Laugh Obnoxiously, Scream Loudly, Pray Fervently, Love Deeply

Since my last blog post, many things have been going on at Uhuru Academy! In the past few weeks, we have upped our numbers to 32 students! Some of those are students who were accepted to our scholarships program! We still have a few students who are on scholarship but do not yet have a sponsor. If you are interested in sponsoring one of our fabulous and outstanding students' education this year, just go to our website uchild.com and go to the scholarship program section! We are always needing more sponsors so we can bring more and more students who would not receive an education otherwise due to lack of funds, to our school!

Also, to start the new year off right, we have been venturing off school grounds for a wide range of activities! The first weekend the Form 1s (freshmen) arrived, we all headed up to Brackenhurst Conference Center (Right up the road from the school) for some games and team building exercises coordinated by our lovely Director of Education! We HAD to play some name games to get to know each other and then put their teamwork skills to the test as they were divided into groups and had to hash out how to build a structure out of 15 straws and 1 piece of tape that could hold a bouncy ball being dropped from a ways up. All teams were successful but one, but they all put their best feet forward and worked together well!

Brackenhurst Conference Center is only about a 15 minute walk from the school so we took the girls there on foot for some exercise and to enjoy the sunshine. It also gave us the opportunity to talk to some of them one on one and see how they were doing. I was so encouraged when one of the girls told me that 

"Uhuru Academy is unlike any other school she's been to." 

She told me how much she loved that although the students are from different backgrounds, they all get along really well and it's not "clicky" like her last high school! Another one of our students on the walk home (before the downpour of rain ensued and we had to run back to the school!) told me that 

"Uhuru Academy is different" 

because they feel free to be vulnerable and share their stories (their lives and pasts) with each other and us. They loved the safe environment that is created at our school and don't want to leave after they graduate Form 4! I must say that it's hard sometimes to know whether they are getting everything we are teaching in bible study because their serious faces are on. But, when you get them outside of that environment, away from everyone else, and just get to go deeper in one on one conversations with them, you really get to see their true feelings and maturity that sometimes gets masked when they are all 32 in the same place at the same time. It's worth the blank stares we get sometimes to see them applying what they are learning in bible study in their daily interactions with the other students. And honestly, I will take those blank stares, which probably means they are just processing and concentrating on what is being said, over enthusiastic faces anyday if it means we get to see and experience them walking in the grace they have been given and showing that to others in their actions, words, school work, sports, free time, etc. It reminds me of a verse in James that says,

 "But, be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." 

I do not feel deceived but encouraged now when I see those serious faces.

 
During GLOW Club, we started a leadership campaign and made posters     informing the new students about what it means to be a leader at Uhuru Academy!

In more recent news, last Saturday we went on our second field trip of the year with the Form 3s to see two plays in downtown Nairobi! The first one they had read in their Swahili class and so it was cool they got to see it actually acted out in the theater. However, that also meant that Christine, Caitlyn, and I had to sit through a 3 hour play in Swahili which proved  to me that I am not as proficient as I thought I was! Luckily, I was sitting next to one of our students who was whispering to me what was happening the whole time! Then, the second play was in English so I did understand that one, however, by that point it was what felt like 100 degrees in that theater due to lack of air conditioning and crowded beyond capacity with high school students which made it difficult to pay attention. But, after sitting in that theater sweating for 5 hours, we then took the girls to get some frozen yogurt!

Some of them, being scholarship students and from lower income families, have never heard of or had frozen yogurt before! I am pretty sure that their bodies have never ingested that much sugar in one sitting because by the time they finished, they were boucing off the walls! Literally, the whole way home, I was driving with 4 students in my car and they were not even singing real words to the songs anymore but just screaming to let out their energy! IT WAS SO CRAZY AND SO FUN! I am surprised I did not have a headache! But, I was glad that I had the opportunity to treat them and take some of them to the mall who had never been before. Also, explaining how to fill up your cup of frozen yogurt was an experience in itself because they wanted to fit absolutely everything they possible could in those small containers! It was the most expensive trip to Planet Yogurt ever (where you pay by weight of the cups) but it was well worth it to spend more time with these girls and be part of their first time experiences. 

We then headed back to the school (where the screaming to music and out the windows due to  fierce sugar highs) and took some pictures before we said good bye for the day. Even though they expelled a TON of energy on the car ride home, they still had enough for the sassy photos they insist we take every chance we get!

All in all, our first month and a half at Uhuru Academy have been fun filled and fancy free with enough smiles and sugar to go around! It's awesome to part of this school and have such a heavy influence on these girls lives while they are here. It's not just a one way experience though. I will remember these girls and what they have taught me about faith, love, friendship, and laughter for the rest of my life, and look forward to spending the rest of this year laughing obnoxiously, screaming loudly, praying fervently, and loving deeply with them. 

Back in Action in 2014

Coming back to Kenya in 2014 is such a great feeling. This time last year, I was surrounded by a different people, language, culture, everything! It was my first time coming to Kenya and I was trying to take it all in, make a new normal, and start the life that God had called me to here. Well now, 1 year later, I return feeling refreshed, after having been with my loved ones for a few weeks, as well as READY.

I was returning to something familiar and a place that I had learned to call “home” for the past year! I returned to our little wooden cottage, to my black cat, Fupi, and to a place that I now felt a part of. I was excited to start the year on a good foot with many goals set in place! I was praying for new students to come to our school and for new successes within our organization as a whole.

Now, I am about a month in and so much has been going on that I have not had time to sit down and write. Or, if I did have time, I did not know where to start! But, since returning, we received 2 new Form 2 students and 3 new Form 3 students! They have been received well by the returning girls and are adapting to this fast pace life that is Uhuru Academy. There is always something to be doing or a place to be going. It’s also a place where you establish yourself in your identity in Christ and set your goals and plans to achieve them. I can’t wait to see how they continue to grow throughout this year!

I have to get used to calling these girls Form 2s now instead of Form 1s!

Some of the Form 3 girls a.k.a. Sassy  Squad.

So, the Form 1’s did not return until last week because they did not yet know their test scores from the KCPE (a standardized test they must take before applying for secondary school). Because of this delay, Christine and I chose to start GLOW Club (our life skills club) with Leadership. Empowering these girls before the younger ones get here on how to be a leader and role model this year was something we valued to be very important. We want the older girls to understand how great of an impact they have on those around them whether we realize it or not. They were challenged with this question:

“Will you BE the influence or become the one BEING influenced?”

Playing a game where the blindfolded person has to decide which person is good and bad peer pressure while they are both talking to her at the same time.

It has caused quite a raucous!

Screaming also ensued hahaha

I think that question has stuck with them throughout this leadership series and they are having to really think about how they will proactively become the leaders of Uhuru Girls.

A verse that I would like to see come to life through our girls is,

"Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it BUILDS ITSELF UP IN LOVE." 

[Ephesians 4:15-16]

Now that we have 6 new Form 1’s at our school who are settling in, we get to see these girls put this knowledge of how to be a leader into practice.

Hopefully the first of many new Form 1s

We also have been going through a series on Friendship in bible study based on the Sean McDowell video series. It covers issues such as loneliness, peer pressure, comparison, and identity which have all taken well with the girls. We want to show them what true friendships look like and how these issues are talked about throughout the Bible. Also, we have been focusing on where we find our identity as believers in Christ and how that effects how we speak and act day to day and also who we let influence us. Challenging them to not just read a story in the Bible but to learn how to ask the hard questions and apply the themes to their lives is our goal. 

Teaching them to read the Word of God for spiritual fulfillment instead of just duty, teaching them about gospel obedience versus religious obedience and the heart behind both, making them into women who love Jesus and claim their beliefs as their own so that when they are ready to leave Uhuru Academy and enter the real world, they know who they are and where they are going. 

Uhuru girls are confident and determined, yet humble and loving.

As we kick start this year with a lot of hopes, we had our first school assembly yesterday with all of the students! They introduced the school schedule to the new girls and we heard a few words from various staff members about what is expected from Uhuru Academy students. Afterwards, we just listened to music, danced, drank some soda, took pictures, and enjoyed one another’s company. It was awesome!

Group Assembly picture in the Dining Hall

Hanging out afterwards with the girls

Ann trying to make her eyes bigger in the picture hahaha

Making mischievous looks at the camera

Best friends :)

There will be more to update in the near future as more events unfold, but for now we are still praying for more students as the term progresses and for continued growth and maturity in every area of life for these girls. 

Education is FREEDOM!