Last Tuesday night at 10:00 PM, the girls of E-squad squeezed all of our 28 packs and persons on to a tiny bus and one cab to drive to the bus station in a surprise evacuation of Uganda thanks to an ebola outbreak. We spent an uncomfortable 30 minutes at a shady bus station praying that no one would cough on us and that our bags would remain with us for the duration of the trip. Finally we filed on the bus for a few hours of very bumpy and awkward sleep. At the border our driver said "Everyone out! 3 minutes!" An hour and a half later, after standing and slopping around in the mud, repeatedly getting cut in line by pushy locals, a few arguments with custom officers, an issue with someone's passport and everyone glaring at me because I was the only one enjoying myself, we piled back onto the bus. We groggily arrived at some other bus station somewhere else somewhere in Kenya to split into our seperate vans. We spent our ride half concious and half freezing. Light began to illuminate the bumpy red dirt roads, children in uniforms walking to school, brightly colored stores, farm houses and tea fields that stir such familiar recognization and love in me for the beautiful country of Kenya. At one moment I jumped awake after nodding off as I heard people banging on our van and saw a man with a large stick staring at me through the window as a group of men surrounded us. The Kenyan with us informed us that we were driving through a circumsicion ceremony. When I finally arrived into complete consciousness, I found myself shivering and standing by a two story hut, surrounded by our luggage. I blinked as I looked to the left and saw school children and some cows hanging out around a play ground made of one slide and a lot of wooden platforms. We started talking excitedly about how cold it was and how beautiful the property was. An older mzungu lady made her way over to us and introduced herself to us as Mama Cherie. We had arrived at Challenge Farm, a school and home for over 100 street kids.
This month three of our teams are living and working together. During the week we lead Bible, music and dance classes, crafts and games. Some of us are helping organize files and equipment, some of us are working on the farm, some are doing tutoring and counseling. On Saturdays we run programs for the kids and on Sundays we run church. We get to cook our own dinners and plan our own schedules. It is a month full of encouragement, restoration, love, healing and beautiful growth.
