Today was our first day of camp. The morning of the first day of camp at Oasis, when we all gathered in the room (it was a small-ish room that about 200 of us squeezed into! it's the main room at Oasis of Hope.. the room they have church in) to talk briefly about camp, I saw a little kid standing and staring at me with this beautiful little half-smirk on their face. I called the child over so they could sit on my lap. I figured the child was a girl because they were wearing a pink jacket, but I found out later that the little kid I was holding was a boy, named Joseph. (He didn't end up being on my team, but whenever I saw him, he smiled this adorable smile that just melted my heart. Seeing him just made me happy.) We got separated into teams (we were red) and played some games to get to know everyone on our team. We helped the kids decorate their shirts. They got so excited to get new shirts as a lot of the kids wore all of the clothes they own every single day. We did some crafts, watched the yellow teams' skit, played some more games, and sang songs together. It was a really fun day! I became close to two girls on my team, Faridah and Stella. Faridah is 5 years old and Stella is 11. It was hard to get to know them because of the language barrier, but we had a great translator on our team named Lawrence, so when we wanted to ask the kids something we just asked him to ask them for us. I found out Stella lives with just her mom as her dad left them. Faridah also only has a mom (I found out later that her dad died 3 years ago during the election violence.... I'll write more about her and her family in a different post). Most of the kids are very outgoing and just come right up to you and sit on your lap! They're all just so great!
After camp, we visited a high school called Shimo. I was paired with a beautiful girl named Mical. She lives with her mom and brother as her father left the family for another woman. She was such a sweet girl. She told me she had to walk like 2 hours to and from school every day, and that just broke my heart.
Then we went to a boys orphanage called Tumaini ('hope' in Swahili). They danced and sang for us, and we also got to tour their dorms and get to know the kids. I actually didn't really talk to any of the Tumaini boys, but I heard they're all just such great kids! I played with this little girl called Joyce (somehow, the kids know when 'mzungus' are around and they come running from every direction to come see us.. it's so cute!) and I'm not quite sure where she came from. I think she lived near the orphanage. Anyways, she was about 4 years old and such a sweetheart. She just loved holding my hand and touching my skin.
God is doing such amazing things here! I don't really know how to explain it. I'm already so sad to leave.. I just want to cry thinking about it! On my way home from CRAVE (the college service at Saddleback) on Thursday night before I left, I just talked to God the whole way home. I asked Him to break my heart for these people and I asked Him to change me. and let me tell you, although this was our only first day in Kitale, my heart is absolutely broken for these people. I have fallen even more in love with Africa than I was before I came on this trip, and I just know God wants me to help the people here. I know I'll be coming back here again some day.
P.S. Tomorrow I meet Faith!!!! I'm so excited!!!!
my sweet Faridah!
me and beautiful Stella!
my friend Mical (I met her at Shimo High School)
little Joycie, the sweet girl I met at the orphanage!
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