Little Lambs of God

Jen, Cassie, Bernice (Jen's worker) and I piled into a tiny little 5-seater car with 3 Kenyans already in there - the driver included. The insides were falling apart - the door was bare, the inside roof was covered with some sort of tape because the cloth was gone, and we're assured that they would've tried to squeeze another body in there if necessary. This is the taxi service here.

So with Jen on my lap and all of us holding our breath praying we'd make it uphill, we climbed the hill (all the while I'm thinking of Thomas the Engine - "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!") to Little Lambs, one of Kijabe's daycares for AIDS orphans now living with their grandparents or "aunties," barely scraping to get by.



From the moment we walked in the gate, we were greeted by the most endearing children I've ever met. Each one wanted to shake our hands, and asked our names. All three of us had at least one kid clinging to each hand as they showed us around the compound and walked us to their classroom. We entered the classroom, which immediately went into a frenzy. I looked around. There were some shapes printed out and taped to the wall, a poster from an American Sunday School class with their picture, a chalkboard (which fell during prayer) with some algebra on it, and little else on the walls. The teacher insisted that we "pray, then play" and dismissed class for time with the visitors and lunch. We walked around a little more - they introduced us to their two cows, Maggie and Cassie (yes, we named it today after our wonderful Cassie), taught us some simple phrases in Kukuyu (their local language), and then took us to lunch. We ate lunch with them - a huge bowl of cabbage and ungali , which we ate with our hands :) It's the Kenyan way, and they offered us spoons, but what the heck, we're in Africa :)

After the food, the kids washed dishes and we played some games. I learned a new favorite, something about an imaginary ball...



I don't think I stopped smiling the whole time. The kids were absolutely hilarious while playing the games - I could hardly breathe from laughing so hard. We danced, sang, ran around... typical, cliche things, but they were full of this pure joy that was so... real. It was indescribable.

We went inside (it had been drizzling on us and growing colder and colder and colder...) and I taught them a Camp Hope song, then we prayed, took a couple group pictures, and headed out to the sounds of them singing the most wonderful song I've ever heard, which actually included the phrase "hakuna matata!" Thank you, Disney, for telling me what that means! :)




It was beautiful. I've dreamed of this - of playing with little African kids - for years now, and it was absolutely more beautiful than I could've ever imagined. Their clothing was torn and ripped and hardly keeping them warm from the biting cold that we couldn't shake off, but their hearts were full of a joy and a love that was so pure that I wouldn't be able to explain it if I didn't know our God and how knowing Him makes that joy and love possible.




Please pray for the Little Lambs. Mostly that they continue to know Jesus and His love and provision and joy...