I honestly thought after yesterday that it would be hard to have a better day at the VTC. I was happily wrong. Today’s theme was “Family,” and it was perfectly timed. After a day of discussing unity, family was the next logical step. We followed the same format as Saturday, with worship taking a little more of our time since it was Sunday. Joel led an amazing worship set with the help of Tyler Snelson, who is on the media and worship teams at Midcities. And yes, they used guitars.
I led us through communion and Patrick Weeks gave an incredibly moving personal testimony. Many of the kids said later how touched they were by his words, and especially his honesty. It played a key role in what would happen later in small groups. Mbuvi gave another powerful sermon exploring the concept of the larger Christian family. The spirit was very much with us today.
During small group time, the students really opened up to each other and their counselors. Some shared their personal stories, some relived their grief at the loss of their parents, and found some peace and healing in that. Stephen, who has just finished a grief counseling class, got to put his skills to the test today. God is using him in such a powerful way, I am so proud of the man he has become. But for me, there was one orphan’s story that I will never forget.
Julie Auma is the first born of a mother in a polygamist marriage. Her mother was the third wife of a wealthy man. She and her three siblings were badly treated by the rest of the family, as is often the case in polygamy, and they were forced to do much of the work in the very large household. She was able to attend school, however, and she studied hard and did well. At the beginning of her first year of secondary school, (we would say freshman year,) her father died suddenly. This set off a bitter family dispute on how to divide his wealth.
Not surprisingly, the third wife was cut out completely and she and the kids were cast out of the family. They were adrift and homeless, when she got another big shock. The woman she had called mother all of her life confessed that she was not their mother - she was their aunt. Her biological mother had died during the birth of the youngest child, and her father had taken the sister as his replacement wife. Julie and her siblings were now total orphans. Not long after, their aunt, unable to care for them abandoned them at our Dirubi Orphanage.
Undeterred, Julie threw herself into her studies. Despite the shocks and upheaval in her life, she was able to become a model student. She graduated last November from Agai Secondary School with a B average on the standardized testing. When I spoke with her, I was impressed with her poise, intelligence, and her great English skills. She has now received a partial scholarship from Nairobi University and has been called to join there by January 15. If you are interested in helping us financially support her advanced education, please drop me a note.
This afternoon, Ryan Rampton led another great large group exercise about our changing families. He coupled his personal testimony with a group activity that really brought the point home for the students. We even took a panoramic “family picture” of our new, big family at the VTC. This evening Mbuvi again brought the word powerfully, challenging the students to commit to their new family and do all they could to support one another. We ended the day with a fun time of “silly songs” led by our counselors. The students really enjoyed this.
Tomorrow we will board a bus bright and early for a special trip to a Wild Animal Orphanage in nearby Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria. I can’t wait to see what God will do with this great adventure!
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