Londiani and Chesyliot

I will confess that when I first heard about this orphans work, I was not very impressed.  The whole concept of taking care of someone else, on the other side of the world, no less, didn’t really fascinate me.  Now, it’s a good thing, no one can argue with that but exciting?  Not really.  My world was technology, and what good are orphans to technology.  Boy did I have it wrong.  What changed?  I came here, to Kenya.  It doesn’t matter what your pre-conceived notions are of Africa, a hungry child pulling on YOUR pants leg is gonna change you.

Now days one of my favorite things to do is to bring newbies, people who have never been here, and watch their faces as they get it.  Today was awesome for me, as I watched some new friends and old friends share the joy of really being the hands and feet of Christ.  

After breakfast, we set out for Londiani orphanage.  This place has always been one of my favorites because my first trip to Kenya is when we saw this site for the first time.  David Koech is our worker here and he’s doing a fine job.  The kids look good and the facility is in good shape, too.  They have recently added a feeding station here, so now they are feeding 52 orphans in addition to housing and providing full care for 75.   David walked us around the site, and the newbies got to see firsthand what orphanages are like.

This week is “final exam” week for the students, so not many of the orphans were there.  But some small ones were there so we met with them, the church members, and orphanage staff.  They sang some songs for us and recited poetry.  They truly are happy to see us when we come.  They made us a typical meal of beef stew, rice, and beans.  After the meal, some of our people went to plant candy and gifts on the beds of the orphans so they would be there when they came home from school, and Pam Hicks gathered the widows to reveal her gifts for them.

Pam has a real heart for widows.  At home she spends a lot of her time mentoring new widows, so when she heard that we were using widows to care for the children in Kenya, she knew she had to come.  Pam solicited the help of her LifeGroup at GCR to help her make special gifts for all the widows.  For each one, they made an apron with personalized embroidery, and stuffed the pockets with special gifts like note pads, pens, and a thank you card with some cash.  The widows had no idea what was coming, and you should have seen their faces light up when they saw the gifts.  Pam explained the significance of everything and showed pictures of her friends who had helped prepare the gifts and prayed over them.  It was amazing.

Soon it was time to go, so we set out for Chesyliot Feeding Station, just a few kilometers away.  This feeding station, opened early last year, is run by Richard Koech, David’s brother.  Richard is a really sharp guy and his place looked terrific.  Pam repeated the gift routine with the widows, (more astonished ladies), and then they had some gifts for us.  Rick received a traditional Kenyan lunch basket, made for a midday lump of ugali for a man working in the fields.  Peter, Pam, Taylor and Gina got gourds, hollowed out to make a kind of canteen that is used to carry milk to wash down the ugaili.

Soon we were headed home, or rather to Kericho and the Tea Hotel.  We will be here for the next several days, visiting the nearby orphanages.  Tonight we were joined by Thomas Alwala, our worker who helped start the orphanage work and who operated the next three orphanages we will visit.  Alfayo Bodi, another one of our orphanage leaders has joined us as well, and we will use this opportunity to work in some meetings about the leadership of the work with Simon Karanja and Maureen.  Here are some great pics taken by Susie and my son, Peter.

Kenya 2011 Spring Londiani / Chesyliot

Tomorrow we will be in Muhuroni to make a special announcement of great importance for this orphanage.  I’ve asked John Bartholomee, one of our fellow travelers to write the blog tomorrow, so you’ll be in for a treat.  Blessings…