First Amazing Days!

This blog post was composed on January 3, but unfortunately was not posted right away.
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So much has already happened this year! We have now been in Kenya for just over 3 days but our time has been used to the max. The past two days held experiences that will probably remain some of the most memorable interactions from our time here. On Tuesday we were able to visit a facility known as Woodley where street boys are brought to be cared for and rehabilitated. The number of boys staying there at any given time can be as high as almost ninety! During our visit, about seventeen young men ranging in age from young boys to 15 years old were living there. After viewing the facilities (which made me wonder how in the world they could house almost ninety boys based on the size of their buildings) and meeting and singing with the kids, Brandon and I quickly asked if they would want to play a game of Futboll. We were answered with a resounding yes! Even the program manager decided to play. The previous night and all that morning it had been raining so their field was basically a mud pit. Our shoes came off and the game was on! It is hard to describe both how much fun we had and also how much mud was caking our bodies once we were done. After the game we enjoyed a feast and continued to just hangout and interact with the boys. Once we returned to the house, we quickly jumped into the the New Year's day party that was already going on and had amazing fellowship late into the night.

Yesterday we left in the morning to visit Kenyatta Hospital, a national hospital with over 2,000 patients. The facility is large with a caring staff, but many parts of it (by 21st century American standards) feel almost primitive. We went in with an objective to deliver 500 packages we had created to most of the wards containing children on various floors of the hospital. They contained toilet paper, toothpaste, soap, sweets and biscuits. It was both a humbling and joyful experience. While we saw many children (and adults) with various ailments and injuries, we also were constantly interacting with many children who were so enthusiastic to see and play with us. As Maria expressed, one of the hardest parts was feeling like we were just rich Americans handing out goodies and then leaving, but the hospital's chaplain expressed to us at the end of our time there what an encouragement our presence had been both to the children and herself. We also took time in the middle of our visit to play games, sing and do a puppet show with some of the kids who were able to leave their beds.  Both days were amazing, learning and loving opportunities that challenged each of us in different ways.