Day 3

This morning, we started off with breakfast at Heart House which, of course, was amazing! We had crepes, sausage, bacon, eggs, cereal, and fresh fruit. It was delicious. The mango juice and papaya juice are incredible and so good! It's one of the things I look forward to on this trip. And yes, I did say ONE of the things and not THE thing. 

After breakfast, we loaded the bus with all of the 500 backpacks that were going to be handed out today at the first backpack ceremony. The bus was packed just like Kenyans do it...all the bins on the roof (stacked 2 high by 3 across). It's awesome! We got on the road and headed to FOCUS. Once we got there, we unloaded everything including 2 soccer balls (or futbol balls). These soccer balls are supposedly indestructible. The kids absolutely LOVE futbol over here and they play all the time! From the time the balls hit the ground, they were played with the ENTIRE day! It was great. I'm just hoping they last because every soccer ball we have ever given them before has not lasted more than a week. Needless to say, they are very rough on things. The soccer balls are ones from One World Futbol (click here). 

Everything got unloaded and the festivities of the day were underway. The tent was being set up and the sound system was blaring. In Kenya, the backpack ceremony and really any ceremony is a huge deal. Everyone comes because they make such a big deal about it. Today was no different. As we set up and the ladies started cooking, we knew this was going to be a pretty special day with the kids. Then, the first bus of children from school showed up. There were 4 more coming! All in all, there would be about 500 kids coming for the backpacks as well as city officials and school representatives. As they started pouring in from different parts of Ruiru, we got to meet and hang out with a lot of them. 

Chad, Noah, and I started a game of futbol with the new balls. It was awesome. A lot of our team just spread our and started ministering to the kids. It was very encouraging to see them just love on them and invest some time in them. These kids don't get a lot of love and personal time let alone the physical contact that our trip gives. Most of them live with a guardian and multiple (at least 3) other kids. So their time spent being hugged, hand being held, or being held is reduced to almost nothing. To spend time just holding them means more to them than anything else. That's what we do with the majority of our time here...just loving on kids. 

We were supposed to start the ceremony at 10am but Kenyans don't really operate on a time schedule. They have a saying, "Americans have watches, Kenyans have time." So about 11:30 or 12ish, we actually started the ceremony! After many people speaking and officials being recognized, we started handing out the backpacks by school. 

After we handed them out, we fed everyone who was there. Once the food started being served, some of us went to work on other projects that needed to be completed. We continued to play with the kids, hang out with them, and love on them. 

One of the greatest things we did today was after the ceremony was over. We gathered all the focus kids and presented them with their backpacks. To see the joy on their faces when they saw the backpacks and what was in them was priceless! I have never seen an American get excited over someone giving them school supplies. It is something we don't like very much. Students here do not get excited about something they don't like. But that's the difference between here and home. School supplies mean a future to Kenyans. School supplies to Americans means something we are made to do. It's the simple things but we are so spoiled!!

After we gave out those backpacks, we packed up and cleaned up and headed out. We got dinner at Heart House and have been hanging out ever since! 

I love you Mallory!!!