Welcome to Kenya Africa. We spent a few days in Nairobi with the whole squad. On Saturday my team and I took a 2 hour bus ride to Nakuru. It was a bumpy and yet fun ride. The roads in Africa are anything but smooth. A few of us were airborne a few times needless to say. We are stayig with an awesome family. They are both pastors of a big church with two adoreable children ages 3 and 6. They have made us feel right at home. We are staying at their house and have been fed well and taken care of.
Coming to Africa I had a lot of expectations of what it would be like. I thought we wouldn’t have internet, let alone wi-fi, and here we are at a hotel with wi-fi. We buy some food and drinks and we can chill here for the day. My other expectation was that we would go to the orphanges here and see nothing but poverty and children not cared for. They would be in a big room unkempt and alot of crying. I had images of a debilitated buildings and unkept grounds in a poverty stricken area.
Well needless to say I was shocked and pleasantly suprised when we went to visit an orphanage and school in the past two days. Monday we went to an orphange for children ages 2-6 years. We drove in and saw beautiful grounds. The house was large and well kept. There was lots of flowers and a great playground for the children. When we had the tour I felt such love and care coming from with in those walls. The children were happily running around and playing outside. There was 17 children there. We went outside to play with the children and right away a cute little boy named Isaiah ran into my arms and hugged me. I melted. We played with a tire and ran around. The children were so joyful and happy while playing. They all knew good English so we could communicate easily.
They had a great routine for these children. They were fed 3 meals and snacks. They had school during the day and had scheduled nap time. These children know what is happening next and things run smoothly.
When talking with the staff they informed us these children were not wanted and basically street children. They would go to the hospitals and take the children from there that were as young as 1 day old. They can stay at the orphange for up to 5 years. They hope that these children get adopted out. They have local and international adoptions available.
My heart is saddened for these children that know nothing else. This is their home and maybe the only one they know of. I am so happy that the staff are so caring and are there for the children.
On Tuesday we went to a school for primary aged children. This school was in a poorer part of town. When we walked in the gates there was so many children. They looked at us for a minute and then they all ran up to us and hugged us and were touching us as much as they could. I just loved these children with every beat of my heart.
We found out from the workers there that these children for the most part came from the slums. They are mostly single parent homes they come from. One man decided that these children needed to be educated and from there started the program. They come at 8am and have classes and play time along with getting fed lunch and snack. There day ends at 3pm. Again I felt the love of the teachers and staff there. There is 150 children there currently. We played with these children and just loved them. I fell in love with a few of them that crawled on my lap and just wanted to play and be loved. They love to touch our hair and jewellery. My heart just melts for these little ones.
