Sunday, July 10, 2011

It is good to be home

After a nice night of rest, we were back with our Fiwagoh family this morning for worship bright and early! We had some breakfast after worship, and then the children headed off to school, so we had a nice opportunity to clean up and organize our bags and donations….again. Then we set out to find ways we could serve this family while the kids were busy at school. All of our teachers went to the classrooms to help out, a group went to the market to buy some things to bless the Fiwagoh family since we saved some money from not staying at the Eldoret Hotel or the YMCA. God’s ways are always better than ours!

The rest of the team spread out and helped the women who work here to do their daily chores. They were so excited to have us help them out. Some did laundry, some cleaned and made beds. I did the dining room floor AG-AIN….ugh…..but it did feel really great to bless them in that way. Then, they assigned us to go help a lady named Elizabeth to “brush” the shoes. They clean and polish the kids shoes every day so they will last longer. The ladies thought it was awesome that we got them all paired up so quickly after we cleaned them, and Elizabeth said, “you are not lazy Americans”!

After the kids got out of school, they had some chores to do and we played for a little while. They have their supper at 3pm (they have 2 heavy meals a day) and then the smaller ones had to have their baths. We got together in the dining hall (after we swept it again) and broke off in to groups to talk about the story of Joseph and make a bracelet craft. Then, we asked some of the kids to share their story of how they came to Fiwagoh and how long they have been here etc. I was surprised to find out that most of the kids (at least in our group) have living parents. Apparently they just could not care for them, so they brought them here and left them. They have visiting day on Tuesdays, and the ones who have parents get a chance to sit and talk with them. I am not sure if it is worse to be in an orphanage when you have no parents, or when you do. Either way, every kid said they were happy the lived at Fiwagoh and were much better off than they were before.

I took Stallon aside, and asked him about his situation. He said his parents brought him here because they could not care for him. I asked him if they had jobs and he said his father is a driver, and his mother sells tomatoes. He said they had a home, but that he loves living at Fiwagoh. My heart just breaks for him, knowing that his parents live right here in Nakuru, both have jobs, but don’t want him with them. As we sat in worship, Stallon was holding my hand, and he started rubbing my hand with his thumb. I just cried and cried. He is so sweet.

I love this place. They sing hymns from an old hymnal. When they pray they always get on their knees. These kids share. They don’t have the “survival instinct” to grab whatever they can, and keep it for themselves, like many of the other kids we have met (and those kids don’t do it to be ugly, they really have to do that in many situations to survive). They all have responsibilities and they each have their own chores. The older boys and girls are assigned to younger boys and girls to look after. They say “isn’t it?” all the time….like we would say “don’t you agree?”….it is so cute.

We head out from here early in the morning and have to say our goodbyes…….again. It is going to be a bittersweet couple of days as we make our way home, and leave this beautiful country we have grown to love. This team has become a family, and it is going to be tough for us to all go our separate ways, but we are all emotionally and physically drained, and ultimately ready to be home!

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful blog, wonderful insights and treasures you have given us all from your adventures.
    Thanks for taking me along on this wonderful journey with you.
    Your words have been a blessing to me.

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