My team and I are serving in Mukuru slum outside of Nairobi. After yet another route change, we ended up coming here a month early (I won't complain!) We are working with our contact here who runs a health center and school. We are helping with whatever is needed at the clinic [this ranges from cleaning to doing lab work to helping deliver babies]. The clinic also sends people out to do house visits and teach about family planning. We have been invited to go along with them and preach the Gospel. We haven't had a chance to do this yet, but we are excited to start soon! We will also be teaching at the school. My favorite part of the day is recess! The kids come out of the school and just want to be noticed. They love wzungu (white people). Sometimes, the kids just come up to us and pet our arms because of our hair. The kids love to play with my hair as well. Sometimes I just let it down and let them run their fingers through it and tie it in knots [my philosophy is they like it, I have it, they can play with it].
I love just being able to love these kids! Some days I just hold them in my arms, other days I dance with them, and sometimes we play soccer in the street (today I played with a rock instead of a ball).
The children that attend school here are either orphaned by HIV or their parents are near death because of it. They don't know what love is. And if my ministry this month looks like sitting in the streets so they can climb on me during recess, I am ALL IN! I love these kids!
Yesterday in school, I was visiting a class and they asked me to sing my national anthem. I obliged only after telling them to sing me theirs. They told me that they like my national anthem better and that theirs was boring. After reassuring them that I liked their national anthem better, they moved on to the next topic of conversation: my mother tongue. It took me about 10 minutes to explain to them that English was my mother tongue. They told me everyone speaks English and that I had to have a mother tongue. It was a bit complicated, but I think they got the idea eventually.
This month my team is also working on the Unsung Heroes Campaign. We are looking for contacts working in Kenya that we can possibly send future Racers to. We are also looking to connect these contacts in the country so that they can work together to spread the Kingdom. We have already met two people who run ministries 20 minutes [walking] away from each other and they don't even know each other.
So this month, we will be busy doing a lot of everything! I am so pumped to be in Africa and can't wait to see how God is going to show up this month and beyond!
