Chameleons, Double Bananas, and Rainbows

Isaya, me, and mr. chameleon. He was cool but I did not want him.

First I will share some highlights from the past week then I will share about a specific I went to all day yesterday.  There was the time I went running with one of the young adults, don't worry he was only 4 minutes faster than me and he never runs.  Then there was the Bollywood movie I saw with Mike and Leslie, talk about something that makes you want to get up and dance.  We had a visitor here from Canada for a few days too and that was fun. Her name is Mary and she was here to see one of her best friends get married.  I took her around to see some of the homes we work with and we went out for pizza one night.  During one visit at Nyumba Ya Tumaini some nice ladies brought a chameleon over and explained that it has medicinal values and wanted us to buy it from them.  Now, I am not saying that it is not possible for it to have medicinal value, but I am pretty sure they found it in the bush then wanted to sell it to us.  I only say that because the next day I found out they released it back into the bush.  Also there was the time we took turns pushing each other on  broken wheelbarrow.  Mary and I went and visited Dreams Children's Home one day too.  If you remember earlier this year I wrote about a little boy named Ryan who has stomach cancer.  He was improving for awhile, but currently he is not doing well. His body is not responding to chemo.  He was in the hospital when we were there, but was supposed to be back today so when I find out how he is I will let y'all know, but please please be praying for him.  I also went to Ngong Town this week to see the District Children's Office and on the way back stopped at a fun little restaurant to get my first fish and ugali since I have been here.  It was delicious and we ate it all with our hands.  My mom would be so proud. I will make sure she gets to experience that when she comes.  Isaya, the director at Tumaini, eats two boiled eggs with kachumbari(onions, tomatoes, and chilies)  and salt everyday and it is the same man that brings and prepares them everyday.  This week I got to try that delicacy as well.  One last food thing- I saw a double banana this week!

Mary pushing Charles on the broken wheelbarrow.

Ngong Town where the District Office is.

The egg man who comes every evening to Tumaini.

Double banana!

George, Edwin, Gibson, Dominic when we finally arrived.

Now about yesterday I went on an all day excursion out to a town called Kibwezi.  It really is almost to Mombasa. It is a far distance.  Two of the boys from Nyumba Ya Tumaini go to Darajani Secondary School out there.  One of them, Dominic, is a candidate this year for the Kenyan Certificate of Secondary Education and their exams begin this week.  It is a really big deal and each school hosts prayer services and parent visitation days for the candidates.  Yesterday was the one at Darajani.  They invited me to come and support and pray with them.  It was an honor.  Two of the other boys at Tumaini started our journey out there really early and we did not get back until close to 11PM.  It was a great day.  First there was the service and true to African form it was incredibly long.  We did not get there until about 12:30PM and it started at 10AM and did not finish until about 3PM.  During the service the teachers spoke, some of the students performed dramas, and then a student from each class stood up to say words of encouragement to the candidates.  It ended with a time of prayer from the candidates and their parents which I got to be a part of and it was really special.  After the service the boys showed us around the school, introduced me to their classmates, and I got to speak with some of the teachers about the challenges they face out there.  It is a dry place and there is a lot of poverty.  Imagine we drove 4 hours down Mombasa Road and then another hour on a dirt road heading to interior Kenya.  The drive was absolutely gorgeous.  Kenya is a beautiful country.  While we were there I found out that Dominic is a captain of the school basketball team, which won their county, and that Kariss (other boy from Tumaini) is the assistant captain of the school football team.  I loved getting to meet their friends and see them in their element.  I was exhausted by the time we left, though.

Me with some of the students outside the dining hall.

Those buildings are where the classes are.

One of the Form 3 classrooms.

The Darajani basketball team and their coach.

We saw a rainbow on our drive home.