Well, it's day four of our missions trip, and we've successfully made it to Eldoret, Kenya! We had two very uneventful (but long) flights from Portland and Amsterdam, and made it to Nairobi on Sunday evening. Thankfully, all of our luggage arrived with us!
Monday was a day of rest in the large city of Nairobi, during which we were blessed to get to explore a little bit. We fed some giraffes, ate lots of good food, and experienced sleeping under mosquito nets. The people in Kenya, we discovered, are extremely hospitable and friendly.
Tuesday morning we got up very early (5 am), which was painful for us considering that most of the group hadn't slept well the night before due to jet lag. We caught a very small plane to Eldoret (60 people or so) which took all of thirty minutes, where we met David and Rachel Gallagher and many of the Open Arms staff (by the way, just to give you an idea of the size of the Eldoret airport, you could likely walk the perimeter of it in three minutes!).
Upon our arrival from the airport, we headed straight to the Open Arms Village on our bus. David and Rachel gave us a tour of the property, and told us about some of the ambitions they have for the future of the OAI Village. We met some of the younger children who go to school on the property, and were greeted by both sets of "house parents" that live on the property. They toured us through their living spaces, and it was humbling to see how simply they lived in these small rustic buildings, yet they were so pleased with what God was calling them to do with the orphans. OAI is planning beautiful new houses for them, which we toured as well. There are five of them, and we will be working on grading the soil outside 2 of these homes, building a retaining wall, and planting some trees around them. It will be really great to have a project that we'll be able to see the tangible results of when we're finished.
After eating our first round of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches (our daily lunch) we loaded up the bus once more and headed out to Kambi Teso. Kambi Teso is a small poverty-stricken community. OAI calls it a slum, but it is unlike what we might normally consider a slum in the US. "Slum" usually calls to mind images of large government housing buildings, dark back ally ways, stray dogs, and no view of the sky. This is not the case at all at Kambi Teso. On top of a hill, up a winding and rain-washed road, the sky is huge and blue. Trees and bushes dot the landscape, and in open fields patches of grass set off the red dirt in stark contrast. As we wound up the road in our precariously large bus, we passed by tiny houses with tiny yards where young children played in torn clothing. The local school was on a lunch break and everywhere, the school children in red sweaters and blue trousers hung off fences and waved to us shouting "How are you!", their favorite English greeting.
OAI has been running this feeding program for about a year and they are feeding about 120 children once a day, Monday through Thursday. For many of the children, it is their only meal of the day, and often, Monday morning breaks their three day fast between feedings. When we stepped off the bus, the crowd of children had gathered and stood there shyly, waiting for the boldest one to make the first move. Slowly, they warmed up as we smiled and asked them "Habari?" (how are you?) . Although they were clearly tired from hunger, all of them smiled and murmered "Muzuri" (good). For the next 45 minutes or so we sat with them on the ground and let them stroke our smooth hair and touch the freckles on our hands as we waited for the food to arrive. When it did, they lined up (qued up), jostling one another to be in front. Some of the smallest sat down with their bowls of rice and lentils and began trying to feed themselves. It became apparent that if they were going to get much nourishment, that they needed help. A few of the team sat with these dirty and lethargic 2 year olds and spoon fed them their only meal for the day. It was heartbreaking. After eating, nearly all the children had energy to play. We played soccer and catch and keep away and hand clap games and gave airplane rides and generally tired ourselves out. OAI also distrubutes clothing at the feeding program. Before doing this, the children sat together on the ground and sang praise songs. They sang of trusting God and being loved by Jesus and of God providing for them richly. It was glorious and adorable and heartbreaking all at the same time. During the singing, one by one, the children went forward and recieved one new article of clothing. It was a joy to see their shy pleasure at receiving something new. When we stood up to go, they clung to us, asking us questions we didn't understand. But "Auntie Metty", OAI's director of the feeding program answered the questions for us. "Yes, children! They are coming back tomorrow!"