One month late, after processing through many things, I will now tell you about my time in Kitale, Kenya. Last month (month 5 of the race) I lived with a busy Kenyan family. Ben and Christine are our ministry contacts and they are constantly out serving. They have 3 young boys (Joshua, Caleb, and Ian) and a 13-yr old daughter (Glory). Many others live with them though and are part of their family.
Ben and Christine started Shekinah Glory Missions which consists of 5 orphanages and over 38 churches (and yes this is a lot…there are many villages). My team spent the first two weeks at the Ephraim orphanage where there are 33 orphans, mostly elementary school level. At every orphanage there is a church set up and a pastor and his wife that care for the orphans. At this particular orphanage there is also a high school that Ben and Christine set up for children that can’t afford to go to public school. This is dear to Ben’s heart because he found himself in the same situation and was blessed by someone supporting him, so that he could continue going to school). These children stay at the school/orphanage during the school year and receive 1 month breaks every 3 months in which they go home to either parents or relatives.
Some of the high schoolers are orphans also or do not have a home environment that can support them. Ben and Christine take these kids into their home during the holiday break, as well as those that just finished high school (Form 4 is what it is called here) and are trying to get on their own two feet. So we have had an awesome time with a house full of people. Not to mention that one of the ladies that works in the ministry office (Gladys, in charge of the health and well-being of all the children at the orphanage) also lives here, and family and friends are constantly staying over as well. It’s such a blessing to see this type of environment.
Our ministry this month consisted of painting 2 different orphanages and spending time with all the orphans. One of my teammates has sweet artistic abilities so we made the orphanages more exciting for the kids. However it was outside the planned ministry that I found God pulling on my heart…
In between my Rwanda blogs I will continue to post blogs from Kenya.
