One of the biggest lessons for me in Kenya is flexibility and patience. I'm so used to schedules and timelines (and very comfortable with them!). In Kenya, I really have to let go of all of that and learn to be flexible and even spontaneous! I spent the day of the last post (Wednesday) at Brackenhurst (home) with David. He felt much better by the end of the day. I was able to spend that afternoon at the children's centre visiting with the kids. Some of you may remember Anne Wambui from my first trip (we called her "Ha ha ha Anne"). She doesn't live at the Children's Centre, but she heard we were in town so she had been coming by each afternoon hoping to see us. It was a wonderful reunion! We had a great visit. She is growing up - already in the 6th grade. I also was able to spend time with our godchild, John Kahera. In Spain, I bought him a pair of black spiderman tennis shoes - he is a huge Spiderman fan so was thrilled to see his new shoes.
Yesterday (Thursday) the other ladies and I went to Nairobi to work on setting up and decorating the retail store for Jacaranda Creations - an organization I've already written about. It was a good day - we spent a lot of time going from place to place trying to find what we needed and buying furniture from the side of the road. In the evening, we said goodbye to the men (they headed back to the US last night) and visited for awhile at the Children's Centre again.
Today, we had a wonderful morning at Cheshire (the home for disabled girls). We brought plastic flip flops and all kinds of crafting supplies (fuzzy yarn, glue-on jewels, silk flowers, etc...) for them to custom decorate their flip flops. It was a blast! The girls loved it, and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I wanted to share an excerpt that a team member wrote about the Cheshire girls, because I think it is so beautifully stated:
"These ladies are truly outcasts in Kenya. In their homes, some of them had been tied to their chairs during meals so they wouldn’t try to eat; some had been passed around for prostitution; virtually all of them had been treated as a curse on their families and on society. Jacob [a Mississippi volunteer] has been spending much of his time here getting to know these ladies. He teaches them reading and math, helps them with their chores and has been seeking out resources in Nairobi that are available to help the women and the school. I wasn’t there - but would encourage you to ask other members of the team about this experience. I understand that the people at the pizza place didn’t want to give the ladies their own plates, but asked that they share or use napkins; when one of the teachers (who is also handicapped) fainted - not one person would even stop to acknowledge her presence or her need. I think it was a difficult thing for our team to see - such a total disregard for a human being - but it also sounds like it was an opportunity to truly experience the love of God flowing through them and the feeling of his broken heart for the despised and rejected in this world.
I understand that watching Jacob carry these women in and out of the bus with such tenderness was also heartbreaking and humbling, and inspired great hope in what one person can do with just a little bit of love....
The ladies were so very happy and had such a great time. Maybe the world wasn’t fixed through pizza and a movie - but without a doubt, it was changed."
No comments:
Post a Comment