Sunday, June 9, 2013
Lion King Sing-A-Long
This is what happens when you watch Lion King in Kenya...it becomes a sing-a-long!! Hakuna Matata people!
Day 6
Hello everyone!! I am typing this blog right now while watching Lion King in KENYA!!! How amazing!! I know, right?!?
Well, today was another awesome day of cultural firsts. Obviously it's Sunday, so today we went to church at a Kenyan church. We got up a bit earlier than normal and had breakfast here at Heart. Then we all loaded up the bus and headed to Parklands Baptist Church (click here). This church would be considered a mega church in the US with over 10,000 attendees on any given Sunday. The youth ministry, which is standard 8 (or 8th grade) through young adults (age 25), is about the size of Graceland when the high school students are not away at boarding school.
Going to church in Kenya is basically an all day experience. We arrived at the church at around 8:45am. We started with going into the main service. We entered during worship and sang some songs in both Swahili and English. There was another mission group at the church today from Sevierville, TN as well. They had been working in Kibera with the kids so they brought them in to sing one of the songs they had prepared. They also had a concert at 3pm this afternoon at the church. They performed for the church and it was precious to see them all there and smiling and so joyful.
After we were introduced in the main service, we left to head to the youth tent. This is literally a tent in the parking lot that the youth group meets in. No rooms, no central air conditioning, no heat...just a tent in the middle of the parking lot. Now, to be far, it is a gi-normous tent that holds hundreds of chairs and has a stage and a kicking sound system, but it's not like any other youth room I have ever been in. We got to the tent and took our seats. In fact, we got there in just enough time for me to get up to speak and give the message.
It was an interesting experience. Four years ago I spoke at the church that Sylvester was the youth pastor at. It was an incredibly different experience. I am used to preaching and teaching at home where everyone knows me and knows American culture. Here, that's not the case at all. It is such a different experience, so I just hope God used me to talk about His grace and how it impacts their life! I used John 1:14-18. We ended the first service at about 10:30am.
Then we headed to the reception that Sylvester had setup for us. We had Kenyan tea and these fried dough things. They were awesome! We sat for a bit and then headed back to the youth tent for the second service. We had four of our students share their testimonies (Morgan, Tyler, Megan, and Chad). Then we had two students from Scott's church lead a couple of worship songs. It was an awesome experience. They are very lively in their worship to say the least. We broke it down a couple of times. Rachael Bailey is a very good dancer during worship by the way!!
We were in the second service from 11:30 to 1:30 and then headed out to the bus to leave. If you think leaving Graceland on Sunday morning is crazy, you haven't seen anything. We all waited in line and at times, we were about 1 cm from other cars...literally! I was sitting in the front seat so I knew all about it. There were some tense moments but that's driving in Kenya!
Once we were out of traffic, we headed to Java House to eat lunch. This place is a little slice of America for us. When we got there we all sat down and looked through the menu; however, we almost all ordered burgers! It was one of the best burgers I have ever eaten! It was so incredibly good. After purchasing some gifts for family members and then some coffee and tea, we loaded back up the bus and headed to Heart House.
Once back, we went to our rooms and began packing for safari! It is a tradition to watch Lion King on our trip at some point but this time we decided to watch is right before we leave to go on safari. It is an awesome experience. We are going to see so many of these animals in the next couple of days: hyenas, lions, warthogs, monkeys, giraffes, etc. And the best part is...there are NO cages!!! It's SO awesome!!!
We leave tomorrow morning very early and won't have internet (that we know of). So the blog will not be updated while we are gone. The next post will come on Wednesday night. Thanks for following along and keeping up with our trip! We miss you all back home and can't wait to see you all again. We will be changed in so many ways when we get back but God is at work and it is amazing!
I love you Mallory!!!
Well, today was another awesome day of cultural firsts. Obviously it's Sunday, so today we went to church at a Kenyan church. We got up a bit earlier than normal and had breakfast here at Heart. Then we all loaded up the bus and headed to Parklands Baptist Church (click here). This church would be considered a mega church in the US with over 10,000 attendees on any given Sunday. The youth ministry, which is standard 8 (or 8th grade) through young adults (age 25), is about the size of Graceland when the high school students are not away at boarding school.Going to church in Kenya is basically an all day experience. We arrived at the church at around 8:45am. We started with going into the main service. We entered during worship and sang some songs in both Swahili and English. There was another mission group at the church today from Sevierville, TN as well. They had been working in Kibera with the kids so they brought them in to sing one of the songs they had prepared. They also had a concert at 3pm this afternoon at the church. They performed for the church and it was precious to see them all there and smiling and so joyful.
After we were introduced in the main service, we left to head to the youth tent. This is literally a tent in the parking lot that the youth group meets in. No rooms, no central air conditioning, no heat...just a tent in the middle of the parking lot. Now, to be far, it is a gi-normous tent that holds hundreds of chairs and has a stage and a kicking sound system, but it's not like any other youth room I have ever been in. We got to the tent and took our seats. In fact, we got there in just enough time for me to get up to speak and give the message.
It was an interesting experience. Four years ago I spoke at the church that Sylvester was the youth pastor at. It was an incredibly different experience. I am used to preaching and teaching at home where everyone knows me and knows American culture. Here, that's not the case at all. It is such a different experience, so I just hope God used me to talk about His grace and how it impacts their life! I used John 1:14-18. We ended the first service at about 10:30am.
Then we headed to the reception that Sylvester had setup for us. We had Kenyan tea and these fried dough things. They were awesome! We sat for a bit and then headed back to the youth tent for the second service. We had four of our students share their testimonies (Morgan, Tyler, Megan, and Chad). Then we had two students from Scott's church lead a couple of worship songs. It was an awesome experience. They are very lively in their worship to say the least. We broke it down a couple of times. Rachael Bailey is a very good dancer during worship by the way!!
We were in the second service from 11:30 to 1:30 and then headed out to the bus to leave. If you think leaving Graceland on Sunday morning is crazy, you haven't seen anything. We all waited in line and at times, we were about 1 cm from other cars...literally! I was sitting in the front seat so I knew all about it. There were some tense moments but that's driving in Kenya!
Once we were out of traffic, we headed to Java House to eat lunch. This place is a little slice of America for us. When we got there we all sat down and looked through the menu; however, we almost all ordered burgers! It was one of the best burgers I have ever eaten! It was so incredibly good. After purchasing some gifts for family members and then some coffee and tea, we loaded back up the bus and headed to Heart House.Once back, we went to our rooms and began packing for safari! It is a tradition to watch Lion King on our trip at some point but this time we decided to watch is right before we leave to go on safari. It is an awesome experience. We are going to see so many of these animals in the next couple of days: hyenas, lions, warthogs, monkeys, giraffes, etc. And the best part is...there are NO cages!!! It's SO awesome!!!
We leave tomorrow morning very early and won't have internet (that we know of). So the blog will not be updated while we are gone. The next post will come on Wednesday night. Thanks for following along and keeping up with our trip! We miss you all back home and can't wait to see you all again. We will be changed in so many ways when we get back but God is at work and it is amazing!
I love you Mallory!!!
Saturday, June 8, 2013
Day 5
Tonights post comes from Marla, Tee, Robynn, Meredith, Kelli, and Tonya (it was a collective effort):
Our day started again with a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage and fresh fruit, not to mention the papaya juice that is so good. We then took a tour through the city in the attempt to find a Forex; which is where we exchange our dollars into shillings. This city is very diverse. Traffic is crazy and they do not have many stoplights, but they do have speed bumps that they call 'sleeping policemens'.
We then went to FOCUS, arriving at about 11:00am. It should have been 9:00am, but we are now on Kenyan time. Once we arrived we played with the kids and then had a special program. We sang songs, acted out Jonah and the whale and then gave gifts to the children that were from their sponsors. They were all very excited and appreciated all their gifts.
We then had the privilege of taking the Focus children on a field trip to the Kenyan Animal Orphanage which would be equivalent to a very small Louisville Zoo. It's hard for me to imagine that a child who lives in Kenya has never seen a lion or a giraffe, but they haven't! The smile on their faces was priceless!
It has been another great day being blessed by God through these wonderful children. We are so tired by the time we get back that sleeping is no problem. We all go to sleep with smiles on our faces.
God is so good!
Good Night Mallory, Jameson loves you and we are glad you are sharing him with us.
Our day started again with a great breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage and fresh fruit, not to mention the papaya juice that is so good. We then took a tour through the city in the attempt to find a Forex; which is where we exchange our dollars into shillings. This city is very diverse. Traffic is crazy and they do not have many stoplights, but they do have speed bumps that they call 'sleeping policemens'.
We then went to FOCUS, arriving at about 11:00am. It should have been 9:00am, but we are now on Kenyan time. Once we arrived we played with the kids and then had a special program. We sang songs, acted out Jonah and the whale and then gave gifts to the children that were from their sponsors. They were all very excited and appreciated all their gifts.
We then had the privilege of taking the Focus children on a field trip to the Kenyan Animal Orphanage which would be equivalent to a very small Louisville Zoo. It's hard for me to imagine that a child who lives in Kenya has never seen a lion or a giraffe, but they haven't! The smile on their faces was priceless!
It has been another great day being blessed by God through these wonderful children. We are so tired by the time we get back that sleeping is no problem. We all go to sleep with smiles on our faces.
God is so good!
Good Night Mallory, Jameson loves you and we are glad you are sharing him with us.
Friday, June 7, 2013
Day 4
Jambo! Habri yako? (that means, "Hello, how are you?" and you respond with Nzuri sana which means, "I am very well.")
This morning we had breakfast yet again at the Heart House and it was delicious. Our day was going to be a busy one so we had to stock up on some good calories. Today was the day we were to get as much done at the FOCUS center as possible. We loaded up the bus and headed out to the center.
When we arrived, the kids were all at school so there wasn't a super big reception like the past couple of days. The preschoolers were there because they are there every day. FOCUS provides preschool to all the kids and then the kids go to elementary school for free as apart of their education system. After elementary, the kids then go to high school and they must pay for it, so Project Lucas and FOCUS pay for a portion of their fees. When the elementary kids are at school, they don't show up at FOCUS until 4 or 4:30pm so we only get to see them for about an hour.
After we got off the bus, we started jumping on the projects that we knew needed to be done. We are working on a lot of different projects at FOCUS. Part of us are framing walls in what will be their new cafeteria room; others are repainting the two classrooms, repainting the entry gate, rebuilding the stairs to get to the workers office, weeding the new garden planted by Debbie Johannes, and finishing a new gutter system. There is a lot to do in other words. We had about 5 teams spread out over the building to start these projects. My team was working on finishing up the framing of the new cafeteria and it was an experience. FOCUS hired what they call a "Fundi" which is a craftsman or jack-of-all-trades. He didn't speak much English and neither did his helper. It was fun trying to interpret and to know whether they were laughing at my hammering skills or cutting skills. By the end of the day, we were done with the framing and the wall and we had just started painting it as well. The other teams had made a lot of progress as well on their projects. The stairs were coming along great, the rooms had been painted, and the garden/landscaping were done...for the most part!
We worked for about 2-2.5 hours and then gathered to eat lunch. After eating lunch, we got the call to go to something new this year that none of had ever done. We loaded the bus and headed there very quickly! You're probably wondering what I am talking about...well prepare yourself for an awesome story. There is a boy named Jolly (well, he's been called that for years but now that he is going into middle school, he wants to be called John). He has been playing soccer for a very long time and had been chosen in his school as one of the top four soccer, or futbol, players. Since he was chosen to be on this team, he had a game TODAY and were on our way to see him play. He is a very quite and shy boy at heart so this was really awesome for him. Scott had told us that this, in fact, might be one of the most memorable moments in his life. Think about it this way...if a little boy is playing futbol on the field and 31 Mzungos (white people) come see you. This never happens. This would be so awesome for you to experience and it was for John. He thanked Scott after the game and said it was so great to have us there. For me, I have seen John grow up over the past 6 years and to be able to see him play soccer and be so excited was such an encouraging moment! John has been through a lot in the past 2 years including the loss of his sister and his mother going to prison for a stint. And now, we got to be a blessing to him just by showing up and cheering for him. They won by the way with a score of 3-0.
The sad thing was that John experienced an injury while we were watching him play. He went to bicycle kick the ball and landed weird on his arm. He was favoring it the whole game but finished playing. When he got back to FOCUS, we investigated a little bit to find out what was wrong. By God's hand, we have 2 medical professionals here with us. They found out that he had broken his arm in two places. He went to the hospital very shortly after that. This was a God thing because we happened to be here during his injury. Scott said that if we weren't here, John probably would have just excused the pain and not told anyone so that he didn't bother them. Plus, he wouldn't have had the money to go to the hospital anyway. The good news is, he's in a cast and will hopefully recover very nicely!
After all of this, we got back to work and finished out the day. Some of the kids started coming in from school so we got to hang out with them. I hadn't seen Mallory and I's sponsor child yet this trip and today was the first day we got to hang out. If there is one thing that I would encourage all Project Lucas sponsors to do, it's to come on one of these trips and meet your child. We have been Yvonne's sponsors for over 2 years now and it is such an incredible blessing to be able to see her and hang out with her. I got to play and hang out with her for the last hour of the day! She is so precious and sweet. She is shy but she has become a little less apprehensive than she was 2 years ago. We took like 100 pictures because I gave her my camera to play with. It's so awesome to know that my wife and I sponsor this little, precious girl and she is taken care of. She melts my heart and makes me want to pack her away in my suitcase and carry her home! All the kids do this!
All in all, today was an incredible day of ups and downs emotionally for me! Someone who has been coming to Kenya for the past 6 years. It was such a joy and also such a blessing to see what and why we invest in Project Lucas as a ministry and as a church. This organization is all about meeting the needs of the 59 kids in their program and investing in their lives and the community year after year. You can see how the involvement over time has made a difference and is making a difference in this area!
Our team is doing very well. Just an update for everyone back home as well, we are all safe and healthy. There haven't been any medical issues except for some scrapes, cuts, and minor sun reactions/burns. It's been a great trip and it's been safe so keep praying that it will continue as we move through the next week and then return home! We love we all and can't wait to get home and share all our stories with you!
Kwaheri (that means goodbye)!
I love you with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul Mallory Lee Barker!!
This morning we had breakfast yet again at the Heart House and it was delicious. Our day was going to be a busy one so we had to stock up on some good calories. Today was the day we were to get as much done at the FOCUS center as possible. We loaded up the bus and headed out to the center.
When we arrived, the kids were all at school so there wasn't a super big reception like the past couple of days. The preschoolers were there because they are there every day. FOCUS provides preschool to all the kids and then the kids go to elementary school for free as apart of their education system. After elementary, the kids then go to high school and they must pay for it, so Project Lucas and FOCUS pay for a portion of their fees. When the elementary kids are at school, they don't show up at FOCUS until 4 or 4:30pm so we only get to see them for about an hour.
After we got off the bus, we started jumping on the projects that we knew needed to be done. We are working on a lot of different projects at FOCUS. Part of us are framing walls in what will be their new cafeteria room; others are repainting the two classrooms, repainting the entry gate, rebuilding the stairs to get to the workers office, weeding the new garden planted by Debbie Johannes, and finishing a new gutter system. There is a lot to do in other words. We had about 5 teams spread out over the building to start these projects. My team was working on finishing up the framing of the new cafeteria and it was an experience. FOCUS hired what they call a "Fundi" which is a craftsman or jack-of-all-trades. He didn't speak much English and neither did his helper. It was fun trying to interpret and to know whether they were laughing at my hammering skills or cutting skills. By the end of the day, we were done with the framing and the wall and we had just started painting it as well. The other teams had made a lot of progress as well on their projects. The stairs were coming along great, the rooms had been painted, and the garden/landscaping were done...for the most part!
We worked for about 2-2.5 hours and then gathered to eat lunch. After eating lunch, we got the call to go to something new this year that none of had ever done. We loaded the bus and headed there very quickly! You're probably wondering what I am talking about...well prepare yourself for an awesome story. There is a boy named Jolly (well, he's been called that for years but now that he is going into middle school, he wants to be called John). He has been playing soccer for a very long time and had been chosen in his school as one of the top four soccer, or futbol, players. Since he was chosen to be on this team, he had a game TODAY and were on our way to see him play. He is a very quite and shy boy at heart so this was really awesome for him. Scott had told us that this, in fact, might be one of the most memorable moments in his life. Think about it this way...if a little boy is playing futbol on the field and 31 Mzungos (white people) come see you. This never happens. This would be so awesome for you to experience and it was for John. He thanked Scott after the game and said it was so great to have us there. For me, I have seen John grow up over the past 6 years and to be able to see him play soccer and be so excited was such an encouraging moment! John has been through a lot in the past 2 years including the loss of his sister and his mother going to prison for a stint. And now, we got to be a blessing to him just by showing up and cheering for him. They won by the way with a score of 3-0.
The sad thing was that John experienced an injury while we were watching him play. He went to bicycle kick the ball and landed weird on his arm. He was favoring it the whole game but finished playing. When he got back to FOCUS, we investigated a little bit to find out what was wrong. By God's hand, we have 2 medical professionals here with us. They found out that he had broken his arm in two places. He went to the hospital very shortly after that. This was a God thing because we happened to be here during his injury. Scott said that if we weren't here, John probably would have just excused the pain and not told anyone so that he didn't bother them. Plus, he wouldn't have had the money to go to the hospital anyway. The good news is, he's in a cast and will hopefully recover very nicely!
After all of this, we got back to work and finished out the day. Some of the kids started coming in from school so we got to hang out with them. I hadn't seen Mallory and I's sponsor child yet this trip and today was the first day we got to hang out. If there is one thing that I would encourage all Project Lucas sponsors to do, it's to come on one of these trips and meet your child. We have been Yvonne's sponsors for over 2 years now and it is such an incredible blessing to be able to see her and hang out with her. I got to play and hang out with her for the last hour of the day! She is so precious and sweet. She is shy but she has become a little less apprehensive than she was 2 years ago. We took like 100 pictures because I gave her my camera to play with. It's so awesome to know that my wife and I sponsor this little, precious girl and she is taken care of. She melts my heart and makes me want to pack her away in my suitcase and carry her home! All the kids do this!All in all, today was an incredible day of ups and downs emotionally for me! Someone who has been coming to Kenya for the past 6 years. It was such a joy and also such a blessing to see what and why we invest in Project Lucas as a ministry and as a church. This organization is all about meeting the needs of the 59 kids in their program and investing in their lives and the community year after year. You can see how the involvement over time has made a difference and is making a difference in this area!
Our team is doing very well. Just an update for everyone back home as well, we are all safe and healthy. There haven't been any medical issues except for some scrapes, cuts, and minor sun reactions/burns. It's been a great trip and it's been safe so keep praying that it will continue as we move through the next week and then return home! We love we all and can't wait to get home and share all our stories with you!
Kwaheri (that means goodbye)!
I love you with all my heart, mind, strength, and soul Mallory Lee Barker!!
Thursday, June 6, 2013
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.
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.
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 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!!!
Wednesday, June 5, 2013
Day 2
Habari everyone? That means, "How are you?" in Swahili! Today's summary comes from the youngest on our team...Morgan Trendel!
Today we went to Focus and the Project Lucas Center. We got up bright and early and ate a wonderfully cooked breakfast from the Heart House. We did our morning devotions, and got on the bus to head to the center. The plan was to have all the kids out of school today, but when we got there, we were a bit surprised.
They were in school. The only ones there were the preschoolers, which was a total of six. Scott left with Sylvester to go pick the children up early and bring them to the Focus center. Eventually, all 58 children (aging from three to fourteen and grades preschool to eighth grade) showed up there. They all went and put their backpacks up and came outside to play. The team first introduced themselves to the children, some children became attached to team members immediately. The younger ones wanted you to hold them, carry them on your shoulders and back, play in the sand, and put on your sunglasses. The funny thing was they put the sunglasses on upside down. The older girls would do your hair so there was about five girls who stood while team members sat and let them braid their hair. The older boys would play soccer with a wadded up piece of cloth or some type of material.
Then everyone got together and played hokey pokey, duck duck goose, tag in a huge circle, and on a teeter-totter. All the kids loved to take your camera and take pictures of themselves and random things. If you took their picture they would want to see it and they would just giggle. While some of the team played with the kids, others would work on helping with the entry way, classroom, stair way, and the rain water collection system.
We took a break and went to lunch at an authentic Kenyan restaurant. It was different but delicious. They had chicken, beef, rice with peas, mash potatoes that were green, and french fries. We all ate with the team and some Focus workers. After lunch, we went back to focus and played with the children. Coming up the kids were all outside waving and jumping, and the preschoolers were just waking up from their nap. We began to play right away of course. The children who became attached to team members immediately went to them. Everyone got back to work finishing the stairs, and continuing on the rain system. The team scrapped the old paint, put on a fresh coat to paint later in the week, and added the Project Lucas and Focus symbols.
We had to say our goodbyes and it was sad. No one wanted to leave! All the kids waited outside and waved goodbye. We made it to Heart House picking up extra school supplies to pack for the backpacks. While the team went to Heart House to wash up and eat, Jameson and Scott went to the airport to see if the four missing bins were here. After diner, we cleaned up our plates and started getting ready to pack the backpacks. We organized everything, and got to work to pack the five-hundred and eighty backpacks for tomorrow's backpack ceremony. We put erasers, pencils, pens, folders, and pencil sharpeners in each backpack. We had a total of about thirty-five bins filled with backpacks to take tomorrow. Scott and Jameson arrived with no luck of getting the bins but they were told they were in London. We put everything up and we all went to our rooms and went to bed.
Today was amazing and it was simply filled with playing and loving on all the kids. It was a joy to see them all smile and laugh. The backpack packing made me realize how fortunate we are in America. I am so excited to go and hand out the backpacks to the kids tomorrow and continue to love on the children.
Morgan Trendel
PS- Jameson loves Mallory a whole lot!!!
Today we went to Focus and the Project Lucas Center. We got up bright and early and ate a wonderfully cooked breakfast from the Heart House. We did our morning devotions, and got on the bus to head to the center. The plan was to have all the kids out of school today, but when we got there, we were a bit surprised. They were in school. The only ones there were the preschoolers, which was a total of six. Scott left with Sylvester to go pick the children up early and bring them to the Focus center. Eventually, all 58 children (aging from three to fourteen and grades preschool to eighth grade) showed up there. They all went and put their backpacks up and came outside to play. The team first introduced themselves to the children, some children became attached to team members immediately. The younger ones wanted you to hold them, carry them on your shoulders and back, play in the sand, and put on your sunglasses. The funny thing was they put the sunglasses on upside down. The older girls would do your hair so there was about five girls who stood while team members sat and let them braid their hair. The older boys would play soccer with a wadded up piece of cloth or some type of material.
Then everyone got together and played hokey pokey, duck duck goose, tag in a huge circle, and on a teeter-totter. All the kids loved to take your camera and take pictures of themselves and random things. If you took their picture they would want to see it and they would just giggle. While some of the team played with the kids, others would work on helping with the entry way, classroom, stair way, and the rain water collection system.
We took a break and went to lunch at an authentic Kenyan restaurant. It was different but delicious. They had chicken, beef, rice with peas, mash potatoes that were green, and french fries. We all ate with the team and some Focus workers. After lunch, we went back to focus and played with the children. Coming up the kids were all outside waving and jumping, and the preschoolers were just waking up from their nap. We began to play right away of course. The children who became attached to team members immediately went to them. Everyone got back to work finishing the stairs, and continuing on the rain system. The team scrapped the old paint, put on a fresh coat to paint later in the week, and added the Project Lucas and Focus symbols. 
We had to say our goodbyes and it was sad. No one wanted to leave! All the kids waited outside and waved goodbye. We made it to Heart House picking up extra school supplies to pack for the backpacks. While the team went to Heart House to wash up and eat, Jameson and Scott went to the airport to see if the four missing bins were here. After diner, we cleaned up our plates and started getting ready to pack the backpacks. We organized everything, and got to work to pack the five-hundred and eighty backpacks for tomorrow's backpack ceremony. We put erasers, pencils, pens, folders, and pencil sharpeners in each backpack. We had a total of about thirty-five bins filled with backpacks to take tomorrow. Scott and Jameson arrived with no luck of getting the bins but they were told they were in London. We put everything up and we all went to our rooms and went to bed. Today was amazing and it was simply filled with playing and loving on all the kids. It was a joy to see them all smile and laugh. The backpack packing made me realize how fortunate we are in America. I am so excited to go and hand out the backpacks to the kids tomorrow and continue to love on the children.
Morgan Trendel
PS- Jameson loves Mallory a whole lot!!!
Tuesday, June 4, 2013
Day 1
Today was our first day on the ground in Kenya! As we woke up this morning, we woke up in a new place that, for the most part, is foreign to our team. It's a place that some of us have only ever seen in magazines and on National Geographic. And now we are waking up here! What a crazy thing! As we woke up to the sound of roosters cock a doodle dooing and various other birds chirping, we got a call from Scott and his team that they were on the way to the Heart House. They had landed successfully and were on the way; however, it was around 7:40am which is a horrible time to travel through downtown Nairobi just like in any other city across the world.
At about 9:15, they arrived. It was a very awesome thing to see people we don't know and be reunited with people we love. Scott, Alisa, Lucas and the rest of the team fell off the bus out of exhaustion really. They had been traveling for so long with no real sleep. All they wanted was a warm shower and some breakfast. We could meet both those needs.
As we all sat down to eat, we began to meet the team of 9 from Virginia. Once we were done eating, we got ready and got loaded on the bus because we still had a full day planned. We traveled to the largest slum in Africa, Kibera. This is a 5 mile square area that holds more than 1.1 million people and is one of the poorest areas in Kenya, and possibly in Africa. It is a place that we go on the first day of our trip to show everyone what poverty really looks like. Here, most families (at least two adults and 3-4 kids) live on less than a dollar a day. Can you even fathom that? As this is my third time coming to Kenya, I sat there and listened to the school master that was telling us this and was yet again blown away by this fact. Most of these families live an entire day on what I would spend on a POLAR POP! How does that work? I just don't understand honestly...my mind just can't wrap around that staggering fact. If I buy a pack of gum, I am spending more money that an entire family does in one day.
Our purpose for going into Kibera is to go to a school and interact with the kids there as well as help feed them through Feed the Children. The program feeds more than 150,000 kids each day throughout Kenya. They rely on donations and help from the World Food Program. While interacting with one of the kids, Dale was amazed at the kindness of the children. Sitting and playing with them while they ate their lunch, one of the kids offered Dale some of their lunch. What?! This is the only meal they will eat most days and they are offering it to us? They are willing to share what they have even if it means they get less? What a foreign concept to us! We live in a culture of plenty whether we realize it or not and now we have kids offering us food out of the little that they have. For Dale, as a Christ follower, it was a convicting gesture. How humble and how loving are these people! If we were starving and hungry and knew we would only get one meal a day in America, how many of us would be offering to give that meal away? Not many!
After we finished up in Kibera, we headed to the Feed the Children complex. There we were going to visit the Abandon Baby Center. This is a place that takes in abandoned babies that are left at the hospitals or left with the police. It is a super nice place! We go on a tour of their facility and see all the different services they offer. Of course everyone's favorite place is the baby rooms. In fact, this is where Lucas was adopted from! It's always a special moment for Alisa and Scott to revisit that room where they first met him.
After touring the facility, we made a quick stop to pick up some water for everyone and then headed back to Heart House. Once back we relaxed for a moment and then it was time for dinner. One of our safety precautions is that we are always back at Heart House by dusk so we aren't out at night. We ate dinner and then had a short team meeting to find out what the next day had in store for us. Then it was hang out time and, for most of us, it was catch up on jet lag/sleep time.
What an incredible day it was! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow!
I love you Mallory!!!
At about 9:15, they arrived. It was a very awesome thing to see people we don't know and be reunited with people we love. Scott, Alisa, Lucas and the rest of the team fell off the bus out of exhaustion really. They had been traveling for so long with no real sleep. All they wanted was a warm shower and some breakfast. We could meet both those needs.
As we all sat down to eat, we began to meet the team of 9 from Virginia. Once we were done eating, we got ready and got loaded on the bus because we still had a full day planned. We traveled to the largest slum in Africa, Kibera. This is a 5 mile square area that holds more than 1.1 million people and is one of the poorest areas in Kenya, and possibly in Africa. It is a place that we go on the first day of our trip to show everyone what poverty really looks like. Here, most families (at least two adults and 3-4 kids) live on less than a dollar a day. Can you even fathom that? As this is my third time coming to Kenya, I sat there and listened to the school master that was telling us this and was yet again blown away by this fact. Most of these families live an entire day on what I would spend on a POLAR POP! How does that work? I just don't understand honestly...my mind just can't wrap around that staggering fact. If I buy a pack of gum, I am spending more money that an entire family does in one day. Our purpose for going into Kibera is to go to a school and interact with the kids there as well as help feed them through Feed the Children. The program feeds more than 150,000 kids each day throughout Kenya. They rely on donations and help from the World Food Program. While interacting with one of the kids, Dale was amazed at the kindness of the children. Sitting and playing with them while they ate their lunch, one of the kids offered Dale some of their lunch. What?! This is the only meal they will eat most days and they are offering it to us? They are willing to share what they have even if it means they get less? What a foreign concept to us! We live in a culture of plenty whether we realize it or not and now we have kids offering us food out of the little that they have. For Dale, as a Christ follower, it was a convicting gesture. How humble and how loving are these people! If we were starving and hungry and knew we would only get one meal a day in America, how many of us would be offering to give that meal away? Not many!
After we finished up in Kibera, we headed to the Feed the Children complex. There we were going to visit the Abandon Baby Center. This is a place that takes in abandoned babies that are left at the hospitals or left with the police. It is a super nice place! We go on a tour of their facility and see all the different services they offer. Of course everyone's favorite place is the baby rooms. In fact, this is where Lucas was adopted from! It's always a special moment for Alisa and Scott to revisit that room where they first met him.
After touring the facility, we made a quick stop to pick up some water for everyone and then headed back to Heart House. Once back we relaxed for a moment and then it was time for dinner. One of our safety precautions is that we are always back at Heart House by dusk so we aren't out at night. We ate dinner and then had a short team meeting to find out what the next day had in store for us. Then it was hang out time and, for most of us, it was catch up on jet lag/sleep time.
What an incredible day it was! I can't wait to see what God has in store for us tomorrow!
I love you Mallory!!!
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