Saturday morning we went to Imani Orphanage. I visited this orphanage my first year in Kenya but this was my mom's first time going. The lady who runs the orphanage is incredibly sweet and selfless. She gladly works day and night to care for and love on these children.
All of the children were cleaning or doing some kind of work that morning. NONE of them complained and the toddlers were better little helpers than plenty of grown children I know. I admire so many things about the way children are raised in Kenya. I didn't see it as child labor abuse at all. It was what had to be done. They can't afford to hire someone to do it for them. It's what they do to survive. And they are more than happy to be doing it.
Speaking of admiring their children, this is a picture of ALL of the children-from one to fourteen sitting perfectly still for 30 minutes listening to a Bible story.
No books, no smart boards, no toys...just a voice, and they were so thankful to be being taught. I know Paul and I don't have children yet, so it's easier said than done, but we sure do hope to instill some of these Kenya ways into our children one day.
There were a few special needs children and of course I was immediately drawn to them.
This little boy had autism.
I don't know that people in Kenya even know what autism is, because it is a lot more rare than it is here. But they call special needs children "crazy". It sounds mean, I know, but they really don't mean anything by it. They just don't have access to the research we do so they simply aren't sure what exactly is wrong, in which case they don't know what to call it.
Here are the children singing a goodbye song to us.
After the orphanage we went to the wood carving factory. It was A-MAZ-ING!!! I'd always wondered if everything there was really hand made. This was proof. I could have watched them carve for hours. They are so incredibly talented. To know how hard they work on those carvings for what little money they make on them breaks my heart. At the factory they have a huge store with tons and tons of things for sale. We always buy all of our carvings and gifts from Jimmy Safari, but a lot of the things in this store were exactly like what we've bought from him.
Sunday Daphne, Chuck, Arnold and I went to church at Airport Baptist. Samuel's father started this church 20 years ago and they were having a HUGE anniversary celebration service. I was honored to get to be a part of it. All of the pastors from the Malindi Baptist Association were there and a lot of them gave a speech. About half way through the service I saw Harrison walk in. I didn't know he was coming so you can imagine my excitement! He had preached at Mbuyuni and caught a ride on a motor bike and headed on over. It was so special.
Two cakes this size fed well over 100 people. Cake is rare for them and they simply eat it to celebrate, not to overindulge in something that tastes good. Everybody literally got a taste and of course there wasn't one child who complained about not getting more.
Chuck and Samuel
Arnold with Samuel and his family
Harrison :)
Three very, very special Kenyans...Francis Katana, Jimmy Safari and Samuel Katana
This is Francis Katana singing Happy Birthday to Airport. Precious!
It was an incredible weekend in Kenya! Daphne and I taught at the youth conference our last three days. I will have one more post to recap those days and that will be a wrap!
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