House and I had a burger and chips (french fries really) and a chocolate milkshake. I was in heaven!