Leading teams after having been here for 5 MONTHS officially makes me feel like I have been here for even longer! We have just learned so much in this past 5 months about the culture, how things work within our organization, our roles, etc. that I feel fully comfortable answering questions that volunteers have. I also enjoy getting to know them and their reasons for being interested in our organization. It's one thing to here about Uhuru Child stateside but its definitely another world to come and experienc the chaos that is Uhuru Academy, Uhuru Shamba (farm), and Uhuru Lettuce Processing! I enjoy welcoming outsiders into our world and showing them the work God is allowing us to here!
The first June team was specifically an Uhuru Child college group. There were about 18 of them and they stayed in a team house provided by Amali Safaris. Amali Safaris is owned and operated by one of our close friends Kelvin, so by partnering with him, we get a really nice house for our volunteers to stay at while also supporting his new business! While this team was here, they helped plow an acre of our new farm land for planting of more lettuce seeds! Our lettuce business is quickly growing and in order to keep up with the demand we are expanding our farms by 10 acres or more! So this work they did was start and huge help to this expansion project. Also, they did some beautification work at the school and assisted our groundskeeper in some projects! They helped dig up some of the bad soil to make room for new grass and helped pave more of our driveway at the school to make it look more presentable to visitors. In addition to working hard, they planned a Sunday church service at the school with the students where some of the volunteers shared their testimonies or a message with the girls. One of our students who became a Christian last term even joined in to share her story! Everyone was moved to tears by the end of hearing everyone speak and you could just tell the Spirit had been moving in that room! It was awesome! This group also cooked spaghetti with the students one night for a family dinner! And on one of their free days they came to the school for some outdoor fun involving soccer (of course), volleyball, and basketball to build closer relationships with the students. These girls love when we have visitors from the US come and making new friends so it was a pleasant experience for all! And possibly one of the most unique things we have experienced on a trip so far was the Massai dancing around the bonfire at the team house, provided by Amali Safaris! They some traditional fire dances and one of our volunteers even participated in a mock wedding! Needless to say, this trip had a unique and wonderful experience with us in Kenya and we enjoyed having them!
Amali safaris team house!
The weekend after that trip left, a few if Christine and my friends who are in Kenya for 6 weeks came to visit! They are a group of 10 students from UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State involved with the ministry Christine and I both were a part of in college called Campus Outreach. One of my very best friends, Emily, was the female leader of this trip so I was so thankful they could come and stay in the Amali Safaris team house for the weekend! They have apartments in Nairobi and are doing ministry on the University of Nairobi campuses so they took a break for the big city to come to rural Limuru! During their time here they also helped plow some of the farm land as well as visit Jikaze and one of our local Kenyan churches here in Limuru. Then, after that full of day of work they graciously came to the school to lay more cement and further that process of paving the driveway and then played soccer and volleyball with the students to get to know them! They even assisted with lettuce in their jam packed weekend! We tried to give them a true Kenyan experience apart of the hustle and bustle of the city and I think they enjoyed their time with Uhuru Child. I know I enjoyed getting to see them especially my best friend and plan on visiting them a few more times in Nairobi before they head back to the states! BUT, it won't be long until 2 of the boys from that group along with 3 more from Campus Outreach move to Nairobi in January for two years to do full time ministry on the campuses of Nairobi so I am excited to have more friends moving closer in the next 6 months!
Finally, we concluded June with the coming of a team of adults from the Summit Church in Durham. Some of them brought their children and some were still in college so it was a wide array of people which made it more interesting! One of the men on this trip also painted a mural on the wall of the dining hall and it is gorgeous! We could not be more satisfied with his work. Tim and Jody Jackson, our older married couple on staff here were the primary leaders of this group so I did not get to spend as much time with them but the time I did spend I enjoyed! They were a very caring and passionate group who I think really understood the vision of Uhuru Child and were excited about becoming more involved when they got back to the states. Some of the people on this trip were part of a bible study that sponsors two of our students and getting to meet them in person was more than they could have dreamed of. Getting to see their blessing in action, helping these girls receive an education made it all worth it and we are hoping and praying they would be advocates for more sponsorships after seeing the impact they have made in these girls lives. God is doing some amazing things both Kenya side and stateside !! Sadly, this team was only here for a week as opposed to the full 2 weeks the other trips are doing but I think they maximized their time efficiently and were able to grasp just the amount of work is put in here day in and day out from the school, to the shamba, to the lettuce processing.
AAANNNNDDDDDD they left behind 3 interns for the summer! So, Kenya staff has taken on 3 interns for the summer, two will be here for 6 weeks and one for just one more week. Their names are bailey, Taylor, and heather all from different walks of life so they are keeping it interesting for us! Bailey and Taylor are both here for six weeks and Heather for one, but both Taylor and Heather will be working with the teachers at the school trying to develop more learner centered activities instead of just trying to get the students to memorize facts for a test. We know their knowledge in these areas is going to be a huge help to not only help our students succeed more in class but also help our teachers to become more effective and set our school apart. Bailey, who is going on staff with Uhuru Child stateside is also going to be doing some exciting things both here and in the US. She will be handling and leading our future trips as well as better preparing them Pre-trip for Kenya! She will be the liaison between us and future trips and making our trips more effective by not only preparing future volunteers but helping give them more ownership over their trips. Her vision is to help them to really understand and buy into their mission while they are here as well as the mission of Uhuru Child in hopes that more people will become passionate and involved stateside! It's a great opportunity all around having these interns here to help things move along more quickly and efficiently for the organization as a whole, but they are also just some really cool people that I am excited to get to know and spend more time with.
That's a glimpse of what has been happening this month and I apologize for not posting sooner but things have just been so nonstop which is such a GOOD THING! I will try to do better in the coming weeks as July is fastly approaching and our last team of the summer will be arriving.
QUICK PRAYER REQUEST: my grandfather has cancer and has not been doing well lately and my grandmother has recently called in hospice to make him comfortable. I am sad that I am not getting to be there with my family at this time but my request is that you could pray for my grandfather to be peaceful and comfortable and surrounded by the people he loves and that God would comfort my family and be with them at this trying time in the instance that my grandfather would pass. My Poppy is a strong man of God and am thankful that he has lived such a glorifying life serving our Lord and I am proud to call him a fellow brother in Christ and loved Patriach of our family! I love you Popster!
