It's the Sound of the Redeemed...

10/10/09

"It's the sound of the Redeemed, rising from the African plains... It's all God's children singing 'Glory, Glory, Hallelujah He reigns, He reigns..."

I witnessed the truth and beauty of that song today, praise God. Doug took Cassie and I out to Joska, a boarding school for kids from Mathare Valley, the huge slum in Nairobi where people usually live and die with no real hope or future or "success." Joska is about an hour from the house, so it was a long, bumpy ride, and it didn't help that I drank a bottle of water before we left...

We drove up to the school, which is entirely made of tin and wood beams to hold up the cieling. The school is somewhat large and in the middle of nowhere on the beautiful African plains with the craziest clouds above. There are large fields between the dorms and school to play soccer and, surprisingly, they even had an old basketball goal. It was hot and dry, and therefore incredibly dusty, so we were in for a dirty day.

Cassie and I on the dorm roof with the school in the background

We arrived in the middle of a "presentation" by the students. It was Talent Day, and it happened to fall on a weekend that a mission team from America was visiting, so they made a big presentation out of it. We watched the students dance, rap, sing, and play little relay games, and then we worshipped there together, raising up praises to God on the dusty plains of Africa. Hallelujah :)




After the presentation was lunch. We ate with the mission team in a little tin room with old teacher desks as the table, and had deeeelicious traditional Kenyan food. For the rest of the afternoon, we just walked around and played with kids and visited classrooms and whatnot. The first classroom we visited was one that Cassie had taught some Spanish to the last time she was there, so as we walked in, we were greeted with "Hola! Como estas?" and "Hola amigas!" It was incredibly hilarious hearing Kenyan students speaking Spanish to Americans... Then they begged us to sing our National Anthem, so Cassie and I embarassed ourselves greatly by singing for them (and possibly forgetting some of the words.. oops!) and then we listened to them sing theirs, which we partially knew from the flag ceremonies at school!

The classroom was tin and wood, and had 4 posters up - two of which you see here.

Gig 'Em :)

They decorate with baloons on the outsides of the classroom, and I happened to know how to make little baloon animals (thanks Daddy!), so I made an mbwa, or dog! I made a twiga (giraffe) too, but it didn't turn out so great...

This kid was HILARIOUS...

She was 12, but half the size of the other kids her age

Doug and Cassie with Baracka, who was born deaf. Joska usually doesn't take special needs kids, but for some reason they chose not to turn him away. Through a long series of events (which is documented in a movie), Baracka was blessed with a cochea implant and can now hear and is learning to speak as well. His life has been completely turned around, and he is in the process of being fostered by an upstanding Kenyan family as well.

Beauty Shop at Joska

The kids were incredible, obviously, and the school that they're attending is beyond amazing. The school has been growing drastically in the past three years and now offers hope and more of a future for about 640 kids who otherwise would have grown up and found it hard to get out of the slums. They go through an interview process, and only the most "at risk" students are accepted. That means most - if not all - come from either a single-parent home or a home where neither parent has a job. For the most part, boarding schools are for the "rich kids" in Africa, so the fact that they're able to board is more of a blessing than any of us will probably ever understand, and they know this and take full advantage of the opportunity they've been given. They work hard, study hard, and do all they can to overcome the harsh conditions they've known for so long.

In about a month, the 8th graders will take a test (sort of like the SAT) that will determine whether or not they go to high school. This is a huge deal, especially for kids from the slum, so please be praying with us for these kids as they prepare to take the biggest tests of their lives. The tests are November 9-13.

God is working mightily in this school - He is changing, healing, and restoring lives in this place, and it's so evident by the joy and excitement these students have. I talked to a couple of girls about what they want to be when they grow up. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses - huge dreams that defy the country's expectations, but that can be reached with the help of our Great God above. Pray for their dreams and their tests, but also that God shows them where He wants them to be and how He wants them to serve Him and His Kingdom.

We sadly left the kids, went home and showered/napped, and then headed out for Ethiopian food with the American mission team. This was quite the adventure to top off the day with. The Ethiopian food was definitely not my favorite, so I don't think I'll be visiting that country anytime soon. It comes out family style on a tray lined with a weird, spongy "bread" type thing.. but it really doesn't taste like bread at all, just sponge. They also give you some sponge rolled up like paper towels. It's really interesting, and a great experience, but I'm still not a fan of the food. It's a lot like Indian food I think. I don't really know - all I really ate was goat meat, which was suuuuper good.

Praise God for all He's doing here - for bringing the African children to Him and raising up leaders for tomorrow :)

In other random news...
1) We saw the funniest matatu in all of Kenya, I'm sure. Well, the strangest at least... It also had Avril Lavigne on the side. Nice.
2) Friday night when we came home from dinner and it was raining, all of the flying termites were coming up out of the ground so they were everywhere. Like the lovebugs that come out in the fall (or spring?) in Texas and plaster the cars with dead bug guts... Anyways, we got home and they were all over the porch, along with a bunch of little geckos. We caught one enjoying dinner of its own...