So as I am trying to get back into the swing of things I
thought I would attempt to write a blog about our trip to Africa. I am thinking
I am going to have to write a few different ones seeing as so much happened in
17 days!
 |
| Left to right: Mike , Me, Karissa, Vic |
|
|
| |
Too start off I will talk about the 1st
week in
Kenya. The team I traveled with was: Karissa Young (BBC friend), Mike
Poe and
Vic Rader (Founders of Encouragement Children’s Center). We had a great
team
and all of us got a long very well and always
had an awesome time. (see
picture to right lol) God definitely had His hand in this entire trip.
Karissa and I met Mike in the Philadelphia airport. Which in and of
itself was
a big risk meeting a man that we did not
even know. However, God again took care of us and by the middle of the trip we
were calling him our father and he was calling us his daughters. J Well we arrived in
London and had a few hour layover waiting for Vic to arrive. Well come to find
out his flight was late and he was going to miss the flight to Nairobi so Mike
told us that we were just going to go ahead and get on the flight because we
had people who were going to meet us in Nairobi that were from the orphanage.
So we did just that got on the plane and arrived in Nairobi on May 18 at 9pm.
Now let me tell you Nairobi is no walk in the park. It is kind of scary
especially at night. We had to stop for gas and we got our first taste of men
staring at us because we were muzungus (white people). We definitely felt kind
of like celebrity because everyone waved and said Jambo (hello) to us
everywhere we went. Well Vic arrived the next morning and we took off to head
to Webuye. It was a long trip but really awesome because we got to see all
different cities, towns, villages throughout Kenya. The trip was about 8 hours
and not on what you call roads here but I would call them more like pathways.
When we arrived at the orphanage the children came out in
matching shirts singing to us “we welcome you” it was beautiful and so sweet:) It was a little
overwhelming at first but we then got help carrying all of our things inside.
It was so cute because the little kids grabbed my backpack and put it on! So we
got settled in and then went out and all the children were singing so we went
out and sang with them…then they taught
us some dance moves! (quite a funny sight) Church was awesome. We worshiped the Lord
for 4 hours and it was great! We were in
a little building (tin roof, tin walls, tiny windows) with about 150 people and it was quite warm! After the 1st
service we had a break and had about 3 offers of marriage from the men…haha! Long
storryyy… lol
 |
| My group of kids=) |
Well Monday through Friday we did VBS and many other things during the days. Not an ordinary VBS.
There were 47 kids and 2 Leaders. INSANITY=)
We had no helpers because apparently the workers thought that they could use
that time as a break which was totally fine because we enjoyed running the
whole thing. Because the children spoke very little English it was hard for us
to communicate. So we would have to do A LOT of hand motions (which if you know
me and Karissa we already do that) and work on our pronunciations. Never
used contractions there! So we would start off doing music which was always a
blast! The kids LOVED to sing and dance.!! We then move into our groups with
about 24 kids in each group and do story time…again interesting as they had a
hard time understanding English. But I believe the Lord helped both of us to
clearly present the stories. The kids responded and were so focused on what I
was saying it was amazing. Unlike anything of done before. (which there are a
lot “I have never done this before” things
on this trip). Well the last night (Friday) Karissa and I had brought glow
sticks for the kids…well it turned out to be a GREAT success! We danced with
the kids for over an hour just dancing and singing and loving on them. It was
so cool see. Here is a link of a video clip of the glow sticks:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q_U7xhmBS0&feature=youtu.be
We also spoke at three schools within the 1st ten
days. The first school was awesome. It
was named the school of excellence in there area which was mainly for
the
discipline side of things. There students were so well behaved and we
could
tell getting a good education. However when you think of a school of
excellence
you think bathrooms, running water, electricity, nice desks, hard floor
and so
on. Well erase that picture from your mind. This school did not have any
of those things. But yet they were so happy that they were getting an
education
that they did not even care what kind of buildings and classrooms they
had.
Well we got a very warm welcome from them. We were able to share our
testimonies and a little bit about what America is like. (with a
translator)
Vic then had the whole school together and spoke to them =) It was awesome.
Now the second school
we went to was a little different Pastor Godfrey (manager of the orphanage and
pastor of a church in the area) was the only one who went with us this time.
Well there were 1800 students in this school!! It was crazyyy! We only spoke to
2 classrooms and same type of building as the 1st but not very well
disciplined. The kids were very rambunctious and wild. We then were told we
could go and talk with some of the kids out in the school yard…well it turns
out all 1800 kids were in the school yard…we got MAULED! These kids came at us
like we were celebrity's. Pushing, shoving, kicking, and grabbing our hair. It
was chaotic and we did not have anyone to help calm them down…it was quite the
experience but definitely now I know what it feels like to be a celebrity.
The third school was probably the best school to speak too
but also the scariest. The way we got there was riding a “bota bota” and they
are kind of like motorcycles so that was fun! But the school was in the slums
and even worse buildings then the other schools (which at this point I did not think
possible). We spoke to almost 400 kids going from classroom to classroom. It
was so scary because we could sense some type of evil or something there. We could
not figure out why we felt this way but it was intense. Well as we were
speaking I just felt so led to share the gospel more in depth then we had in
the other schools and I know that God was speaking through me because the
things that came out of my mouth I would have never thought I would be able to
say so well in front of a group of people. The kids then began asking questions
not just about America but about Jesus and God. It was an amazing experience.
Well after we got done speaking one of the teachers introduced us to a little girl
who lived in a small slum that was right by the school and the teacher wanted
us to go with her. So we did, just me and Karissa. Well as we walked over the
children that were standing by the house looked scared to death about something.
The little girl took us into her home and we were looking at the room and all
of sudden the little girl froze with fear and this man came from the back and
was just very scary. He looked very drunk and possibly demon possessed. We had
never experienced anything like this before so we just tried to be very kind
and eventually after 5 or so minutes (felt like an eternity) we kindly said we
were going to leave and he continued to stare and grunt. So we got of the house
and felt very nervous but we wanted to walk the little girl back over to the
school . Well of course then the storms came and so we were stuck at the school
with Pastor Godfrey. We finally got a hold of someone to pick us up so that was
nice. God protected us and it was an incredible experience I will not forget.
Well
this is only parts of the first week...I will write more later =) But
for now remember you are blessed and do not forget that ever.
Bwana asifiwe!!!! (Praise the Lord!!!)
In the left picture is Francis. Mike had met Francis 4 years before
who was wearing the same outfit the
day we met him as he was when Mike first met him. Mike led Francis to
the Lord
4 years earlier. As we were walking through the market Francis came up
to us
and said hello and began to tell us about how his family had no food and
were starving. We bought him food and then had him walk us back to his
home so that we could make sure that his family actually got food. What
we found was eye opening his home was in a small row of mud huts and
all the people
started gathering around wanting to take pictures of us because in Kenya
if a
white person walks into your village or home it’s a high honor. We were able to come back later that day and tell Francis we
had a job for him back at the orphanage. The people wanted to take more pictures. 
This lady on the right was the mother of
Francis. She kept telling me how her back hurt and it was hard to understand
her because she spoke very little English but then she talked about how bad her
feet hurt her and she was looking down at mine so I decided to let her try my
shoes on. So she did and they were a perfect fit. She was so excited but then
she took them off and was giving them back but I told her no no you keep
them…and she started screaming and yelling saying “this is my first pair of
shoes ever” and everyone was cheering
and she began to dance. It was amazing to think that something that
seems so small to me to give away made such a huge deal to her. I was so
honored that God was able to use me to spread Jesus’ love to this woman.
-2.jpg){kind=link}