About one year ago, I made my first visit to Kitale, Kenya. I was privileged to be a part of a modern day Fishes and Loaves story in that small town with the shoes we passed out with Shoes for Orphan Souls. This year, I was back to capture stories of need and how God is working there with the children of the community.
The children screamed as we pulled up in the truck. We saw elbow nudges from classmate to classmate in the school. We heard whispers of “Munzungu” (White Man) between the children. They were excited to see us and we were excited to see them. The younger ones were afraid of us Munzungu. That was our first strike. Strike two was that we had cameras. The video camera was specifically scary until they warmed up to it.
The children soon welcomed us with hugs, tugs on our arms, and were eventually playing outside with us on the playground. I started blowing up balloons and letting them blow away in the wind. There was a group of about 50 kids eagerly waiting for me to blow the balloons up and release it. They would wait and then scream and run after the balloons. It was such a cool moment watching them scream with joy.
We interviewed a couple of children and staff members. I asked one staff member to tell me of a story that was particularly touching and that would illustrate what kind of past these children have. She told me of a story of one child there at the school. The little girl was young. She lived with her mother alone in Kitale. When her mother died, the child was too young to understand what happened. The child, had been nursing from her mother at the time. When someone eventually found the mother and child, the woman had been dead for three whole days. The child was still trying to nurse from her dead mother’s body.
So many of these children in Africa have been through experiences that you and I can’t imagine. Yet, they still have love and joy in their soul. We can learn so much from them. They have a resiliency and level of faith that most of us don’t. A Kenyan friend who works with orphans there told me something on this trip. “Americans just don’t have the same kind of faith we do here in Africa. We have to pray and have faith about everything. Those in the US put their faith in money, doctors, medicine, and material things to take care of them. We don’t have those things. All we have is faith. We know it works because we live it each day.” He was giving me advice on something I was worried about. He asked me, “Why don’t you just pray about it and have faith that the Lord will take care of it?”
I feel hurt for the children because of what they have had to endure. However, in so many ways, I see that they “get it” so much better than we do. They forgive easier than we do. They love more openly than we do. They cherish each day they are given to live. It's funny how we go with the plan to teach them, and come back having been taught. We have so much to learn.
The children screamed as we pulled up in the truck. We saw elbow nudges from classmate to classmate in the school. We heard whispers of “Munzungu” (White Man) between the children. They were excited to see us and we were excited to see them. The younger ones were afraid of us Munzungu. That was our first strike. Strike two was that we had cameras. The video camera was specifically scary until they warmed up to it.
The children soon welcomed us with hugs, tugs on our arms, and were eventually playing outside with us on the playground. I started blowing up balloons and letting them blow away in the wind. There was a group of about 50 kids eagerly waiting for me to blow the balloons up and release it. They would wait and then scream and run after the balloons. It was such a cool moment watching them scream with joy.
We interviewed a couple of children and staff members. I asked one staff member to tell me of a story that was particularly touching and that would illustrate what kind of past these children have. She told me of a story of one child there at the school. The little girl was young. She lived with her mother alone in Kitale. When her mother died, the child was too young to understand what happened. The child, had been nursing from her mother at the time. When someone eventually found the mother and child, the woman had been dead for three whole days. The child was still trying to nurse from her dead mother’s body.
So many of these children in Africa have been through experiences that you and I can’t imagine. Yet, they still have love and joy in their soul. We can learn so much from them. They have a resiliency and level of faith that most of us don’t. A Kenyan friend who works with orphans there told me something on this trip. “Americans just don’t have the same kind of faith we do here in Africa. We have to pray and have faith about everything. Those in the US put their faith in money, doctors, medicine, and material things to take care of them. We don’t have those things. All we have is faith. We know it works because we live it each day.” He was giving me advice on something I was worried about. He asked me, “Why don’t you just pray about it and have faith that the Lord will take care of it?”
I feel hurt for the children because of what they have had to endure. However, in so many ways, I see that they “get it” so much better than we do. They forgive easier than we do. They love more openly than we do. They cherish each day they are given to live. It's funny how we go with the plan to teach them, and come back having been taught. We have so much to learn.
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