Then I remember my day…
Take a trip with me: to the slums of Kitale, Kenya.
There is a little village that sits in between some corn stalks just on the other side of town; this is the slum where Sherry (who runs Challenge Farm) takes kids in from. The pictures that I have were secretly taken by an “anonymous teammate”. We were not allowed to take pictures, but I am glad she did!
This little baby (above) was one of the first kids I saw when I got out of the van…there were many kids and adults who came to greet us as soon as we pulled up. They are starving for attentions and loved to hold our hands, get hugs, and have us notice them in any small way. This precious baby was so accustom to it’s filth that he was not bothered by the massive amount of flies that were landing on his little face, hands, feet, nose…a teammate and I were shocked at how many flies were surrounding this little baby! We desperately wanted to get him a bath.
As we made our way further into the community it was no surprise why he was so dirty. There was animal and human fesses covering the red dirt paths which led to little mud-huts or even ‘plastic-bag-huts’; yes, dome like homes made from plastic bags and sticks, no electricity mind you! It was like nothing I have ever seen before. Most of the homes in this slum were made of plastic bags however; because of Sherry and the workers of Challenge Farm a lot of the families now have mud-homes with tin roofs.
Poo all over the floor!
Here are some of the plastic-bag homes. Literally, there is nothing inside of them. But this is their shelter!
Sweet picture of some of the kids! Seriously, African kids are the cutest!
Some of the mud-huts and bag-huts. This tarp has beans drying on it.
🙂 I love this picture. She was so happy to have her picture taken.
One lady invited us in and told us she needs prayer because she has no where to keep her sheep at night (or someone will steal them), so she keeps them in her 12×12 mud home that contained one twin mattress that was laying on the dirt ground. She and the sheep sleep in one small square room every night.
MY FAVORITE BABY!! LILLY
Along the way I found sweet 3-month-old baby Lilly! Her mom was holding her and I couldn’t resist, I HAD to hold this baby! Her mom willingly handed dear Lilly to me. As I walked all throughout the slums I held Lilly like she was precious gold. At one point, a teammate saw me walking and warned me that the mud was very slick in the area I was heading to, as I approached the ‘danger zone’ I was hit with the smell of ‘porta-potty’, urine and fesses was the combo that left this particular area super slippery! I was extra careful not to slip with this baby in my arms, and just as careful with my steps, as I did not want to get this nasty mud in my open-toed shoes!
Needless to say, I fell madly in love with Lilly! It was hard to hold this little peanut and know that she will crawl around on these soiled red dirt paths, that she will constantly be in filthy clothes, that she will walk around barefooted as a cute little toddler, and that just like the many other toddlers who I saw there, she too, will sit with her cute little uncovered booty straight on that nasty ground. I got the chance to meet two of Lilly’s seven siblings, Mosses and Christina; they too, were adorable.
This is Lilly's family. Her mom has the brown hat on. Mosses is holding Lilly, and that little girl is Christina. The other lady is a random friend. 🙂
You would think, by the looks of their clothes, that it was freezing…but it's not. It is acutally very hot during the day. I don't know why they bundle up in the day!
One baby I saw, 8-9 months old was sitting all by himself on the nasty ground, in just a little shirt, and his little booty sitting directly in the filth of the ground. Here’s what freaked me out: about 2 feet behind him was a hole the size of a kitty-pool, with green, slim water covering the bottom of the hole. Like that is not bad enough, about 5 feet to the right of the baby was huge coal oven with a fully exposed hot fire burning the bottom of this oven. I almost freaked out. “I am calling CPS! That baby needs to have something covering his butt if he is going to sit on this nasty ground, get him away from that sick pool, puddle thing, one big tip backwards and he’s falling into the slime puddle, AND DEAR GOD GET THAT BABY AWAY FROM THE FIRE!” While all of this was going though my head someone finally came and picked the baby up. Good grief! It was a stressful scene!
So, come to think of it, I guess it’s ok that the wifi doesn’t work all of the time, and who cares if the power goes off…that’s why I have a headlamp with me. I amaze myself…how I can see 1st hand the poverty that some people live in and complain hours later, when my macbook doesn’t connect to the wifi in the beautiful guesthouse I am staying at with running water, toilets, a comfortable bed to sleep in, clean sheets, concrete floors in our room, and when I have a full stomach all day long. And look…the wifi did end up working!
God you have given me too much and I am so sorry for taking things for granted! Thank you so much for all you have blessed me with! May I never forget the things I have seen!
Amen!
